Hilda Santana Tondique

Singer. Cuban trova music has known great female interpreters considered one of the best second voices of Cuba.

She was born in Sagua la Grande, former province of Las Villas currently province of Villa Clara.

Her artistic training took place in her own home where she came into contact with music. Her mother and siblings enjoyed singing and in her house old guitarists and composers would gather. As a child, she knew the Antonio Machín repertoire. In those endless gatherings she enjoyed hearing him sing El Manisero, which later made him famous in Spain and throughout the world.

In Sagua la Grande, the young woman participated in gatherings, performed with orchestras and around the 1930s she moved to La Habana. With a repertoire of unforgettable songs she sang with Machín himself in a trio that also included Alfredo León. The artist formed a trio with Justa García and Lorenzo Hierrezuelo as accompanying guitarist. Memorable was her duet with Nené Allué and Ana María García. As part of Enrique Arredondo's company, Hilda toured the entire Island. Another important period: her time at the Sevilla hotel with a quartet directed by Sindo Garay and which also included Guarionez and Hatuey Garay.

She was associated with composer Lorenzo Barcelata, who traveled to our capital with the idea of opening a Casa de la Trova. The Mexican author arrived accompanied by comedian Chaflán and the famous filmmaker Indio Fernández. She rehearsed Barcelata's pieces, his most beautiful songs; when the plans did not materialize, he returned to his country accompanied by his friends. For la Santana, contact with musicians of the caliber of Sindo, Villalón, Rosendo and Corona was an education, as traditional trova always fascinated her and for which she felt great admiration in expressing:

Corona was immense, Villalón somewhat somber, Rosendo had marvelous pieces like the bambuco Dos lindas rosas and as for Sindo he is the most difficult to interpret of all. I feel a preference for Tardes Grises and El huracán y la palma, which is a contracanto. People often ask me for Corona's songs: Aurora, La Alfonsa, Mercedes, Longina…

For fourteen years she worked with the "Tanda de Guaracheros" 1961, she would participate in various performances at the Teatro Payret, in which she sang:

La verbena de la paloma, by Tomás Bretón
La revoltosa, by Ruperto Chapí
Doña Francisquita, by Amadeo Vives
Cecilia Valdés, by Gonzalo Roig

In 1962, at the Festival de Música Popular, held at the Teatro Amadeo Roldán, she performed in La isla de las cotorras, by Jorge Anckermann. At the Teatro Musical de La Habana, she played the leading role in the musical comedy "Tía Mame", by Patrick Dennos and Jerry Armann.

For a long time she continued tirelessly in the peñas and making presentations in theaters. Death surprised her on July 28, 1998. She left us the marvel of her voice in a handful of songs that will always live in the hearts of those who love trova.

Hilda took pride in having founded, in 1968, the duo Voces del Caney, which in different periods was made up of Luz Mustelier, Gina del Valle and recently by Dulce María Ibart, with the accompaniment of musicians of the caliber of Mario Rudy, Nené Enriso and Sarbelio Montero. She also belonged to the popular Tanda de Guaracheros.