Chicho Valle (1924-1984) was, we believe, the first professional Cuban musician in Canada. He arrived in Toronto in 1946 to host the CBC radio program Latin American Serenade. He spent the next four decades popularizing Cuban and Latin American music in Canada: on TV and radio, as well as on the dancefloors of swanky Toronto and area hotels and lounges. He produced three albums, he was the musical director for the Four Seasons Hotel chain in Canada, and later in his career, he ran a successful booking agency. His band, Chicho Valle y Los Cubanos, contained precisely one Cuban: him. Cuban music without Cubans, that must have been a tough gig!

Our first episode of Cuban Serenade includes a beautiful tribute to Chicho, recorded especially for the program, by Toronto based Cuban musicians Magdelys Savigne and Elizabeth Rodriguez from the Juno nominated group OKAN as well as an interview with the Mexican-Canadian musician and ethnomusicologist Brígido Galván.