William Vivanco

William Vivanco (born October 6, 1975 in Santiago, Cuba) is a composer and musician. Vivanco learned to play guitar by frequenting Casa de la Trova on Calle Heredia in Santiago, "stealing chords". He busked in the streets, and also performed with a professional children's choir. He trained his voice, learning the techniques that would enable him to develop his distinctively percussive vocal style. He also played day-long romerias and at the Festival of Singers of the Americas in Guantánamo. Vivanco first came to Havana when he was 23 years old. The Bis Music label at the Santa Clara song festival spotted him and offered him the possibility to make his first solo album in 2002 called Lo Tengo To' Pensa'o, a mix of Brazilian music, pop and reggae. His song and the accompanying video clip "Cimarrón" became popular. "Cimarrón" (literally, "one who lives on mountaintops") refers to African slaves who ran away from their Spanish masters. In 2006, Vivanco recorded his second solo album, La Isla Milagrosa, produced by Descemer Bueno and Roberto Carcassés. In recent times Vivanco has started to distance himself from his funkier, poppier tunes in favour of music that is more "Santiaguera" (from Santiago), more Cuban, more rhythmic – more traditional. Vivanco has performed in France. In 2003 he performed at Les Transmusicales de Rennes festival, then in 2004 at the Paleo Festival de Nyon, at the Cuban night of Les Nuits de Fourvière de Lyon, and in August 2005 he played at the Vence festival Les Nuits du Sud.