From
the Traditional Trova
Sindo
Garay: Eternal, Beautiful Melodies
By:
Santiago de Cuba
Translated to English by Jacira Castro
La
tarde
(Author: Sindo Garay) |
|
La
luz que en tus ojos arde,
Si los abres amanece,
Cuando los cierras parece
Que va muriendo la tarde.
|
|
Las
penas que me maltratan
Son tantas que se atropellan,
y como de matarme tratan
Se mellan unas con otras
Y por eso no me matan.
|
Just
because the Bolero has become so universally known, the younger generations
should get to know and always remember those people who were the prominent
figures in this genuinely Cuban musical form. For more than one hundred
years, the Bolero has been by the side of those who love, who dream
or who suffer for being romantic. They should know that it was Don
Pepe Sánchez who wrote the song, Tristeza in 1893,
therefore legitimizing this new genre. Throughout it all, we should
always remember the unforgettable Sindo Garay, one of the greatest
interpreters of the Bolero.
Beginning
with Don Pepe Sánchez, the indisputable pioneer who
set the standard in the history of the traditional Cuban Troubador
song style, the genre was enriched with the appearance of a plethora
of notable successors, amongst whom are Sindo Garay, together
with Manuel Corona, Alberto Villalón
and Rosendo Ruiz, who constitute the so-called group of the
Cuatro Grandes (the Four Big Ones) of the Cuban trova.
Sindo
Garay, baptized by Federico García Lorca as the
Gran Faraón de Cuba, is without a doubt, one
of the most well-known Troubadors of Cuban music.
Sindo
Garay was the best representative for the bolero song style. He
added his unique style of scraping the chords of the guitar as he
closed his musical phrases.
When
he was only 10 years old he wrote his first song, Quiéreme
trigueña.
He worked
at menial jobs, and as an adolescent, he gave birth to the Trovador
song movement in Santiago de Cuba. At the end of the last century,
he traveled to Santo Domingo, ( Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico and
various South American countries.
He was
autodidactic, and he displayed an extraordinary sixth sense. He made
frequent use of the chromatic scale in a way that was as surprising
as it was concise.
Amongst
his most important compositions are: La tarde, Perla Marina, Rendido,
Labios de grana, Clave a Maceo, Retorna, La baracoesa, La alondra,
El huracán y la palma, Fernani, Rayos de oro, Tardes grises,
Ojos de Sirena and Guarina.
During
his long life, 101 years, he traveled extensively in his country and
received hundreds of awards and tributes.
José
Antonio Méndez said of him in 1988: " He had his own
way of harmonizing songs. Music professors who saw his work could
not believe that a man who had no formal schooling in music could
know how to utilize such complex harmonic resources. His harmonic
sequences surprised even the most erudite because they broke the established
cannons of the great music schools. Sindo used very unique combinations
and especially used the bass in a manner that nobody else did. One
must arrive at the conclusion that Sindo Garay was
a true genius!
