Words by Silvio Rodriguez at the Honoris Causa Presentation to Salomon Glades Mikowsky

May 25, 2019

Words for Salomón:

Whoever has read the impressive curriculum of Salomón Gadles Mikowsky might think that this mission of praise should correspond to an academic, or a pianist; but it happens that I am here simply as a Cuban who is grateful for the years of talent and gift—the vocation of service to his people—that this Master of music exercises with generosity; and that right, the right to give thanks from the heart, no hardship can take from me.

Each time I attend the Encounters of Young Pianists that Salomón sponsors, along with the Manhattan School of Music, the Esteban Salas Heritage Cabinet, and the Office of the City Historian, I verify that, although each performer is a virtuoso of personal temperament, together they enjoy common virtues such as the cultivation of the elegance of sound, the restraint that prevents crossing the line where beauty can decompose. And I am always grateful when anchors of Russians, Poles, Hungarians, Chinese and Americans are classical pieces of Cuba's musical heritage.

So, from my modest Ariguanabo, I give thanks knowing that the Moskva and Neva rivers have said spasibo to Salomón.
I give thanks as Kraków and the mermaid Warsaw have said dziękuję to him.
I give thanks, as Budapest and Pest of the Danube say köszönöm.
As xiéxié he has said Londinium of Britain.
As merci, the Gauls and Parisians.
As Rotterdam of the Pilgrim Fathers says dank u wel to our brother.
As Valencia has said gracias.
As the Byzantines say, teşekkür ederim.
I give thanks as Tel Aviv says toda and Jerusalem says shukran.
As xiéxié the Chinese say.
As arigato they say in Japan.

Many histories, sorrows, names, peoples have given thanks to the same person to whom he has given himself to all; to the same Salomón who—nevertheless—confesses that, more than anything, he is ours. And, as the best inventor of us warned us, once again it is worth remembering that "Homeland is humanity."

There are times when some meanings seem insurmountable. We Cubans know it well. But despite everything we have known how to continue, we have grown outward demanding of ourselves inward, and we have taken steps that have revealed that history is not petrified, but trembles, comes alive and advances, and what seemed impossible begins to appear, work of the goodwill of the heart and of indispensable intelligence.

Because to build all that is needed are good women and men. Good people, no matter how different; countrymen, even from diverse latitudes.

They are those who pass over borders, selfishness, apathy and save beauty. They are the tenacious who work "the usefulness of virtue." They are makers who build us up. They are loyal to the synthesis of treasures, to the essential condition that founds culture.

When the spark of consciousness, the best of origin and the joy of serving come together, that is when we save ourselves. A substance that the justly celebrated professor Salomón Gadles Mikowsky also teaches us.

For this reason, praised be, in the healthy language of gratitude, this legitimate Master.