ABSTRACT
Cuban singing quartet founded in 1962, only one of whom, Miguel Cancio, had ever worked as a professional musician. The other three had other jobs - Leoncio Morua Ruiz was an office worker, Ignacio Elejalde Sanchez was a dancer and Eduardo Elio Hernandez (El Chino) a judo instructor. Influenced by US groups like The Platters, Los Zafiros sang in close harmony accompanied by just an electric guitar. Ignacio’s falsetto voice, capable of reaching very high registers, gave the quartet its characteristic sound, though Ignacio was not always the soloist. All four were also skilled dancers, and their numbers were always highly choreographed. They appeared in Paris and elsewhere to great acclaim, until the group began to fall apart during the 1970s, largely due to the effects of alcohol, and they stopped performing in 1978. They can be seen on film clips held by the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) and in 1998 Miguel Cancio J r produced a full-length feature, Los ^afiros, which broke all box-office records in Cuba. A compilation CD, Bossa Cubana, was issued in 1999.
