NICOLAS SIRGADO: GUITARIST, BASS PLAYER, PERCUSSIONIST & SINGER.

Born in La Habana, Cuba August 26, 1957, Nicolas Sirgado is a polymath in the world of music. A guitarist, bass player, percussionist, singer, songwriter, recording artist, composer, arranger, conceptualist, director and producer that eases through musical genres like a trapeze artist. He has worked with all of the big heavies of the Cuban music scene during the past half century, in a time when Cuba has produced some of the world’s foremost musical talents.

At the age of 13 Sirgado’s first band as bass player was with the likes of Rogelio Nápoles, Emilio Morales, Oscar Valdez, Roberto Vizcaíno, José Miguel Crego, Fernando Acosta and Javier Zalba.

Nicolas studied at the Escuela Nacional de Artes with esteemed professor and musicologist Martha Cuervo, Joaquín Betancourt Jackman, Arturo Sandoval and Isaac Nicola.

Through the 70’s and 80’s he recorded a series of LP film and television scores on the EGREM label with Sergio Vitier and José María Vitier. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s Nicolas remained a constant with the Vitier brothers recording, producing, performing and touring with a number of projects surrounding these Cuban mega talents including Grupo “ORU” director Sergio Vitier with Tata Güines, Guillermo Barreto and Rogelio Martínez Furé; Grupo 8 de Marzo and Grupo J. M. Vitier with José María Vitier. The list of projects through this period seems endless!

In the mid 90’s he started the salsa/timba band Orquesta Conexión Salsera, which recorded several albums with various labels including: Medi Bleu of Barcelona; Zun zún Records, New York; EGREM, La Habana; MRP Records, Los Angeles; Colibrí Records, La Habana; Envidia Records of Barcelona; TERMIDOR MUSIKVERLAG, RFA, Germany.

Since the mid 2000’s he has been involved with Luis Frank’s group Soneros de Verdad, a band that touts itself as the second coming of the Buena Vista Social Club, their roster has included: Pio Leyva, Mayito Rivera, Juan “Cotó” De La Cruz Antomarchi, Guillermo Rubalcaba and others.

He was nominated and awarded a PREMIO CUBADISCO (Cuba’s Grammy Award) in 2009 as Producer of the CD collection “Un Restaurador de Sueños” by Víctor Rodríguez.

He was nominated for a PREMIO CUBADISCO (Cuba’s Grammy Award) in 2009 as Producer for the CD “Un Bolero para El Benny” by Luis Frank Arias & Orquesta Termidor.

He was nominated for a PREMIO CUBADISCO (Cuba’s Grammy Award) in 2010 as Producer for the CD “Rumba Macry” by Luis Frank Arias & Orquesta Termidor

Nicolas has also worked with the following:

Grupo Afrocuba directed by Nicolás Reynoso; Los Egresados directed by Pachito Alonso; Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba, director Manuel Duchesne Cuzán with soprano Alina Sánchez; Beatriz Corona; Blanco y Negro with singer songwriter Kiki Corona; Juan Manuel Ceruto; Tirso Duarte; Maykel Blanco; Envidia All Stars; Pucho López, Paul Menéndez; Alfredo Pérez Pérez, Lázaro Morúa; Moncho; Enrique Plá; Los Hijos del Son and Sons of Cuba, groups associated with the film Música Cubana; Orquesta del ICRT; Maracaibo Oriental; La Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba with La Schola Cantorum Coralina; Combinación Latina; Miguel Patterson; Béla Mavrák; Rey Montesinos; Pablo Santamaría; Alina Orraca; Víctor Rodríguez; Roberto Blanco; Chucho Valdez; Guillermo Rubalcaba; Cesar “Pupy” Pedroso and many, many others.

Click here to meet more musicians