Noel Nicola

Noel Nicola was a pioneer of the nueva trova movement that dominated Cuban music during the late '60s. Born October 7, 1946, in Havana, Nicola was the product of a family of professional musicians, and was playing guitar and writing his own songs by 13. He made his professional debut in 1968 alongside Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés, and with them spearheaded the rise of trova, an enormously popular and influential form of contemporary protest music rooted in the troubadour ballads of Cuba's fight for independence. In 1969, Nicola joined the Instituto Cubano del Arte e In...