Miguel Faílde
Cuban musician
Miguel Faílde Pérez (23 December 1852, in Guacamaro, Matanzas – 26 December 1921) was a Cuban musician and bandleader. He was the official originator of the danzón, composer of the first danzón, Las alturas de Simpson, and the founder of the Orquesta Faílde.
Biography
Faílde's father was a Galician immigrant, and his mother a parda (dark mulata). He was first taught music by his father, who was a trombone player, and at ten played cornet in the Banda de Bomberos (firemen) de Matanzas. Later he learnt harmony and composition under a French tutor, Federico Peclier. He also learnt the viola and double bass. Faílde was one of many musicians who actively conspired against the Spanish colonial rule; his life included the time of the Cuban War of Independence.
His orchestra was highly successful, though his major achievements were the creation of the danzón and the compositions he wrote, many of which have been adapted since for other rhythms. The danzón was, in his own words, a development of the danza, and that was the child of the contradanza. "De la danza al danzón había un simple paso." (from the danza to the danzón is a simple step) Actually, it was not quite such a simple step.
The public source identifies “Miguel Faílde” as cuban musician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Miguel, Faílde and Cuban.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1765889. VIAF identifies the subject as 228385740. The Library of Congress control number is n97874510. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1852 and 1921.
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This entry incorporates text from “Miguel Faílde” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.