Ray Barretto a.k.a. King of the Hard Hands (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006), was an American jazz musician, widely credited as the godfather of Latin jazz. He was also the first Hispanic to record a Latin song which became a "hit" in the American Billboard Charts.

Estrellas is the seventh studio album by the Gipsy Kings released in 1995 in Europe and a year later in the United States, under the title Tierra Gitana…

This is an album spawned from a memorial to Emilio Vandenedes, a radio man from L.A. and Miami. A multitude of Cuban artists who knew and loved him turned out to perform a memorial service of sorts, which eventually evolved into a full-fledged album. The artists on the album range from 18 to 83 in age, and include some of the great legends of Cuban music (as well as American jazz in Al McKibbon): Chucho Valdes, Francisco Aguabella, Pio Leyva, and others. The quality of the music is enough to make any given fan of the Cuban roots craze (spawned in the U.S. by Buena Vista Social Club, among others) turn and take a second look at what had been happening in Cuba prior to Ry Cooder. Newer generation players also appear, including the vocal group Bamboleo, flutist Orlando Valle, and bassist Carlos del Puerto, Jr. As usual, all of the major styles (guajira, rumba, comparsa, bolero, son, descarga, bata) of Cuban music appear in some form in the midst of the playing.