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- BBC News World
November 22, 2022
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“I met you tearing the chest of death one day”, says the song by Silvio Rodríguez in honor of Pablo Milanés.
“Pablo”, that is the simple title of the song that the Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez published on his blog in tribute to Pablo Milanés, his late compatriot and companion of the Cuban trova.
Milanés died Monday night at the age of 79, in Madrid, Spain, after spending more than a week in a hospital for a series of recurring infections.
Perhaps no other singer was more musically linked to Pablo Milanés than Silvio Rodríguez.
Both went among the founders and main exponents of the Nueva Trova Cubanathe genre that emerged in the late 1960s, deeply rooted in the reality of the Cuban Revolution, encompassing social, political, and personal issues.
In 1984, Rodríguez and Milanés released a record of their joint concert in Argentina called “En vivo”. And in 1985, Rodríguez participated in the long-playing “Querido Pablo”, in which singers of the stature of Joan Manuel Serrat and Mercedes Sosa also performed.
In his blog Segunda Cita, Silvio Rodríguez allows his unpublished song “Pablo”, composed in 1969, to be the only comment he makes about Pablo Milanés, but the lyrics describe with poetic eloquence what he feels for his friend.
“You are a space that becomes spineless and loses itself in the joy of becoming”, says a stanza.
“I met you stuck to the wall of heaven one day. You were then carrying a guajira under your arm and walking, walking,” ends the song by Rodríguez, who had a relationship peppered with ups and downs with the late singer-songwriter.
image source, Getty Images
Along with Pablo Milanés, Silvio Rodríguez was one of the main exponents of Nueva Trova.
grateful
Milanés influenced the musical career of several prominent Spanish-speaking artistsincluding Serrat, Ana Belén, Víctor Manuel, Luis Eduardo Aute, Joaquín Sabina, among many others with whom he collaborated on recordings and participated in recitals.
image source, Getty Images
Milanés (second from the left) with Joan Manuel Serrat, Luis Eduardo Aute, Kiko Veneno and Silvio Rodríguez in Madrid in 1983.
He also performed and collaborated with musicians from his native island, such as the Los Van Van orchestra and jazz player Chucho Valdés.
Although the popularity of Nueva Trova declined in subsequent decades, the music and presence of Pablo Milanés continued to captivate new generations of singers.
One of them, the Spanish ismael serranowho together with Serrat, Víctor Manuel and Milanés recorded “Encuentros en La Habana”, acknowledged in a Twitter message the impact that the Cuban tovador had on his career.
Another Spanish singer, Alejandro Sanzthanked the music and figure of Milanés in a message that says: “It gives me courage that you have left but so much happiness that you have been.”
and the legendary Raphael He also made himself felt on social networks writing: “Cuba and the whole world will miss you very much. You take my admiration and respect.”
The Mexican Lucero shared a video in which she sings one of Milanés’ famous songs, “In what quiet way”, accompanied by the words: “May heaven receive you singing.”
Although he was initially committed to the revolutionary movement in Cuba, Milanés became one of the most critical public figures of his country’s government.
He raised his voice against the repression of the anti-government citizen protests in July 2021, advocating for full freedom on the island.
Last September, he joined a hundred Cuban artists and intellectuals who signed a manifesto calling for changes in the country.
Despite his opposition to the government, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, lamented the death of Milanés, acknowledging that “one of our greatest musicians physically disappears”. He also sent condolences to his widow and children.
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