Abelardo Barroso, singer, composer. (born in Havana) ** Abelardo Barroso, cantante, compositor. (nacido en la Habana)
The singer Abelardo Barroso Dargeles was born in Havana in September 15, 1905 and died 27 September 1972) was the first sonero mayor (lead singer of the son) to be recognized as such by the Cuban public.
He was the lead singer of the Sexteto Habanero from 1925, recorded with the Sexteto Boloña in 1926, and joined the Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro in 1927. With each of these top bands he made a string of recordings in New York, and for the rest of his life his voice was in demand.
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In 1929–1930 he joined the stage variety group Salmerón, with whom he toured Spain. Returning to Cuba in 1931, he joined the Orquesta Ernesto Muñoz. In 1933 he founded the charanga López–Barroso with Orestes López.
He appeared alternately with this band and with the Sexteto Universo, and in 1935 founded the Sexteto Pinin. There followed spells with the bands of Andrés Laferté and Everado Ordaz before, in 1939, he joined the important charanga Maravillas del Siglo and performed on Radio COCO. During the 1940s he worked at the cabaret Sans-Souci until 1948, when he directed and sang for the National Police Band.
By the early 1950s, his fame had faded and he made a living playing the guitar and singing for tips outside Havana’s La Campana nightclub. Rolando Valdés, the director of Orquesta Sensación, one of the most successful charanga bands of the cha cha cha era of the mid-1950s recognized Abelardo Barroso in 1955 and recruited him for his orchestra.
Valdés had the right songs in mind for Barroso to sing with the band, “La Hija De Juan Simón” and “En Guantánamo.” Both had been big hits years before and the new versions with Barroso’s vocals became an immediate hit.
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“I remember walking down the main street in Centro Habana and hearing Sensación coming out of every juke box in every bar I passed,” Valdés recalls. “Amazing. I walked back the way I had come to experience it again.”
Orquesta Sensación and Abelardo Barroso experienced a series of hits in Cuba. “Songwriters would offer me songs,” Valdés noted, “and my mother, who was a fortune teller, could tell from looking at a list which ones were going to be hits.”
They won the Disco de Oro for a recording of En Guantánamo and Arráncame la vida. With La Sensación he appeared in Miami in 1957 and in New York, 1959 and 1960.
He retired in 1969. He died September 27, 1972.
Agencies/Various/Wiki/InternetPhotos/youtube/thecubanhistory.com
The Cuban History, Hollywood.
Arnoldo Varona, Editor.