Compositor Cubano Carbo

On December 31st, New Year's Eve, at approximately 10 p.m., Carbó Menéndez passed into what we all hope is a better life, after surviving open heart surgery during the previous week. Sadly, the complications that resulted from this operation brought all end to the illustrious career of one of Cuba's most popular songwriters, despite the fact that he had been inactive in this field for a number of years. Until recently he had all but abandoned the art form that once made his name a household word. In the end, his muse inspired him to go the distance and write one more tune. Luckily for us it has been recorded and preserved for the last chapter of his songbook.He was born José Hipocrates Carbó Menéndez on May 13, 1921 in the city of Santiago de Cuba, in the eastern province of Oriente. His mother, Emelina Mercedes Menéndez, was a debutante from Havana and his father, José Leonardo Carbó was a pharmacist from the township of San Luis, also in Oriente. His paternal grandfather, Don Jose Carbó Monet, was a popular notary public who became one of that town's first mayors after Cuba became a republic. His parents wanted him to become a doctor, and thus the second name given to him was Hipócrates. But as fate would have it, young Jose Hipócrates was not destined to be a doctor. It was not in the stars for him to toil endless hours studying for a title in medicine, only to give it up later for a more lucrative and exciting career in music. During the decades that followed World War II he would become an acclaimed composer of popular Cuban music, both on the island and in the international arena.As he matured in age, young Jose continued working with his father at the latter's pharmacy, while studying theory and solfeggio on his own time. After his parents divorced, he would spend part of the year with his mother in Havana, and the rest of the year with his father in Santiago.Eventually, he settled in the capital with his mother, who understood his aspirations and needs much more than his father. Emelina became his main source of inspiration, stimulating and encouraging him to continue his music studies. He initiated his formal training at the Conservatorio Municipal de La Habana (Havana's Municipal Conservatory), located at the corner of Rastro Street and Belascoain, while simultaneously working as a clerk-typist at a carpentry shop in the Havanese district of Luyanó. At the time, this was the only way by which he supported himself and his mother. While sitting at the typewriter for long periods of time, he would type out lyrics and hum the melodies that would one day make him one of Cuba's most popular songwriters. While barely into the rudiments of music, he displayed a certain innate creativity and sophistication in his writing.In 1943, he entered himself in a songwriters' contest at radio station CMBL (Radio Cadena Suaritos) located in Havana's Vedado district. His first piece was titled Suariconga, combining the name of the radio station with the name of a popular street rhythm. The owner of the station, Don Laureano Suárez, was immediately taken with the catchy tune and commissioned the famed Hermanos Palau (Palau Brothers) to orchestrate it for the contest. The song won first prize, earning him a grand total of ten pesos, five pesos more than the usual winner's purse. Suárez then offered Menéndez a contract with the station for the exclusive debut of any other songs he would later write. This was the beginning of his career, and he chose for his pen name José Carbó Menéndez, even though everyone called him Carbó Menéndez, or just plain Carbó. Eventually he dropped his first name altogether.At first, Carbó specialized in romantic boleros such as Hablemos de los dos, Es por tu bien, Ya me cansé de ti and En tu ausencia. With the accompaniment of either pianist Santos Menéndez or Los Hermanos Palau's Orchestra, they all became instant "hits," especially when they were performed by the house singer at Suaritos, Fernando Albuerne.1943 was also the year that he wrote his first guaracha, Se murió Panchita, which made its debut on Suaritos via a performance by the Trio Pinareño. The following year the very popular guarachero Orlando "Cascarita" Guerra and the Orquesta Casino de la Playa (which featured a young pianist by the name of Dámaso Pérez Prado) recorded it for the RCA Victor label as well. It was his first local hit, and it prompted vocalist Pepe Reyes to record Ya me cansé de ti, also for RCA. Then, in 1945, the Mexican tenor Alfonso Ortíz Tirado recorded Hablemos de los dos for the Odeon label in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which simultaneously released En tu ausencia by vocalist Leo Marini.Then came the haunting melody Embrujo antillano, which was not only the theme song, but also the title of a motion picture filmed both in Cuba and Mexico, starring the sultry Maria Antonieta Pons and Ramón Armengol. Twenty years later, it would be included in the best selling album With Love from Tito Rodriguez, the first LP by the aspiring young Puerto Rican crooner that was comprised entirely of boleros. Although this tune was never registered in Carbó's name, it has been widely circulated that Carbó gave it to the author whose name appears on it as a gift. As of yet, no one has ever disputed this. It remains to this day, "just one of those things."Starting in 1943 with Suariconga, the decade of the forties was very good to Carbó. Cascarita and Casino de La Playa recorded his second guaracha, El baile del sillón, which the visionary arranger Pérez Prado turned into a slow mambo, the prototype for the dance explosion that would later come. It became an instant hit in Latin America, especially in Mexico, where it was performed in films by Maria Antonieta Pons, Ninón Sevilla, Amalia Aguilar and Rosa Carmina. The aforementioned Se murió Panchita marked the singing debut of Cuban singer Kike Mendive in the film "La Insaciable," played by Maria Antonieta Pons and Rafael Baledón. Vocalist Benny Moré, already quite popular in Mexico through his association with Miguel Matamoros and with various Mexican aggregations, made musical history with his performance of El baile del sillón in the film "Novia a la medida," with co-star Amalia Aguilar. This very popular tune also became part of an elaborate dance set, choreographed by Santiago Orta for the film "Un cuerpo de mujen" Once again, it starred Maria Antonieta Pons. The success of these two compositions prompted his colleagues (not to mention his publisher) to urge Carbó to dedicate more of his time to the up-tempo guaracha genre. Of course, Carbó also wrote many son montunos, danzones, guajiras and rumbas, as well as fast paced guaracha-mambo hybrids. The latter compositions were actually the ones that ensured his international fame, as a result of the Cuban dance rhythms' increasing popularity around the world.In 1945, the Cuban songstress Nelly Castell recorded Es por tu bien in Madrid, Spain. This bolero-chá would later become a favorite of many of Cuba's best charanga bands. More than twenty-five years later, Joe Quijano achieved some success with it in New York. Toward the end of the decade, when word was starting to get out about a revolutionary invention known as television, Carbó got the jump on everyone by co-writing the tune La televisión, which made its debut in Puerto Rico in 1948, featuring the orchestra of Miguelito Miranda. It was interpreted by an up-and-coming vocalist by the name of Vitín Avilés. Shortly afterward, a Mexican artist by the name of Leopoldo Frances performed it in the film "Noches de Paris" with (you guessed it) Maria Antonieta Ports. La televisión was also the first recording made in Mexico by Benny More for RCA, after his successful collaborations with Miguel Matamoros. He teamed up with saxophonist Mariano Mercerón for that one, and this is the version that most people remember. Trio Los Mendoza, Los Hermanos Rigual and Conjunto Casino all recorded El pasito tun-tun, which was later featured in the film "Al son del mambo," with Cuban diva Rita Montauer and the Pérez Prado Orchestra.1948 also brought him two more hits, Ariel (performed by Billo's Caracas Boys) and Seboruco, interpreted by the famed sonero Antonio Machin, recorded in Spain. Then, in 1950, Celia Cruz recorded with La Sonora Matancera the classic Cao cao maní Picao, which would be covered by virtually everyone. It seemed that this mild-mannered man was a fountain of inspiration, and indeed he was.Throughout the decade of the fifties, he produced such hits as Sube y baja, A burujun puñao, Soy buena gente, El gallo, la gallma y el caballo, Pinchame con tenedor (which became sonero Roberto Faz's first solo hit after leaving the famed Conjunto Casino), Con las glorias se olvidan las memorias and his only instrumental, Avenida 486, a beautiful danzón.Turning out one hit after another did not stop Carbó from other endeavors. He fought insatiably for the rights of composers in Cuba and elsewhere. For ten years (1948-1958) he was an essential part of the Federación Nacional de Autores de Cuba (National Federation of Composers of Cuba), and for eight years he functioned as its treasurer. During the latter part of the decade, he also worked for Peer & Company, a North American firm with special interests in Cuban and Latin music in general, with offices in Havana and in other Ibero-American cities. In no way did this dual role create a conflict of interest for Carbó, for he always championed the cause of artists and composers first. His main function was that of a liaison, and he was there to see that the songwriters always got a fair deal at Peer, if indeed there was such a thing.The year 1959 saw the arrival of a new line of Cuban government, prompting the firm to pull out of Havana in 1960 and distribute its Latin American catalog out of its New York offices. Carbó decided it was time to relocate to the United States, and therefore, in November of 1960, he arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he was met at the airport by four of the island's great luminaries (Rafael Hernández, Pedro Flores, Noro Morales and Arturo Somohano), as well as a host of fans and well-wishers. His music, via the many Cuban artists and bands that had been traveling to Puerto Rico during the previous thirty years, was not unknown to the Puerto Ricans. After a very brief period on Cuba's sister island, he arrived in New York and continued to work for his former employer, Peer-Southern Music, as head of its Latin American division.Upon his arrival in the Big Apple, Carbo discovered that, like in Puerto Rico, his reputation had preceded him. There were many resident artists and bands that had already featured his compositions in their repertoire. With Cuba and the preceding decades behind him, he began to write for the city's ever-developing "Latin scene." He wrote for such artists as Tito Rodriguez, Raúl Marrero, Joe Valle, Gloria Mirabal, Joe Quijano, Rolando Laserie, Xiomara Alfarao, Belisario López, Tito Puente and many others. During the decade of the sixties, many of his old favorites were re-recorded, and thus became hits all over again. Carbó continued to compose, but now he had a new home and a new love. This time around, he would pursue a career in journalism.As always, Carbó became a fighter for the rights of his colleagues and compatriots, and while visiting the city of Miami in 1965, he somehow managed to unite the many Cuban composers in exile, founding La Sociedad de Autores y Compositores en el Exilio (SACCE). He was the organization's first president, holding that position for the first year. The organization flourished for about four years, but soon after Carbó returned to New York, there arose much bickering among its directors, and shortly afterward it was dissolved. This came as a blow to him, for he truly wanted a strong union of composers in exile, to insure that the Cuban genres continued to flourish.They did flourish of course, but this was largely due to the interest in Cuban music by home-grown Puerto Rican and other U.S. Latin musicians, composers and promoters, primarily from the New York area. New York was the only place outside of the island where Cuban music could be heard on a large scale, at least until the mid-seventies, when interest in Cuban music peaked abroad, as a direct result of the "salsa" marketing campaign that was propagated by the Fania record label. In 1968, the music market was largely contained to local dance halls, even as the South American markets of Colombia and Venezuela were just beginning to open up.By 1968 Carbó was well into pursuing his second career, as journalist for the Spanish-language press. His articles and columns were read by thousands of Hispanics throughout the five boroughs and in the adjacent areas of New Jersey, as well as in Miami and San Juan, were they were re-printed by permission. He wrote extensively for El Tiempo, Avance, Reportero Gráfico, Actualidades, La Voz, Zig-Zag, Noticias del Mundo, Vanguardia and El Diario-La Prensa, among others. He gained the respect of both veteran and upcoming writers. His knowledge of Cuban music was constantly being tapped by many writers of the new movement, especially those who wrote in English.They all wanted what was in Carbó's head, either for historical reference or merely just to rip him off and later take credit for the information that they received. Carbó had unwillingly become the public relations man for a culture within a culture, while becoming one of the founders of New York's Asociación de Cronistas de Espectáculos (ACE). In fact, he functioned as its treasurer for ten years.Throughout this period, he still managed to write songs, as was evidenced in a slew or recordings by those Latin American artists who were now residing in the United States. He wrote throughout the sixties and seventies, penning such gems as Guajira habanera for Xiomara Alfaro; Pachanga de Lao, Pachanga que no cansa and Pachanga Cio-Cio for Miguelito Valdés; Malagradecido, Quimbo quimbumbia and Palmeras, palmeras for Celia Cruz; Compay salsa for Vitín Avilés; Mambele, Yuyumbe, Cuando te dejé de querer for Vicentico Valdés; Ya mismo, Sabot guajiro, Que me den de tu salsa, El que mucho abarca, poco aprieta, and El castigador for Roberto Torres, as either a soloist or with Orquesta Broadway; Titingo and Ambiente de ti for Carlos Montiel; Tu nieto for Jaime Negrón; Sambullo for Justo Betancourt; Juan Cabeza de Pan for Charanga 76; and Con las glorias for both Rolando Laserie and Belisario López.He also left a slew of unrecorded gems such as Los salseros, Lo nuestro, Baila como tingua, Guarda pan pa' Mayo, Mis ultimas palabras, Contigo no vuelvo mas, Cierta persona, Escobita nueva, Con cuchara y botella, and El albañil. These have not seen, unfortunately, the light of day, perhaps because of the author's insistence on receiving "UFM" (up-front-money), or advance payment toward royalties, a practice that has virtually disappeared from the Latin music scene. His last composition was La salsa del coquí, which was recently released by a band in Puerto Rico known as Tributo Matancero, led by trumpeter Nelson Feliciano. This catchy tune was just beginning to get some airplay, when news of his recent heart operation surfaced. He has now passed on, possibly without even knowing if his last composition was received favorably or not, which is sad. Who knows, perhaps this fast-paced guaracha about the little frog of Borinquen will ultimately be remembered as his swan song.Carló Menéndez leaves behind an ample collection of trophies, diplomas, gold records, medals and certificates of merit, all of which were bestowed by record companies and radio stations in Miami, New York, Caracas, Bogotá and Europe, all of these attesting to his abilities as a composer of popular songs. He has been mentioned in the World Book Encyclopedia (Almanaque Mundial, 1988) as one of the bulwarks of popular Cuban music, commencing with his Suariconga in 1943. Although the last chapter on Joss Carbó Menéndez is now completed, his legacy will undoubtedly continue, as his songs continue to inspire not only Cuban artists but other Latin American artists who are dedicated to preserving those authentic Cuban traditions which began so long ago. Traditions that have traveled the world and will continue to do so.José Hipócrates Carbo Menéndez was one of the last surviving griots whose destiny was to spread the joyous sounds of Cuba around the world. Many of his friends, colleagues and family members paid their last respects to him on Wednesday January 4th, 2006, at the Rivera Funeral Home in North Bergen, New Jersey. His remains were cremated and the ashes will eventually be sent to his native Cuba, to be scattered to the four winds, as per his request.COPYRIGHT 2006 Latin Beat Magazine This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group