A son for El Indio

Andy Ruibal has recorded together with Alexander Abreu and Manolito Simonet the track Sing him a son. The title has turned out to be a reverence to the genre, a reverence to the trabuco, a sample of the quality of the santiaguero and a tribute to one of Cuba's great soneros, Sixto Llorente. When the title appears at the end, Abreu, in an emotive guía, remembers the great singer.

El Indio was well known among the public for his performances, especially in La Aliamen, with Manolito Simonet and in his last days in La Aragón. The musicians keep a different communication between them than the audience. If the dancer is not one of those who investigate, he might believe that in Sur Caribe there is no other than Ricardo Leyva, or that the Charanga Habanera was a bar of singers with good looks.

All these things are handled differently among singers. Sixto Llorente, in a good part of the guild, was considered one of the greatest soneros of Cuba. Ruibal's theme does him justice. I remember him during his stay with La Aragón; at that time something happened that I never imagined. La Aragon was invited to perform at the carnival of Songo-La Maya; the old group was facing not only the unstoppable growth of urban music, but also other groups with timbero sound, or the charangas of the East that, far from becoming stagnant, have seen the son mixed with other genres such as merengue, cumbia or vallenato with the same format of La Charanga Eterna. But nothing stopped La Aragón.

I remember that I talked to Rafaelito Lay and he challenged me: "go out to see the orchestra", and, when I went out, there was a sea of people, but first I talked to El Indio, the acquisition they had recently made. When I asked him about what seemed crazy to me, to leave El Trabuco, he replied: "I always know my route, and so far no door has been closed to me. Manolito is a great musician and El Trabuco is a great orchestra. However, I made my decision and left because they proposed me to do a small format. There were no problems or anything; on the contrary, a while ago I recorded a song with them at Egrem, with Adalberto's Tamayito. They were recording and they called me. My relationship with Trabuco has not been lost".

El Indio talked to me about how the salseros had learned the son, about what would have happened, according to him, if the record companies would openly record their nationals, and he asked me to go see La Aragón. I kept her album What happens is convenient and we gave each other a hug.

I had listened to his music, I had heard the opinions of other soneros and the respect was almost unison with that of Rafael Lay in La Charanga Eterna. When I went out, many people were in the streets, beer knobs, girls with the latest fashions, young people with their reggaeton look were dancing to the usual songs; thousands of people to the sound of La Aragón. Of course, the guides had a different tone, they extended the songs by minutes because one of the greatest of the moment, Sixto Llorente, El Indio, made anyone move.

I remembered him listening to Andy Ruibal, Alexander Abreu and Manolito Simonet. Fortunately for this great one, those of today know how to sing him a son.