Pepe Sánchez

Who was Pepe Sánchez?

Pepe Sánchez, born José Sánchez, was a Cuban musician, singer and composer. He is known as the father of the trova style and the creator of the Cuban bolero.

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. 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 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, Rosendo Ruiz, Manuel Corona and Alberto Villalón.

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.