In
Honor of the Trío Matamoros
By:
,
Santiago de Cuba
Translated
by:
Versión
en Español
During
nearly four decades of their musical career, the
Trío Matamoros sang with love for
the beauty and the people of their dearly beloved
homeland.
With
a unique Cuban style, Miguel Matamoros founded
and directed the world famous musical group that
carried his name and that traveled the world like
vibrant musical ambassadors using only their voices,
guitars and maracas as their flag. They added an
unequaled Cuban flavor to each performance that
nobody has been able to attain since then.
The
founder and director of this renowned Trío
created other genres within the established norms
of the bolero and the criolla song
styles. These added a large body of work to the
vast repetoire of the Cuban 'songbook' known for
its high melodic and rhythmic quality, thus enriching
the Cuban cultural patrimony.
In
songs such as Son de la Loma, El que siembra
su maíz and Lágrimas Negras,
the emblematic Miguel Matamoros majestically
fused two of the most popular genres of our popular
music for the first time (the bolero
and the son).
Other
popular numbers such as Juramento, Olvido, Mientes,
Alegre Conga, Reclamo, Místico, Mariposita
de Primavera, Triste muy triste and El Paralítico,
just to name a few of the more well known ones,
demonstrate the endless creativity of the world
renowned author, Miguel Matamoros.
Miguel
Matamoros together with Siro
Rodríguez and Rafael Cueto made
up the most famous of Cuban Tríos. In 1928
alone they recorded ten albums with RCA Victor
record label. El que siembra su maíz and
Olvido are the numbers that launched his career
and made him world famous.
Born
in Santiago de Cuba in l894, Miguel Matamoros
passed away in 1971. During his 77 years, he dedicated
more than four decades to entertaining not only
his compatriots, but the entire world with his enduring
and beautiful creations.
This
Trío was known for taking their work seriously,
staying faithful to the music and always interpreting
the music with good taste. These were the characteristics
they were known for and they were born from the
true brotherhood the members felt for each other
in their art and in their personal lives.
The
distinguished musicologist from Santiago, José
Julián Padilla Sánchez once said
of Miguel Matamoros that "he could express
a Cuban 'criollo' style articistically, and at the
same time maintain his own personal style which
he used to creat
and interpret his music."
With
regard to the Trío, Padilla said,
"The characteristic sound of the Trío
Matamoros is due to the voice and lead guitar
of its director who possesses an instrumental melody
line with "punteado" style. This is enriched
by the second voice of Siro with a rich baritone
quality and Cueto's guitar, known for a very
expressive strumming style and a "tumbao"
all his own, resulting in a sort of polirrhythmic
effect."
Miguel
Matamoros also contributed the so-called "pasacalles
guitarísticos" which he created
with a unique exhuberant native flavor, complemented
by Cueto's third voice in the chorus of the
sons.
Thirty
years since the passing of Miguel Matamoros,
the eco of Siro, Cueto and Miguel
can still be heard. This famous Trío
sings on in the most distant plazas on the planet,
a source of pride for not only Cubans, but for all
who love our popular music.
