When Miguel Angel Mesa is mentioned, many remember him as the hard-working man he was. But to say Miguel Angel “Aspirina” will certainly be the key to recognize in Cuba and the whole world the man known as the “Rumba Gentleman.”
His spirit sneaked out of the small window of his maternal home. It was lured by the sound of clave and guaguanco choirs, intoned in the tenement house of Afro-descendants, where ancestral culture replaced letters and numbers.
Adela Francis came one day from Jamaica looking for a better life and found as much or more hard work than in her homeland. Life did not give her the dreamed joy, but blessed her with children full of music from head to toe. Today, they fill Havana City with glory, singing, dance and the masterful beat in every Yoruba or Abakua celebration.
But her fifth offspring made the difference. He never stopped striving in his workplace to bring sustenance to his family, but learned the essence of rumba and joined amateur groups in his hours of leisure. He composed themes that include clave, Columbia, Yambu and guaguanco; was a memorable improviser, sang and danced with spectacular dexterity.
Cuban National Folkloric Company highly appreciates the contribution of Miguel Angel and his brothers to Cuban music, as senior rumberos. His contribution to the record “¿Donde andabas tu Acereko?” winner of the Latin Grammy in 2005, would suffice to honor his vast work.
The Organizing Committee of Cubadisco 2008 gave him a commemorative coin for his participation in the show “La Rumba mas larga” (The longest Rumba).
Miguel Angel Mesa’s extensive life faded away when he had already been declared Living Memory of his beloved Guanabacoa. There, where and his brothers inherited the nickname of Aspirina from the eldest son, no one questions what Adela Francis said in an interview: "As long as there is one “Aspirina”, rumba will never die."
Translated by Pedro A. Fanego
