Carlos Ruiz de la Tejera

Popular Cuban artist. Actor in theater, film, radio and television. His versatility led him to a position of admiration and respect equally in hilarious satire as in the interpretation of poems or dramatic texts. Creator of a style that made him unique and irreplaceable, a quality that made him succeed both in Cuba and abroad, in the most exclusive concert halls and in popular functions of amphitheaters, stadiums, public squares. His expressive means, his effective mime, achieved that this communication identified his presentations.

He was born in 1932 in La Habana, a man of vast culture and a Marti devotee at heart, leaving a deep mark on theater, film and television. He was a master of satire, of critical but accurate monologue. Versatile and permanent student. Respectful and fervent defender of Cuban culture.

"One is born a humorist. Culture, theatrical techniques, rigor, the discipline of the artist makes it possible for him to elaborate, like a sculptor, the type of humor he intends to make," he said on one occasion.

He was born a humorist and died being one. The style of humor of this singular artist led him to differentiate himself from the rest of those of his time. Although much humor is made in Cuba, with such a singular reality where the real and the marvelous are born together, he decided to bet on the monologue. The monologue where he mixed the most immediate reality with the cultured, the far-fetched quote, drawn from his studies and knowledge of history, not only the history of comedy but of universal history. All of which ended up defining his own style of making comedy.

The first to distinguish him was Nicolás Guillén, who not only came to praise his monologues but even made the presentations of some of his works. Music, poetry, lyricism and his knowledge of art in general made his shows the place where the ordinary Cuban wiped the dust of the road off themselves and shed their heaviness, that of day to day, breaking into a muffled laugh, half laughter, half anguish. Sarcasm was his best weapon to fight against mediocrity and the vacuity of a reality that far exceeded fiction. One could speak of his dramatic histrionicism.

He founded the Peña de Carlos Ruiz de la Tejera, which for many years was housed in the Museo Napoleónica, which he never abandoned since the project began in 1992. People came to see him, but also because it was a major cultural project. Carlos Ruiz always gave his best and then ceded the floor to young talents, a kind of neighborhood theater, through which artists, poets, artisans and craftsmen of any artistic representation passed, sharing with the public what they had inside. His peña became a thermometer, a baptism of fire by which the quality of musicians, comedians and artists in general could be measured.

Repertoire

* Poem Gente Hamlet Lima Quintana
* The Camel Monologue by Antonio Berazaín
* In Praise of Laughter Monologue by Carlos Ruiz de la Tejera
* Poems by Pablo Neruda
* Statutes of Man by Thiago de Mello
* The Ballad of Two Grandfathers by Nicolás Guillén
* Monologue of the Man Who Wanted to Can the Sun by Héctor Zumbado
* A Latin American Our Father by Mario Benedetti
* Sonic Punctuation by Victor Borgues
* Theology by Eduardo Galeano
* Poem Time by Dulce Ma Loynaz
* Poem The Sun
* The Arrow and the Song by Longfellow
* Various Poems by Ernesto Cardenal
* Various Poems by Antonio Machado
* Various Poems by Vinicius de Moraes
* The Minute Waltz by Federico Chopin
* The Creed by Aquiles Nazoa
* Humorous Song Abelito by Alejandro García
* Humorous Song Rosa Denis by Alejandro García
EVOCATION OF BOLA DE NIEVE (recital)
* Messie Julián by Armando Orefiche
* Don't Let Me Be Forgotten by Ignacio Villa
* Be Careful It's My Heart
* Leave Me by Hermanos Expósito
* La Vie en Rose by Edith Piaf
* The Flower of Cinnamon by Chabuca Grande
* Perfect Mama by Ignacio Villa
* Oh, Mama Inés by Eliseo Grenet
* Billy Goat Breaking the Drum by Moisés Simons
* Love by Ignacio Villa
* Vito Manuel, You Don't Know English by Guillén-Grenet
* The Dove Made a Mistake by Rafael Alberti-Ginastera

Filmography
He left his mark on Cuban cinema. His filmography consisted of about a dozen films, among which three stand out from the acclaimed Cuban director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea: "The Twelve Chairs," "The Death of a Bureaucrat," "The Survivors," and two others filmed by another important Cuban filmmaker, Julio García Espinosa: "They Are or They Aren't" and "The Plan," as well as "The Other Christopher" by French filmmaker Armand Gatti.

He also achieved success and recognition with recitals where he combined songs with poems, texts and humor. Such is the case with "Songs of Love and Life I and II," "Love of the Great City," "I Will Draw Out What I Have in My Chest" as well as the one-man show "Carlos Ruiz de la Tejera in Concert."

Recognition
National Vanguard of the Culture Union (awarded by the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba)
Medal of Laureate of the Culture Union
The Seal of the City of Barquisimeto, delivered at the Juárez Theater by the Mayor of the City (Mexico, 1997)
Recognition Plaque from Fundacultura and the Government of Lara State, Venezuela
The Giraldilla of La Habana, presented by the City Government
Replica of General Máximo Gómez's machete
Majadahonda Distinction, for contribution to the internationalist cause, awarded by the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC)
Distinction of Cultural Interest for artistic work, presented by the honorable municipal council of the City of Rosario, Argentina.