Leonel Francisco Amat (Güira de Melena, Havana, April 1950), known as Pancho Amat, is a Cuban guitarist and three-player. He has raised the three as a concert instrument through the linking of concepts of classical music, jazz and troubadour airs.
Biography.
He graduated from pedagogy at the University of Havana in 1971. That year he founded the Manguaré Group, which he directed for more than 15 years. He is graduated of classical guitar by the Ignacio Cervantes conservatory.
He has worked with numerous formats of Cuban music, such as trios or quartets, typical ensembles, brass bands, even arranging for a symphony orchestra.
Characterized by virtuosity in his live performances, he has collaborated with artists such as Joaquín Sabina, Oscar D'León, Pablo Milanés, Rosana, Ry Cooder, Silvio Rodríguez, Víctor Víctor, Yomo Toro, and Víctor Jara, among others. He has toured the US, Europe and Japan with different groups of Cuban music.
In 1995 he published “Son Por Tres” albumthat won the National Critics Award in Cubadisco. He worked with the Spanish rocker Santiago Auserón on the Juan Perro project, merging the threewith rock.
In De San Antonio a Maisí, his second production, he combined different styles of Cuban music, such as son and bolero, working with his group Cabildo del Son. This album deserved the Cubadisco 2002 prize for being the best album of traditional music.
Pancho Amat is a continuator of the work of famous three-playersin Cuba, like Arsenio Rodríguez.
In November 2012, he was selected for the opening of the sixteenth version of the DR Jazz Festival, along with relevant personalities from the Caribbean strings, such as guitarist Juan Francisco Ordóñez and "quatrist" Pedro Guzmán, among others.
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