AUDIENCES have become accustomed to obituaries of the veteran Cuban musicians who enjoyed success in the twilight of their careers with the Buena Vista Social Club. But the death, thought to be from heart attack, of the explosive conga player Miguel “Angá” Díaz, one of the youngest members of the extended Buena Vista family, comes as a far greater shock.

At 45, he was four decades younger than the group’s pianist, Rubén González, and less than half the age of the nonagenarian Compay Segundo, both of whom died in 2003.

Born Miguel Aurelio Díaz Zayas in San Juan y Martínez in the province of Pinar del Río, Cuba, he began performing and recording professionally in 1975 while studying classical percussion at the National School of Art in Havana, joining the group Treceto de la ENA (later known as Opus 13) on his first day at college.

Developing his innovative trademark rhythmic patterns played on a set of five conga drums, he stayed with Opus 13 until 1987. In that year he joined the pioneering Cuban jazz group Irakere, led by the pianist Chucho Valdés.

After leaving Irakere in the mid-1990s he was recruited to play on the debut album by the Afro-Cuban All Stars, recorded by the British-based World Circuit label at the same 1996 sessions in Havana that produced Buena Vista Social Club and featuring many of the same personnel.

Following the success of Buena Vista, which won a Grammy award in 1998 and went on to sell seven million albums worldwide, he became an integral part of the touring group promoting the Buena Vista brand around the world and played on solo albums by a number of its main stars including those by Rubén González, Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo and Manuel “Guajiro” Mirabal. He also appeared on a second album released by the Afro-Cuban All Stars in 1999.

After a long apprenticeship as a sideman, his own musical vision was given free rein when he played a leading part on the album Cachaíto, which appeared in 2001 under the name of Cachaíto López, Buena Vista’s virtuoso double bass player. Díaz added elements of reggae, hip hop and funk to López’s traditional Cuban jazz style, and his contribution helped to create the most innovative recording released under the Buena Vista banner.

He followed it in 2005 with his own album, Echu Mingua, which presented a similarly adventurous fusion of contemporary styles and traditional Cuban sounds, and cemented his reputation as one of the island’s great congueros. Away from the Buena Vista set-up, he appeared on experimental jazz albums by Steve Coleman and Roy Hargrove, performed with the Cuban hip-hop heroes Orishas and toured with the elegant Cuban pianist Omar Sosa.

After moving first to Paris and later Barcelona, he also gave master classes in percussion at schools and universities across North America and Europe, and produced a tuition video in 2000 which won an award from Drum magazine.

Miguel “Angá” Díaz, percussionist, was born in 1961. He died on August 9, 2006, aged 45.