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In Santiago, a king was born... - Rey Caney

Texts and photos: Juan G. Cuadras

For a long time I had been thinking about making Reynaldo Hierrezuelo an interview. And all of a sudden, I'm talking with him: with Rey Caney. I'm the last of eleven brothers and I was born on December 30, 1926, in Santiago de Cuba. People say that you and your brothers used to make big musical sessions: Yes, we did that in Siboney -a place in El Caney where our house was. That's where they started to call me Rey (king) Caney: Rey for Rey-naldo and Caney for the place. When were Los Compadres formed? In 1949, and I tell you, it was by chance. My brother Lorenzo was working with María Teresa Vera in a party. She got sick, and then Lorenzo said he would bring along another person to finish the job, and he came back with Francisco Repilado. When did you form part of Los Compadres? I came to Havana in 1952 with the Baraguá Quartet. It was formed by my brothers Caridad and Ricardo; also by Rigoberto Echevarría, better known as Maduro. Besides playing the cuatro, he made musical instruments (strings) and he would play a major role in a certain point of this story. We were able to make some performances but that didn't last too long. I remained as accompanist of Los Compadres Duet because on radio they were accompanied by bongo, contrabass and guiro (gourd). I began working steady with them at the end of 1953, playing that famous instrument called pianolo or harmonica, but that I've always called "harmonious". Who created the famous armonioso? I don't want to start a controversy, because in Santiago de Cuba there was a man called Juan Medina, nicknamed "The mailman", who also played a similar instrument. I played the guitar and Repilado played a lute -tuned like an armonioso- with the Hatuey Quartet and at the beginning with Los Compadres; when I came in as accompanist, Francisco came up with the idea that Maduro could make him a ten-string instrument with that shape, that isn't a guitar or a lute. That's how the harmonic or armonioso was born: Maduro gave it that shape. When they separated, Lorenzo asked me if I would dare to play it, and for almost 40 years I played the armonioso. Maduro made me two of those instruments, but with a thicker box to make it sound more. Those are things that the people don't know.

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How did you get to the ALI BAR and in touch with Benny Moré? I must say that Francisco Repilado took me there, and Ojeda offered me to sing as soloist in a band Manolito Menéndez had for playing between shows at the nightclub. Then Alipio García asked me to sing with the ALI BAR´s orchestra. So, I just started to sing whatever, because I was a "singer". In those times, you had to be able to sing anything. One day I showed up with one of those scores that the music publishers used to give out. It was "Dolor y perdón", something that Benny had recently recorded. They used to turn off the lights when the band played between shows, and when I sang "Dolor y perdón" they had to turn on the lights so that the public could see who was singing, and they made me sing it again to see if it was real. I take pride in having performed together with Benny. Sometimes we even sang as duet. And one day he didn't come to the show; it was Saturday and the place was really packed. So you can imagine, the public was really upset, so Alipio asked me to substitute him. The animator was barely able to get the public to accept to listen to a scholar of Benny. I sang twelve themes… and they carried me in arms to the dressing room. I was the first Cuban singer to interpret Benny´s songs and right there at his ALI BAR. Tell me something about the Old Trova of Santiago. After I retired, a reporter came to Cuba once wanting to do an article on old Cuban music. Music is never old or we would have to say that Beethoven´s "Fifth Symphony" is old. The interpreters are the ones that get old. Like I was saying, this man shows up and they send him to Santiago de Cuba; Enrique Bonne takes charge of him there and the quintet was formed; they made a deal with the "Nube Negra" recording company to make a record, but we made three under the name of Old Trova of Santiago. It was a complete hit. What is Rey Caney doing at the time? I'm with the Old Trova; but in 1999 I made a disc by myself: Virgin Record recorded me in 14 themes -11 penned by me. It's like a will of the numbers I had dedicated to my wife and children. The CD is titled "Enamorado de la vida" (In love with life). Just one more thing: tell me, what does Rey Caney believe in? -I believe in all that of which you can doubt. That´s why I believe you´ll publish all this.

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