Alfredo De La Fé

Alfredo De La Fé is a Cuban-born and New York-based violinist that lived in Colombia for more than 16 years, responsible for transforming the violin into an important sound of Salsa and Latin music. The first solo violinist to perform with a Salsa orchestra, De La Fe has toured the world more than thirty times, appearing in concert and participating in more than one hundred albums by such top-ranked Latin artists as Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Jose Alberto “El Canario”, Cheo Feliciano, The Fania All Stars and Santana. His second solo album, Alfredo, released in 1979, received a Grammy nomination as “Best Latin album”. Alfredo has travelled to 95 countries.

A child prodigy, Alfredo’s father who was a singer (a tenor of Opera) in Havana Cuba and sang on Cuban radio with Bienvenido Leon and Celia Cruz in the 1940’s recognized his son’s skills and encouraged his musical talent. De La Fé began studying violin at eight at the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory in Havana. Two years later, he received a scholarship to attend the Warsaw Conservatory in Poland. He moved to New York at age eleven where he performed compositions by Mendelsson and Tchaikovsky in Carnegie Hall. A scholarship to Juilliard Arts enabled him to further his studies. De La Fé launched his professional career, at the age of twelve, when he switched from classical music to Salsa and jazz, accepting an invitation to join charanga legend Jose Fajardo’s Orchestra. He did his first European tour at that age. Few years later he joined Eddie Palmieri’s Orchestra. He remained with the group for five years, moving temporarily to San Francisco where he joined Santana. Returning to New York, De La Fé joined Tipica ’73. Two years later, he released his debut solo album, “Alfredo” nominated for three categories in the Grammys awards.

De La Fé signed with Sars All Stars, and produced thirty two albums for the Latin record label. His second solo album, “Charanga 1980”, was released the same year. A year later, De La Fé became musical director of Tito Puente’s Latin Percussion Jazz Ensemble. The following year, he resumed his solo career, signing with Taboga, for whom he recorded the album, “Triunfo”. Relocating to Colombia in 1983, De La Fé signed with Phillips and released three albums – “Made In Colombia”, “Dancing In The Tropics” and “Alfredo De La Fé Vallenato”. De La Fé switched to the Fuentes label. Years later he joined the Fania All Stars. De La Fé continued to pursue a solo career. He signed with Sony Music. Since then he has been touring with his own band, appearing at festivals in Denmark, Holland, France, Turkey and Belgium.
Alfredo appears in the Smithsonian Institution as part of American Heritage.
Alfredo just released “Sin Limites” “ Alfredo De La Fé & Rodry Go” under No Borders Entertainment, 2013 (his own lable).
At the end of June 2013 he will appear in Algeria for the Culture Department of that country and later did his European 2013 tour through France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Turkey.
He played in Puerto Rico with the Fania All Stars for a sold out crowd and in November played with Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz at Madison Square Garden in New York.

To end 2013 Alfredo will be performing at Feria de Cali in Colombia.
He has participated in events like:
– Pavarotti and Friends. Italy
– Dance of the Rose for Prince Albert in Monaco
– Umbria Jazz, Italy
– Montreux Jazz Festival. Switzerland (among others)
– Yoshi’s (San Francisco, Oakland)
To Alfredo De La Fe is very clear that growth means contributing to the development of his country in order to continue with the bettering of his community.