Joel “Pibo” Márquez was born in Caracas, Venezuela, into a family of musicians originally from Barlovento, a region known for being the land of fire and drums, rich in manifestations that identify the Afro-Venezuelan culture. This factor has favored his development in the practice of percussion, composition and music in general.
At an early age, he began his musical studies at the Parish School “Madre Cabrini”, located in Catia (the Musical School that existed in the Cristo Rey Theater on January 23rd). There “Pibo” took the Venezuelan cuatro as his first harmonic instrument, he also won a scholarship as a student in Caracas at the school and musical store “Teclados”, and studied musical language theory, solfeggio and rhythmic with the teacher Maria Auxiliadora Gonzalez.
He studied economics at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, while at the same time he worked as a percussionist in groups of different musical genres (gaitas, salsa, rock, pop, jazz). Among the groups that counted with his work we can mention: Los Turpiales, Los Portentosos, Akende, Orquesta Bronco, Sentimiento Muerto and Grupo Madera.

Imposing music over economics, in 1989 he decides to settle outside Venezuela (Colombia-Italy-France) to continue his studies and relate to other aspects of world music; he studies music and projects more and more his own style, forming the project TAMBOR JAZZ ENSAMBLE, later known as LOS MANOS CALIENTES.
At the same time he began to be part of very successful musical projects, among them, the participation in the concert of José Carreras and Paloma San Basilio with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogota.
After this period of learning and participating in international groups and orchestras, he decided to form his own group PIBO MARQUEZ Y LOS “MANOS CALIENTES”.
This group has 6 recordings to its credit: PIBO MARQUEZ CON LAS “MANOS CALIENTES”, PIBO LIVE “PIBO MARQUEZ”, “AFROPOLITANOS”, “CAMINOS”, THE BEST OF HOT HANDS and “FASERO” (the most recent).
He also ventures into the world of salsa brava with PIBO MARQUEZ Y SU DESCARGA, a group with which he has recorded three productions. The most recent one, “TAMBORERO” and its homonymous song, is a musical composition by Pibo Márquez himself and lyrics by Pedro Linares.​​