Rosendo Ruiz Quevedo

Havana-born composer of songs and boleros such as Hasta mañana vida mía, No, ya no te puedo amar, Bibelot de chocolate, and very popular cha cha chás such as Rico vacilón, Los marcianos and Los fantasmas.

He was born in La Habana. He studied at the Conservatorio Félix Ernesto Alpízar and at the Seminario de Música Popular, directed by pianist and musicologist Odilio Urfé. He was the son of Rosendo Ruiz Suárez

He participated in the Festival Noches Blancas de Leningrado. His bolero "Hasta mañana, vida mía", performed by Pepe Reyes, was the theme of a radio program at the end of the 1950s. It is an original work in its melodic and harmonic features, effective conductors of the text, that place this work as a classic of feeling.

"No, ya no te puedo amar" is a particularly interesting example within the panorama of Cuban song in the 1950s, due to the absence of commercialist schemes observed in its musical construction, full of formal freedoms, as well as the harmony between text and music, characteristic of this composer.

Rosendo Ruiz was president of Editorial Musicabana, to which belonged, among others, José Antonio Méndez, Giraldo Piloto, Luis Yáñez, all members of the feeling movement.

In 1955 he obtained the Wurlitzer prize, awarded by the Association of Radio Commentators of México, for the success of his works "Los marcianos and Rico vacilón".

In 1964, second place for "Chachachá multicolor", text by Jesús Orta Ruiz (El Indio Naborí), in the Contest La Canción de la Amistad, held in Checoslovaquia.

In 1967, with the march "Como el Girón", text by Adolfo Suárez; in 1980, together with Enrique Jorrín, Latin American Medal and Diploma, for maintaining in México, for 25 years, the cha cha chá.

International Success
Rosendo Ruiz achieved international success with his cha cha chás "Los marcianos" and "Rico vacilón", which have around three hundred versions, among records and films.

His works have been recorded by Paulina Álvarez, with the orchestra of Everardo Ordaz, Esther Borja, Fernando Álvarez, Cheo Belén Puig, singing Alberto Aroche, Belisario López, duo Los Idaido, Enrique Jorrín, Orquesta Aragón, Arsenio Rodríguez, Vicentico Valdés, Pepe Reyes, Olga Rivero, Los Tokyo Cuban Boys, Eva Garza, Avelina Landín.

Tours
As a composer, he toured Bulgaria, Checoslovaquia, México, Unión Soviética, Polonia, Hungría and Mongolia.

Works
Afro
Senseribó

Bolero
Bibelot de chocolate
Hasta mañana, vida mía
Mentimos los dos
Mi regalo
Nadie sabe nada
No, ya no te puedo amar
Orgulloso inútil
Qué distinto
Sombra que besa. Music: Isolina Carrillo
Una interrogación
Y me tocó perder
Bolero-mambo
Por casualidad

Bolero-moruno
Maldito de mí

Bossa-nova
Modulando

Song
A Viet Nam
Canción sin frontera
Cuando dos se comprenden
Quisqueya indomable
Tú me haces vivir

Cha cha chá
Cha cha chá gitano
Cha cha chá multicolor
El cha cha chá de los cariñosos
El divorcio
El tránsito
Fígaro cha cha chá
La matraca
Los fantasmas
Los marcianos
Los muchachos del feeling
Requetesabrosón
Rico vacilón
Sube y baja el telón

Guajira
Linda guajira

March
Como en Girón. Text: Adolfo Suárez.

Rumba
Rata plan,plan, plan
Saoco

Son Montuno
No tiene telaraña.

His work is situated within the creators of the feeling group, of which he was one of the founders. Together with other feeling authors he created the Editorial Musicabana, unique in Cuban editorial history before 1959 that could not be pressured by the multinational companies of that activity.

He composed in almost all popular genres. In the 1950s he formed a Típica orchestra with which he made recordings. He joined in 1958 a group that mixed rock with chachachá, "Los Rockin chá", with which he recorded an album with two works: "Ronckin chá" and "Rockin guapachá".

Between 1964 and 1967 he was vice president of the Sociedad Cubana de Autores Musicales and between 1984 and 1994 he held the same position in the Asociación cubana de compositores y autores musicales, ACCAM. He received important recognitions such as the Wurlitzer Prize (1955), awarded by the Association of Radio Commentators of México, given the success of Los marcianos and Rico vacilón, two anthology Chachachas that undoubtedly are still a reference for many.

Among his works, which have had wide international distribution in records and films, are Rataplán-plan-plan (rumba, from his early works), "Hasta mañana, vida mía (from 1945 and widely distributed): "Saoco" (Guaracha), and among the world-renowned themes of Chachacha "Rico Vacilón", "Los marcianos" from 1955, "Chachachá de los cariñosos", and "Los fantasmas". He gave lectures on the history of bolero and trova, son of Rosendo Ruiz Suárez, one of the greats of traditional trova, the family environment was conducive to his development.

He was always a great defender of Cuban music, its history and its importance in society. To pay him a well-deserved tribute so that his work endures in the memory of many.