2024-02-22 15:59:41
Photo: Alejandro Alfonso Regueiro | Flickr
Text: Editorial Cuba Noticias 360
At only 51 years old, Santiago Feliú left in the early hours of February 12, 2014. Intense chest pain caused him to be taken to the hospital, but there was nothing more to do. “A heart attack took him away,†Silvio Rodríguez said at that time.
Along with ‘Santi’, the heart attack also took an important part of the Cuban trova, one of its most intense and unforgettable followers. Death also deprived Cuba of a much-awaited presentation by all at the then recently inaugurated Fábrica de Arte Cubano.
Since he was a child, and with the guidance of his brother Vicente, one of the pioneers of Nueva Trova, Santiago began to play his first chords on the guitar, using it on the right to accommodate his left hand.
Feliú’s sounds gave a twist to trova, he opted for more detailed chords and his guitar was, more than an accompaniment, a companion. Many knew ‘Santi’ as ‘El Eléctrico’ and he was precisely a creative storm, a kind of ‘hippie’ in communism, as he himself said.
Born in Havana on March 29, 1962, Feliú was a disciple of Silvio Rodriguez, who considered him “a little brother.” Furthermore, he absorbed the influence of other greats of the troubadour movement such as Noel Nicola, sources from which he drew to create that unrepeatable style that has been captured in his 11 phonograms.
Integrated into the troubadours of his generation, he fell in love at the age of 18 with Bárbara, muse of his well-known “Para Bárbara”, winner of the Press Prize in the Adolfo Guzmán Contest.
Already in the mid-80’s he met other artists with whom he would integrate that intermediate moment between the Nueva and the NovÃsima Trova. Thus, and despite the artistic differences, names such as Carlos Varela, Kelvis Ochoa, Gerardo Alfonso or Frank Delgado will become part of the same story.
An album for ‘Santi’ from Argentina
Feliú was a lover of Argentina, a country that he visited regularly and where he lived for several years during the 1990s. During that time he forged personal and artistic relationships with renowned musicians from that nation such as Juan Carlos Baglietto, Fito Páez and León Gieco, among others.
From that land, it has been known about the preparation of a tribute album to ‘Santi’. “Astride this shared memory, José Bonavita – first a fan, then a producer and finally a friend – is preparing a tribute album of local pulse to celebrate the artist’s 62nd birthday, which would be next March 29,” reported the Argentine newspaper El Ciudadano y la Région.
Apparently details are still missing to confirm the participation of several celebrities, but according to the promoter of the tribute phonogram it will be “an album with many artists and based on the particular sound of Feliú’s guitar.”
The repertoire will include essential pieces from the Santiago songbook such as “Para Bárbara”, “Vida”, “Sin Julieta” and “Bolero”, among others. Furthermore, according to the aforementioned media, she will have collaborations with artists such as Paula Ferré in “Búscame (volando sobre un sueño)†, ‘Kuky’ Picone in “Era†, the Dúo La Trova in “Ansias del alba†and Esquel guitarist AgustÃn Cristiani in “Drawing friend†.
Among the novelties, they affirm the inclusion of unreleased songs from Santiago such as “Gemma” and “Again the Nauseas”, “adding a plus to the saga of tributes made in Cuba and captured in the volumes ‘Los amores del diablo’ and ‘Vida a vida’, adds the note from the Argentine media.
It seems like yesterday when Santiago said goodbye from Havana, surprising many. It’s been 10 years without his presence. Too much time without that mix of trova, rock, jazz and other rhythms. Two decades without that perfect balance between music and poetry that only ‘Santi’ was able to achieve and that, no matter how many years pass, we will be able to forget.