Skip to main content
Adriano, the Havana´s emperor of music
20September
Events500 Aniversario

Adriano, the Havana´s emperor of music

Among the many things Cubans thank Edesio Alejandro, apart from his contributions to the soundtrack of national cinema, radio and television, is to share his talent with legends of music such as Adriano Rodríguez.

When it seemed that Adriano`s voice was extinguished, that no longer existed, that  fashion would make his mark disappear, Edesio formed a union that we still remember, recovering themes such as El reloj de Pastora, among others, that reached popularity among the youngest.

At that time, we visited Adriano`s place in Alamar, one of the municipalities of Havana, and besides he was an advanced in years man he told us some of his anecdotes, he shared part of his photographs with stars of his time such as Merceditas Valdés or Celia Cruz. From that encounter was a faithful recording in which the remembered singer explains 

"I was raised in a place where African religious lived, there was a rumba in the square ... I attended all that and sang. Also in the church of Guanabacoa I participated in the choir, music was my thing, even without knowing, but I observe everything carefully “.

Adriano is the son of the productive village of Guanabacoa, where La Montaner, Ernesto Lecuona and Bola de Nieve were also born, among other magnificent creators and performers who gave shine and prestige to an entire nation.

Adriano Rodríguez dedicated more that sixty years to the Cuban song. That time forces us to take off our hats and make an act of reverence in front of one of the greatest voices of Cuba. A brief review to his life allows us to know how his voice served to illustrate, in the 30s, several lectures given by Fernando Ortíz and Argeliers León.

 

Adriano Rodríguez

 

At the same time, his interpretive versatility led him to share the stage with Paulina Álvarez and the peerless, Rita Montaner. The group of Cuban troubadours, founded in 1962, is also one of the greatest contributions to the national culture in which Adriano offered his experience with notable performers of popular music. For more than a decade, his unique baritone voice was heard in various stages of the Island, spreading anthological pieces from the troubadour`s repertoire.

In all his collection, stand out songs that are part of the Cuban heritage , but there is one that unleashes emotion when we listen to it and that he shared with the immense Silvio Rodríguez. We are referring to The song of the trova, written by Silvio. A fragment of the song, sung in duet, as the perfect union of what happened and what emerges, says:

Although they are other times today, / and tomorrow will also be, / is still talking to the sea ... the same that protects and purifies the city of almost 500 years that wrapped  Adriano Rodriguez, the musical emperor of a living city.

By Excelencias Editorial