Antonio Machín
Encyclopedia
- For the volcano in ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
see Cerro MachínCerro MachínCerro Machín is a stratovolcano located in Tolima Department, Colombia. Cerro Machin is a volcanic plug that is approximately the same age as the Ruiz-Tolima Massif and has the appearance of being part of that volcanic system...
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Antonio Machín (born Antonio Abad Lugo Machín, Sagua la Grande
Sagua La Grande
Sagua La Grande is a municipality and city located on the north coast of the province of Villa Clara in central Cuba, on the Sagua la Grande River. The city is close to Mogotes de Jumagua, limestone cliffs...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
11 February 1903 – 4 August 1977, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
) was a Cuban singer and musician. His version of El Manisero, recorded in New York, 1930, with Don Azpiazú
Don Azpiazu
Don Azpiazú was a leading Cuban orchestral director in the 1920s and 30s. His band introduced authentic Cuban dance music and Cuban musical instruments to a wide audience in the USA...
's orchestra, was the first million record seller for a Cuban artist. Although this was labelled a rumba, it was in reality a son pregón, namely, a song based on a street-sellers' cry.
Machín was the son of a black Cuban woman, Leoncia Machín, and a white Cuban father, Antonio (Benítez de) Lugo. Machín, a dark mulatto, was one of sixteen children. His early years were difficult: he was forced to work at the age of eight to help pay some of his father's numerous debts. One day, he was in the street by his house singing quietly. A priest that walked by heard him and immediately encouraged him to sing at a party. He sang Ave María
Ellens dritter Gesang
Ellens dritter Gesang , in English: "Ellen's Third Song", was composed by Franz Schubert in 1825 as part of his Opus 52, a setting of seven songs from Walter Scott's popular epic poem The Lady of the Lake, loosely translated into German.It has become one of Schubert's most popular works under the...
by Schubert. From that day on Machin was determined to become a singer. Machín's ambition was to sing opera, but this was difficult for a poor coloured Cuban at the beginning of the 20th century. Thus, he focused on singing popular music. At the age of twenty he had become the idol of the young women in his neighbourhood. Machín would sing them serenades under the moonlight. He worked as a mason, also travelling across Cuba as a singer. In 1926 he moved to Havana where he met a Spaniard who helped him get a contract to sing at a small café in Havana.
In Havana, Machín was exposed to many kinds of music. He joined several trios, quartets and sextets. In 1924 Machín formed a duo with the trovador Miguel Zaballa. Later he joined the Trío Luna, with Enrique Peláez and Manuel Luna
Manuel Luna
-Selected filmography:* Carmen, la de Triana * ¡A mí la legión! * Locura de amor * Dawn of America -External links:...
. In 1926 he was brought into Don Azpiazú
Don Azpiazu
Don Azpiazú was a leading Cuban orchestral director in the 1920s and 30s. His band introduced authentic Cuban dance music and Cuban musical instruments to a wide audience in the USA...
's orchestra, the house band at the Havana Casino. In 1930 he went to New York with Don Azpiazú's band, where El manisero (The Peanut Vendor, written by Moises Simons
Moisés Simons
Moisés Simons , was a leading Cuban composer, pianist and orchestra leader. He was the composer of the Peanut Vendor, possibly the most famous piece of music created by a Cuban musician...
) was recorded. It became the first Cuban song to become a hit in the U.S., presaging the rumba
Rumba
Rumba is a family of percussive rhythms, song and dance that originated in Cuba as a combination of the musical traditions of Africans brought to Cuba as slaves and Spanish colonizers. The name derives from the Cuban Spanish word rumbo which means "party" or "spree". It is secular, with no...
explosion of the 1930s. Machín did not return to Cuba after this tour, settling in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
for the time.
In New York, Machín recorded approximately 200 numbers, and formed the Cuarteto Machín in 1932. The other members were the Puerto Ricans Plácido Acevedo (trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
), Cándido Vicenty (tres
Tres
The tres is a 3-course, 6-string chordophone which was created in Cuba. A tres player is called a tresero in Cuba and a tresista in Puerto Rico.-Cuban tres:In Cuba, the son was created as a song and a salon dance genre...
) and Daniel Sánchez (second voice and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
). Machín himself was first voice. Various other musicians substituted as needed, and eventually this became the Sexteto Machín, with the great Cuban trumpeter Remberto Lara, for whom Mario Bauzá
Mario Bauza
Mario Bauzá was an important Cuban musician. He was one of the first to introduce Latin music to the United States by bringing Cuban musical styles into the New York jazz scene...
substituted on some recordings. Machín sang with other groups such as José Escarpenter y su Orquesta, Orquesta Antillana de Rafael Hernández, Julio Roque y su Orquesta, and Armando Valldespí y su Orquesta, in addition to performing with Orquesta Machín and Cuarteto Machín.
In 1935 he moved to Europe, living in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
before settling in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
in the late 1930s, where he would remain until his death. In Paris, he formed Antonio Machín y su Orquesta, with Simons on piano, and continued to record in the city (where Cuban music had been popular since the late twenties). After moving to Madrid he married María de los Ángeles Rodríguez, from Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, in 1943. As the Cuarteto Machín, he made over 60 recordings in Spain, often recording the works of composers Oswaldo Farrés and Consuelo Velázquez
Consuelo Velázquez
Consuelo Velázquez was a Mexican concert pianist, songwriter and recording artist.According to her obituary, she was 88 years old when she died...
. He also had an extensive recording career singing with various Spanish bands; the total of recordings in Europe may be as many as four hundred, giving him a lifetime total of about 600 numbers recorded. If that is approximately right, he would be one of the most recorded Cuban singers of the 20th century, but behind Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums...
.
He died in Madrid in 1977 and was interred in the San Fernando Cemetery in the city of Seville. He is best known for singing El Manisero, Dos gardenias, Madrecita, and Angelitos negros.