Lágrimas Negras 🎼 Trío Matamoros

"Lágrimas Negras"
(Black Tears)
 Composer: Miguel Matamoros

Is a bolero-son composed in 1929, with lyrics and music by the Cuban composer and singer Miguel Matamoros (1894–1971). It is one of his most famous songs.

Trío Matamoros, ca. 1930. 

From left to right: Rafael Cueto, Miguel Matamoros, Siro Rodríguez

Bolero is a genre of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.

The term is also used for some art music. In all its forms, the bolero has been popular for over a century.

Son cubano is a genre of music and dance that originated in the highlands of eastern Cuba during the late 19th century. It is a syncretic genre that blends elements of Spanish and African origin. Among its fundamental Hispanic components are the vocal style, lyrical metre and the primacy of the tres, derived from the Spanish guitar. On the other hand, its characteristic clave rhythm, call and response structure and percussion section (bongo, maracas, etc.) are all rooted in traditions of Bantu origin.

Around 1909 the son reached Havana, where the first recordings were made in 1917. This marked the start of its expansion throughout the island, becoming Cuba's most popular and influential genre. While early groups had between three and five members, during the 1920s the sexteto (sextet) became the genre's primary format. By the 1930s, many bands had incorporated a trumpet, becoming septetos, and in the 1940s a larger type of ensemble featuring congas and piano became the norm: the conjunto. Besides, the son became one of the main ingredients in the jam sessions known as descargas that flourished during the 1950s.

The international presence of the son can be traced back to the 1930s when many bands toured Europe and North America, leading to ballroom adaptations of the genre such as the American rhumba. Similarly, radio broadcasts of son became popular in West Africa and the Congos, leading to the development of hybrid genres such as Congolese rumba. In the 1960s, New York's music scene prompted the rapid success of salsa, a combination of son and other Latin American styles primarily recorded by Puerto Ricans. While salsa achieved international popularity during the second half of the 20th century, in Cuba son evolved into other styles such as songo and timba, the latter of which is sometimes known as "Cuban salsa".

Buena Vista Social Club
Lágrimas Negras

 
Celia Cruz
Lágrimas Negras
Celia Cruz in the 1950s with the members of the Sonora Matancera in Havana

 

Dos Gardenias y Sus Soneros


Compay Segundo

Lágrimas Negras - Español	Black Tears - English
Aunque tú	Although you
me has dejado en el abandono,	have left me desolate with your abandon,
aunque tú	although you
has muerto todas mis ilusiones,	have been death to my every illusion
en vez de maldecirte	instead of cursing you now
con justo encono,	with justified rancor,
en mis sueños te colmo,	in my dreams I enshrine you,
en mis sueños te colmo	in my dreams I enshrine you
de bendiciones.	with benediction.
(2X)	(2X)
Sufro la inmensa pena de tu extravío,	Immensity of pain I suffer over losing you,
siento el dolor profundo	my feelings so profoundly hurt
de tu partida	torn by your parting.
y lloro sin que sepas	I cry without your knowing
que el llanto mío	and that lonely crying
tiene lágrimas negras,	weeps out a stream of black tears,
tiene lágrimas negras	weeps out a stream of black tears
como mi vida.	and all my living.
(1X)	(1X)
Tú me quieres dejar,	You want leaving me
yo no quiero sufrir	I can’t suffering be
contigo me voy mi santa	so with you I go my darling
aunque me cueste morir.	even it costs me dying.
(3X con dos intermedios cortos)	(3X with 2 short breaks)

Cesaria Evora & Compay Segundo

Recorded in Havana (Cuba) in 1999 by Cesaria Evora and Compay Segundo, for a special limited edition of the album of Cesaria "São Vicente di Longe" (2001), and re-released in 2010 in the duet album "Cesaria Evora &"

Cuba Feliz

with English Subtitles

Lágrimas Negras - 1:06:30

A musical documentary by Karim Dridi

Karim Dridi  Published on Jun 21, 2017

Seventy-six-year-old Cuban street musician Miguel Del Morales, known as El Gallo (The Rooster), travels around Cuba with his guitar, making music in the homes of friends, in bars, and on street corners, in courtyards and stairwells. His rich voice, colored by a lifetime of cigarettes and rum, weathered by the sun and rain, bespeaks the joys and sufferings of his countrymen. An urban troubadour, Del Morales has been called “a living memory of Cuban bolero.”

A film by Karim Dridi 1999

Avec Miguel del Morales “El Gallo”, Candido Fabre, Mirta Gonzales, Alejandro Almenares, Armando Machado, Gilberto Mendez, Pepin Vaillant, Anibal Avila, Zayda Reyte, Paisan Mallet, Los Cubanos Jubilados, Eulises Sanchez, Juan, Cambron, Alberto Pablos

Cuba Feliz

Bolero is a genre of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.

The term is also used for some art music. In all its forms, the bolero has been popular for over a century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolero