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2 Trio Matamoros 3 Banda Gigante 4 Quote |
His maternal great-great grandfather, Ta Ram�n Gundo Paredes, was said to be the son of the king of a tribe in the Congo who was captured by slave traders and sold to a Cuban plantation owner (he was later liberated and died as a freeman at age 94).
As a child Mor� learned to play the guitar, making his first instrument at age six, according to his mother, out of a board and a ball of string.
In 1936, at age seventeen, he left Las Lajas for Havana, where he lived by selling bruised and damaged fruits and vegetables and medicinal herbs. Six months later he returned to Las Lajas and went to cut cane for a season with his brother Teodoro. With the money he earned and Teodoro's savings, he bought his first decent guitar.
In 1940, Mor� returned to Havana. He lived from hand-to-mouth, playing in bars and caf�s, passing the hat.
His first breakthrough was winning a radio competition. In the early 1940s, the radio station CMQ had a program called "The Supreme Court of Art" in which a wide variety of artists participated. Winners were given contracts by unscrupulous businessmen who exploited them. The less fortunate were treated to the humiliation of a loud church bell which brutally terminated their performances.
In his first appearance, Mor� had scarcely begun to sing when the bell sounded. He later competed again and won first prize. He then landed his first stable job with the Cauto conjunto led by Mozo Borgell�. He also sang with success on the radio station CMZ with the sextet F�garo of L�zaro Cordero. In 1944, he made his debut on station 1010 performing with the Cuato quartet.
Then came Mor�'s major breakthrough.
In 1945 Mor� went with Conjunto Matamoros to Mexico, where he performed in two of the most famous cabarets of the age, the Montparnasse and the R�o Rosa. He made several recordings. Conjunto Matamoros returned to Havana, but Mor� remained in Mexico. Rafael Cueto said to him: "Fine, but just remember that they call burros "bartolo" here. Stay, but change your name." "Ok," replied Mor�, "from now on my name is Benny, Benny Mor�."
Mor� was left penniless and obtained permission to work from the performing artists' union. With this, he was able to get a job at the R�o Rosa, where he formed the duet Dueto Fantasma with Lalo Montan�.
In Mexico, Mor� made recordings for RCA Victor, together with the orchestra of Mariano Mercer�n: Me voy pal pueblo y Desdichado. He also recorded with Perez Prado: Bonito y sabroso, Mucho coraz�n, Pachito el che, and Ensalada de mambo. The public baptized him the Prince of Mambo. He also recorded Dolor carabali, which Mor� considered his best composition recorded with P�rez Prado, one he never wanted to re-record.
At the end of 1950, Mor� returned to Cuba. He was a star in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Brazil and Puerto Rico, but virtually unknown on the island. His first Cuban recording was Bonito y Sabroso. Mor� began alternating between performances in the Cadena Oriental and trips to Havana to record at the RCA studios.
In Havana, Mor� worked for the radio station RHC Cadena Azul, with the orchestra of Bebo Vald�s, who introduced the new style called "batanga". The presenter of the show, Ibra�n Urbino, presented him as El B�rbaro del Ritmo. They offered him the opportunity to record with Sonora Matancera, but he declined the offer because he didn't care for the sound of the group.
After the batanga fell out of fashion, Mor� was contracted by Radio Progreso with the orchestra of Ernesto Duarte. In addition to the radio, he also performed at dances, cabarets and parties. When he sang at the Centro Gallego, people filled the sidewalks and the gardens of the Capitolio to hear him.
In 1952, More made a recording with the Orquesta Arag�n and he decided that he would perform with this group in the dance halls. Orquesta Arag�n was from Cienfuegos and was having trouble breaking into Havana and Mor� helped them in this way.
At this point, Mor� broke with Duarte when he discovered that Duarte was not taking him to Saturday and Sunday gigs because he was black. Mor� was furious. He presented himself to the agent of RCA in Cuba and told him he was not going to record again with the orchestra of Duarte. Mor� decided at that point to start his own orchestra.
The first performance of Mor�'s Banda Gigante was in the program Cascabeles Candado of the station CMQ. The Banda was a large ensemble, numbering up to forty musicians, only comparable in size with the big band of Xavier Cugat. Although Mor� could not read music, he arranged material by singing parts to his musicians.
In the years 1954 and 1955, the Banda Gigante became immensely popular. In 1956 and 1957, it toured Venezuela, Jamaica, Haiti, Colombia, Panama, Mexico and the United States, where the group played at the Oscar ceremonies. In Havana, it played at the dance halls La Tropical and El Sierra. In 1960, it started performing at Night and Day.
Mor� was offered a tour of Europe -- France in particular -- but he rejected it because of fear of flying (he had by that time been in three air accidents).
In the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, many of Mor�'s colleagues, such as singer Celia Cruz, left for the US where they earned large amounts of money performing and recording. However, Mor� preferred to remain in Cuba, among, as he said, "his people."
When Mor� died in 1963 of cirrhosis, an estimated 100,000 fans attended his funeral.
His memory is honored in Cuba in September of every year by a festival in Cienfuegos that bears his name. Many Cuban singers refer to him in their songs.
I asked Compay Segundo, who knew Mor� during the 1940s, to describe the man behind the music. "He was very tall and very black, he always wore a hat with a huge brim and he carried a cane," the veteran singer answered, "he was a showman and he was the greatest of them all. No one else came near." -- Nigel Williamson