Enrique Bonne: The Creator of the Pilon Beat
A brand-new rhythm was all over Santiago de Cuba in the early 1960s. Its creator was inspired by a daily activity in the Cuban countryside: mashing toasted coffee beans. The rhythmic beating of the masher was put on the national stave.
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The pilon rhythm was created by Enrique Alberto Bonne Castillo, a man from Santiago that enriched Cuban music. Themes like Rico Pilón gained popularity throughout the country as they were performed by the unforgettable Pacho Alonso and his orchestra.
He was also the author of such musical pieces as chachachá Italian Boy and Chachachá de la reina; danzones Confidencial and Granito de arena; guarachas Que me digan feo, Se tambalea, A cualquiera se le muere un tío and No quiero piedras en mi camino; songs Míralo aquí and Guajira Simalé; even tens of boleros. Bonne was born on June 15, 1926, in San Luis municipality, nearly 30 kilometers to the north of the Hero City.
Although he spent part of his adolescence in Palma Soriano, he soon moved to the provincial capital. Once Bonne was established in Santiago de Cuba, he started to apply the musical knowledge he had learned from his mother, Engracia Castillo Griñant, a prestigious piano professor, as he quitted his high school studies and devoted his time to the world of music, his raison d'être. The creation of Tambores de Oriente in 1960, a name that was later changed to Tambores de Bonne strengthened his musical talent.
Conducting nearly 50 percussionists, sometimes there were even more, guided by a special baton, a yarey leaf, wasn’t an easy task, but a majestic one. The shows he offered in carnivals held in Havana – were the group made its debut in 1962-, Santiago de Cuba, San Luis, Guantánamo, Holguín, Camagüey, Santa Clara, festivals in Varadero and even in Colombia in 1997, were an unprecedented phenomenon in terms of Cuban percussion.
Enrique not only showed his musical talent, he also applied his creativity to the radio and television in Santiago where he worked as a director of programs, broadcaster and occupied different positions for almost twenty. He had a gorgeous family, which inherited his musical talent. Such is the case of his son Angelito Bonne, who has become a famous musician.
Figures like Lola Flores, Luis Carbonell, Caridad Hierrezuelo, Rosita Fornés, Elena Burke, Farah María and Alden Night, among many others, have sung his compositions, which have gone beyond our national borders in the voice of Celia Cruz, Tito Puente and Willy Chirino.
This songwriter dreams about creating a musical work for children. Enrique Bonne is a simple, human, communicative, joyful man… an accurate replica of the common people of Santiago.
He has expressed that I feel Cuban from toes to head, which is what definitely keeps me going: being a Cuban. The older generations don’t forget the matchless shows offered by Enrique Bonne and his drums, which made him win several awards, such as 50th Anniversary of EGREM for a lifetime artistic career, Distinction for National Culture, plaques José María Heredia, ICRT.
