Benny Moré, in the present

August 26, 2018

A massive pilgrimage to the tomb of Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré Gutiérrez, Benny Moré, is already a tradition in the town of Santa Isabel de las Lajas each August 24th, when the birth of this figure who became a legend in Cuban musical history is celebrated with cheers and songs, not only for succeeding despite being Black, poor, and descended from slaves, but for his impeccable voice and his particular way of making and feeling music.

In addition to his self-taught musical sense, he possessed a fluent tenor voice that he fused with his theatricality on stage and his eloquent or exaggerated clothing, depending on the occasion.

From themes composed in fragments, nocturnal serenades, songs in the sugarcane fields, and the most diverse jobs he performed in Havana, he went on to join in 1935, at only 16 years old, his first serious musical group.

He appeared on the popular radio program la Corte Suprema del Arte, sponsored by the CMQ station, and they say that as the first chords sounded, a bell was heard. He would return a few years later and the grand prize would be his.

With the Cauto ensemble, directed by Mozo Borgellá, he found his first stable job. Then came the Fígaro sextet, by Lázaro Cordero, and his appearance on station 1010 with the Cauto septet. Miguel Matamoros hired him as his vocal substitute and, from then on, history began to write itself positively.

With the Matamoros ensemble he went to Mexico and would stay there to begin his recording career as a soloist. He sang backed by the orchestras of Arturo Núñez and Ángel Flores, in nightclubs. In 1974 he was signed by RCA-Víctor of Mexico and would appear in nearly seven films from the so-called golden age of Mexican cinema.

Critics compared him with artists of the caliber of Kike Mendive, Lalo Montané, Tony Camargo, Toño Jiménez, and Bernardo Montesino, and noted his peculiar way of "sonear."

In 1950 he returns to Cuba and signs a contract with the Cadena Oriental de Radio. He sings for his people, undertakes tours and wins applause until he decides to found his orchestra la Banda Gigante, made up of 21 musicians.

Benny Moré indulged in every musical genre with mastery, but son montuno, mambo, and bolero flowed from him naturally and unsurpassably from the point of view of composition and his wide vocal range.

To think that he directed an ensemble without formal musical training, that by ear he dictated to his arrangers what he wanted, and that he was able to fuse the native rhythms with the orchestration codes of North American jazz bands, with a strict sense of harmony and rhythm, confirms him as a genius of music.

His voice, at times lyrical and at other times violent, is enhanced and adjusted in songs like Desdichado, Amor fugaz, Dolor y perdón, Te quedarás, and Bonito y sabroso. Whether he performed or not was a spectacle with his cane, his hat, his long jackets, and his pants held up by suspenders.

The Barbarian of Rhythm, the Cuban Ambassador of Mambo, or the Greatest Son Singer are epithets that lead us to the same person: Benny, who stopped singing after having built a legacy that still deserves to be remembered in the present.