Song for Latin American unity. In a hurry and with a candy in your mouth

I always had a certain fear when working with Pablo. Especially because he was such a musical being that sometimes he thought that everyone was the same. But I don't want to refer here to my musical link with that genius but, briefly, to trivial things that often surround great compositions and are unknown to the public.

In the mid-seventies, on the occasion of the events celebrating the anniversary of the youth organizations on April 4, in which the Movimiento de la Nueva Trova was always involved, Pablo had committed himself to create a song for those shows that took place at the Teatro Amadeo Roldán. Frank Fernandez was the artistic director and I had managed to get stuck in there, to learn.

I remember that one day I arrived at Frank's house and I found him in a pure state of nerves: "Today we are on day two and on day four we have to present this... boy..., and Pablo still hasn't given me the song that closes the show. I'm embarrassed to call him. Pancho, you call him as your own thing, do me a favor". In fact, I called Pablo's house and he came on the phone: "Hehe, tell Frank to be calm, that I am still conceiving it". I couldn't believe it either, only two days before the show!

About three hours later I felt the phone ring: "Hey, Pancho, tell Frank to send for him; I already have the theme". The little subject! What a way to refer to that. Well, the papers of the "temita" arrived, which were a newspaper. I remember that they had a lot of writings and Frank, with all the haste in the world, conceived that arrangement, the entrance of the voices, the basses and that great orchestration of strings.

In the end, the show went off without a hitch, as if everything had been planned for months. But this is not the most significant anecdote associated with that composition, because today almost no one knows that Song for Latin American Unity Pablo recorded her sucking on a candy while singing.

I remember it was some time later, in Areito Studios at Egrem, and suddenly, Jurek -that great sound talent- had told him to start. We all thought, Pablo included, that it was going to be a test take. The problem is that Pablo's sonera songs - or sones cancioneros, however they are perceived - always had a chance of being a test shot. rubatoto the point that one heard sixty different interpretations of it and none of them were the same. "The birth of a world..." -sucks the candy-, "...was postponed for a moment..." -sucks on the candy again-, "a brief lapse of time... of the universe for a second"... and on and on with the candy.

The shot ends and Pablo says: "How did it turn out, Jurek? Well, it looks good," answered the Pole. Well, then let's shoot it for real now. Pablo thought it was just a test warm-up. No, no, that's all right," repeated the recorder. "Damn, but the candy...". Forget about the candy, that's not a problem, come here.

Thus, with all the ease, the haste -of others, that would be his patience- and sucking a candy, Pablo was able to gestate and leave for posterity any of his geniuses.