José "Pepe" Sánchez (

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

, 19 March 1856 – 3 January 1918), was a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n musician, singer and composer. He is known as the father of the ''

trova ''Trova'' is a style of Music of Cuba, Cuban popular music originating in the 19th century. Trova was created by itinerant musicians known as ''trovadores'' who travelled around Cuba's Oriente Province, Oriente province, especially Santiago de Cu ...

'' style and the creator of the Cuban

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...

. Sánchez was originally a tailor, and later the co-owner of a copper mine, and the representative in Santiago de Cuba of a cloth manufacturer in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

. He moved in upper and middle class circles in Santiago despite being a mulatto; his work as a businessman and musician brought him recognition and acceptance. Pepe had some experience in ''

bufo ''Bufo'' is a genus of true toads in the amphibian family Bufonidae. As traditionally defined, it was a wastebasket genus containing a large number of toads from much of the world but following taxonomic reviews most of these have been moved to ...

'' theatre, but had no formal training in music. With remarkable natural talent, he composed numbers in his head and never wrote them down. As a result, most of these numbers are now lost for ever, though some two dozen or so survive because friends and disciples wrote them down. His first bolero, ''Tristezas'', is still remembered today. He also created advertisement jingles before radio was born. He was the model and teacher for the great trovadores who followed him:

Sindo Garay Sindo Garay (born Antonio Gumersindo Garay García; Santiago de Cuba, 12 April 1867 – Havana, 17 July 1968) was a Cuban trova musician. He was taught by Pepe Sánchez. Garay was one of the ''four greats of the trova''. He was of Spanish a ...

, Rosendo Ruiz, Manuel Corona and Alberto Villalón.Orovio, Helio 2004. ''Cuban music from A to Z.'' p195. Other works of note are ''Pobre artista'', ''Rosa'' I, II and III, ''Cuando oí la expressión de tu canto'', ''Cuba, mi patria querida'', ''Caridad'', ''Esperanza'', ''Naturaleza'' and ''Himno a Maceo''. There is one modern recording of his music: *''La música de Pepe Sánchez''. Siboney LD–315

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez (trova), Pepe 1856 births 1918 deaths Cuban male singer-songwriters Cuban singer-songwriters Cuban male guitarists 19th-century Cuban male singers 20th-century Cuban male singers 19th-century guitarists