A timple player, composer and producer linked to Lanzarote who has taken the timple into symphonic music, fusion and contemporary Canarian song.
Benito Cabrera is a timple player, composer and music producer linked to Lanzarote. His career has renewed the role of the timple in contemporary Canarian music.
Open biographyHe is a timple performer, composer and music producer. His public career combines recitals, recordings, tours, teaching and production. He was the first concert performer to bring the timple into the symphonic sphere, appearing with ensembles such as the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Clásica de La Laguna and the Córdoba Symphony Orchestra. From 2003 he combined artistic work with teaching timple at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
His central contribution is to have expanded the public role of the timple: from rooted and accompanying instrument to concert instrument, symphonic dialogue and contemporary fusion. His lyrics for the Canary Islands anthem also place him within an institutional piece of collective memory, built on the Arrorró melody from Teobaldo Power’s Cantos Canarios.
His music renewed the Canarian tradition through the fusion of the timple with Celtic folk and pop elements. In Contrastes he incorporated pop and jazz rhythms filtered through Canarian music, with the participation of the University of La Laguna Polyphonic Choir. His work therefore moves between island tradition, chamber or symphonic music, Atlantic folk and contemporary popular production.
His repertory includes original timple pieces, Canarian traditional music reshaped for concert performance, collaborations with folk and jazz collectives, versions of the Canary Islands anthem and stage projects such as Canarias: vino al mundo.
His musical legacy is transmitted through recordings, arrangements, teaching, books and collective projects. The official adoption of the Canary Islands anthem and his period as musical director of Los Sabandeños extend that imprint from the instrumental field into institutional memory and large-format popular music.
His Canarian connection centres on Lanzarote and on a career developed between Lanzarote, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, mainland Spain and international circuits.
Letra oficial de Benito Cabrera sobre la melodía del Arrorró de Teobaldo Power, aprobada por la Ley 20/2003.
Canción destacada entre sus composiciones populares.
Espectáculo presentado en Musicando y dedicado a vínculos históricos y culturales del vino canario.
Proyecto de orquesta de timples dirigido por Cabrera y presente en las versiones institucionales del Himno de Canarias.
Nace en 1963.
Participa en Atlántica 97, uno de sus hitos de proyección.
Participa en Son Latinos 2000.
La Ley 20/2003 oficializa el himno con texto de Benito Cabrera sobre la melodía del Arrorró de Teobaldo Power.
Imparte docencia de timple en el Conservatorio Superior de Música de Santa Cruz de Tenerife desde 2003.
Asume la dirección musical de Los Sabandeños.
Publica Contrastes, disco que fusiona timple, pop, jazz y música canaria.
Publica Raíces del Mundo con Cuarteto Capriccio.
Presenta Espirales.
Presenta el espectáculo en el ciclo Musicando de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
