MIAMI — When lovers in Latin America sing or dance together Alma con alma, one of the emblematic themes of filin, an unforgettable bolero, they are repeating the love story of Cuban musician Juanito Márquez and his wife Mirta, which began in Holguín in eastern Cuba, when she was 16 years old.

Juanito Marquez, internationally renowned guitarist, arranger, producer, and creator of one of the Cuban rhythms that took over his island in the 1960s, Pa-Cá, said goodbye to his great love Mirta and his beloved family in Miami on Saturday, June 21, at a Kendall hospital, surrounded by his friends. He was 95.

With him went a part of the golden age of Cuban music, which he took beyond the borders of the island when he became an exile, first in Spain and then in Miami, where he was one of the pioneers of a unique sound. His magic hand is in the arrangements of one of the most beautiful albums of Cuban music, made in Miami, Mi Tierra by Gloria Estefan, which also includes two songs written by Márquez, Ayer and Sí Señor!

During his long career, he collaborated with Cuban musicians such as Bebo Valdés, Israel López Cachao, Generoso Jiménez, the Riverside Orchestra, Tito Gómez, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Paquito Hechavarría, Roberto Torres, Israel Kantor, and Luis García.

When the Cuban government forced him to work in agriculture for trying to leave the country, it was Guillermo Alvarez Guedes who sent him the money for his ticket to Spain, and there Márquez became part of a golden age of Spanish music, from the Hispavox record label, where he was behind hits by Julio Iglesias, Massiel, José Luis Perales, Mari Trini, Mocedades, and Jeanette.

“There is no limit to his greatness,” says Miami radio personality Viviám María López, who came to know and admire Juanito for his art, his great generosity, his sense of humor, and his elegance for several decades. She was present with his family at Kendall Hospital, where they prayed and accompanied him until his last moment, after a cardiac arrest that kept him from living until his 96th birthday on July 4.

“I saw in him a tender human being, with a giant heart, such a brilliant person, so ahead of his time,” Viviám told el Nuevo Herald. “Studying his arrangements is a master class, many musicians tell me.”

From Holguín to Havana, at the call of Bebo Valdés

Márquez had a classical musical training, which began in his native Holguín, under the tutelage of his father, classical guitarist and conductor Juan Márquez Gómez.

“Juanito’s father was the director of the Holguín band that played in the retreat. From a very young age, he became an idol of ours,” music producer and promoter Recaredo Gutiérrez told el Nuevo Herald. He formed an orchestra in Miami in 2003, the Tropicana All Stars, in homage to Beny Moré, which included the most important Cuban musicians of the moment, under the direction of Juanito Márquez.

Márquez was a member of the Avilés Brothers’ orchestra, which played in what had been the Holguín Tennis Club, said Recadero.

From Holguín, Márquez made arrangements that he sent to Havana, and it was Bebo Valdés who urged him to travel to the capital, a project supported by Márquez’s wife, Mirta, who was staying in Holguín for the time being with the couple’s young daughter.

The musician became an idol with the crowds with the creation of Pa-Cá in 1964, at a time of vibrant rhythms.

“The Pa-Cá rhythm, despite being popular, is subtle,” Recaredo notes, emphasizing that its lyrics were never “vulgar.”

He learned from the greats, Recaredo notes, recalling Márquez’s speed in making arrangements during live programs on stations like Radio Progreso, where they would tell you that an arrangement had to be done in just a few hours.

Márquez, elegant and grateful

Journalist Arturo Arias-Polo remembers Márquez from a 1993 interview at Emilio Estefan’s Crescent Moon Studios, when the success of Mi tierra was still fresh.

“Personally, he was a gentleman. He was from the era when musicians strove to be different,” says Arias-Polo, recalling that he still spoke with the oriental accent of his homeland, which connected him more with the journalist, born in Manzanillo.

“Pituka la bella was a huge hit, a Pa-cá anthem,” recalls Arias-Polo, who was 10 years old at the time and also enjoyed a version of the song by the Aragón orchestra.

Another of Márquez’s iconic songs, Como un milagro, is remembered in a version by Omara Portuondo, and in a more recent one that he heard at an Ivette Cepeda concert in Miami.

Six of the songs on the album Esta es Omara (1967) are by Márquez, notes Viviám Maria.

Márquez’s success prevented him from leaving Cuba, and as a result, he was sent to work in agriculture as punishment. With money sent to him by Alvarez Guedes, he managed to leave Cuba in 1969 and began a new life in Spain, encouraged in his career by Cuban musician Ernesto Duarte Brito, author of the bolero Cómo fue, popularized by Beny Moré.

With the first money he earned, he repaid Alvarez Guedes’s generosity, both Recaredo and Viviám María recall.

In 1976 he began his life in Miami, where he became part of and co-created the city’s sound.

“He joined Armando Terrón, Pablo Cano, who lent him his guitar, Nelson “El Flaco” Padrón, Luis de la Torre, Orlando “Papito” Hernández, and Manuel Ribera [of Los Chavales de España] at the Climax studio, where they recorded everyone,” says Viviám María. “They had Latin, North American, and African-American artists, and they recorded countless albums.” she adds about the studio that operated until 1995.

“A king, a source of pride for everyone, what an honor to work on so many albums. Many blessings. We love you,” wrote Emilio Estefan in the memorial post on Albita’s Instagram profile for Márquez’s death.

His song Alma con alma is also part of the soundtrack of the film Carlito’s Way (1993), starring Ray Barretto and Adalberto Santiago.

At the Tropigala cabaret at the Fontainebleau Hotel, he conducted the Tropicana All Stars orchestra in a series of historic concerts, which were captured in the documentary Al Bárbaro del ritmo, directed by Sergio Giral.

He also recorded at the historic Criteria Studios in North Miami, where Juanito would always drive through the streets because he didn’t take the expressway, Recaredo recalls. After the recordings, which were at night, a group of musicians would go to La Carreta for lunch, and Márquez would always ask him how they could eat those Cuban dishes at that time of the morning.

“You could talk about any topic with Juanito Márquez; you had an admirable interlocutor in him,” says Recaredo, recalling that he was also “humble” and collaborated with all the musicians.

Márquez is survived by his wife Mirta, his daughter Mirthica, his son Juan Carlos, his grandson Luisi, his nephews Ernesto, also a musician, and Alina. There will be no funeral service, but a mass is planned, and details will be shared with the public at a later date.

©2025 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.