Asencio was born on 5 April 1919 in
Cayo Hueso,
Havana. His father, Nicanor, was a
stevedore on the La Machina dock; his mother, Carmelina, a great pastry cook. Gonzalo as a child worked as shoeshine boy, newspaper peddler, bricklayer's assistant, and day laborer, while he studied in primary school. In the 1920s, the family moved to several neighborhoods, from 10 de Octubre to
Carraguao (in El Cerro) and
Atarés, and in the 1950s to the town of
Güines. Finally, Tío settled in neighboring
Guanabacoa. Asencio was fifteen years old when he began composing. He knew by heart rumbas “from the time of Spain,” such as ("You See, I Do Not Cry"), ("Mangurria Coconut"), and the one that goes: ("At the door of a prison, I saw a sparrow sing"). The last of these would presage the sentences that awaited him, especially after he wrote (Where Are the Cubans?) during the administration of President
Carlos Prío Socarrás (1948–1952), the time of the incident provoked by two drunken North American sailors who defaced the statue of
José Martí. He composed other controversial rumbas, such as his satire of
the prevailing racism, which he titled ("Chocolates Cannot Go to the Caramels’ Party"). Tío earned a “bad name” for himself, and endured prison sentences for any street or backyard quarrel, up until the 1960s, when “Mongo Familia” was able once and for all to spring him from the El Príncipe prison, which the rumberos facetiously called “The Principal in the Comedy,” in reference to an historical theater in Havana. Later on, “Mongo Familia” managed to register Tío's works in Tío's own name, with the assistance of the pianist Enriqueta Almanza, who transcribed them in music notation so that Asencio could claim his composer's rights and avoid the repeated ripoffs of which he had been a victim. In his youth, Tío Tom met many of the rumberos of the time, among them those known as
Roncona,
Mario Alan,
Alberto Noa,
Carburo, el Güinero,
el Checa, and those who came along later. His voice, his dance steps, his drumstrokes, and his talent were found throughout the solares “El Palimar” (in La Víbora), “La Siguanea” (El Cerro), “El África” (Cayo Hueso), and the like in Atarés, Belén, Jesús María, Los Sitios, Pueblo Nuevo, Guanabacoa, and the rumbero neighborhoods of metropolitan Havana. The first of Tío Tom's guaguancós to attain popularity was , in which he mixed a theme of love with the titles of the most well-known Hollywood films of the time. == Discography ==