Obdulio Morales Ríos

He was a notable composer, pianist, musicologist, and Cuban orchestra conductor.

He was born in the City of La Habana. From an early age he was interested in the arts. His first studies were in piano with an American teacher and later he completed his musical studies at the Municipal Conservatory of La Habana.

At the age of 12 years, he began his career as a pianist, playing in different Havana cinemas providing entertainment for the silent films of that era. At the same time, he worked as an apprentice in his father's tailoring shop, which was linked to various Black societies such as the Club Bohemia on Lealtad Street. And also some of the most popular orchestras of those years such as that of Antonio María Romeu, Cheo Belén Puig, Augusto Valdés and Calixto Allende.

Already at 14 years old he participated as a substitute pianist in various dance groups, among them, as a founder of the Hermanos Martínez orchestra, and shortly after, with Los Melódicos, La Habana and in La Elegante with the popular singer Paulina Álvarez.

In the year 1926, being very young, Morales together with Julio Chapotín and his orchestra, with the choreography of the great master Armando Borroto, directed at the Payret theater the Black theatrical work Batamú, where for the first time sacred Black ceremonial drums, rhythms, songs and dances appeared on stage.

Since 1938, the maestro Morales worked as a pianist at various radio stations and founded the Coro Folclórico de Cuba. He accompanied Candita Batista, Xiomara Alfaro, Celia Cruz and Alfredo León, among others.

The vocal percussion group was occasionally accompanied by musicians from the Orquesta Sinfónica de La Habana. Later, it expanded to Conjunto Coral Sinfónico Folclórico de Cuba with the integration of the Isupo Irawo drum group. He was among those who for the first time organized on the radio a program with Yoruba or Lucumí (Santería) rhythms and songs on the popular Radio Cadena Suaritos station, which was a great success in the late 1940s in Cuba.

In the 1950s
He organized various orchestras for radio, film, cabaret and television. He conducted orchestras and provided music for several films including Romance del palmar, Sucedió en La Habana, Siete muertes a plazo fijo, Rincón Criollo, Tin Tan en La Habana and Yambaó.

In the year 1955, he recorded as director the long-play album called Ñáñigo with the colossal Puerto Rican contralto Ruth Fernández with Black songs by composers such as Gilberto Valdés, Moisés Simons, Ernesto Lecuona, Facundo Rivero, Eliseo Grenet, for the Montilla record label along with others of his own production.

Works of Historical Importance
Obdulio Morales developed extensive work as a composer both in popular music and concert music and scores for dance: "Día de Reyes" (afro), "Bembé No. 1", "El reloj de mi casa" (for wind quartet), "Pregón" with text by Nicolás Guillén, "Ochún" (dance), "Hoy es muy tarde" (bolero), "El velorio", "El chismoso", "Los feos pa' la cocina", "Mambo en fa", "Juliana Valdés", and "Con ají", among others that were very popular in his time. "La rumba y la guerra" was recorded by the excellent singer Oscar López with the Havana Casino orchestra.

And for Cuban cinema the afro "Sube espuma" was performed (premiered by the Black soprano Xiomara Alfaro in 1945 in the revue El milagro de Ochún at the Martí theater) by the well-known Cuban rumbera Ninón Sevilla in the film Yambaó, and his well-known afro-mambo "Yo soy Juana Bacallao" sung by the vedette Rosita Fornés in the film Tropicana. This work, widely popularized by the exceptional humorist vocalist and musical vedette Juana Bacallao, unknown by her real name (Amelia Martínez Salazar), but widely identified by that stage name.

Other important works by the maestro are Ecué, premiered by Candita Batista in 1938 and recorded by Puerto Rican singer Ruth Fernández, along with others, such as "Obatalá", "Mi Ochún" and "Enlloró", an afro recorded by American pianist Carmen Cavallaro and Xavier Cugat's orchestra. Later in 1964, the maestro was director of the Banda Gigante del Circo INIT and in 1972 of the Orchestra of the Conjunto Folclórico Nacional de Cuba, with which he traveled through Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and the former USSR, present-day Russia.

The maestro Obdulio Morales Ríos passed away on January 9, 1981, leaving behind a great musical legacy of the most genuine of Cuban music.