An Appreciation: Cuban Composer of Boleros, César Portillo de la Luz

[Audio:http://media.theworld.org/audio/05132013.mp3]

Originally published at PRI’s “The World”

The first time I heard the songs of César Portillo de la Luz was back in the early 1970s, when my father would tune in to one of his favorite radio shows, “Trios Famosos.”

We’d hear songs like “Realidad y Fantasía,” recorded by the legendary Mexican trio Los Tres Ases.

When I was a little older, in my teens, I learned to play the guitar.

Now as a rule, when you play guitar in Mexico, you learn how to play romantic ballads — boleros — if you want to serenade a girlfriend, that is.

I tried to learn the song “Contigo en la Distancia.” But I just couldn’t memorize the chords.

Years later, I found out it wasn’t just any standard.

It was written by César Portillo de la Luz — one of the most important figures of the Cuban style of music known as “feeling.”

The complexity of the chord changes on the song is the reason it was so hard for me to learn it. And that complexity is an essential part of the feeling style. It took Cuba by storm in the late 1940s.

Portillo de la Luz was one of the founders of this style and he was influenced by American jazz, including bebop, as well as composers such as George and Ira Gershwin.

Portillo de la Luz’s songs have been recorded by a who’s who of popular singers around the world, including Nat King Cole, Plácido Domingo, Caetano Veloso and José Feliciano.

As for me, I’m still trying to learn “Contigo en la Distancia.”