Brenda Navarrete is a singer, percussionist, composer, and arranger from Cuba.
From her beginnings at the Manuel Saumell Elementary School of Music at the age of nine, Brenda Navarrete set her sights on percussion and a career in music. She graduated from Cuba’s prestigious Amadeo Roldán Conservatory of Music in 2009, earning qualifications as an instrumentalist, ensemble instructor, and percussionist.
In 2010, Brenda Navarrete won a national competition during Cuba’s renowned Fiesta del Tambor (Drum Festival), taking first prize in the Batá drums category as well as the award for Best Performance by a Female Artist.
Brenda has worked with a variety of renowned artists, including the Afro-Cuban percussion group Obiní Batá, jazz musician Joaquín Betancourt, Alain Pérez, Munir Hossn, and the acclaimed international band Interactivo, directed by Roberto Carcassés, with whom she performed as a singer.
As an artist, Brenda Navarrete combines her talents as a singer, percussionist, composer, and arranger.
A review article in the New Yorker states: "A cornerstone of Santería religious ceremonies, batá drumming is a hypercompetitive ritual among men, judged on speed and memory; women are widely regarded as lacking the physical stamina for the instrument. In the religion, women are allowed to sing but are often prohibited from playing the batá and sometimes even prevented from standing near the instrument."[3]
Navarrete is a long-standing member of Interactivo, a Havana-based musical collective led by the pianist Roberto Carcassés, who is known for incubating the city's best jazz talent. She has also worked with the Afro-Cuban percussion troupe, Obini Bata, a group first formed in the early 1990s by female drummers.[4]
In 2017 she played and sang on pianist Hilario Duran's album, Contumbao, who then commissioned her own album, Mi Mundo, released by Alma Records.
This 2018 album features an all-star cast of Cuban instrumentalists, including legendary bassist Alain Pérez and master drummer Horacio 'El Negro' Hernandez.
Following the release of her debut solo album Navarrete has toured internationally with a collaborative production called Havana Meets Kingston in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America.
Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez
