Faustino Oramas Osorio

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Popular troubadour, he is recognized as «the greatest minstrel of Cuba» and achieved fame as «the king of double meaning» for his ability and grace in weaving complex sung narratives in which humor and wit are displayed.

From a very young age, and from a home of extreme humility, he used to accompany an uncle who sold clothes in the sugarcane colonies of the mills Palma, San Germán and Miranda, territories of the old Cuban province of Oriente. With his physical build and height he could well have been a famous athlete, but he decided to pursue music, especially the Tres, an instrument that was his lifelong companion.

In the first decades of the past twentieth century in the towns and cities of the interior of our country, musical activities were very scarce, and that is why our musicians could not support themselves as such and dedicated themselves to other trades, but Oramas Osorio always maintained himself with his tres "come what may" through every corner of his eastern region giving concerts without respite, at any time in any hamlet or village.

Since 1938 he adopted the nickname «el Guayabero» from the title of one of his early compositions. In his honor, the «Music with Humor» competition has been held for several years, to which he dedicated his professional life, with great popular roots throughout the island of Cuba. His most frequently used phrase was: «holy word».

At age 15, Faustino Oramas Osorio joined the "Sexteto Tropical", where he remained for several years performing throughout the Holguín regions. Later he joined the group "Conjunto Trovadores Holguineros". Subsequently he formed his own group made up of Santana Oramas Osorio, vocalist and maracas, and Candito Oramas Batista, bongos. Later Misael Pino joined. He cultivates a traditional son montuno, which reminds us of the first son singers of the region where this genre originated.

His rhythm is simple, based on tres, claves, maracas and his picaresque singing, full of double meaning which, according to him, the listener provides.

In 1926, at an activity held at a sugar mill with the Conjunto Trovadores Holguineros, they were attended by a young woman somewhat flirtatious, which provoked the anger of her husband, a Rural Guard officer, who swiftly departed like a beast towards the musicians creating a musical stampede. According to what Oramas Osorio recounted to a journalist who interviewed him years later, it was there in that small venue called Guayabero where Faustino later created the famous son montuno "El Guayabero".

In 1968 the popularity of his son montuno, "El Guayabero", changed his original name and he became known simply as El Guayabero, instead of Faustino Oramas. This situation occurred when the distinguished performer Pacho Alonso recorded the work in question in the late 1960s, and this son montuno became one of the most famous numbers in our country during that period, performed by almost all Cuban groups.

He toured Mexico, performed at the Cervantino Festival; and in Spain he performed with rocker Santiago Auserón, singer and leader of the band Radio Futura, and at the café-concert El Sol.

Always affable, el Guayabero liked to dress in a white suit and a hat, also white, which he made himself. Like his lean body, his face was also finely sculpted. With very fine nose and lips, he was also characterized by having penetrating eyes and an inveterate stammer.

According to Pablo Milanés:
El Guayabero «is a popular genius whose very special characteristics within Cuban popular music cannot be classified in a determined tendency. I think that, unfortunately, there is no one like him [...]. El Guayabero imprints a special tenderness as few do, as a cultivator of the picaresque. He projects Cuban-ness in his verse like no one else and does it with considerable mastery.»

For tres player Pancho Amat:
«El Guayabero is a popular minstrel who sings the anecdotes and events of his surroundings and his time, nuanced by Cuban wit. He anchors his music in the son tradition, fills it with life. From the musical point of view, I can speak of the tres player. He is a popular tres player of tumbaos, who uses a very repetitive rhythmic melodic design, in whose most elementary cell Cuban flavor resides. I have studied it carefully, because sometimes orchestral closings occur that allow me to start with a tumbao that everyone likes, I take away or add something more, but I am inspired by Faustino Oramas. His tumbaos are complex; for each number he has a different one, and when you play them they lift the music. It fits in his small group, but also in an orchestra format. As for rhyme, it has been greatly exploited in rural music and he uses it successfully, even in that rhyme that he does not complete, but that he insinuates and you give it the double meaning. His merit consists in having found his root, and in his virtuosity in expressing it. I think that every tres player should know his "tumbaos".»

Faustino Oramas is a personality in our artistic musical world, his tumbaos on the tres are unmistakable, his way of dressing, his white straw hat, his eternal tie, his jokes told with incredible sobriety where no smile ever appears, is the admiration of all. Regarding his works, Faustino notes that he does not create them with mischief—his admirers suppose those.

He never wanted to live in the Cuban capital (La Habana). This comes from the fact that in the eastern region he was treated with great consideration and affection, and furthermore he chose an instrument and a rhythm native to that part of our country to turn himself into an "Uncommon Spectacular Man" in Cuban national culture.

Awards and Honors
National Prize for Humor
"Félix Varela" Order for Cuban Culture
"Raúl Gómez García" Medal
Replica of the Holguín Axe
Baibrama of Holguín
"Living Memory" Prize
Member of Merit of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC)

Notable Works
¡Ay, candela!
How Marieta Dances
How I Come This Year
Watch Out for the Dog
The Train of Life
In Guayabero
Félix Solano Doesn't Want to Work
Casimiro's Yuca
Tomorrow I'm Going to Sibanicú
My Playful Son
Always in the Back
Tumbaíto.