José Antonio Rojas

Founder of the filin movement in the 1940s and a hydraulic engineer by profession, Ñico Rojas remained for decades as one of the great unknowns in Cuban music, at least among the general public. However, he was always highly valued by Cuban musicians and many from other countries.

Today his works for guitar are performed by two generations of Cuban concert artists, including Rey Guerra, Joaquín Clerch, Leyda Lombard, José A. Pérez Miranda, Ildefonso Acosta, Efraín Amador, Sonia Díaz, Esteban Campuzano, Martín Pedreira, René Mateo, Francisco Rodríguez, José A. Bustamante. But let us begin the story from the beginning.

Ñico Rojas was born in La Habana and although he studied some guitar and music theory at age thirteen, he soon abandoned formal music studies and continued playing guitar "his own way," inventing his own technique.

His earliest influences were very diverse: Tárrega, Llobet, Segovia; piano music by Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven, which he heard as a child on his parents' pianola; Cuban popular music, mainly Miguel Matamoros, Arsenio Rodríguez and the danzones of Arcaño y sus Maravillas. To these would be added many others that would enrich his own style.

In 1942 he was "one of the fourteen founders of the filin movement," although Ñico himself tells us that there were other musicians playing that style at the same time who were swelling the movement. The movement "was in the air," just as the mambo was. It is not coincidental that many members of filin ventured into mambo, such as Bebo Valdés, El Niño Rivera, Luis Yáñez and Ñico, among others.

In that same decade, a series of non-musical events entered Ñico's life, insofar as it can be said that there is any vital experience or of any kind that does not influence a musician's creative work. Ñico Rojas was studying Civil Engineering at the University of La Habana and graduated in 1945. That same year he went to work and live in Matanzas. In 1949 he married Eva Montes, his inseparable companion from then on; and Ñico confesses that the happiness his marriage provided him "made me become somewhat routine in composing the texts of the songs." However, he managed to excel in composition and in guitar playing, despite happiness never abandoning him.

In Matanzas Ñico received two important musical influences: that of rumberos like Saldiguera and Virulilla, and that of creators of country ballads whom he met when he worked in road construction. All of this is reflected and transmuted in his guitar work.

The filin group included more than ten authors who would be recognized in the following two decades as the true renovators of song in Cuba. Let us mention now only José Antonio Méndez and César Portillo de la Luz; the pairs Luis Yáñez-Rolando Gómez and Giraldo Piloto-Alberto Vera; Tania Castellanos, Enrique Pessino, Jorge Mazón, Rosendo Ruiz Quevedo, Ángel Díaz; performers such as Miguel de Gonzalo, Olga Rivero, Pepe Reyes, Elena Burke, Moraima Secada, Omara Portuondo… We do not pretend to make a list, which is always somewhat unfair, as great talents inevitably remain outside it. Let us only emphasize that among the classic songs of the movement is "Mi ayer," by Ñico Rojas, who wrote about twenty songs during that period, of which six or seven became popular.

Among the first "founders" of filin—as Ñico discovered—"not all who were there were there," because he soon met Andrés Echeverría, El Niño Rivera, with his ensemble Rey de Reyes. It is claimed that it was Ñico who put El Niño Rivera in contact with the movement in which he would play such an important role. Ñico doubts this and points out: "I really don't think I brought the founding group to El Niño. I think all the other companions were admirers of that formidable tres player who made filin with his instrument, and each one tried to meet him."

But around the same time Ñico had the opportunity to meet other figures who were and remain fundamental in the history of filin: Aida Diestro, then an organist at a church, and the very "King" himself, José Antonio Méndez, whom he met in the Los Pinos neighborhood, sung about by that unforgettable friend when he enumerated the three only things he needed: "Cement, brick, sand, / which are the three good things / for my little house in Los Pinos."

As for El Niño Rivera, the man who orchestrated the movement's numbers for ensembles and jazz bands (remember "Quiéreme y verás," by José Antonio, popularized by Roberto Faz), Ñico Rojas does recognize that it was he who put him in contact with that immense master of guitar and harmony that Guyún was.

The tres player and arranger became a student of Guyún, applying the master's harmonic innovations on guitar to the tres. Later El Niño completed his orchestration studies with Félix Guerrero, teacher of an entire generation of great Cuban arrangers such as Armando Romeu, Bebo Valdés, Arturo Chico O'Farrill, Adolfo Guzmán, Roberto Sánchez Ferrer and Pucho Escalante, which is no small thing.

Ñico also remembers—or admits—that, due to his studies in Sanitary Engineering, he saved the tres player's life by detecting that he suffered from typhus and sending him immediately to the Las Ánimas hospital, where he was cured of that disease which then wreaked havoc in Cuba. But furthermore, it was Ñico who convinced El Niño Rivera to compose his "Concerto for Tres and Symphony Orchestra," a work that Ñico regrets was never premiered by its own author due to his precarious health, even though it was completed.

Ñico Rojas was capable of giving the best advice in the world to young musicians, although with his usual honesty he confessed that he himself did not always follow it. For example, when he speaks about his musical training:

Since his parents made him listen to diverse classical music as a child and in turn they sang traditional trovador music, Ñico grew up within total music (classical and popular). For that reason he always advised the founders of filin to listen to at least (if they didn't study it) classical music, to broaden their conception in their ideas about composing. He also recommended and continued to recommend studying music, something he nevertheless never did, although he confessed that three valuable teachers—Guyún, Gonzalo Roig and the Mexican Sabre Marroquín—recommended that he never study music, since in his compositions there existed "brilliant absurdities" that he would not compose if he knew music.

But it was not only these three masters who gave him the same advice. Of the same opinion were pianist Frank Emilio Flynn, Ignacio Villa Bola de Nieve, Rafael Lay, Richard Egües, Félix Guerrero and, of course, Benny Moré. Seldom has greater unanimity been seen.

The argument for Ñico Rojas not studying music is convincing: being already possessed of his own style, capable of astonishing masters and laymen alike, if he learned all the technical rules governing harmony, counterpoint and composition, he would refrain from violating a series of rules that Ñico, olympically, violates with a freedom that allows him to achieve unusual effects, cadences and modulations and find solutions of great beauty and originality through resources that the rules expressly forbid. Then he would cease to be Ñico Rojas.

To the coincidence of opinions noted I can add that of Leo Brouwer, who could barely contain his amazement and joy upon hearing a Ñico record for the first time. He immediately understood that he was violating the rules of guitar composition in a creative and brilliant way. Since then Leo has been a consistent admirer of Ñico Rojas, as he was also of Vicente González-Rubiera Guyún, the other great innovator in Cuban popular guitar, for whom Leo wrote the prologue to his book La guitarra: su técnica y armonía.

The case of Ñico Rojas, ultimately, is neither more nor less than that of all musical innovators who have opened paths to creation by violating the rules then established, as is evident in Mussorgsky and Debussy, to cite only two typical examples. But it is necessary to note an important fact in Ñico's trajectory: his abandonment of songwriting to devote himself exclusively to composing instrumentals for solo guitar. Ñico Rojas himself affirms that he took this step advised above all by Guyún and Frank Emilio.

It was precisely Frank Emilio who introduced Ñico Rojas's pieces to musicologist Leonardo Acosta, back in the 1950s, and shortly thereafter he met the author, both through Frank, his "compadre," and through his brothers Jorge and July, trombone and trumpet players respectively, and with whom he played in the same orchestra: Cubamar. Of course Leonardo knew "Mi ayer," but Frank Emilio showed him a mambo that he hastened to transcribe to play with a group that Frank and Leonardo formed; it was "Tony y Jesusito," a number that in its conception, phrasing and structure resembled nothing known. Who would have told me then that it would be precisely Jesusito, one of Ñico's sons to whom this number is dedicated, who would initiate the rescue of his father's work more than twenty years later? Because it must be clarified that none of Ñico Rojas's guitar instrumentals were written; everything was in his memory.

Twelve of those instrumentals were recorded in 1964, on a Long Play (LP) with the EGREM label, performed by the composer himself, naturally. The album was a great success in Cuba and abroad, especially in Czechoslovakia, and in Canada during the Montreal Expo-67. Gonzalo Roig said then that what Ñico achieved on guitar in that LP had no precedent in Cuban music.

From 1965 to 1968, he formed a guitar duo with Elías Castillo. In 1998 he performed at Lincoln Center in New York, together with:

Frank Emilio, (pianists)
Chucho Valdés, (pianists)
Jesús Ordóñez, (violinist)
Cachaíto López, (bass player)
Tata Güines, (tumbadora)
Changuito Quintana, (paila)
Enrique Lazaga, (güiro player)
Joaquín Olivero, (flute player)

Around that time Ñico's misfortunes began, due to arthritis that affected the joints of his fingers. Almost everyone thought he would not be able to play anymore and feared that his music, apart from the 1964 recording, would fade into oblivion. Fortunately, Ñico's third son, engineer Jesús A. Rojas (Jesusito), had learned guitar and memorized note by note and chord by chord all of his father's pieces. In turn, this composer's singular work had interested, among others, guitarist and professor Martín Pedreira, who undertook the task of transcribing his pieces.

As a result of this work, EGREM has in its possession for eventual publication a book with seven works by Ñico Rojas, and Martín Pedreira has already transcribed seven others.

Despite the arthritis, the composer was able to record an LP in 1977 with another twelve instrumental numbers. According to Ñico, these pieces "have less elaboration than those on the first album, although their melodies are also very spontaneous and perhaps more understandable for those who are not musicians or guitarists." It is said that during recording, the producer (who was conductor and arranger Tony Taño) and the sound engineer were not satisfied with Ñico's performance of one of the pieces, which had peculiar technical difficulties, especially considering his arthritis problem. They wanted him to repeat the recording. Fortunately, Carlos Emilio Morales, guitarist for Irakere and admirer of Ñico, was in the studio and warned them: "Don't erase that; you will never achieve a version with more swing." And that version remained.

With 24 instrumental pieces for guitar already recorded, the work of transcribing and editing the rest of Ñico Rojas's work continues, a not easy task, since in total there are 68.

Ñico recounted that apart from his influences from classical music, son, danzón and trovador music, it had great weight in his formation the fact that from 1945 to 1970 he worked in Matanzas. He lived 25 years in the province of danzón, rumba, danzonete… He could not remain deaf to what sounded around him. However, Ñico said that despite being a profound connoisseur of the most diverse rhythms and modalities of our popular music, there is always a reminiscence of filin in his work. That is one of the keys to his style.

Returning to Matanzas, where "there exists a traditional passion for music and poetry," he also met two musicians who later became very distinguished: Felipe Dulzaides and Ildefonso Acosta. "His entire work is an affectionate tribute to his relatives and friends, a true monument to love and friendship."

We have emphasized that Ñico Rojas absolutely masters all the popular genres of our country: guajira, son, danzón, mambo, rumba, bolero, all of it nuanced by his organic connection to the filin movement and style.

It remains to be said that a large part of his work reflects love and friendship from the very titles of the pieces. The prime example of this is, of course, "Guajira a mi madre," which was declared a mandatory piece for the International Guitar Competition and Festival held in 1990.

Two other versions of Cuban popular hits that Ñico Rojas has brilliantly recreated are "El manisero" and "Tres palabras." On the other hand, at the last Bolero Festival a pamphlet titled "Boleros de oro" was published that includes 32 boleros composed between 1900 and 1988 by as many authors. In this selection is "Mi ayer," by Ñico Rojas.

Recounting Ñico's work and his multifaceted approach to our rhythms, let us cite some representative titles: "Guajira a mi madre" (guajira), "Elegía a Benny Moré" (son montuno), "Saldiguera y Virulilla" (rumba), "Tony y Jesusito" (mambo), "Homenaje a Bebo Valdés" (mambo), "Pipo y Arcaño" (danzón), "Francito y Alfonsito" (cha-cha-cha), "Lilliam" (bolero filin), "Martica" (caprice), "Conversando con Nicolás Guillén" (fantasy), "Réquiem por Lázaro Peña" (fantasy), "Guyún: el maestro" (waltz feel), "Lay y Egües" (son montuno), "Qué linda es Matanzas" (rhythmic fantasy), "Mi ayer" (filin song) and "Elías, malogrado genio" (danzón).

The fundamental maxim of master Ñico Rojas seems to be "honor honors," and his entire work is an affectionate tribute to his relatives and friends, a true monument to love and friendship. The simple and even naive titles of his guitar works contrast with the extreme complexity of the musical discourse and the unusual sonorities and harmonic and contrapuntal sequences.

Two endeavors have characterized him throughout all his artistic work: that of making the guitar sound like "a small orchestra" and the perseverance and will to maintain his own style. But, despite the great technical difficulties that his works present for any guitarist, the profuse use of dissonance and the constant surprises offered by his unusual modulations, variations in rhythm and tempo, suspensions and unexpected resolutions due to their uncommon use, listening to a piece by Ñico Rojas is always a pleasant experience, even for the simplest of neophytes.

In these works there is emotion, vitality and intellect, three factors that all music should contain and whose combination is as rare as it is necessary. To these three factors is added a fourth even less easy to define, more elusive, for which there are no possible recipes: good taste. For all this, the work of Ñico Rojas will become essential in the guitar repertoire, to which this master, drawing from the deepest roots of our music, has made invaluable contributions. If I were introducing a recital, I would only need to say: Ladies and gentlemen, I have finished.

Canadian flutist and saxophonist Jane Bunnett recorded Rojas's piece "Tony y Jesusito" on a 1993 album called: Jane Bunnett & the Cuban Piano Masters (Blue Note), along with prominent Cuban pianist Frank Emilio Flynn, which included the same piece, as well as another titled "Mi Ayer" on an album titled "Barbarismo" recorded in 1997. "Mi Ayer" was also included by singer Omara Portuondo on her 1997 album "Palabras." Ñico Rojas traveled to New York in 1998 to perform at Lincoln Center with other outstanding musicians such as Frank Emilio Flynn, Orlando "Cachaíto" López and Winton Marsalis; and prominent guitarist Marco Tamayo recorded five of his compositions on his album "Music from Cuba" (Naxos Classical) in 2004.1​

Ñico Rojas's guitar works have been transcribed by prominent Cuban guitarist Martín Pedreira, as well as by José A. Perez Miranda and Ahmed Dickinson, and published by EGREM in Cuba.

Works

Bolero-mambo
Ser o no ser y Si bailo contigo

Song
Canción a mi padre
Canción estudio
Egoísta
Ese pesimismo tuyo
Esta dicha nuestra
Este cariño mío
Me curan tus besos
Me has robado la calma
Mi ayer
Ojeras negras
Sólo pido tu amor
Sonatina, text: Amado Nervo
Soy un hombre feliz, songs

Guitar
Admiro a mi Habana, mambo with filin;
Allá en el rancho grande, Mexican corrido
Ángela y Antonio

Trovador with filin
Conversando con Nicolás Guillén, descriptive music
Chanito y Pepito,

Bolero with filin III
Chicha y Ana Rosa

Guajira with filin
Dulce y Alfonso

Ballad
El agua no se debe malgastar
El manisero, version
Elegía a Benny Moré
Lacret 256
Lizelena y Stefan
Luisa y Panchita
Merci y Yeli
Nieves y Dorita
Lilliam
María y Francis

Guajira-son
Elenita y Jorgito
Elías, malogrado maestro
Guajira guantanamera, version
Guyún: el maestro, waltz feel
Homenaje a Bebo Valdés
Homenaje a Joseíto Fernández, prelude with filin III
Hortensia y Arnaldo

Danzón motif
En el abra del Yumurí

Rhythmic fantasy
Eva, Fátima y Mayra Lina
Floreando un tumbao
Francito y Alfonsito
Saldiguera y Virulilla

Cha-cha-cha
Guajira a mi madre,

Prelude with filin
Iliana y Rosita,

Ballad with filin
Iya y Renato,

Cha-cha-cha with filin
Jairo y Juan

Danzón with filin
Jazmín de mi casa, prelude
Jimmy y Ramoncito, Jovellanos

Son with filin
Lay y Egües

Tumbao
Lilliam

Song with filin
Martica

Batanga with filin
Mónica y Laurita

Bolero with filin
Patricia
Pedreira y Campuzano

Tumbao with filin
Pipo y Arcaño

Modern danzón motif
Qué linda es Matanzas,

Rhythmic prelude
Réquiem por Lázaro Peña
Viajando en la ruta 14
Vili y Aymé

Medley
Retrato de un médico violinista

Prelude
Rítmico a mi padre

Rumba
Tres palabras, version; A "Monster" called Carilda
Ventzeslava

Mambo
Oye, me voy a casar y Para bailar mejor

Mambo-bop
Tony y Jesusito

Piano
Eva, mambo;
Helder y Patricita