Zoila Lapique Becali was born in Havana on June 27th, 1930. In 1955 she graduated from the School of Librarians of the Economic Society of Friends of the Country (SEAP) attached to the Library of the Washington Congress, and in 1967 she graduated from the School of Librarians and Documentary Makers of Havana University (UH). In 1964, she had got a bachelor of history in said university. In 1959 she worked as Deputy Director of the Music Department of the National Library, which was directed at that time by Professor Argeilers León. Later on, she worked – until she retired – at the Cuban Hall Department of said Library, where she got a degree of Permanent Researcher specialized in Cuban Culture, mostly in the 18th and 19th centuries.

As an invited professor, she has delivered regular courses at the Arts Faculty of Havana University (UH), teaching Cuban Painting and Engraving in Colonial Times. Over the past 16 years, she has been a member of the examining board conferring the research categories at the Ministry of Culture. She is a member of the Musicology Section of the National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC) .

For many years she worked as a specialized reference maker and has provided her services to college students, Cuban and foreign researchers.

Main publications:

She has authored many articles for the Cuban and foreign specialized press such as:  

• Giovanni Bottesini in Cuba, Parma, Universitá, 1989.


• French-Haitian Contributions to the Cuban Contredanse: Myths and Realities, in the anthology Overview of the Cuban Popular Music, Letras Cubanas Publishing House, 1998.


• Presence of Havana , in the anthology Overview of the Cuban Popular Music, Letras Cubanas Publishing House, 1998.


• The Events of the History of Spain and Cuba in the Bands of Cuban Havanas and Cigarettes, in National Images and Imageries in Overseas Spain, Madrid, Higher Scientific Research Board, 1999.


• Ignacio Cervantes. Cuba in His Dances, in American Debates, Havana, 1997.


• Preface to Political Essay on the Island of Cuba, by Baron Alexander von Humboldt , Calles Publishing House, Spain, 1998.


• Cataloguing and Classifying the Cuban Music, Publications Department of the National Library, 1963.


• Cuban Colonial Music, Volume I, Letras Cubanas Publishing House, 1979.


• Women in Havanas ", 1996.


• Havana: History and Architecture of a Romantic City , co-author together with María Luisa Lobo and Alicia García Santana, 1999.


• Memory in the Stones (History of lithography in Cuba, 19th century), Bologna Publishing House.

Main awards and decorations:  

• "Pedro Pablo Hernández Balaguer" Musicology Award, 1974.


• 2002National Social Sciences Award.