Cuban-born percussionist and singer Eugenio Arango, better known as Totico, has passed away. He died on January 21, 2011 in the Bronx, where he lived. He was 76.
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Totico's death, in a hospice, is confirmed by his godson, percussionist Carlos Sanchez, who didn't specify the cause.
Totico was one of the most celebrated figures in the drumming, dancing and singing culture of New York rumba.
Born on June 2, 1934, in the Los Sitios district of Havana, Eugenio Arango was a dockworker who played in local rumba circles; he shipped out of Cuba as a merchant seaman in 1959, landing in Boston and then moving to New York City.
Eugenio "Totico" Arango appeared on the jazz drummer Max Roach's 1961 album 'Percussion Bitter Sweet', and with the Cuban flutist and violinist Pupi Legarreta's charanga group on the 1963 record 'Salsa Nova con Pupi Legarreta'.
As a singer, Eugenio Arango is best known for his role in the album 'Patato & Totico', released by Verve in 1968, which documented a historic arrangement of musicians: Mr. Arango and Carlos "Patato" Valdéz sang and drummed in front of a group including the tres player Arsenio Rodriguez and the bassist Israel "Cachao" Lopez, two of the most influential Cuban artists of the 20th century. The record became a primary document of the rumba subculture, something to emulate and practice along with.
During the 1960s and '70s Eugenio Arango played in some nightclub bands and made a few salsa records with the Puerto Rican percussionist Kako Bastar, under the name Kako y Totico. He taught many younger drummers, particularly in the 6/8 rhythms of the ceremonial style called guiro.
Cuban-born percussionist and singer Eugenio Arango, better known as Totico, has passed away. He died on January 21, 2011 in the Bronx, where he lived. He was 76.
