Benito Antonio Fernández Ortiz

Antonio Fernández, who became known in the Cuban musical world with the nickname Ñico Saquito.

He created a large number of picaresque guarachas that achieved great popularity in our country, such as those titled "Compay Gallo" and "María Cristina", to mention only two as examples.

At age 12, he had to become a metalworking welder due to the poverty in which his family lived. Later, he participated in some sugar harvests, and when the feared "dead season" appeared—a period when grinding ceased—he sold rings, matchboxes, kitchen stoves, and coffee strainers.

According to legend, in his adolescence, Ñico (as Antonios are customarily called in Cuba) was hired by baseball teams that visited Santiago de Cuba to retrieve balls that escaped from the field, which he did using a sack. From this, fans nicknamed him Saquito, an epithet that accompanied him for the rest of his life.

Music was always part of his existence. His mother and aunt sang duets both in his house and at activities in the Tivolí neighborhood, where he was born. Furthermore, the influence and folk and musical tradition of Santiago de Cuba, the cradle of troubadours, led him at age 15 to touch a guitar for the first time, and he took lessons with maestro Félix Premión.

From the age of 15, he began learning to play guitar, and some time later he started his life as a troubadour. At this age he felt drawn to songwriting, decided to become a troubadour, and abandoned a promising baseball career. His nickname Saquito came from his skill at catching balls as a ballplayer.

Ñico Saquito was part of quartets and various groups. As a composer, his creations reflected with critical insight aspects of the reality he lived.

In the 1920s, he already had his own group, though later he joined the Cuarteto Castillo, with which he performed numerous tours throughout the island.

In 1934 he returned to the capital, this time with the Quinteto Cubana Star, made up of Enrique Pugita, Ramón Dilú, and Francisco Repilado (Compay Segundo), with whom he performed at the Cabaret Montmartre and on the radio station RHC Cadena Azul, owned by Amado Trinidad Velasco, and later on Radio Suaritos, where he shared time with José Ramón Sánchez (El Madrugador), Celina González and Reutilio, Merceditas Valdés, Fernando Albuerne, Senén Suárez, and Obdulio Morales.

In 1942 he founded the Cuarteto Compay Gallo, made up of Ñico Saquito, director and lead voice; Rigoberto Hecheverría (Maduro), tres; Manolo Castillo, second voice, and Ángel Almenares, guitar.

In 1948 he created Los Guaracheros de Oriente, made up of Félix Escobar (El Gallego), drums and lead voice; Gerardo Macías (El Chino), guitar and voice; Florencio Santana (Picolo), guitar and voice. With this group he traveled to Venezuela, Tampa, Key West, Mexico, and New York.

In 1951 he traveled to Venezuela with Los Guaracheros de Oriente, which later disbanded, and there he worked with the trio América and the quartet of Tico Álvarez. In 1960 he returned to Cuba. From then on, until his death, he worked at the bar-restaurant La Bodeguita del Medio. About his way of creating, Ñico Saquito said: "My songs are born from a witty remark, from a story I hear anywhere, from a joke, and of course, from the joys and sorrows that have befallen me at some point in life. But all of them, completely all of them, have popular roots […]." Hence the lasting quality of his guarachas, guajiras, and boleros; in them the Cuban is reflected, his daily life, because his music is a reflection of his idiosyncrasy; in them he handles intrigue, "María Cristina"; an artistic event, like the novel "El derecho de nacer", by Félix B. Caignet.

He participated with Los Guaracheros de Oriente in the Cuban film Rincón criollo, 1951, alongside the vedette Blanquita Amaro, the singer Celia Cruz, and the duo of Celina and Reutilio.

After this experience, he returned to Santiago and founded Los Guaracheros de Oriente, a group with which he performed in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela in the 1950s.

Ñico remained abroad until 1960, when due to the political conditions created by the Cuban Revolution, he decided to return to the island while his group stayed overseas.

Most of his compositions are guarachas with witty and spicy lyrics about personal life or common events. One of his most famous compositions is the guajira Al vaivén de mi carreta, a sentimental ballad about life in the countryside and the hardships of rural life. Some of his best-known songs are Cuidado, compay gallo, María Cristina me quiere gobernar, Al vaivén de mi carreta, and Adiós compay gato.

Works
Saquito's musical output of more than 500 compositions encompassed the full range of Cuban popular music, including country music. His compositions have been part of the repertoire of Cuba's most prominent artists and groups, and have also been performed by important voices abroad. All achieved remarkable popularity, including Camina como Chencha la Gambá, Mi cinturita, and Me voy para la luna. The famous Mexican trio Los Panchos won thousands of admirers with the song Silverio, Facundo y la luna.

Other famous pieces of his authorship are the protest song Al vaivén de mi carreta, as well as No dejes camino por vereda, La negra Leonor, ¿Qué te parece mi compay?, Choncholí se va pa'l monte, and Yo no escondo a mi abuelita, among others.

Afro
"Feliciano tá cansá"

Boleros
"A mi querido Santiago"
"Qué agradable"
"Quejas"
"Te escribiré con sangre"
"Volveré"

Chachachá
"A mi me gusta el chachachá"

Guaguancó
"María Belén"

Guajira
"Al vaivén de mi carreta"

Guaracha
"A la mocha"
"A orillas del Cauto"
"Atízame el bastidor"
"¡Ay, que me da!"
"Babalú"
"Cambiaron a Jorge"
"Compay gato"
"Cuidadito, compay gallo"
"Chencha la gambá"
"Dale tumba"
"Estoy hecho tierra"
"Francisco del otro la'o"
"La columbina"
"Las perras del curro"
"Los que son y no son"
"María Cristina"
"Me voy para la luna"
"Mi cinturita"
"Mira, mira"
"No dejes camino por vereda"
"¿Qué será, qué será lo que tiene Rubirosa?"
"¿Qué te parece mi compay?"
"Sabor a caña, tabaco y ron"
"Saca la jabita"
"Silverio"
"Facundo y la luna"
"Ya don Rafael habló"
"Ya que estoy en mi Cubita"
"Yo no escondo a mi abuelita"

Son
"Un domingo en el batey"

Son-montuno
"Jaleo"

Rumba
"La negra Leonor"
"No te vistas que no vas"