Composer.
Manuel Corona was born in Caibarién, on June 17, 1880 and died in Havana on January 9, 1950. Together with his family, he moved to Havana in 1895 and at an early age he began working as a tobacconist until the beginning of the 20th century, when he decided to devote his life to his true passion: music.
Accompanied by his inseparable guitar, he composed themes considered as the highest expression of Cuban traditional trova. "Mercedes", a song with a woman's name, as so many others pieces he bequeathed later on, was the piece that turned him, in 1908, in one of the most popular composers in the country. Afterwards he composed other anthological pieces such as "Longina", "Santa Cecilia", "Aurora", "Las flores del Edén", "Una mirada", and "Adriana", as well as the guarachas "La Choricera" and "Acelera, Ñico, acelera", among many others inspired by the surrounding reality which were resounding hits at that time.
One of his
most remarkable qualities was his creativity to give musical "responses" to some pieces composed by his peers. Examples of this were his songs "Animada" (vivacious) in response to "Timidez" (shyness), by Patricio Ballagas, or "La Habanera" (Havana woman) in response to "La Bayamesa" (Bayamo woman) by Sindo Garay.
Though he died in great poverty and neglected, his legacy has been rescued for Cuba and the world, and his songs are spontaneously evocated in his people´s memory.
