Alberto Zayas Govín was born in the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood of
Matanzas on February 14, 1908. When he was one year old, his family moved to
Havana. At age 14, he lived in
El Cerro district of Havana and sang in
coros de clave, the precursor ensembles of the
guaguancó. There, he earned the nickname "El Melodioso" (The Melodious One). Zayas became a collaborator of ethnomusicologist
Fernando Ortiz, and in 1941, he invited anthropologist
Harold Courlander to an
Abakuá ceremony in Guanabacoa. This meeting yielded part of the 10 hours of recorded material that are kept at the Archives of Traditional Music (
Indiana University), some of which were released by
Folkways Records in 1951 under the title
Cult Music of Cuba. During the 1950s, his ensemble, Grupo Afrocubano Lulú Yonkori, featured lead singers Roberto Maza and Carlos Embale, backing vocalists Adriano Rodríguez, Bienvenido León, Mercedes Romay and Juanita Romay, and percussionists Giraldo Rodríguez and Gerardo Valdés among others. The first one was
Guaguancó afro-cubano (1956), which featured the hit "El vive bien", penned by Zayas. It was followed by
El guaguansón (1957), credited to "Alfredito Zayas y su Grupo Folklórico". The next record was
Afro-frenetic. Tambores de Cuba (1958), and in July 1959 the band released a conga album
Congas y comparsas del carnaval habanero (Side-B included recordings by Carlos Barbería). In 1961, Impresora Cubana de Discos released two tracks by Zayas' ensemble with
Pacho Alonso on lead vocals. Zayas would continue his career in theatre shows and radio broadcasts, and he toured abroad as director of the Grupo Folklórico Cubano. Zayas died in 1983 in Guanabacoa. == Discography ==