Mi bohio guillermo portabales biography

To be honest, we'd rather see a new World Circuit release, but for the time being the label continues to focus on reissuing its own back catalogue. This time it's 'El Carretero', a collection of the best work by Cuban guajira artist Guillermo Portabales; a compilation album that was first released in Portabales left Cuba for Puerto Rico in , where he would reside until his death in and enjoyed as much popularity as in his native country. Guillermo's best-known hit, 'El Carretero', wasn't just haphazardly chosen as the title for this compilation, as over the years the song has been re-recorded by the legendary Buena Vista Social Club and even West African artists like Orchestra Baobab and Cheikh Lô, and songs like 'Flor De Amor' and 'El Amor De Mi Bohio' were, among others, revived by Omara Portuondo. Portabales was known as a gifted interpreter of the guajira, a style of music that was initially mostly popular in the Cuban countryside. However, Guillermo completely adapted the genre by slowing down the rhythm and placing more emphasis on the melodic part of his songs, a style that was soon to be described as guajira de salon. A true gem from Cuban music history!

Guillermo Portabales (born José Guillermo Quesada Castillo, Rodas, Cuba, 6 April – San Juan, Puerto Rico, 25 October ) was a Cuban singer-songwriter and guitarist who popularized the guajira style of Cuban music from the s through the s. His languid, melancholy, intensely lyrical guajiras and his elegant, stylish singing made him popular throughout Latin America, where he is still revered.

Discussion of basic data

His birthplace was Rodas in the old province of Santa Clara (Las Villas). In what is now the Province of Cienfuegos. He grew up in Cienfuegos. His father died when he was about 8 years old, his mother then remarried a man whose last name was Portabales (the director of the Hospital in Cienfuegos), thus where his "stage name" came from.

As for his birthdate, Helio Orovio, in the original Cuban edition of , left Portabales out entirely. In the usual Soviet-style way, any opponents of the revolution get 'painted out' of history; but Portabales had left Cuba years before the Castro revolution, and most such people still retained their place in official Cuban history. Portabales had even recorded an album for Gema in Cuba in , after the revolution but before Egrem took over all recording rights in Cuba. The later English translat

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