General shot of a conversation with Rosillo

The last time I spoke with Eduardo Rosillo was in his town, Songo-La Maya, the same town where I lived 20 consecutive Decembers before cutting the sky and settling in Cutler Bay, knowing that the town that united us would be something else.

Eduardo Rosillo Heredia must be one of the great Cuban music lovers -one of the greatest-, the voice that few Cubans 45 years old or older have lost, with that of: "Here Radio Progreso presenting... tabletop joys"Or, above all, his Sundays on that radio station where he had to deal with the absurd prohibitions and dared, ignoring them, with Celia Cruz, Rolando Laserie or any of those figures that other radio broadcasters did not dare to place, surrounded by censorship.

Talking to him was almost reckless; he was a man who knew Cuban music with absolute seriousness, besides being a great interviewer. I remember him wearing a shirt that seemed to include cigars as an obligatory part of his attire. He then told me how Benny Moré, before leaving for other worlds, sang for free in villages far from his home, because he believed that people needed to be happy. He told me about a recording in which Arsenio Rodríguez claimed that he was the creator of the mambo, a controversial topic; and he told me anecdotes about Polo Montañez.

I can still remember Rosillo's gestures, the slow way the words came out of his mouth, the somewhat tired look in his eyes, the passion with which he spoke about music and musicians. Polo Montañez, he told me, had bought refrigerators from his friends in the neighborhood, with that humility of a guajiro surprised by success. He told me about figures like Julio Iglesias, who called to help the man when death came upon him in that accident he recalled with pain.

Rosillo not only counted, artists passed through his house, especially from the east of the country, recorded for his programs and returned with the perhaps minimal glory of having played on national radio, but that was already huge, and Rosillo did it with total dedication.

I remember him because just a few days ago, talking with Cubans living in Miami, we again faced the greatness of that man. Most of them remembered his presentation of tabletop joysI cited the interview and the fact that I lived in the same town.

Today is Tuesday and I write these words and I return to the smile of the man who also founded CMKT in La Maya, met Benny Moré, Polo Montañez or Compay Segundo; the close friend of Eliades Ochoa. Rosillo. The great voice of Cuba.