Silvio Rodríguez

Childhood Rodríguez was born on 29 November 1946 in San Antonio de los Baños, a fertile valley in Havana Province known for its tobacco crop. He was raised in a family of poor farmers. His father, Víctor Dagoberto Rodríguez Ortega, was a farmer and amateur poet who supported socialist causes. His mother, Argelia Domínguez León, was a housewife. During her adolescence, she was a part of a singing duo with sister Orquídea Domínguez, with whom she participated in many radio broadcasts and cultural events. The first of his mother's songs that Rodríguez recalls hearing is "El colibrí," a Cuban folk song that he would later sing during many of his tours. On many occasions, Rodríguez has spoken how his love of music was developed by his mother, who would pass time singing boleros and songs from Santiago. Later, she also collaborated with him on a few musical works. One of his uncles, Ramiro Domínguez, was a professional musician and a member of the group Jazz Band Mambí. This musical environment, which began with grandmother María León and her husband Felíx Domínguez, lovers of the trova musical style, inspired Rodríguez to take an interest in music during his childhood. Rodríguez was just two years old when he began singing for his father's friends. A few years later, he participated in the music competition Buscando una estrella ("Looking for a Star"), hosted by the now-defunct Cuban radio station CMQ. He was invited a few days later to participate in a musical competition for children held by the same station, this time directed by the well-known announcer Germán Pinelli. This time, he won first place for singing the bolero Viajera ("Traveler"). In 1953, at the age of seven years old and the beginning of the Cuban Revolution, his father enrolled him in the La Milagrosa Conservatory. There, he passed the introductory class and the first piano course, given by Margarita Pérez Picó, within six months. However, in spite of Pérez's enthusiasm, Silvio lost interest and dropped out of the course after a short time. At nine years old and motivated by his father, who read him poems by José Martí and Rubén Darío, among others, he took an interest in literature, paying attention to the work of both poets, as well as the genre of science fiction. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince remained one of his favorite books in adulthood. Adolescence On 1 January 1959, when Rodríguez was thirteen years old, Fidel Castro's Éjercito Rebelde brought an end to the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. This event shaped the musical life of the singer-songwriter and coincided with his transition from childhood into adolescence. Like many Cubans of his generations, he became involved with the new revolutionary enthusiasm. Despite regularly traveling between his hometown and the capital, he enlisted in the San Antonio de los Baños chapter of the Association of Socialist Youth, created by Che Guevara. In parallel to his participation in this organization, Rodríguez enrolled in night school at the Carlos J. Finnay school to study for the bachillerato, a post-secondary degree. There, he became friends with Vicente Feliú, another future member of the Nueva Trova movement. Young adulthood One of the first social goals of the Cuban Revolution was to drastically reduce the rate of illiteracy in the country. In one year, it was able to reduce the rate from 23.6% to 3.9%. Though still a minor, he participated as a member of the Conrado Benítez Literacy Brigades in the Escambray Mountains. There, he helped give the campesinos classes in history, geography, grammar, and mathematics, as well as explaining elements of the new government, such as the Agrarian Reform plan. In 1961, during one of the campaigns, Rodríguez ingested a toxic plant, suffering second-degree burns that forced him to return to Havana. Once again in the capital, he met the caricaturists Virgilio Martínez and José Luis Posada, who worked for Mella, a communist magazine. He began to collaborate with the magazine in early 1962. He met the writers Víctor Casaus and Luis Rogelio Nogueras, who would later write a book, Silvio: que levante la mano la guitarra, later adapted into a film of the same name. Rodríguez began to read the works of Federico García Lorca, Pablo Neruda, Nicolás Guillén, Edgar Allan Poe, and Walt Whitman. Through the magazine, Rodríguez became well known for his work as illustrator for the series El hueco. One of his colleagues, Lázaro Fundora, played the guitar as a hobby and taught Rodríguez the first chords of the instrument that would become a key part of his future work. At 17 years old in 1964, he was required to participate in compulsory military service. He joined the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR), where he would meet Esteban Baños, a member of his unit who gave him further instruction in playing the guitar. It was in the Managua military encampment that Rodríguez composed his first songs, which he played for the other soldiers. His first songs, written in 1964 and 1965, were the boleros ¨Saudade" and "La cascada," both about love; later, he wrote "Atavismo", "Nuestra ciudad", "Es sed", "Te vas", and "La otra presencia". His interest in protest songs came shortly after this period. At the same time, he worked as an illustrator for the Art and Science section of the magazine Venceremos, which was published by the political section of the Army. In 1965, he transferred to the magazine Verde Olive, where he remained until the end of his military service, working during the day and teaching himself the guitar at night. At the end of this period, Rodríguez began his prolific music career. == Music career ==