La Musica Cubana
A little Lecuona for your Saturday night
We remember Ernesto Lecuona who was born in 1895. Listening to Lecuona’s music reminds me of my late parents who loved his music.
We remember Cuba’s prolific composer Ernesto Lecuona (1895 – 1963)
Like some of you, I grew up listening and hearing stories about Ernesto Lecuona’s songs. He was my parents’ favorite composer! They had a personal reference to each and every one of his songs!
July 1958: ‘Patricia’ by Perez Prado was #1 for 3 weeks
Damaso Pérez Prado was born in Matanzas, Cuba, on December 11, 1916. In the 1950’s, he was “The King of Mambo” with hits like “Mambo #5” & “Mambo #8”.
We remember Mongo Santamaria (1917-2003)
Ramón “Mongo” Santamaría Rodríguez was born in Havana on this day in 1917. He died in Miami in 2003.
According to his biography, he moved to New York City in 1950 and made his US debut with Pérez Prado. He followed that by performing with Tito Puente and and recording with Cal Tjader (1957-1960).
In 1963, he put “Watermelon man” in the Top 10 of Billboard USA. The rest is musical history and many of us danced to his recordings for a very long time.
We remember Nat King Cole (1919 – 1965)
We remember the one and only Nat King Cole who was born on this day in 1919. He died of cancer in 1965. Like many of you, I grew up with Nat King Cole’s songs on my parents’ turntable. In our case, it was listening to Nat King Cole singing in Spanish.
‘Cuba and the USA: A Musical Journey’: A chat with Fernando Hernandez
Check out my talk with Fernando “Fernan” Hernandez about his book, “Cuba and the USA: A Musical Journey.”
The music of Ernesto Lecuona and others with Fernando Hernandez
Fernando Hernandez, author of “The Cubans,” reviews the career of Ernesto Lecuona, one of the greatest composers of the Spanish speaking world, plus Moises Simons, Rene Touzet and others.
Happy #66 Gloria Estefan
We say happy birthday to Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García who was born in Cuba in 1957. We know her as Gloria Estefan. She and her husband Emilio founded The Miami Sound Machine and the rest is music history.
Ernesto Lecuona, Moises Simons, and other great Cuban composers
We spoke with Fernando Hernandez (author of The Cubans) about Ernesto Lecuona and Moises Simons, two great Cuban composers.
Lecuona was a legendary composer. Simons composed “El Manicero,” one of the most famous Cuban songs.
We remember Beny More (1919 — 1963)
Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré Gutiérrez was born in Santa Isabel de Las Lajas, Cuba on August 23, 1919 and died February 19, 1963. We were still living in Cuba, and his death hit my parents very hard. I learned later that my parents had attended several of his performances.
More’s music is found in almost every Cuban household in the US. I remember my parents ordered some Beny More LP’s when we finally got a record player in Wisconsin. More’s music was exactly what my parents needed to survive those cold Wisconsin winters.
He started singing as a young man and eventually joined Perez Prado, the big Cuban orchestra of the 1950’s. More eventually started his own band and enjoyed tremendous success until his death.
The bad news is that he died young. The good news is that he left a huge archive of music and much of it is available in the US.