HAVANA (AP) 鈥� Pablo Milanes, the Latin Grammy-winning balladeer who helped found Cuba鈥檚 鈥渘ueva trova鈥� movement and toured the world as a cultural ambassador for Fidel Castro鈥檚 revolution, has died in Spain, where he had been under treatment for blood cancer. He was 79.
One of the most internationally famous Cuban singer-songwriters, he recorded dozens of albums and hits like 鈥淵olanda,鈥� 鈥淵o Me Quedo鈥� (I鈥檓 Staying) and 鈥淎mo Esta Isla鈥� (I Love This Island) during a career that lasted more than five decades.
鈥淭he culture in Cuba is in mourning for the death of Pablo Milanes,鈥� Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz tweeted Monday night.
Milanes' representatives issued a statement saying he had died early Tuesday in Madrid.
In early November, he announced he was being hospitalized and canceled concerts.
Pablo Milanes was born Feb. 24, 1943, in the eastern city of Bayamo, in what was then Oriente province, the youngest of five siblings born to working-class parents. His musical career began with him singing in, and often winning, local TV and radio contests.
His family moved to the capital and he studied for a time at the Havana Musical Conservatory during the 1950s, but he credited neighborhood musicians rather than formal training for his early inspiration, along with trends from the United States and other countries.
In the early 鈥�60s he was in several groups including Cuarteto del Rey (the King鈥檚 Quartet), composing his first song in 1963: 鈥淭u Mi Desengano,鈥� (You, My Disillusion), which spoke of moving on from a lost love.
鈥淵our kisses don鈥檛 matter to me because I have a new love/to whom I promise you I will give my life,鈥� the tune goes.
In 1970 he wrote the seminal Latin American love song 鈥淵olanda,鈥� which is still an enduring favorite everywhere from Old Havana鈥檚 tourist cafes to Mexico City cantinas.
Spanish newspaper El Pais asked Milanes in 2003 how many women he had flirted with by saying they inspired the song. 鈥淣one,鈥� he responded, laughing. 鈥淏ut many have told me: 'My child is the product of 鈥榊olanda.鈥樷��
Milanes supported the 1959 Cuban Revolution but was nevertheless targeted by authorities during the early years of Fidel Castro鈥檚 government, when all manner of 鈥渁lternative鈥� expression was highly suspect. Milanes was reportedly harassed for wearing his hair in an afro, and was given compulsory work detail for his interest in foreign music.
Those experiences did not dampen his revolutionary fervor, however, and he began to incorporate politics into his songwriting, collaborating with musicians such as Silvio Rodriguez and Noel Nicola.
The three are considered the founders of the Cuban 鈥渘ueva trova,鈥� a usually guitar-based musical style tracing to the ballads that troubadours composed during the island鈥檚 wars of independence. Infused with the spirit of 1960s American protest songs, the nueva trova uses musical storytelling to highlight social problems.
Milanes and Rodriguez in particular became close, touring the world鈥檚 stages as cultural ambassadors for the Cuban Revolution, and bonding during boozy sessions.
鈥淚f Silvio Rodriguez and I got together, the rum was always there,鈥� Milanes told El Pais in 2003. 鈥淲e were always three, not two.鈥�
Milanes was friendly with Castro, critical of U.S. foreign policy and for a time even a member of the communist government鈥檚 parliament. He considered himself loyal to the revolution and spoke of his pride at serving Cuba.
鈥淚 am a worker who labors with songs, doing in my own way what I know best, like any other Cuban worker,鈥� Milanes once said, according to The New York Times. 鈥淚 am faithful to my reality, to my revolution and the way in which I have been brought up.鈥�
In 1973, Milanes recorded 鈥淰ersos Sencillos,鈥� which turned poems by Cuban Independence hero Jose Marti into songs. Another composition became a kind of rallying call for the political left of the Americas: 鈥淪ong for Latin American Unity,鈥� which praised Castro as the heir of Marti and South American liberation hero Simon Bolivar, and cast the Cuban Revolution as a model for other nations.
In 2006, when Castro stepped down as president due to a life-threatening illness, Milanes joined other prominent artists and intellectuals in voicing their support for the government. He promised to represent Castro and Cuba 鈥渁s this moment deserves: with unity and courage in the presence of any threat or provocation.鈥�
Yet he was unafraid to speak his mind and occasionally advocated publicly for more freedom on the island.
In 2010 he backed a dissident hunger striker who was demanding the release of political prisoners. Cuba鈥檚 aging leaders 鈥渁re stuck in time,鈥� Milanes told Spanish newspaper El Mundo. 鈥淗istory should advance with new ideas and new men.鈥�
The following year, as the island was enacting economic changes that would allow greater free-market activity, he lobbied for President Raul Castro to do more. 鈥淭hese freedoms have been seen in small doses, and we hope that with time they will grow,鈥� Milanes told The Associated Press.
Milanes disagreed without dissenting, prodded without pushing, hewing to Fidel Castro鈥檚 notorious 1961 warning to Cuba鈥檚 intellectual class: 鈥淲ithin the Revolution, everything; outside the Revolution, nothing.鈥�
鈥淚 disagree with many things in Cuba, and everyone knows it,鈥� Milanes once said.
Ever political even when his bushy afro had given way to more conservatively trimmed, gray, thinning locks, in 2006 he contributed the song 鈥淓xodo鈥� (Exodus), about missing friends who have departed for other lands, to the album 鈥淪omos Americans鈥� (We Are Americans), a compilation of U.S. and Latin American artists鈥� songs about immigration.
Rodriguez and Milanes had a falling out in the 1980s for reasons that were unclear and were barely on speaking terms, though they maintained a mutual respect and Rodriguez collaborated musically with Milanes鈥� daughter.
Milanes sang in the 1980鈥瞫 album 鈥淎mo esta isla鈥� that 鈥淚 am from the Caribbean and could never walk on terra firma;鈥� nevertheless, he divided most of his time between Spain and Mexico in later years.
By his own count he underwent more than 20 leg surgeries.
Milanes won two Latin Grammys in 2006 鈥� best singer-songwriter album for 鈥淐omo un Campo de Maiz鈥� (Like a Cornfield) and best traditional tropical album for 鈥淎M/PM, Lineas Paralelas鈥� (AM/PM, Parallel lines), a collaboration with Puerto Rican salsa singer Andy Montanez.
He also won numerous Cuban honors including the Alejo Carpentier medal in 1982 and the National Music Prize in 2005, and the 2007 Haydee Santamaria medal from the Casa de las Americas for his contributions to Latin American culture.
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Associated Press writer Peter Orsi contributed to this story.
Andrea Rodr铆guez, The Associated Press
