In an embrace between the six strings, troubadours and writers from both the Asociación Hermanos Saíz (AHS) and the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (Uneac), held an artistic evening in memory of the musician Eduardo Sosa, who died on the 12th of this month, at the age of 52, in the city of Guantánamo.
The meeting, organised by the AHS and led by Santa Massiel Rueda, national vice-president of this avant-garde organisation, and Alejandro Quiñones, provincial president, was a tribute from his work to the man who became a defender of Cuban cultural identity.
The songs went on in a magical way, with a true sense of friendship, in the AHS Café Barquito Cultural Centre, before a respectful and moved audience listening to Sosa’s anecdotes as a troubadour, deputy, friend, motivator, restless and father. But there were more musicians who were summoned, and the accompaniment of our civil servants, directors of culture, artists in general.
A mí me me gusta, compay, Dormida sobre el piano, Texto a Martí, among others, were the themes evoked under the rubric of the troubadour who is such a friend of many and who participated, with great joy, in the last edition of Trovándote together with figures of the stature of Raúl Torres, Diego Cano, and so many others.
Santa Massiel was joined on stage on this evocative evening by the troubadour Héctor Luis De Posada, who paid tribute to Sosa with his Canción del parque; Oristela Pérez Betanzos with Te perdono, by Noel Nicola, Canción del remanso, by Jorge Fandermole, and many more.
The writers Yaima Hernández and myself, together with Nodailin Granados, vice-president of the AHS Avileña, also read their verses to Sosa with a heartfelt voice and theatrical cadence.
All the Casas del Joven Creador in the country held similar evenings in their respective territories. Massiel reaffirmed, «I know that this will be the first of many songs to Eduardo Sosa. The good friend has not gone, his presence accompanies us, his encouraging words, his laughter and the great sense he had of fatherhood».
The evening was also the appropriate setting for Santa Massiel to premiere a song in keeping with the work of another great of our song, Silvio Rodríguez, in a project that pays tribute to him.
