María Teresa Vera
Singer, guitarist and composer: María Teresa Vera is one of the great names of the Cuban trova. She sang trova, son and bolero, and her Veinte años is a classic.
About
María Teresa Vera was born on 6 February 1895 in Guanajay. In 1911 she began singing, with Manuel Corona's Mercedes in a theatre. She died on 17 December 1965 in Havana.
Duos
- With Rafael Zequeira (1916–1924): together they made more than a hundred recordings in New York. Most of them have been lost.
- With Lorenzo Hierrezuelo (from 1935): this duo lasted 27 years.
In 1925 she formed the Sexteto Occidente, a son sexteto with, among others, Ignacio Piñeiro on double bass.
Well-known songs
- Veinte años, a habanera.
- Sólo pienso en ti, a bolero-son.
Pablo Milanés said of her: "María Teresa is for me the embodiment of Cuban song."
📝 Sources
The contradanza is the first music that truly sounded Cuban: a European dance form into which 19th-century Cuban composers worked the habanera rhythm and the cinquillo. Contradanza is the name of both the music and the dance.
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Havana, the cultural heartbeat of Cuba, played a central role in the creation and evolution of several iconic Cuban dances. Some were born directly in the capital, while others were transformed there into the forms we know today.
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