Benny Moré
Encyclopedia
Benny Moré or Beny, was a Cuban singer. He is often thought of as the greatest Cuba
n popular singer of all time. He was gifted with an innate musicality and fluid tenor
voice which he colored and phrased with great expressivity. Moré was a master of most genres of Cuban music, such as the son montuno
, mambo, guaracha
, and bolero
. In particular, it is unusual for a singer to be equally proficient at both the fast rhythms (e.g. guaracha) and the slower rhythms, such as the bolero. Moré also formed and led the leading Cuban big band of the 1950s, until his death in 1963.
who was captured by slave traders and sold to a Cuban plantation owner (he was later liberated and died as a freeman at age 64).
As a child Moré learned to play the guitar, making his first instrument at age six, according to his mother, out of a board and a ball of string.
In 1936, at age seventeen, he left Las Lajas for Havana, where he lived by selling bruised and damaged fruits and vegetables and medicinal herbs. Six months later he returned to Las Lajas and went to cut cane for a season with his brother Teodoro. With the money he earned and Teodoro's savings, he bought his first decent guitar.
Moré's first breakthrough was winning a radio competition. In the early 1940s, the radio station CMQ had a program called "The Supreme Court of Art" in which a wide variety of artists participated. Winners were given contracts by unscrupulous businessmen who exploited them. The less fortunate were treated to the humiliation of a loud church bell which brutally terminated their performances.
In his first appearance, Moré had scarcely begun to sing when the bell sounded. He later competed again and won first prize. He then landed his first stable job with the Cauto conjunto
led by Mozo Borgellá. He also sang with success on the radio station CMZ with the sextet Fígaro of Lázaro Cordero. In 1944, he made his debut on station 1010 performing with the Cauto quartet.
, heard Moré singing in the bar El Temple and was greatly impressed. Shortly thereafter, Conjunto Matamoros was engaged for a live performance for the station 1010. However, Miguel Matamoros was indisposed and asked Mozo Borgellá (director of Septeto Cauto), to lend him a singer. Borguellá sent Moré, who remained several years with the Matamoros, making a number of recordings.
Moré replaced Miguel Matamoros as lead singer, and the latter dedicated himself to leading the band.
In 1945 Moré went with Conjunto Matamoros to Mexico
, where he performed in two of the most famous cabarets of the age, the Montparnasse and the Río Rosa. He made several recordings. Conjunto Matamoros returned to Havana, but Moré remained in Mexico. Rafael Cueto said to him: "Fine, but just remember that they call burros "bartolo" here. Stay, but change your name." "Ok," replied Moré, "from now on my name is Beny, Beny Moré."
Moré was left penniless and got permission to work from the performing artists' union. With this, he was able to get a job at the Río Rosa, where he formed the duet Dueto Fantasma with Lalo Montané.
In Mexico City
, Moré made recordings for RCA Victor, with Perez Prado
: Bonito y sabroso, Mucho corazón, Pachito el che, Ensalada de mambo, La mucura, Rabo y oreja and other numbers. He recorded Dolor Karabalí, which Moré considered his best composition recorded with Pérez Prado, one he never wanted to re-record. There were at least 22 recordings of Moré with the Prado orchestra.
Moré also recorded with the orchestra of Mariano Mercerón: Me voy pal pueblo y Desdichado. He also recorded with Mexican orchestras, specially with the one directed by Rafael de Paz; they recorded Yiri yiri bon, La Culebra, Mata siguaraya, Solamente una vez and Bonito y Sabroso, a song where he praises the dancing skills of the Mexicans, and claims that Mexico City
and La Habana are sister cities.
In this time Benny also recorded with the orchestra of Jesús "Chucho" Rodríguez. El "Chucho" was so impressed with Benny's musical ability that he referred to him as "El Barbaro del Ritmo".
, Colombia
, Brazil
and Puerto Rico
, but virtually unknown on the island. His first Cuban recording was Bonito y Sabroso. Moré began alternating between performances in the Cadena Oriental and trips to Havana to record at the RCA studios.
In Havana, Moré worked for the radio station RHC Cadena Azul, with the orchestra of Bebo Valdés, who introduced the new style called "batanga
". The presenter of the show, Ibraín Urbino, presented him as El Bárbaro del Ritmo. They offered him the opportunity to record with Sonora Matancera
, but he declined the offer because he didn't care for the sound of the group.
After the batanga fell out of fashion, Moré was contracted by Radio Progreso
with the orchestra of Ernesto Duarte. In addition to the radio, he also performed at dances, cabarets and parties. When he sang in Havana's Centro Gallego
, people filled the sidewalks and the gardens of the Capitolio to hear him.
In 1952, Moré made a recording with the Orquesta Aragón
with whom he would perform in dance halls. Orquesta Aragón was from Cienfuegos
and was having trouble breaking into Havana and Moré helped them in this way.
At this point, Moré broke with Duarte when he discovered that Duarte was not taking him to Saturday and Sunday gigs because he was black. Moré was furious. He presented himself to the agent of RCA in Cuba and told him he was not going to record again with the orchestra of Duarte. Moré decided at that point to start his own orchestra.
and Pérez Prado
. Although Moré could not read music, he arranged material by singing parts to his arrangers.
In the years 1954 and 1955, the Banda Gigante became immensely popular. In 1956 and 1957, it toured Venezuela
, Jamaica
, Haiti
, Colombia
, Panama, Mexico and the United States
, where the group played at the Oscar
ceremonies. In Havana, it played at the dance halls La Tropical and El Sierra. In 1960, it started performing both night and day.
Moré was offered a tour of Europe
– France
in particular – but he rejected it because of fear of flying (he had by that time been in three air accidents).
The following musicians were its original members:
, many of Cuba's top musical figures emigrated, but Moré stayed in Cuba, among, as he said, "mi gente" (my people).
Moré was an alcoholic, and began to show signs of liver failure in his early 40s. When he died in 1963 of cirrhosis
of the liver, an estimated 100,000 fans attended his funeral. He was 43 years old.
Park in Union City, New Jersey
, a heavily Cuban-American community that has hosted musical presentations and multimedia lectures on the singer.
Moré is remembered in the 2006 film, El Benny
, which is based on parts of his life, and includes new versions of his songs performed by musicians including Chucho Valdés
, Juan Formell and Orishas
.
He is also remembered in books, such as Miami-based writer Daína Chaviano
's 2008 novel The Island of Eternal Love
, in which Moré appears as one of the characters, and the University Press of Florida's 2009 book, Wildman of Rhythm: The Life and Music of Benny Moré, the first English language biography of Moré.
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n popular singer of all time. He was gifted with an innate musicality and fluid tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
voice which he colored and phrased with great expressivity. Moré was a master of most genres of Cuban music, such as the son montuno
Son montuno
The son montuno is a style of the Cuban son, but exactly what it means is not an easy question to answer. The son itself is the most important genre of Cuban popular music. In addition, it is perhaps the most flexible of all forms of Latin-American music...
, mambo, guaracha
Guaracha
The guaracha is a genre of Cuban popular music, of rapid tempo and with lyrics. The word had been used in this sense at least since the late 18th and early 19th century. Guarachas were played and sung in musical theatres and in low-class dance salons. They became an integral part of Bufo comic...
, and bolero
Bolero
Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...
. In particular, it is unusual for a singer to be equally proficient at both the fast rhythms (e.g. guaracha) and the slower rhythms, such as the bolero. Moré also formed and led the leading Cuban big band of the 1950s, until his death in 1963.
Early life
The eldest of eighteen children, Moré was born Bartolomé Moré in Santa Isabel de las Lajas in the former province of Las Villas in central Cuba. His maternal great-great grandfather, Ta Ramón Gundo Paredes, was said to be the son of the king of a tribe in the CongoKingdom of Kongo
The Kingdom of Kongo was an African kingdom located in west central Africa in what are now northern Angola, Cabinda, the Republic of the Congo, and the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
who was captured by slave traders and sold to a Cuban plantation owner (he was later liberated and died as a freeman at age 64).
As a child Moré learned to play the guitar, making his first instrument at age six, according to his mother, out of a board and a ball of string.
In 1936, at age seventeen, he left Las Lajas for Havana, where he lived by selling bruised and damaged fruits and vegetables and medicinal herbs. Six months later he returned to Las Lajas and went to cut cane for a season with his brother Teodoro. With the money he earned and Teodoro's savings, he bought his first decent guitar.
Career
In 1940, Moré returned to Havana. He lived from hand-to-mouth, playing in bars and cafés, passing the hat.Moré's first breakthrough was winning a radio competition. In the early 1940s, the radio station CMQ had a program called "The Supreme Court of Art" in which a wide variety of artists participated. Winners were given contracts by unscrupulous businessmen who exploited them. The less fortunate were treated to the humiliation of a loud church bell which brutally terminated their performances.
In his first appearance, Moré had scarcely begun to sing when the bell sounded. He later competed again and won first prize. He then landed his first stable job with the Cauto conjunto
Conjunto
Conjunto literally translates as "group," and is regionally accepted in Texas as defining a genre of music that was born out of south Texas at the end of the 19th Century, after German settlers introduced the button accordion. The bajo sexto has come to accompany the button accordion and is...
led by Mozo Borgellá. He also sang with success on the radio station CMZ with the sextet Fígaro of Lázaro Cordero. In 1944, he made his debut on station 1010 performing with the Cauto quartet.
Trío Matamoros and Mexico
Ciro Rodríguez, of the famed Trío MatamorosTrio Matamoros
The Trio Matamoros were one of the most popular Cuban trova groups. Formed in 1925 by Miguel Matamoros , Rafael Cueto and Siro Rodriguez...
, heard Moré singing in the bar El Temple and was greatly impressed. Shortly thereafter, Conjunto Matamoros was engaged for a live performance for the station 1010. However, Miguel Matamoros was indisposed and asked Mozo Borgellá (director of Septeto Cauto), to lend him a singer. Borguellá sent Moré, who remained several years with the Matamoros, making a number of recordings.
In 1945 Moré went with Conjunto Matamoros to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, where he performed in two of the most famous cabarets of the age, the Montparnasse and the Río Rosa. He made several recordings. Conjunto Matamoros returned to Havana, but Moré remained in Mexico. Rafael Cueto said to him: "Fine, but just remember that they call burros "bartolo" here. Stay, but change your name." "Ok," replied Moré, "from now on my name is Beny, Beny Moré."
Moré was left penniless and got permission to work from the performing artists' union. With this, he was able to get a job at the Río Rosa, where he formed the duet Dueto Fantasma with Lalo Montané.
In Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, Moré made recordings for RCA Victor, with Perez Prado
Perez Prado
Dámaso Pérez Prado was a Cuban bandleader, musician , and composer. He is often referred to as the 'King of the Mambo'.His orchestra was the most popular in mambo...
: Bonito y sabroso, Mucho corazón, Pachito el che, Ensalada de mambo, La mucura, Rabo y oreja and other numbers. He recorded Dolor Karabalí, which Moré considered his best composition recorded with Pérez Prado, one he never wanted to re-record. There were at least 22 recordings of Moré with the Prado orchestra.
Moré also recorded with the orchestra of Mariano Mercerón: Me voy pal pueblo y Desdichado. He also recorded with Mexican orchestras, specially with the one directed by Rafael de Paz; they recorded Yiri yiri bon, La Culebra, Mata siguaraya, Solamente una vez and Bonito y Sabroso, a song where he praises the dancing skills of the Mexicans, and claims that Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
and La Habana are sister cities.
In this time Benny also recorded with the orchestra of Jesús "Chucho" Rodríguez. El "Chucho" was so impressed with Benny's musical ability that he referred to him as "El Barbaro del Ritmo".
Return to Cuba
At the end of 1950, Moré returned to Cuba. He was a star in Mexico, PanamaPanama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, but virtually unknown on the island. His first Cuban recording was Bonito y Sabroso. Moré began alternating between performances in the Cadena Oriental and trips to Havana to record at the RCA studios.
In Havana, Moré worked for the radio station RHC Cadena Azul, with the orchestra of Bebo Valdés, who introduced the new style called "batanga
Batanga
Batanga may refer to:* The Batanga people of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea;* The Batanga language, spoken by that people;* Grand Batanga, Cameroon* Batanga , a publication focusing on Latin American music...
". The presenter of the show, Ibraín Urbino, presented him as El Bárbaro del Ritmo. They offered him the opportunity to record with Sonora Matancera
Sonora Matancera
La Sonora Matancera is a long-time band. Led by guitarist and vocalist Rogelio Martínez, La Sonora Matancera has been called, by the Guinness Book of World Records, "the group with the longest duration."...
, but he declined the offer because he didn't care for the sound of the group.
After the batanga fell out of fashion, Moré was contracted by Radio Progreso
Radio Progreso
Radio Progreso is a Cuban Spanish language radio station....
with the orchestra of Ernesto Duarte. In addition to the radio, he also performed at dances, cabarets and parties. When he sang in Havana's Centro Gallego
Great Theatre of Havana
The Great Theatre of Havana is located in the Paseo del Prado in Havana, Cuba. It is located in a building known as the Palace of the Galician Centre which served as a place of social reunion for the Galician immigrants in Havana...
, people filled the sidewalks and the gardens of the Capitolio to hear him.
In 1952, Moré made a recording with the Orquesta Aragón
Orquesta Aragón
Orquesta Aragón was formed on 30 September 1939, by Orestes Aragón Cantero in Cienfuegos, Cuba. The band originally had the name Ritmica 39, then Ritmica Aragón before settling on its final form. Though they did not create the Cha-cha-cha, they were arguably the best charanga in Cuba during 1950s...
with whom he would perform in dance halls. Orquesta Aragón was from Cienfuegos
Cienfuegos
Cienfuegos is a city on the southern coast of Cuba, capital of Cienfuegos Province. It is located about from Havana, and has a population of 150,000. The city is dubbed La Perla del Sur...
and was having trouble breaking into Havana and Moré helped them in this way.
At this point, Moré broke with Duarte when he discovered that Duarte was not taking him to Saturday and Sunday gigs because he was black. Moré was furious. He presented himself to the agent of RCA in Cuba and told him he was not going to record again with the orchestra of Duarte. Moré decided at that point to start his own orchestra.
La Banda Gigante
The first performance of Moré's Banda Gigante (Big Band) was in the program Cascabeles Candado of the station CMQ. The Banda was generally sixteen musicians, comparable in size with the orchestras of Xavier CugatXavier Cugat
Xavier Cugat was a Spanish-American bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a key personality in the spread of Latin music in United States popular music. He was also a cartoonist and a successful businessman...
and Pérez Prado
Perez Prado
Dámaso Pérez Prado was a Cuban bandleader, musician , and composer. He is often referred to as the 'King of the Mambo'.His orchestra was the most popular in mambo...
. Although Moré could not read music, he arranged material by singing parts to his arrangers.
In the years 1954 and 1955, the Banda Gigante became immensely popular. In 1956 and 1957, it toured Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Panama, Mexico and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where the group played at the Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
ceremonies. In Havana, it played at the dance halls La Tropical and El Sierra. In 1960, it started performing both night and day.
Moré was offered a tour of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
– France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in particular – but he rejected it because of fear of flying (he had by that time been in three air accidents).
The following musicians were its original members:
- Piano: Cabrerita; Saxophones: Miguel Franca, Santiaguito Peñalver, Roberto Barreto, Celso Gómez and Virgilio; Trumpets: Chocolate, Rabanito and Corbacho; Trombone: José Miguel; Bass: Alberto Limonta; Batería (Drums): Rolando Laserie; Bongos: Clemente Piquero "Chicho"; Congas: Tabaquito; Vocals: Fernando Alvarez and Enrique Benitez.
Final years
In the aftermath of the Cuban RevolutionCuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
, many of Cuba's top musical figures emigrated, but Moré stayed in Cuba, among, as he said, "mi gente" (my people).
Moré was an alcoholic, and began to show signs of liver failure in his early 40s. When he died in 1963 of cirrhosis
Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis is a consequence of chronic liver disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrosis, scar tissue and regenerative nodules , leading to loss of liver function...
of the liver, an estimated 100,000 fans attended his funeral. He was 43 years old.
Awards and recognition
On June 11, 2006, Benny Moré was honored with a star on the Walk of Fame at Celia CruzCelia Cruz
Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums...
Park in Union City, New Jersey
Union City, New Jersey
Union City is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. According to the 2010 United States Census the city had a total population of 66,455. All of the city is on land, an area of...
, a heavily Cuban-American community that has hosted musical presentations and multimedia lectures on the singer.
Moré is remembered in the 2006 film, El Benny
El Benny
El Benny is a Cuban film released in 2006, directed and co-written by Jorge Luis Sánchez, his first feature length film. It is a fictional story based on the life of the famous Cuban musician Benny Moré...
, which is based on parts of his life, and includes new versions of his songs performed by musicians including Chucho Valdés
Chucho Valdés
Chucho Valdés is a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger. In 1972 he founded the group Irakere, one of Cuba's best-known Latin jazz bands. Together with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Valdés is revered as one of Cuba's greatest jazz pianists...
, Juan Formell and Orishas
Orishas (band)
Orishas was a Cuban hip hop group The group was first called "Amenaza", "threat" or "menace" in Spanish, and appealed to the Cuban youth who were hungry for African-American culture consisting of hip hop and rap. Orishas delved into a realm of music that created a black identity to which some...
.
He is also remembered in books, such as Miami-based writer Daína Chaviano
Daína Chaviano
Daina Chaviano is a Cuban writer.She is considered one of the three most important female fantasy and science fiction writers in the Spanish language, along with Angélica Gorodischer and Elia Barceló , forming the so-called “feminine trinity of science fiction in Latin America.”In Cuba, she...
's 2008 novel The Island of Eternal Love
The Island of Eternal Love
The Island of Eternal Love is a novel by Cuban author Daína Chaviano.The plot is a family saga that takes place along two parallel lines: one during our time and another that begins in the 1850s....
, in which Moré appears as one of the characters, and the University Press of Florida's 2009 book, Wildman of Rhythm: The Life and Music of Benny Moré, the first English language biography of Moré.