CaribWorldNews, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Feb. 6, 2008: Cuba’s `King of the Congas,` Tata Guines, was yesterday laid to rest in his native land, a day after he passed away after being hospitalized for hypertension and kidney problems.

Guines, 77, had a musical career that spanned six decades. He helped popularize Afro-Cuban rhythms worldwide. In 2004, Guines won a Latin Grammy in 2004 for `Lagrimas Negras,` or `Black Tears,` a collaboration with legendary exiled Cuban jazz pianist Bebo Valdes and Spanish singer Diego La Cigala.

Born Federico Aristides Soto on June 30, 1930, Guines was best known for playing the conga, a tall, barrel-like drum central to Rumba and Afro-Cuban music and culture. He moved to the United States in 1957, where he performed with jazz greats Josephine Baker, Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis.

But he was upset by the racial segregation he experienced and returned to Cuba after Fidel Castro toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. – CaribWorldNews.com