| Cuban
Provinces & Cities
|
| A
Tribute to Polo Montañez |
with special thanks
to:
http://www.altriritmi.com/html/CubaCaraibi/polomontspa.htm
| Polo
Montañez 1955-2002 |
He
was born in 1955 in the Cuban countryside in a place called El Brugito
(the small lizard). When Polo was ten he joined his father's small
band, and learned how to play tumbadora, maracas and the marinbula.
Above all, music was for him a family matter. Polo had practically
never left his mountain home and the music he played didn't sound
like any other on the island. That's the Little Wizard "sound",
the loma (mountain) "sound", in other words an unclassifiable and
very intimate guantanamera.
Un
Guajiro Natural
He
started to work from a very early age, and over the years he held
many different jobs; e.g. assisting on the farm, driving tractors,
and milking the cows; later, he became a lumberjack, which meant
long hours and backbreaking work. But when night came, he always
dedicated himself to his craft, going from house to house singing.
In 1994, Polo gave up the saw and the axe to play full-time, and
he started working in a deluxe hotel in Las Terrazas where he quickly
became the regular house act. Polo used this opportunity to increase
his repertoire. Today he reckons having 79 titles to his credit.
Boleros, son, cumbia, guaguanco arranged in Polo's way. Because
this lumberjack-singer never wandered from the road he had mapped
for himself.
Even if sometimes it's missing, is never that far
If Polo Montañez was to known by one song, it would be Guajiro Natural
(the real peasant).
It says:
"I am a real peasant who comes from Cimaron Mount
I know my condition
I know where I come from
I come from the oxes
That pull the cart
I smell of charcoal and sugarcane
I can take a plane if necessary
But I'll always be back
There is no confusion with me
There is no confusion but laughter and the idea that happiness -
even if sometimes it's missing -is never that far.
 |
Music,
full of strength
Polo was a very humble man. As well as being
a simple yet profound poet, his music cannot be classified in
the traditional music sense. It's a lively music that smells
of Popular, those dark tobacco cigarettes that he appreciated
so much. This music is full of the strength of his elders and
doesn't have anything to do with fleeting trends that come and
go every day on the Malecon. It's music worthy of his legacy. |
|
| Es
por el Internet ... how Cuba-Junky met Polo |
I
posted this when I came back in April, 2002 on a Cuba discussion
board.
When I was in Camaguey last April, by chance I was one of the lucky
people
to see a concert of Polo Montanez, at the Revolution square.
...
entonces ...
Because of the enormous crowd, it was difficult to take a picture
of Polo ...
My friend said to me:"Go, and try to pass the police and guards,
and tell them you are a journalist ..."
...
entonces ...
I went to the back of the stage: "... permiso ... permiso ... es
por el internet!"
NO ... NO ... NO ... and the last one also said NO, but I could
see in his eyes, he didn't mind ...
...
entonces ...
There I was, on the stage, with only 2m. between Polo and me, and
behind me I guess 40,000 Cubans were enjoying Polo's concert. ...
Polo was smiling into my camera ...
|
| Polo
Montañez has left us |
The
charismatic singer dies as a result of a traffic accidenton Wednesday,
November 20, 2002
BY PEDRO DE LA HOZ —Granma daily staff writer—
DESPITE the tremendous efforts by doctors to save him, 47-year-old
Fernando Borrego (Polo Montañez), one of Cuban music’s most charismatic
artists of recent years, died at 11:20 p.m. on November 26 at the
Carlos J. Finlay Military Hospital.
His
death was the result of a lamentable traffic accident that occurred
on Wednesday,
November 20 when he was returning by car from the capital to his
home in San Cristóbal,
Pinar del Río province. It was an agonizing week in which people
followed news on his grave condition by the minute. Day and night,
from one end of the island to the other, Cubans demonstrated their
solidarity and expressed their most fervent hopes for the artist’s
recovery. But he was unable to survive the serious brain trauma
and the ensuing complications of such a precarious condition.
Granma
daily has received many tributes to Polo’s brief but meteoric musical
career from both home and abroad.
Shortly
before his death, a letter from Italy described him as follows:
"A
man like him — of the people, modest and ordinary — knows how to
win everybody’s affection. He’s in all our hearts and we are proud
of him." Polo Montañez burst upon the island’s musical scene like
a bolt of lightning. In under a year — in the second half of 2001
— he rose to the top of Cuban radio stations’ hit lists with "Un
montón de estrellas"
(A Mountain of Stars).
With
this and other songs from his first CD Guajiro natural (Natural
Countryman) he won over the Colombian public and made inroads into
other Latin American countries and Western Europe. His surprising
and, at the same time, powerful ride on the crest of the Cuban musical
wave and his incessant international success was accompanied by
a type of legendary mystique fueling the tale of a guajiro who charmed
the world with his simple, moving music. And his patriotic feelings
led him to set to music the poems of Antonio Guerrero, one of the
five Cubans imprisoned in the United States.
Polo
Montañez’ second CD on the Lusáfrica label was released in May;
Guitarra mía (My Guitar) established him among us, building upon
his achievements during
the last two months of spring when he filled stadiums and plazas
the length and breadth of the country. Of late, the singer had enjoyed
Puerto Rican Gilberto Santarrosa’s splendid version of "Un montón
de estrellas". And he was preparing to continue touring abroad to
promote his second CD.
|
| "Un
monton de estrellas" |
 |
The most famous, and maybe the best song he made
...
We, the real lovers of Cuban music will miss him badly ...
Thank you Polo |
Yo
no se porquè razon cantarle a ella
si decìa aborrecerla con las fuerzas de mi corazon
Todavia non la aborro totalmente
ella siempre esta presente como ahora en esta cancion
incontable son las veces que he tratado
de olvidarla y no he logrado
arrancarla in un segundo de mi mente
porchè ella sabe todo mi pasado
me conoce demasiado
y es possible que por esso se aprovece
Porque yo en el amor soy un idiota
que ha sufrido mil derrotas, que no tengo
fuerza para defenderme
pero ella casi siempre se aprovecha
unas veces me desprecia
y otras veces lo hace para entretenerme
y es asi…
Hoi recuerdo la cancion que le hice un dia
Y en el fondo lo sabia que eso era malo para mi
poco a poco fui cayendo en un abismo
siempre me passo lo mismo
nadie sabe lo que yo sufri
una victima total de sus antojos
pero un dia abri los ojos
e con rabia la arranquè de mi memoria
poco a poco fui saliendo hacia adelante
y en los brazos de otra amante
pude terminar al fin con esta historia
Porque yo en el amor soy un idiota
que ha sufrido mil derrotas, que no tengo
fuerzas para defenderme
pero ella casi siempre approvechaba
y si alcun dia me besaba, esso era solo para entretenerme
y es asi....
Todo fue,….asi
asi....mismo fue ...por ella
yo la queria, yo l’adoraba
però tenia que abborecerla
todo fue por ella
como yo quise a esta mujer
porque pensaba que era buena
yo era capaz de subir al cielo
para agarrarle un monton de estrellas
un pajarito que va volando
yo lo cogi para complacerla
asi .... todo fue por ella
tanto se burlò de mi
y hora no puedo verla. |
|
