Confer the Abdala Prize on Pachy Naranjo

February 2, 2020

The musician Wilfredo Naranjo Verdecia, director of the Original Orchestra of Manzanillo, deserved the Abdala Award on Tuesday afternoon, which is conferred by the Martiano Youth Movement (MJM).

Abdala is an award established by the MJM to distinguish children and young people with meritorious results in studies about Cuba's National Hero José Martí; and it is also granted exceptionally to personalities linked to the promotion and socialization of these investigations.

The presentation coincided with the celebration throughout the country of the 167th anniversary of the birth of the Apostle of the Island's independence.

Moved, the eminent pianist, arranger and composer assured the press that he thought much about his father, the intellectual Wilfredo Naranjo Gautier, who would have greatly enjoyed the moment, "because he was a fervent defender of the life and work of Martí.

He recalled that his first approaches to the Apostle occurred while accompanying his grandmother to teach classes at a school near the Manzanillo home.

"I have Martí kept in my blood, my heart and my mind since childhood because that is how we were all born and raised. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes is the Father of the Homeland and for me, José Martí is the 'Father of Cuban thought'.

Naranjo Verdecia, also National Prize for Music 2011 and Master of Youth 2013, said that the Martiano work inspires depth of patriotic and ideological thoughts, humanism and solidarity.

"The National Hero is something beautiful and I wish that knowledge of his work and thought continues to grow in the new generations, especially what he left written. His thought is very elevated and manages to be simple enough to be able to speak to children, to whom he dedicated the stories of La Edad de Oro. He is an indispensable example for contemporary times and a figure of worldwide stature," Naranjo Verdecia concluded.