José Dolores Sotolongo Quiñones

Composer of Los aretes de la luna, one of the great creators of unforgettable Cuban songs: Vendaval sin rumbo, Camarera del amor, Levántate, Los aretes de la luna. Un lirio en el lago, No te burles, odio que crece, Sin una despedida, Cocodrilo verde, Que me haces daño, El vaivén arrullador.

José Dolores was a simple man, with a measured way of speaking and physically thin but with great spirits of positive mind, always with his guitar on his shoulders and on the hunt for some interpreter.

The interpreters of Quiñones are super stellar: Celia Cruz, Vicentico Valdés, Javier Solís, Benny Moré, Rolando Laserie, Amalia Mendoza, Toña la Negra, Lola Flores, Nacha Guevara, Celio González with La Sonora matancera, José Tejedor, Bobby Capó, Caetano Veloso, Bienvenido Granda, Daniel Santos, Antonio Machín.

José Dolores should be placed in bolero, alongside sacred monsters like: Portillo de la Luz, José Antonio Méndez, Marta Valdés, Frank Domínguez, Osvaldo Farrés, Luis Marquetti.

He was born in Artemisa, a town he never forgot, to which he dedicated a poem. Quiñonez left Cuba approximately in 1944 heading to Mexico, where he developed extensive artistic activity both with his guitar and as a composer. By a twist of fate the legendary composer was born in the same town as the unforgettable and unrepeatable María Teresa Vera and dies where the tango singer Carlos Gardel was born, in the city of Toulouse France.

José Dolores was a house painter, he would climb up to churches to paint them, "I don't know how I survived in those years." Like a true troubadour, he sang with his guitar imitating Miguelito Valdés, Abelardo Barroso, Fernando Collazo. During these wanderings he met Benny Moré in the bars of Old Havana.

In 1945 Alberto Ruiz with the Kubavana sang El vaivén arrullador to him, in a film in Mexico. That same year Benny traveled to Mexico and Quiñones also roamed that Aztec land. He had to struggle for food and had to sleep on the floor with other artists who today are very famous.

In 1958 Vicentico Valdés recorded him, the great star of the victrola record, Javier Solís placed him on the Mexican Hit Parade with the piece Vendaval sin rumbo, followed by Antonio Machín, his lifelong friend. Benny began recording him: Camarera del amor, Que me hace daño, Sin una despedida. Los Hermanos Bermúdez and José Dolores Quiñones: Levántate.

Then begins his stage of wandering through the world: "Antonio Machín invites me to Spain, from Spain I'm going to fight for my copyright in France with SACE. I arrived with no money, but with my suitcase full of compositions. The editors quickly bought them from me."

He begins as a wanderer through European cafés, in a restaurant he sang to Federico Fellini and he hired him for the film Bocaccio, in 1970. He spent three years in Norway, eating cod. Finally he settles in Toulouse, France, after composing hundreds of songs and creating many children.

We will never forget the composer who wrote songs with philosophical lyrics. Almost all the creations of this composer have carried some message, and as for getting great figures from the art world to sing his works, it has not been impossible for him because his power of persuasion surpassed the limits of persuasion, to corroborate what has been said we are going to insert some of those works:

"Camarera del amor," and "Que me haces daño." They were two works that Benny Moré put his soul, heart and life into.

"Mi cocodrilo verde." The Brazilian Caetano Veloso sings it with the sweetness that only he knows how to make.

"La canción del dinero." Sung by the handsome Rolando Laserie turned out to be a success.

"Los Aretes de la Luna" and El Vaivén Arrullador. Two works immortalized by Vicentico Valdés, accompanied by La Sonora Matancera.

"Vendaval sin rumbo." It has been successful in the voices of Celio González, José Tejedor and the Mexican Javier Solís.

"Un lirio en un lago," "No te burles," and "Al comprender." Have been recreated by the unmistakable voice of José Tejedor Sibate.

Los Aretes de la Luna was sung by the legendary Cuban musician based in Spain, Antonio Machín.

"Matías Pérez." A work that tells about the life of a Havana character was recorded by Celia Cruz Alfonso.

"Levántate." A very popular song that was recorded by Los Hermanos Bermúdez.

Besides, José Dolores has created the following works all recorded: "Sol nocturno," "Sin una despedida," "Sin Dios no hubiera nada," "Odio que crece," "Vagar entre sombra," among others.

According to Mario A. García Romero, he learned through one of the sons of José Dolores Quiñones born in France named Jean Luc Quiñones, that his father had passed away on March 28, 2008, in the Saint Lys nursing home, City of Toulouse France.