Andrea Echeverri

Musical powerhouse though it is, Cuba is not well known for its electric guitarists.
However, after Ry Cooder heard the dazzling accompaniments Manuel Galbán had made during the 1960s with the vocal quartet Los Zafiros, he decided to seek him out. As a result, Galbán played extensively on Ibrahim Ferrer's 1999 debut solo album for World Circuit – as documented in Wim Wenders' film Buena Vista Social Club – which included new arrangements of two songs from the Los Zafiros repertoire. The album won a Latin Grammy.

The studio chemistry that the two guitar maestros discovered during this period led to Cooder and Galbán recording the Grammy-winning instrumental album Mambo Sinuendo (2001) and Galbán contributing to many albums by Buena Vista Social Club members, including Omara Portuondo, Orlando "Cachaíto" Lopez and Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal. For much of the following decade, Galbán's proud and meticulous but modest presence was once again a prominent fixture on the international stage, first as a member of Ferrer's touring band and later with Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club.
Galbán was a good-humoured and open-minded collaborator, and though not given to front-of-house grandstanding, his eternally smiling visage seemed to be that of a man fully aware of his talents, who got a great deal of fulfilment and enjoyment from the international recognition he received during more than six decades as a professional musician. In 2001, Nick Gold, the founder and head of World Circuit, issued Bossa Cubana, a compilation of Los Zafiros material, having long appreciated Galbán's distinctive style: "It was incredibly unique sounding and ever so slightly wacky … a beautiful sound … very much a '60s sound that he had, especially on electric . He went for these slightly 'out there' little solos and melody lines … slightly quirky and very individual, but very Cuban at the same time. It was quite a strange little hybrid style that he'd formulated."

Asked earlier this year by Cuba's Communist party newspaper Granma to describe his technical approach to guitar, Galbán explained: "I combine fast passages with arpeggios, while making appropriate use of the bass strings – in that way I give the sensation that more than one musician is playing. I set about synchronising and fading the strings with the other hand, a trick that I learned backing Kike's singing in Los Zafiros."