Bebo Valdes Inaugurates Havana Times Music Playlist

Por Zahrah

HAVANA TIMES – Bebo Valdes was a masterful pianist, composer and bandleader. One of Cuba’s greatest. Yet, after a dizzying career in the ‘40s and ‘50s (which included a recording with Nat King Cole), international fame came late for him as he managed to lose himself in Sweden after falling in love on tour.

“It was like being hit by lightning,” he said. “If you meet a woman and you want to change your life you have to choose between love and art.”

Perhaps it is this ability to follow one’s heart that we can appreciate in his music, his heartfelt melodies stirring something deep within us.

When I stumbled across a copy of Bebo de Cuba at a HMV record store sale, drawn to the graphic on the cover, little did I know then that the songs on that album would accompany me in my happiest moments. Here is El Solar de Bebo, which always manages to lift up my spirits.

Havana Times Music will also have a playlist available for our readers to enjoy, which can be accessed on all of our pages both in English and Spanish.

Playlist:

1. El Solar de Bebo
2. Never on Sunday
3. Chibiricocola
4. Tranquilo Niño 
5. Pan Pan Pan
6. Ay, Ay, Ay
7. La gloria eres tu
8. Diane
9. Miriam
10. A Mayra