Ramón Veloz

Ramón Veloz, worthy representative of our parlor guajira, actor and entertainer.

He was born in the municipality of Marianao in La Habana. From a very young age he felt a strong inclination toward art and especially toward all Cuban music. At 10 years old he was part of a children's company at the Sociedad Curros Enríquez, where figures of the caliber of Spanish genre singer Obdulia Breijo and soprano Esther Valdés emerged, among others.

With his beautiful tenor-singer voice Ramón Veloz began in radio interpreting tangos and lyrical songs as well as boleros and guarachas-sons, and in a very special way the guajira genre which led him to have a social and cultural interest in the life of the Cuban peasant.

During these years, Ramón Veloz took his first steps as an actor and radio singer at the station Mil Diez acting in the dramatic program Martí niño directed by the great actor Agustín Campos making small roles in the soap opera space of the then popular station RHC Cadena Azul. His first successes in this field were achieved with the character of Tito the "Rabbit" in the program Ángeles de la Calle, the famous radio series created by the radionovela creator Félix B. Caigñet. He also worked in the adventures of Diego Grillo and in El Spirit, in the latter playing the role of young Ebano, assistant to the protagonist.

At the defunct CMQ (current ICRT) he met the young vocalist Coralia Fernández in the space Rincón Criollo, a program that enjoyed great audience and where they fell in love and celebrated their famous matrimonial union. Also at CMQ Radio he founded the Trío Cubanacán together with guitarists Roberto González, the also composer Eduardo Saborit and the lute player Miguel Ojeda, with which Ramón Veloz continued incorporating into his repertoire the guajira and son montuno genres for which other singers like José Ramón Sánchez, El Madrugador and Guillermo Portabales, the creator of the Guajira de Salón were already famous, which motivated Ramón Veloz to be considered an outstanding continuator of the style along with Evelio González from Espíritu Santo.

In 1951 at 24 years of age he began recording his first 78 rpm records for Panart Records with the ensemble of Eduardo Saborit where the works "Alborada" (C. Romero), "El jaleo" (Ñ. Saquito) and "Amorosa guajira" (J.G.Allué) are found.

During the Batista dictatorship, Ramón and Coralia made their own the songs that reflected and denounced the situation of unrest that our people lived, interpreting the song "Pobre de mi Cuba" by Carlos Puebla. With the triumph of the Revolution they are active revolutionary artists who collaborate daily in the so-called construction of a new society.

El trovador is the name of an emblematic long-playing record for the Velvert label recorded by Ramón Veloz in 1960 where 12 anthological songs created by several of our most significant troubadours appear.

Along with other interpreters of Cuban music such as Justo Vega, Celina González, Adolfo Alfonso, Radeúnda Lima and guitarist and composer Eduardo Saborit, the lute players Miguel Ojeda and Raúl Lima he founded the TV program Palmas y Cañas. Ramón felt great fondness for the great spectacles in which the people had massive access: the workers' social circles, the people's farms that served to feel the contact, affection and admiration of his public. In that way he also traveled accompanied by Coralia to several countries where success was absolute for them and our peasant folklore.

His children (Coralita and Ramón Fabián) and grandchildren have mostly followed the path of artistic work, instilled by the example of Ramón Veloz and Coralia Fernández.

On August 16, 1986 at 59 years of age Ramón Veloz died in the City of La Habana and two years later on August 17 his life and art partner Coralia Fernández, which was an irreparable loss for Cuban culture.