BIMBI Y SU TRIO ORIENTAL

MAXIMILIANO SÁNCHEZ

Legendary and Distinguished

Cuban Vocalist, Composer, and Lead Guitarist

Havana, Cuba — circa 1937, during the RCA Victor råeåcording period, as told to me by my father, Maximiliano Sanchez.

Maximiliano “Bimbi” Sanchez was the founder and driving force behind BIMBI Y SU TRÍO ORIENTAL, a Cuban trio rooted in the musical tradition of Oriente.

Public discography and label notes identify him as a major though often overlooked figure in Cuban popular music, and they place the formal beginning of his trio in 1935 in Santiago de Cuba, where he formed the group with friends Pedro Filiú and Luis Bosch. Those same sources say the trio later went to Havana, seeking opportunity in the capital’s bars, radio scene, and recording world.

According to family history preserved through his son, Bimbi’s journey to Havana became the turning point of his career. The account passed down in the family is that RCA Victor had come to record Trío Matamoros, but when Matamoros was not available, Bimbi was introduced and recorded instead. Publicly available sources do confirm the most important part of that story: Bimbi y su Trío Oriental signed a recording contract with RCA Victor in 1937 in Havana and began performing on Havana radio with growing recognition. The specific detail that he was recorded in place of Matamoros appears to be family testimony, rather than something I could verify in the public record.

The timing matters. Trío Matamoros had already become one of the great Cuban groups by then. Their first RCA Victor recordings were made in Camden, New Jersey, in May 1928, and they returned to recording sessions in Cuba later in 1928 and again in 1929. That means the documented timeline supports RCA Victor’s deep involvement with Cuban music long before Bimbi’s own contract, while Bimbi’s confirmed RCA Victor period belongs to the next major wave, beginning in 1937.

Once recorded, Bimbi y su Trío Oriental became part of the documented Victor catalog. The Díaz-Ayala Cuban and Latin American Popular Music Collection lists numerous Victor sides under Sánchez, Maximiliano, including “¿Dónde vas Catalina?” (Victor 83162-2), “Ahora seremos felices” (Victor 82558-1), “Cada vez que te veo” (Victor 82854-1), and many more. That catalog evidence confirms that Maximiliano Sanchez was not merely remembered as a performer in oral history, but preserved in the formal discographic record of RCA Victor-era Cuban music.

Musically, Bimbi y su Trío Oriental stood in the same broad world as the great son and trova groups of eastern Cuba. Modern label notes describe Bimbi as a bandleader who excelled in guaracha, son oriental, and related styles, while also performing across the Caribbean and later in New York. Those same notes present him as a worthy son of Oriente whose contribution, even though his work helped shape the roots of later popular Latin music.

The legacy of BIMBI lives on.

This site is continuously growing as we share the story, the music, and the journey.

👉 Return often and walk with us through the legacy of BIMBI y su Trío Oriental.