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Mysteries
of Benny Moré
BY
RAFAEL LAM –
Special for Granma International –
BENNY
Moré died on February 19, 1963, at just 43 years of
age. His death brought down the curtain on a
particular school of music because our great
classics of popular music are like strolling
conservatoires of oral tradition. The musician from
Santa Isabel de las Lajas pioneered a new way of
singing and leading a band. "Other things
followed on from him," says Pepe Olmo, singer
with Orquestra Aragón.
He’s
El Bárbaro del Ritmo (the King of Rhythm), myth and
legend. For the majority of Cubans he is the
greatest representative of Cuban popular music.
Many
books could be written and films could be made about
him. Forty years after his death I’d like to
publish some anecdotes about his life, which
continues to be a mystery. All great music is born
with this magical aura — the same aura that gave
birth to the dawn of civilization.
Benny
used to say that he started singing as soon as he
was out of diapers.
"At
least, my memory shows me singing when I was a
child. Each time I returned from the bodega,
carrying the shopping bags, I came into the house
yelling like a demon, because I learnt every song
there was straight away. My parents got mad at the
noise and used to send me outside to work preparing
the yucca for grinding."
In his
troubadour stage, 20 years old, badly dressed and
unkempt, he was thrown out of the bars of
densely-populated Havana. Once he became famous they
invited him to perform, but Benny didn’t accept
hypocritical invitations. "I was more
interested in singing on the street to tourists and
the people. My life as a wanderer lasted longer than
I would have liked, but I’m not ashamed of it.
Gardel also sang in cafes in the poorer parts of
town and went on to become famous."
One
night in Mexico he substituted for Matamoros and led
the group. Esther Lafayette who accompanied him on
the trip remembers: "He made the guys in the El
Patio cabaret so happy." The next day El Patio’s
owner Vicente Miranda asked Matamoros to let Benny
carry on conducting the band. Matamoros refused,
bringing the tour of the sonero from Santiago
to an end.
Benny’s
wedding in Mexico was charming. First he fell in
love with his girlfriend Margarita Bocanegra over
ice cream – as Cubans still do today in Coppelia,
Vedado district’s ice cream parlor. "I very
coquettishly accepted," his wife tells.
"He serenaded me with a trova song and told me
the tribulations of his life. He proposed to me and
23 days later we were married. He drank and enjoyed
himself so much that he fell fast asleep on the rug
on the floor."
Some
of Benny’s habits: he used to like writing tales
of old African slaves, doing so with great flair. He
enjoyed criollo food: spicy oxtail flambé;
hutia baked with molasses; beef jerky, pork and cod
with rice and yams. He liked to make an unusual
Lucumí dish (from Africa): yucca with fine white
flour, fat and peanut balls. He ate boiled eggs with
lots of garlic, salt and oil to protect his stomach
from the effects of alcohol. He wasn’t a great
lover of beer, preferring Peralta and Matusalén
rum. He made frequent visits to El Pacífico
restaurant in Chinatown to eat Cuban-style Cantonese
fried rice.
He
used to fish using nets and bags, and liked drinking
lots of coffee while doing so. He was no fan of
etiquette, walking around in his shirtsleeves, often
laying down to sleep on the floor bare-chested, to
cool down from the heat. From this position he would
sometimes dictate musical arrangements to the
members of his band.
In
1959, Benny’s record company RCA Víctor made him
a tempting offer — $20 million USD dollars to move
to New York and record. Benny suspected it was a
trap to keep him there. But the singer really turned
it down because El Bárbaro was nothing without his
country. "I live with the gratitude and
acknowledgement of my people." Besides, Benny
couldn’t bear New York’s cold climate. When he
traveled there to sing at the Palladium, he told the
director of La Sonora Matancera: "I’m off, I
can’t stand the cold here."
We don’t
know how Benny managed in Mexico: an artist such as
he could only give of himself in a land such as
this, in this environment — this emotional climate
that can only be found in Cuba.
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