Hugo Cruz and Caminos

Hugo Alexander Cruz Machado is a Cuban-born, award-winning, internationally renowned drummer and composer who has performed in South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Mexico, Venezuela, and the United States. He is the leader of the group Caminos, who have made appearances at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival 2019, Fábrica de Artes in Havana, Cuba, Highmark First Night Pittsburgh 2020, Pittonkatonk Festival, City of Asylum, The Frick Museum, Musicalidades, Market Square, and Con Alma.

Caminos fuse rhythms and melodies of Afro-Cuban, Cuban, and American music, in an original contemporary expression that honors traditional Cuban form.

While a resident of Cuba, Hugo toured regularly with Síntesis, a leading Afrocuban rock-fusion group with traditional influences. He won the award as the “best drummer” at the Festival de Tambor at the Guillermo Barreto in Memoriam, Havana, Cuba. While performing with Síntesis, the group won a special award at Cubadisco, Cuba’s equivalent of the GRAMMYs. Hugo has performed in Havana’s largest jazz festival, Jazz Plaza, with acclaimed artists Dave Weckl and Victor Goines. He is a graduate of the Instituto de Superior de Artes, the leading arts university of Cuba.

Hugo has recorded with many of Cuba’s leading musicians, such as Sintesis, Aire de Concierto, Adrian Berazain, Interactivo, Zule Guerra, Mayco de Alma, among others. In Pittsburgh, he performs with several projects, including the Afro Yaqui Music Collective, and has been a guest teaching artist at the Afro American Music Institute and the University of Pittsburgh.