José Sánchez

He is considered the father of the trovadoresque song in Cuba; he was the mentor of Sindo Garay. From testimonies of his contemporaries, it is known that he was an excellent guitarist and singer. In 1880 he created his first boleros, songs, guarachas and habaneras: "Cristinita", "El tabaquero", "Himno a Maceo", "Pobre artista", and what is considered the first bolero, "Tristezas".

He was a teacher of prestigious figures in Cuban music such as Alberto Villalón (1882-1954), Pepe Banderas (1894-1971), Miguel Matamoros (1894-1971) and Sindo Garay (1867-1968).

He was born in Santiago de Cuba. He had no formal musical training whatsoever, since all his knowledge of music was purely intuitive, but he taught the guitar admirably, an instrument he played with great mastery and sang very well, with a baritone voice. José Sánchez was a tailor by profession and demonstrated extraordinary talent for his occupations: music and tailoring.

At the end of the 19th century, the trovadoresque genre was becoming increasingly entrenched in popular taste, and following the evolution that took place in the sound world of the era, made up of European airs mixed with African rhythms, the creole song had emerged, originating from the eastern region of the island; in the city of Santiago de Cuba. The singers or chanters gave it their particular stamp, creating a musical movement with very well-defined characteristics that was academically called Cuban popular neo-romanticism. These troubadours or troveros, as they were also called, created what we today know as traditional trova whose Cubanness was in its lyrics and in a certain cadence that, as it gained strength, gave our songbook its national identity.

In that era, Pepe Sánchez, accompanied by his guitar, sang his songs in serenades, which were very fashionable in those years in his native city; also at gatherings that were held regularly in the houses of the creator-singers including his own, gatherings that were called peñas.

In these peñas, which took place after finishing daily tasks, as laborers or artisans, these creators, singers and guitarists would come together indistinctly forming duos, trios or quartets, creating or performing songs, sharing in fraternal musical emulation.

In this environment emerged the first bolero of which there is knowledge and a precise reference in Cuba, specifically there in Santiago, composed by Pepe Sánchez, the master as they also called him, and it is titled Tristeza, a piece that structurally comprised two musical periods of 16 measures each, separated by an instrumental passage that was executed melodically on the guitar, which they called pasacalle.

Pepe Sánchez is considered the pioneer in defining the features of the bolero. At that time there was no precise form regarding the tonal structuring in which the song was composed; it could be in major or minor mode or combining both modalities.

Due to his talent, practice and vocation, Pepe Sánchez was in turn a teacher of important figures in Cuban musical endeavor, especially of Sindo Garay, whom he knew as a child and put his first guitar in his hands, and promoter of every artistic musical event offered in the city of Santiago, he was also a patriot and friend of many mambises and of Guillermón Moncada, to whom he composed a bolero.

He was director and founder of the famous Quinteto de Trovadores Santiagueros, made up of Pepe Figarola (first voice), Bernabé Ferrer and Luis Felipe Portés (second voices), Emiliano Blez (accompanying guitarist) and Pepe Sánchez (first guitar).

Among his musical works stand out, "Me entristeces, mujer" (popularly known by the name of "Tristeza", "Pobre artista", "Rosa I", "Rosa II", "Rosa III", "Elvira", "Cuando la expresión de tu canto", "Cuba, mi patria querida", "Caridad", "Adán y Eva", "Esperanza", "Redondilla", "Ángeles", "Naturaleza".

The song "Me entristeces, mujer" composed in the year 1883 is formally conceptualized as the cradle of the Cuban and Latin American bolero. In this sense, it seems that the original title of this piece was "Tristeza", but because at the time of its registration there was already another composition registered with the same name, it was finally decided to title it this way.

In the opinion of scholar Orlando Montenegro, this theme is carried out in two musical periods of 16 measures each, separated by an instrumental passage that is executed melodically with guitar strings and known as Pasacalle.

Finally, in his later years, he fell ill with angina pectoris, and died at one in the morning on January 3, 1918 at the age of 62 years. In his memory, the Pepe Sánchez International Festival of Trova is celebrated in Cuba.