Juego de Manos, a Cuban popular music group, was founded in 1994 by composer, arranger, and performer David Álvarez, who serves as its director. The founding of this orchestra had the fundamental purpose of reviving traditional Cuban music.

The orchestra is composed of musicians who graduated from various Cuban art schools. They perform the compositions, orchestrations, and arrangements of their conductor. The orchestra also features the excellent sonero voice of David Álvarez.

Juego de Manos’ repertoire is vast, very Cuban, and exhibits high musical quality, as it is made up of diverse genres of Cuban music such as guarachas, rumbas, guajiras, songs, sones, and boleros.

The songs performed by the group, written by its director, David Álvarez, reflect the Cuban way of life. Many of them have been major hits both nationally and internationally, as demonstrated by the song “Dominó,” which in 2010, just two months after its release, was among the top hits on Cuban radio.

In 2001, David Álvarez and Juego de Manos performed at the Auditorio de México, where they shared the stage with two great figures of Cuban music, Compay Segundo and Eliades Ochoa.

The 10th anniversary of this group, in 2004, was celebrated with an incomparable concert, which took place at the Casa de la Música de Miramar (Calle 20 No. 3308, Miramar, Playa, Havana). The concert featured artists such as the renowned composer Remberto Bequer, the Cuban sonero Félix Baloy, the singer and composer Pedro Luís Ferrer, as well as jazz musician Boby Carcassés and his virtuoso son Robertico Carcassés.

In 2005, they performed at the Grapefruit Festival, an annual event on the Isle of Youth. This event was attended by a diverse audience of ages, with spectators from different generations gathering. This same year, during the summer, they were featured in significant artistic and humanitarian events. They performed the theme song for the AIDS campaign and also the theme song that defined the summer campaign.

Juego de Manos’ first album, titled Rimasones, was recorded on the ArtColor label in 1995. Their second album, Mundo Loco, was released in 1999 on Tumy Music. This album featured the brilliant Cuban musician Chucho Valdés. Son Demasiado, their third album, was recorded in 2003, also with Tumy Music.

They went on a national tour in 2010, which began in Guantánamo, a province in eastern Cuba, on March 15 and ended in Havana.

David Álvarez and Juego de Manos have performed in highly prestigious theaters, plazas, and nightclubs in Cuba. They have also brought Cuban music to countless international stages, achieving great success with each of their performances. Countries such as Portugal, Venezuela, Spain, and Guatemala have witnessed the talent of this Cuban orchestra.

Specialized critics have described Juego de Manos as one of the most outstanding groups in the Cuban musical scene, demonstrating a high level of professionalism.

Juego de Manos has won several awards, including the Adolfo Guzmán Contest, the Saborit Contest, the Lucas Contest, and several other awards from Tropicana International Magazine and the Fama y Aplausos program.

David Álvarez and Juego de Manos are among the best groups in Cuba today, due to their ever-increasing and increasingly Cuban and contemporary music. They are a group that has managed to surpass the expectations of a knowledgeable audience, whose preference is for good Cuban music. Through their unforgettable performances, they are making history in the Cuban musical world.

Discography: Rimasones (1995), Mundo Loco (1999), Son Demasiado (2003).