By: Oreidis Pimentel Pérez
Regarding the recently declared day of Cuban Son, several musicologists and historians of this national rhythm remember, from the bohemian troubadours to the great orchestras of the 50s, however, if already in the evolved popular music there are mentions for Benny Moré and Miguelito Valdés, a man nicknamed Cascarita also deserves them; whose origin from Camagüey is somewhat forgotten.
Well, yes, the important improviser and “sandunguero” of the capital’s stages, perhaps the best mambero of all, was born in Camagüey, with the inscription of Orlando Guerra S.O.A (without another last name) on September 14th, 1920; a perennial mark of whom did not have a father and the mother had to make a great effort to raise him alone. Why not find out where he lived? That poor childhood has not received much treatment, a pending gap to review documents.
Perhaps due to the logical deficiencies of the time and his home, he looked for a future in other parts, the history repeated by sportsmen and popular musicians. His name so common to him (to top it off with a single surname) would not lend itself much and the Creole nickname of “Cascarita” allowed him to ring in the 40s.
Luckily, the little mulatto found, with more creativity than voice, a place with the Happy Boys, which became the Montecarlo orchestra and later Los Hermanos Palau, until reaching definitive fame at the Playa Casino; so often on the CMQ radio station.
A song to highlight
There is a Cascarita song called “Puntillita”, and since that was the name of another singer (Manuel Licea) there are those who confuse them; but the truth is that the man from Camaguey was quite a show of street phrases on stage, almost more than Benny, and that is an amazing thing. People loved the tiki-taka of occurrences with Germán Pinelli, because the singer seemed undisciplined with that of not taking almost anything seriously.
That was his charm, being as Cuban as the man on foot and the titles themselves such as ” Sáquenle punta al lápiz “, ” Ya verá lo que tú va vé “, ” Apriétame más ” and ” Dos cosas pa´tomar con leche “, among others, they already say enough of what could be expected from their tasty guarachas.
And what happened to Cascarita?
In the 1950s he was not the same and as he emigrated to Mexico, the less fans of Cuban musical history erased him somewhat. In fact, of everything told about his person, the most surprising for some today is the origin of him from Camagüey. Ah, I didn’t know! And there is more, yes, because the man even has a postage stamp, a thematic issue of 2004 for the 40 years of the Egrem, where it appears in the value of 10 cents next to Julio Cuevas, the man who directed the Montecarlo when recordings with RHC Cadena Azul.
“Tell me my brother!” This great interpreter of the mambos of Dámaso Pérez Prado, a prankster urged for more recognition in his land, said the same.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
