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 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. At sixteen he formed his own group that played at small dances and existed on whatever money that was earned. Bartolomé got employment at the Central Sugar Cane Company, and he alternated this exhausting work by appearing at dances with a group called Avance (Advance) where he was the featured singer. Along with two other members of the group he then formed a trio of voices and guitars, and in spite of the economic uncertainties on the horizon decided to give Havana a try once again. Said Bartolomé: “For country people, thinking about Havana was the biggest thing in one’s life. Nothing ever overcame the emotion about being there. So I slung my guitar under my arm and launched myself into the streets. I had nothing to be ashamed of. I’d arrived and I wasn’t beaten yet. I HAD to be heard. I had faith in my voice, and in my songs.” It was the year 1940 when the young Bartolomé arrived in the Cuban capital. He sang 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. Benny Moré later started to perform at the Rio Rosa, and the first of his many triumphs took place right there. He got to know Lalo Montané, with whom he formed a duo named the Dueto Fantasma, although Benny often alternated his performances with Lalo with the orchestra of Arturo Nuñez, as well as appearances as featured soloist with some of the best Mexican orchestras. Benny’s fame also earned him a contract to make several movies, in which he could be seen working, and among them are ‘Carita de Cielo’, ‘Ventarrón’, ‘Novia de la Media’ etcetera... In one tour he made with Prado they appeared in Panama at carnival time, driving the Panamanian people absolutely delirious with the rhythms of the mambo. 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. At the end of 1950 Benny returned to his homeland, determined never to leave it again. In Santiago de Cuba he was engaged to appear on a radio programme called ‘De Fiesta Con Bacardi’ which gave him his first big success in Cuba. The programme was broadcast at 8 p.m. and via its daily airings the public’s favorite number by Benny was quite definitely Oh, Bárbara! and through a singular event that occurred in Santiago, and in connection with the theme just mentioned, there arose his nickname for all time – that of ‘El Bárbaro del Ritmo’. Benny was then called to appear in Havana, debuting on the radio’s Canal Azul with the orchestra of Bebo Valdés. Later, with the help of Chocolate Armenteros finding musicians, he formed his own band (Banda Gigante) which made its debut on the 3rd of August 1953. From then on the workload of his orchestra intensified considerably, with performances on television, radio, in theatres and in the innumerable dance halls across the island. 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.