Havana, Cuba. - Culture, talent, thoroughness are three traits that, in musician Radames Giro’s words, characterized Luis Carbonell’s art. Over several decades of indefatigable work, he treasured a work of indisputable importance, which makes him exemplary paradigm of dedication to the noble endeavor of enriching human beings’ spirituality.
Reading “El Arte de Luis Carbonell” (Museum of Music Editions, 2013, 264 pp) allows us to approach, from diverse angles, moments of the artistic career of this master; who not only devoted his voice, reason and passion to say others’ poetry, but also contributed to the development and splendor of Cuban music and musicians of two centuries.
With Radames Giro’s compilation and foreword, the reader will find in the pages of this book, in the fashion of a large mosaic, chronicles, articles, reviews, dated through the years and signed in the island and overseas. They provide information, comments and assessments on someone that said, "the more you study, the more you grow; thus you can transform, modify, change, and achieve important breaks."
In one of those texts, the words said, in July 2008, on the occasion of the master’s 85th birthday, by poet and essayist Nancy Morejon, National Literature Award, splendidly synthesizes Luis Carbonell’s mark on Cuban culture:
“Luis is nothing but a wizard of the spoken word, which is tantamount to saying of the street slangs that nurtured the language with their everyday salt.
His Cubanhood is a living force that spreads throughout the archipelago and has managed to reach other territories, other latitudes, where other Cubans have managed to recognize themselves in it, acclaim it and turn it into a sign of identity.
Being, as he is, a triumph of Cuban music, this Antillean watercolorist, placed at the service of its most important figures the gifts and disciplined learning that his artistic career advocated.
Luis Carbonell is a sum of odds, awkwardness and virtues ...”
The decision to dedicate a chapter of the book to a few poems that were part of Luis Carbonell’s repertoire was rightfully clever. They are texts by Cuban authors - Nicolas Guillen, Emilio Ballagas and Marcelino Arozarena - and voices from other lands – including Venezuelan Aquiles Nazoa, Puerto Rican Luis Pales-Matos and Spaniard Federico Garcia-Lorca.
Poems that, like "Esa negra Fuló", written by Brazilian Jorge de Lima, are known, acclaimed and repeated from generation to generation. Here are a few fragments of that text:
One good day (a long time ago)
was seen arriving
to my grandfather's barracks
a cute little black girl
named black Fuló.
Black girl Fuló!
Black girl Fuló!
Oh, Fuló! Oh, Fuló!
(The house lady chatters and chatters.)
Come to make my bed,
Hurry, comb me afterwards;
and help me undress;
for I'm in a hurry, Fuló
Black girl Fuló!
Black girl Fuló!
Black girl Fuló became a maid
to attend to the Lady,
to starch her clothes
and press the Master’s.
Black girl Fuló!
Black girl Fuló!
Where is the golden brooch?
Which our master gave me?
I know who stole it...
It was you, black Fuló!
Black girl Fuló!
Black girl Fuló!
The master himself was going
to punish Black Fuló.
So she took off her skirt
and pulled off her blouse.
The naked flesh shone
Of black girl Fuló.
Black girl Fuló!
Black girl Fuló!
Oh, Fuló! Oh, Fuló!
Where is your master?
yes ... the master who is my lord!
that our Lord gave to me
I know who stole him:
It was you too, black Fuló!
Black girl Fuló!
Black girl Fuló!
In “El Arte de Luis Carbonell”, three poems dedicated to the artist are included. They were written by Jesus Cos-Causse, Angel Augier and Jesus Orta-Ruiz (Indio Nabori) respectively, as well as interviews granted to journalists from different latitudes. This delivery is complemented by a gallery of images, the creator’s discography and a bibliography that revives, as documentary source, references in books and periodicals.
Luis Carbonell (Santiago de Cuba, 1923-Havana, 2014), was conferred the National Music Award and the National Humor Award, both for the work of a lifetime. He is much more than the “Watercolorist of Antillean Poetry”, as he is known, due to the comment made by Argentinean artist Pepe Biondi, after watching him perform in a Havana theater.
Those who venture into reading “El Arte de Luis Carbonell” will be able to confirm such assertion. Because, through these pages, one will discover the varied and rich creative angles of a man who was reality and legend. This man today is not only heritage of several generations’ memory, but also of Cuban culture’s memory.
Translated by Pedro A. Fanego
