"The Cuban Gershwin"

“Siboney” “Malagueña” "Estás en mi corazón” are but the most popular

I was motivated to write this post after watching a video in another blog where there was a couple dancing to the tune of “Siboney” written by Ernesto Lecuona as a rumba although it is best known as a bolero everyone in Cuba knows and sings. The couple dancing had an uncanny ability to keep cadence with the music, particularly the female which kept it with a very voluptuous swing of her hips. The male did some unusual moves and was a bit too theatrical.

In America perhaps the best known piece written by Lecuona is “Babalú” made famous by Desi Arnaz and which became his trademark.

Siboney lyrics

Siboney, yo te quiero, yo me muero port u amor

Siboney, en tu boca la miel puso su dulzor

Ven a mí que te quiero y que todo tesoro eres tú para mí

Siboney, del arrullo de la palma pienso en tí

No se pierda por el entre el rudo manigual

Siboney, de mi sueños te espero con ansias en mi caney

Siboney, si no vienes de pena yo moriré

Ernesto Lecuona was the most important musician in Cuban musical life during the first half of the 20th century. Born in Guanabacoa, across the bay from Havana, in 1895, Lecuona first established himself as an outstanding pianist, graduating from the National Conservatory with the Gold Medal in performance at the age of seventeen. He went to New York City to play and there, in 1916, made his first public appearance outside of Havana.. International success as a pianist occurred seven years later, once more in New York but by then composition had become his primary musical activity. Among Lecuona's many achievements were the founding of the Havana Symphony (with Gonzalo Roig), the Lecuona Cuban Boys Band, and La Orquesta de La Habana. Lecuona wrote a great deal of film music in the '30s and '40s for such major studios as MGM, 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers and, in 1942, was nominated for an Academy Award . A biography of the composer, Ernesto Lecuona: the Genius and his Music, in a new English translation by Professor Rafael A. Lecuona, has just been published and can be obtained by ordering from this web site if you follow the link.

Of course, Siboney is not the only great song this Cuban composer wrote; perhaps he is best known for Malagueña (1927 ) Siempre En Mi Corazon, Dame de tus Rosas, and Noche Azul are among the most famous; the composer wrote 406 of them. Many of these great melodies were adapted, arranged and rearranged over the years for various instrumental and vocal combinations both by Lecuona and many others. the composer wrote 406 of them.

Lecuona even wrote an operetta of which “Maria la O” is one of its most famous tunes.

Many of these great melodies were adapted, arranged and rearranged over the years for various instrumental and vocal combinations both by Lecuona and many others.

SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lecuona_white_ink.jpg