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MEMORY, FROM POLO MONTAÑEZ
I only gave my heart...
• Lusáfrica launches new CD in
Havana • Already on sale in the United States • Soon
to reach Colombia and France
BY MIREYA CASTAÑEDA—Granma
International staff writer—
SUCCESS arrived late, but in a sweeping way, for
Polo Montañez. Moreover, and unfortunately for
everyone, his presence on Cuban and international
stages was fleeting. As one poet said, “always
death, its brief passing.”
Now,
thanks to the fact that the singer and composer had
an obsession – later seemingly justified – with
recording his songs, whether with a simple tape
recorder or in a studio, his record company,
Lusáfrica, has managed to put together a CD with 11
of them. Its title could be none other than
Memoria (Memory).
The
CD is Polo’s third with Lusáfrica (Guajira
Natural, Guitarra Mía) and its president, José
da Silva, who “discovered” Polo in his setting of
the community of Las Terrazas in Pinar del Río
province, has given it special attention.
In
comments during the CD’s launching, María Eugenia
Guerrero, Lusáfrica’s representative in Cuba, said
that it was an arduous task because of Polo’s sheer
volume of demos and because of the interest that he
had in organizing his music as well as that of the
record company in promoting it.
With
all of that material, Da Silva decided to sort out
which he could use for a commercial CD, and he
selected the 11 pieces giving preponderance to the
violin, an instrument that Polo loved.
After the musical arrangements, recording began in
Havana at Abdala Studios with Polo’s own group and
guest artists (the mixing and mastering were done at
Lusáfrica’s Dos Soul Studios in Paris).
Thus, in addition to doing the chord arrangements,
violinist Lázaro Dagoberto López (of Orquesta
Aragón) played on the tracks “Amor e distancia”
(Love and distance), “Guitarra Mía”
(My Guitar), “Regresaré” (I Will
Return) and “Homenaje a Martí”
(Tribute to Martí).
The
well-known tres player Pancho Amat was
invited for “Locura de Amor” (Craziness of Love) and
“Pueblo mío” (My people) – a song that could become
as popular as “Un montón de estrellas” (A mountain
of stars), Polo’s great hit – and singer Gladys
Pérez, a member of the group, sings “Siete años”
(Seven Years).
The
other four songs on the Memoria CD are “Como
nunca nadie” (Like No One Ever), “Con o sin ella”
(With or Without Her), “Gente loca” (Crazy People),
and “Querido amor” (Dear Love).
Those who fell in love with Polo Montañez will
recognize two songs from his previous album:
“Guitarra Mía,” which so identifies him and was
recorded on that occasion with Rey Montesinos, and
is now presented in a new version for strings; and
“Regresaré,” Polo’s musical version of the poem of
the same name by Tony Guerrero, one of the five
Cuban prisoners in the United States, also in a new
version for strings.
It
was fate that decided that this song would be very
apropos for the singer. In an interview that he gave
Granma International just two months before
his fatal traffic accident, he assured us, “I will
always return to my native soil.”
Among other interesting details regarding the CD are
those related to “Amor e distancia.” Da Silva had
asked Polo – according to María Eugenia Guerrero –
for a song for the great diva Cesaria Evora, and
Polo had delayed because of numerous commitments.
One night in Paris, he composed “Amor e distancia,”
which has within it Cesaria’s music and feelings.
Polo passed away before delivering the song, and Da
Silva decided to put in on the Memoria CD, in
Polo’s voice.
That
song, and “Locura de Amor,” she added, I think were
the last that Polo wrote.
The
CD launch took place in the Taganana Room of the
Hotel Nacional, and as a result of effective
marketing is already in stores. Lusáfrica has
already launched the CD in the United States, will
do so in May in Colombia, where Polo had spectacular
success, and later it will arrive in Europe,
especially in France.
In
an aside with Granma International, María
Eugenia Guerrero commented that the four exclusive
Cuban artists in Lusáfrica’s catalog have new CDs:
singers Leyanis López (who is to record this May)
and Osdalgia (just finished) and the groups
Cubanitos 20-02 (to be launched on the international
market in June) and Máxima Alerta (in the mixing
process in Paris).
Memoria
is a must-have CD if we recall that each of Polo’s
songs summons his emotion, honesty, mischievousness.
But each one also has a singular phrase that
portrays him. We found it in “Pueblo mío,” where,
with the simplicity of the natural Guajiro,
he says to us: “I only gave my heart...” – as though
that were something that abounds in these times.
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