ORLANDO (FLORECITA) VELASCO O´FARRILL(date of birth unknown) -196?
Many say that he was born in Havana, others that he came from the East, some that he died in oblivion, others that he emigrated to the United States where he lived until the end of his days, in short... he is lost in the hiding places of history. Cuban trumpet genius, in spite of exhaustive researches made in documents, in recordings, in period records and lost of interviews among his colleagues who knew him, shared stages or enjoyed at some point his brilliant performances.
It is said that he was a bit like a hermit, not very talkative, very reserved with his private life and even shy.
But there is no doubt that with him a cycle of sonority, cubanity, and identity in the trumpet opens and closes, one could say that a before and after in the way of interpreting the music of the Island.
We have been able to listen that Felix Chapottin and Lazaro Herrea “ El Pecoso” ,are one of the first trumpeters to make an indigenous Cuban sound. Even "Chapo" has been called the "Satchmo" of Cuban Son. Him (Florecita) should be the one to bear a name that give the well deserved meaning to a whole creator of cubania in the performing of the trumpet. Florecita is from a generation before Chapottin and Herrera; without leaving aside the fact that her style is unique, pure and unites the differences between many of the trumpet players who came later to delight us with their sonority and lyricism. Even in Alejandro "Negro" Vivar's cuban jazz phrases, we can appreciate notable influences of this brilliant performer. As a musician he played in different formations, there are lots of recordings where “Florecita” had his well reserved space as a soloist . He he also appeared in films such as “Mexico Lindo” and “Tierra Brava”, both filmed when he was part of Cuarteto Hatuey in 1938,He also intervened with his beautiful solos in the soundtrack of the film “Cuba Baila”, filmed in 1960, already in post-Revolutionary Cuba.He was a member of "Conjunto de Arsenio Rodriguez", "cuarteto Hatuey", he recorded with Luis Marquetti, Alberto Zayas, Enrique Jorrin, Odilio Urfé, Niño Rivera, Miguelito Cuní among others. With Florecita, a seed was sown that lasts to this day. The polychrome, the sonority and the rhythm of her Solos laid the foundation for almost 100% of Cuban feeling on the trumpet. A true Idol and Poet.