专辑简介

Benny Moré had a unique style for putting over his songs, and was gifted with an incomparable voice. He was born as Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré on the 24th of August 1919, in Santa Isabel de Lajas, Cuba. Even when very small he felt attracted to music; he liked to sing, and quickly learned all the songs. His brother Theodore recalled that: “... on one occasion he got hold of two tins of condensed milk and said they were bongos; I was actually a bongo player and my sister Esther played the claves. That was his first orchestra; he was the singer and told us: ‘You don’t begin until I tell you.’ He also improvised guajiros, boleros...” In his free moments he frequently attended the Casino of the Congos, where he learned to play the guitar and the tumbadora and in time became familiar with all the Afro-Cuban rhythms. He was also given to the habit of serenading his friends, accompanying himself on the guitar. It was the year 1940 when the young Bartolomé arrived in the Cuban capital. He sang in a duo and also formed part of the Cordero group, but finally achieved his first real stable employment with the Cauto septet, led by Cauto Mozo Borgella. From that point on things went well, and his artistic career began in earnest at the side of Siro Rodriguez and Rafael Cueto, who together with Miguel Matamoros made up the famous Matamoros Trio, and later the larger group of the same name. The band was contracted to appear in Mexico in 1945, and they were a great success working in radio as well as in the legendary cabaret Rio Rosa. When they were just on the point of returning to Cuba, Bartolomé asked Miguel’s permission to stay behid in Mexico because he wished to marry a Mexican girl. Siro told him: “Just remember that in Mexico they call the donkeys ‘bartolo’. Stay, yes, but change your name.” His reply was immediate: “From today I’ll call myself Benny: BENNY MORÉ!” In 1946 Benny married Juana Bocanegra Durán in Mexico City, a nurse by profession, the best man at the wedding being the famed Mexican singer Miguel Aceves Mejias. Benny Moré started to perform at the Rio Rosa, and the first of his many triumphs took place right there. From his time in Mexico there resulted an uncountable amount of musical hits. He made more than sixty recordings, some of the most significant being those with Perez Prado, and they have been gathered here on this compilation. The number Dolor Karabali was in Benny’s own estimation his best recording with Prado, for which reason he never wished to record it ever again. At the end of 1950 Benny returned to his homeland, determined never to leave it again. It has been said that he was the most all-round of Cuban singers, for he was capable for embroidering, stretching and repeating the phrases of a song without ever altering his rhythm. He made many recordings with his orchestra as well as touring through different South American countries, even performing in Hollywood in 1956 during the annual presentation of the Oscars. During this very successful period Benny received numerous offers to leave Cuba, which increased dramaticaly in 1959 when the Castro Revolution triumphed. He was heard to say at the time: “I’m from Cuba. I’m not leaving”. Cuba was everything to Benny Moré, and the source of his inspiration. Benny was the voice of the Cuban people, who will always hold him in their memory since that fateful 19th day of February 1963 – the day when he physically disappeared.