Buena Vista Social Club Page #3

We offer them to him

So that's how he gets

all these things

We Cubans can be thankful,

I don't know, to the Man up there...

...that we are the way we are

If we cared about possessions, we

would have disappeared long ago

But we Cubans are very fortunate

We're a small country

But we're very strong

We've learned how to resist...

...the good and the bad

Cienfuegos has its Guaguanco

Today I am very moved

I will sing to my land

To that famous region...

...known as the Pearl

of the South

That's the last one

It's the one Juan de Marcos wanted

My name is Ruben Gonzalez

Fontanells

I was born in Santa Clara,

in 1919

At the age of nine, I started

playing the piano

My family had bought a piano

It was a fine one, a John Stowers

It was also a pianola.

It sounded lovely

When I saw that instrument,

I went crazy

I really liked it

So I began practising

all the time

When my mother saw I had talent

and could become a great pianist...

...she arranged for me to study

with a teacher in Cienfuegos

I studied with her until

the eighth grade

She'd say to me "Ruben, you'll be

a good pianist

"You have great skill

with your hands"

I was ignored, so I lost touch

But I wasn't going to starve

I polished shoes, cleaned the

streets, sold lottery tickets

I had a family to support

I'm not ashamed to say that

We moved from Santa Clara

to Havana

But being in the capital

made me feel insecure

I said to myself "There are

lots of pianists in Havana"

So, I started studying

other things

Playing other instruments

But it turned out that

one of my neighbours...

...was a man calledcame to know as Arsenio

He had a great band

And he heard me play

But Arsenio was blind

Not from birth

He had an accident

and lost his sight

Anyway, one day he said:

Ruben, would you like

to join my band?

I said yes, of course

He'd had a pianist who'd left

He'd gone to Europe

I played in Arsenio's band

for about four years

I had a few hits

People always said Arsenio

liked to pick fights

He'd get really angry when

people argued back

He'd stand there, listening

Then leap in the direction

of the voice

But of course, he was blind

So they'd all run away

And whoever it was would say

"Quiet, don't let him catch me"

And poor Arsenio would

stumble about

And get really angry

Because people were

nasty to him

He was a big fat guy,

taller than anyone

He used to make me laugh

I swear, I won't smoke again

Well, just a little bit

And I won't drink either.

No more of that

I used to drink a lot

I've a good bodyguard here.

She won't let me

This is Arsenio Rodriguez

It's his best photo

May 24, 1946

His band toured a lot in Mexico,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes