Goodbye to Orestes Macías

March 26, 2020

Dear to all those born in Bejucal, the passing of singer Orestes Macías at 85 years old leaves a great void in the history of Cuban music. His voice for many years in the Conjunto Rubavana (1958-1994, with some intervals as a soloist), together with that of Raúl Planas, gave this popular group an undisputed seal. Of course, he was also very beloved by all our people.

He took his first steps precisely in his native land in the municipal band and as a singer and percussionist in the traditional Charangas de Bejucal. Already in the capital, in the 1950s, his presence became habitual in programs of the nascent national television, and he was part of the Vas-Cané group, along with musicians who came from the Sonora Matancera but was immediately sought after by the orchestra of Arcaño y sus Maravillas (1955) and later by Hermanos Castro (1956).

It was, however, in the Conjunto Casino (starting in 1959) where he achieved stardom during an era of great bolero singers (Benny Moré, Orlando Contreras, Roberto Faz, Orlando Vallejo, Elena Burke, Orlando Fierro and Omara Portuondo, among many others), with whom he sang on multiple occasions.

As a bolero singer he is remembered for his version of the work Vanidad, by Alberto Molmagran, Ojos y labios, by Carlos Gómez, Tuve un amor, by Joaquín Mendive and equally for his version of Boda Negra, authored by Venezuelan priest Carlos Borges.

But also, as researcher Emir García contributes, for his version of "Sobre una tumba una rumba"; a theme by Ignacio Piñeiro to which he gave the swing of that way of doing bolero in the "Moorish" style.

If something characterized him it was his modesty and Creole humor. That charisma, along with his voice, allowed him to defend bolero for years, among so many genres that were imposed in his time such as the guaracha and the son, things equally done with mastery by the Conjunto Rumbavana, which he also performed as a chorus member of the unforgettable group, today almost completely forgotten and absent from our radio and television programming.

In 1995 he conducted a successful tour through Colombia with the Conjunto Caney, meanwhile, his appearances and permanent encouragement to the Bolero Festivals, dimensioned his significance in the tradition and in a musical genre that conquered the world.

He spent his last years with his colleagues from the Tradicionales de los 50, an "all stars" where he continued giving glories to Cuban music.