Benny More's band
If I mention the name of Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré, you may not know who I’m talking about, but if I say Benny Moré, surely you’ve heard of this Cuban who is considered the best singer of Cuban dance music of all time. A melodic genius, it was said of him, like the immortal Carlos Gardel, “Every day he sings better” .
The 1940’s were not kind to Benny: he barely got by on what he received from patrons of canteens and dive bars, where he played his guitar and sang. He was thrown out of many restaurants, and banned from others for bothering the customers.
For this reason, the artistic career of this tall, lanky mulatto begins in Mexico in 1945 with Miguel Matamoros’ band; Siro Rodríguez, a member of the band, had been impressed upon hearing him sing in Havana, and invited him to join. In Mexico, audiences saw that he was able to sing boleros, rumbas, son, guaguanco or guarachas.
Once his Mexico contract was finished, Matamoros returned to the island, and Benny received permission to return to Mexico as a singer. He recorded a duet with Lalo Montané, and recorded albums with a few orchestras, such as Mariono Mercerón’s. He achieved success when he joined forces with the Cuban Dámaso Pérez Prado; he sang songs such as Mucho corazón, Bonito y sabroso, Pachito e che and Ensalada de mambo.
Benny Moré was a true showman: his voice fascinated, as did his extraordinary ability to improvise, to dance, and totally dominate the stage. In Mexico he made 70 recordings and worked on 7 movie musicals, extending his fame to Puerto Rico, Brazil, Panama and Colombia.
Benny, with his loud personality and charisma, became a star in Mexico and remained unknown in his own country, but then returned to Cuba, where it didn’t take long for him to become a sensation, with his popular Banda Gigante.
All of Cuba became the stage for his unforgettable performances: small movie theaters, parks, public squares, radio stations and television studios. However, one location had special significance for him above all the others: the Ali Bar, at the intersection of Dolores and Lucero streets, far from the better-known parts of the city. It was his natural refuge, where he often went, exhausted, after his long performances.
The Ali Bar was his second home, where he sang, drank, shared with musician friends and was friendly with fans who wanted to meet him. He also unplugged here, and relaxed in a positive, cordial, brotherly atmosphere. If there is any place in Cuba that still has the Benny aura, with his hat and cane, it is there in his corner of the Ali Bar, where tribute is paid to him daily by the best Cuban singers. As a poet said, he put "soul in the son and sugar in the rumba”.
