Carlos Puebla
Encyclopedia
Carlos Manuel Puebla was a Cuba
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 singer, guitarist, and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. He was a member of the old trova movement who specialized in boleros and nationalistic songs.

Biography

Born into a modest family, he did several types of manual jobs during his youth (carpenter, mechanic, sugarcane worker, shoemaker), but quickly became interested in music, and especially in the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

. He learned how to play the instrument by himself, but he did study harmony and theory of music.

He began composing during the 1930s, and met with a certain amount of popularity in his native city. He recorded with his group Los Tradicionales, formed in 1953. From 1962 he was a regular performer in La Bodeguita del medio
Bodeguita del medio
La Bodeguita del Medio is a typical restaurant-bar of Havana . It is very famous and touristy for the personalities that have patronized it: Salvador Allende, the poet Pablo Neruda, the writer Ernest Hemingway, the artist Josignacio and many others...

, a bar-restaurant in Old Havana which was a favourite haunt of Cuban and foreign intellectuals.

Politically he stood beside Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

 before the 1959 Revolution
Cuban 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...

. In 1961, he went on tour in several countries with his musicians. His music, as well as his political activity, turned his concerts into a success. He was thenceforth called El Cantor de la Revolución (the singer of the revolution) and other world tours followed. More than an ambassador for Cuban music, he was an ambassador for Cuba. In 1965, the night after Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

's speech announcing Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...

's departure from the government, Puebla, seized by passion, composed what would become his most celebrated work, Hasta Siempre, Comandante, a true declaration of love for and hope in Che
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...

.

On 12 July 1989, he died in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

 after a long illness. His ashes were transferred to the cemetery of his native city five years later. A plaque there reads: yo soy ésto que soy, un simple trovador que canta ("I am what I am, a simple troubadour who sings").

Works

Puebla began by writing love songs, such as Quiero hablar contigo (I'd like to talk with you), Este amor de nosotros (~This love of ours), Serenata cubana, Canción definitiva, Qué sé yo and Te vieron con él, which later became successes, and also Cuenta conmigo, Quién se lo iba a imaginar and Hay que decir adiós, popularised by the duo Claro and Mario.

From the beginning of the 1950s, he sang of the difficult living conditions of his people and challenged Batista
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....

's dictatorship with such songs as Plan de machete, Este es mi pueblo and Pobre de mi Cuba. His lyrics were serious and direct. The 1959 Revolution inspired him to write new songs, such as Y en eso llegó Fidel (~And then came Fidel), Fidel y La OEA (Fidel and the Organization of American States
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...

) Procura venir el paz (~Try to get peace, Yankees go home!, La Reforma Agraria (Agricultural reform), Duro con él, Ya ganamos la pelea (We already won the fight.) and Son de la alfabetización.

His most famous song, Hasta Siempre
Hasta Siempre
"Hasta Siempre, Comandante, or simply "Hasta Siempre", is a 1965 Spanish song by Cuban composer Carlos Puebla. The song's lyrics are a reply to revolutionary Che Guevara's farewell letter when he left Cuba, in order to foster revolution in the Congo and later Bolivia, where he would be captured and...

, comandante
, has been covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 by dozens of artists from all over the world, notably in 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...

, by Nathalie Cardone
Nathalie Cardone
Nathalie Cardone is a French actress and singer. She was born to a Sicilian father and a Spanish mother.-Biography:...

 and Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...

.

External links

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