Juan de Dios Alfonso

He founded the small orchestra Flor de Cuba, which played at dances and in theatres in the middle 19th century in Havana.

[1] In Havana, Alfonso played clarinet in Feliciano Ramos's band La Unión in 1856, and directed Las Almendares in 1859.

Cuban Bufo theatre was a form of comedy, ribald and satirical, with stock figures imitating types that might be found anywhere.

[2] The band was playing in the Teatro Villanueva in Havana in 1869 when the Spanish Voluntarios attacked the theatre, killing some ten or so patrons who had been watching a bufo and applauding its revolutionary sentiments.

Orquesta Flor de Cuba continued until its leader's death, when it was taken over by one of its long-term members, Raimundo Valenzuela.