Alfredo Bologña Jiménez was a Cuban musician who played a role in the early development of the son.

Bologña played the marimbula

Marímbula

A marímbula is a folk musical instrument of the Caribbean Islands . The marímbula is usually classified as part of the lamellophone family of musical instruments. With its roots in African instruments, marimbula originated in the province of Oriente, Cuba in the 19th century...

, the bongó

Bongo drum

Bongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...

 and the guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 at different times and, despite his physical limitations (dwarfism

Dwarfism

Dwarfism is short stature resulting from a medical condition. It is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than 4 feet 10 inches  , although this definition is problematic because short stature in itself is not a disorder....

), he was a force in Cuban music for half a century. In 1910 he was already a figure of note in Havana, a member of the Los Apaches choral group and of the Trio Oriental, with Guillermo Castillo (guitar) and Carlos Godinez (tres). In 1915 Boloña formed a son group in Havana called Agrupación Bologña, with Hortensia Valerón (vocalist), Manuel Menocal (tres), Manuel Corona

Manuel Corona

Manuel Corona Raimundo was a Cuban trova musician, and a long-term professional rival of Sindo Garay....

 (guitar), Victoriano Lopéz (maracas

Maracás

Maracás is a town and municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.-References:...

) and Joaquín Velasquéz (bongó).

In October 1926 his Sexteto Boloña recorded in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 a set of numbers for Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

which is available today on the usual media. The line-up for these recordings was, L>R in photograph: José Vega Chacón (guitar, 2nd voice), unknown (maracas, 1st voice), José Manuel Incharte 'El Chino' (bongó), Abelardo Barroso

Abelardo Barroso

The singer Abelardo Barroso Dargeles was the first sonero mayor to be recognized as such by the Cuban public. He was the lead singer of the Sexteto Habanero from 1925, recorded with the Sexteto Boloña in 1926, and joined the Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro in 1927...

 (sonero, claves), 'Tabito' (double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

), Alfredo Boloña (tres, leader).

The group split up in 1935. Bologña's compositions included Güagüina yirabo, Riquieza en flor, A la permanente, Aurora en Pekin, Dame un besito and Te espararé en la retreta.