Patricio Ballagas Palacio

Patricio Ballagas was a singular troubadour, a magnificent performer of the double bass, cornet, trombone, flute, guitar, and other instruments.

He was born in old Puerto Príncipe, on Calle Honda, number 24, formerly called San Pedro Arcángel.

His parents, Fabián and Julia, provided him, within the limitations that society imposed on Black people, with a comfortable childhood, and his aunt Petrona took care of ensuring that the boy studied music while he was learning carpentry.

From a very young age, Patricio felt drawn to the independence struggles, and at 19 years old, he enlisted as a soldier in the Gómez Infantry Regiment of the Third Corps of the Liberation Army. After the 1895 War ended, he renounced the compensation that corresponded to him as a combatant and remained in his native Camagüey, where he performed various trades without abandoning the guitar. His fellow troubadours in those times were Armando Recio and Regino Velazco.

Like other greats of music, Patricio traveled to the country's capital in 1916. He needed to make his work known on other stages. Already in La Habana were Sindo Garay, Manuel Corona, Rosendo Ruiz, and Alberto Villalón.

Popular song would develop extraordinarily with the arrival of these troubadours to the capital, who were seeking a better life.

Patricio Ballagas was a singular troubadour, a magnificent performer of the double bass, cornet, trombone, flute, guitar, and other instruments.

The versatility of his repertoire, both classical and popular music, in skillfully strumming the strings of his guitar, and the harmonic expression of thirds and fourths on two flutes, constitutes the pedestal of his multifaceted musical stature.

Unlike the vast majority of composers of that era, who made their pieces in 2/4 time, he, who had knowledge of musical technique, did it in the form of common time, that is, in 4/4 time, to achieve essentially rhythmic works that distinguish him.

But the greatest contribution of the Camagüeyan lies in the arrangement of the lyrics of his songs. Patricio used to use the double text and the melody superimposed over the protagonist song performed by the second voice. This countermelody or counterpoint is an invention of his, which was later taken up by his friends, with whom he shared every Sunday at the house of Ramoncito García, in the Havana neighborhood of Jesús María.

With that contrapuntal form, he achieves that the second voice ceases to be a mere ornament to the first voice, and thus gives it individuality, both harmonically and melodically.

Ballagas formed a duo—until his last days of life—with Alejandro Montalbán. He was also a member of the Cuarteto Nano, in which were Bienvenido León, Ramón León, and Tirso Díaz—father of Angelito Díaz, one of the initiators of feeling.

It is very likely that many of his compositions are already definitively lost, and most of them practically forgotten, because for many years they were only preserved by troubadour oral tradition; although others, fortunately, were recorded by María Teresa Vera as a duet with Lorenzo Hierrezuelo.

In a repertoire of more than 60 songs, perhaps the most well-known is La Timidez, premiered in 1914, dedicated to the young Camagüeyan woman Blanca Rosa Miró; although others were also heard: Te vi como las flores, sung for the first time on the day of his death, February 15, 1920, and which from then on was titled by his friends, Adiós a la vida.

Patricio Ballagas, Black and poor, although also a distinguished master of troubadours; however, books, anthologies, and studies on Cuban popular music barely mention him beyond the dates of his birth and death, and the titles of some of his songs. Why is he forgotten and relegated?

The names of Sindo Garay, Manuel Corona, Alberto Villalón, and Rosendo Ruiz are usually highlighted; those who were framed in the circle of glory, under the designation of "The four greats of Cuban son."

But why doesn't Patricio Ballagas integrate into that group, why are they called the four points of the star? And isn't Patricio Ballagas the fifth point? Why doesn't Patricio Ballagas occupy the place that corresponds to him?

They are, without a doubt, effectively great, but not the only ones. The mist of oblivion, with the passage of time, tends to blur the figure of Patricio Ballagas. We will return to this topic again to rescue our cultural heritage, which barely remembers this distinguished Camagüeyan by the name of the Casa de la Trova of his native city.

Source: Portal Puerto Príncipe