{"id":550,"date":"2016-01-15T12:54:08","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T12:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salsalust.com\/blogs\/cuban_music_che\/?p=550"},"modified":"2016-01-15T12:54:08","modified_gmt":"2016-01-15T12:54:08","slug":"15-01-16-polo-montanez-por-ella","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salsayo.com\/blogs\/cuban_music_che\/?p=550","title":{"rendered":"15.01.16: Polo Montanez – Por Ella"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good day dear readers and blog followers!<\/p>\n

Today I will tell you a little bit of the\u00a0wonderful Cuban singer and composer, Polo Montanez, who left us early, but also left a wonderful musical heritage which manifested itself a\u00a0short while\u00a0ago.<\/p>\n

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Polo Montanez, born\u00a0Fernando Borrego Linares on June 5th 1955 at El Brujito, a small countryside town near Pinar Del Rio, Cuba.
\nHe was always fond of singing and playing, and the first instrument he played was a homemade drum of cow’s skin pulled over a box.
\nSoon after Polo started singing and playing the guitar, joined a local musical group in 1972, quickly becoming the it’s leader.
\nPolo composed his first song,\u00a0\u201cEste tiempo feliz\u201d, at age 18, and since composed over 100 more.<\/p>\n

Polo was a natural talent, often writing songs without notes or partitures in many genres of traditional and folk Cuban music, mainly Son, Guaracha, Guajira and Bolero, mostly singing of love, relationships and the good life at the countryside.<\/p>\n

Polo’s first CD, “Guajiro Natural”, came out in 2000, becoming an instant international success, selling \u00a0many tens of thousands of copies, winning awards such as “golden record” and “platinum record” in Cuba and other countries in South America and the Caribbean.
\nHis 2nd disc, although not as popular as the first one, was very successful as well.<\/p>\n

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Tragically, Polo was fatally wounded in a car accident in 2002, dying on November 20th of that same year.
\nSince then his group, Grupo Polo Montanez, released several albums in his tribute and memory, including both “Un Sueno y Nada Mas” and “Cuestion de Suerte” in 2006, and recently the album “Regreso”, which contains some original work but also some re-released of songs from previous albums, such as the song I present you today.<\/p>\n

The song is a wonderful Bolero, and although it appears on the new album, I preferred dedicating this post to Polo himself, presenting the original song, instead.<\/p>\n