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El amor de mi bohío

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"El amor de mi bohío"[1][2](also known as "Mi guajirita"[3]) is a song composed, music and lyrics, in the 1930s, by the Cuban composer Julio Brito (Julio Valdés-Brito Ibáñez),[4][5] known as “The melodic painter of Cuba”[6][7] for having been one of the musical authors who most beautifully described the Cuban countryside in his songs.

"El amor de mi bohío"
Song by Julio Brito
LanguageSpanish
Written1930s
Recorded1939
GenreGuajira
Length2:30
Songwriter(s)Julio Brito (Julio Brito Ibáñez)
Audio sample

Thematic

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The song describes a typical landscape of the Cuban countryside, while telling the story of a peasant in love, who must leave his hut and his wife to go to work the land.

The author describes the Cuban countryside:

Valley of the silver moon, path of my loves, I want to offer to the flowers the song of my montuna... It is all love, what reigns in my hut where the stillness of the river dreams...

He talks about the love he feels for his partner:

It's my life, a pretty little guajirita, the prettiest little thing, brunette... And when I wake up my pretty little guajirita, I leave a kiss on her little mouth that I adore...

He has to leave for work because it is dawn:

Once again the sun reminds me that the day in its fullness is already claiming...

He says goodbye to his wife:

Then you see, in the distance, the hut, and a little white hand that says goodbye to me.

History

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Brito premiered "El amor de mi bohío" in 1937, at the famous Eden Concert cabaret in Havana, Cuba.[8][9] This song is the maximum expression of the Cuban salon guajira, the most widespread of this genre, which would become one of Julio Brito's most famous creations[10], being performed by great voices throughout the following decades.[11]

The success achieved by this guajira by Julio Brito is reflected in the words of René Cabel, in an interview conducted by Don Galaor for Bohemia magazine on June 9, 1940 (page 54).[12]

Question:

In which song could we situate the culminating moment of this evolution towards what is typically ours?

— Don Galaor - Bohemia, June 9, 1940 (p 54).

Answer:

Place it, without discussion, in the appearance of 'El amor de mi Bohío', by Julio Brito, whose formidable success gave the guideline to follow to other authors, even to the old consecrated ones.

— René Cabel - Bohemia, June 9, 1940 (p 54).

In an interview that Don Galaor did with the Brito brothers (Alfredo and Julio) in the Cuban magazine Bohemia in 1939, Alfredo comments that Julio finished the song thanks to his insistence that he do so.[8]

This guajira by Julio Brito inspired Juan Orol, a Mexican filmmaker, to write the script for his film El amor de mi bohío (1947).[13] The song plays as the film's opening theme, as the credits roll.

"El amor de mi bohío" is also part of films such as El campeón ciclista (1956).[14] You can hear Brito's song at approximately minute 00:57:29 of the film. The screenwriter uses "El amor de mi bohío" to identify the Cuban cycling team, which illustrates the extent to which Brito's creation is associated worldwide with the image of his native island.

At the time of greatest popularity of “El amor de mi bohío”, the Cuban Society of Authors paid Julio Brito 40 cents in royalties. In Bohemia magazine, the journalist points out that all those involved in the diffusion of “the song that is most played, sung and danced today throughout Cuba and Mexico”[15] charged for interpreting or diffusing it. All except the author:

There is no right! There is no right, because if the song is sung or interpreted in a radio program, the owner of the radio station charges the director of the hour, who has rented it, and the latter charges the advertiser or the advertisers. And the artist who sings it, charges the director of the hour, and the musician who accompanies it, charges the artist or the director himself. And the author, who is the first one who should be paid, goes through the embarrassment, the sad, miserable ordeal of being paid by the Society of Authors in the month of the highest peak of his song, forty cents! for property rights.

Faced with this waste, it occurs to me to ask: Why are songs made in Cuba? Because anywhere in the world, an author with a hit like “El amor de mi bohío', can live opulently for a year.

— Don Galaor - Bohemia, August 13, 1939 (p 51).

Song recordings

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Some artists who have recorded this guajira by Julio Brito include:[16][17][9]

Lyrics (Spanish)

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Valle plateado de luna,

sendero de mis amores,

quiero ofrendarle a las flores

el canto de mi montuna.

Es mi vivir, una linda guajirita

la cosita más bonita, trigueña.

Es todo amor, lo que reina en mi bohío

donde a la quietud del río, se ensueña.

Al brotar la aurora sus lindos colores,

matiza de encanto mi nido de amores.

Y al despertar, a mi linda guajirita

dejo un beso en su boquita, que adoro.

De nuevo el sol, me recuerda que ya el día

en su plena lozanía, reclama.

Luego se ve, a lo lejos el bohío

y una manita blanca, que me dice adiós.

- Orquesta -

Al brotar la aurora sus lindos colores,

matiza de encanto mi nido de amores.

Y al despertar, a mi linda guajirita

dejo un beso en su boquita, que adoro.

De nuevo el sol, me recuerda que ya el día

en su plena lozanía, reclama.

Luego se ve, a lo lejos el bohío

y una manita blanca, que me dice adiós.

References

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  1. ^ El Amor de Mi Bohio (in Spanish), Internet Archive: Julio Brito; Orq. de Alfredo Brito; Pedro Vargas (singer); RCA Victor (1939), retrieved 2024-08-06{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. ^ "Victor matrix CU-134. "El amor de mi bohio". Composer: Julio Brito. Singers: Dúo Primavera (María Ciérvide / Georgina Dubouchet). Orquesta Riverside". Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved 2024-08-08.
  3. ^ "The Diaz-Ayala Cuban and Latin American Popular Music Collection (page 82)" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-08-07.
  4. ^ Orovio, Helio (1981). Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfico y técnico [Dictionary of Cuban music: biographical and technical] (in Spanish). Editorial Letras Cubanas. ISBN 9591000480.
  5. ^ "Julio Brito". EcuRed (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  6. ^ "Efemérides, 21 de agosto: Como "El Pintor Melódico de Cuba" fue calificado el compositor Julio Brito Ibañez…" [Anniversaries, August 21: Composer Julio Brito Ibañez was called "The Melodic Painter of Cuba"...]. Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  7. ^ "'El pintor melódico de Cuba': ¿Quién fue Julio Brito?" ['The melodic painter of Cuba': Who was Julio Brito?]. Cubanet (in Spanish). 2024-01-21. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  8. ^ a b "Digital Library of the Caribbean - Bohemia, August 13, 1939 (p 49)". dloc.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-08-07.
  9. ^ a b Garcia, Roberto (2024-05-01). "Julio Brito". Musicuba (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  10. ^ Alomar, Héctor E. Paz (2021-11-08). "Julio Brito, cantor melódico de Cuba". Periódico Invasor - Diario online de Ciego de Ávila (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-08-17. Valle plateado de luna/ sendero de mis amores/ quiero ofrendarle a las flores/ el canto de mi montuna.../" (Silver moon valley/ path of my loves/ I want to offer to the flowers/ the song of my montuna.../". Thus begins the musical theme that marked for eternity the rich authorial portfolio of the outstanding Cuban composer Julio Valdés-Brito Ibáñez (1908-1968), known nationally and internationally as Julio Brito.... Among his main works stand out "Florecita", "Tus lágrimas", "Flor de ausencia", "Acurrucadita", "Mira que eres linda", "Serenata guajira" and, of course, the well-known "El amor de mi bohío"... Because of the Cubanness of his texts, Julio Brito was known as "El Pintor Melódico de Cuba" (The Melodic Painter of Cuba). "El amor de mi bohío" was recorded by singers from several countries and its preference reaches the present day.
  11. ^ "The Diaz-Ayala Cuban and Latin American Popular Music Collection". latinpop.fiu.edu. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  12. ^ "Digital Library of the Caribbean - René Cabel about "El amor de mi bohío". "Bohemia" magazine, June 9, 1940 (p 54)". dloc.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  13. ^ "El amor de mi bohío". Cine de movilidad (in Spanish). Carlos III University of Madrid Library Project. Retrieved 2024-08-10. This film is based on the song "El amor de mi bohío", by Cuban singer Julio Brito Ibáñez, known as "El pintor melódico de Cuba".
  14. ^ "El campeón ciclista (1957)". IMDb. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  15. ^ "Digital Library of the Caribbean - Bohemia, August 13, 1939 (p 49)". dloc.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  16. ^ "Julio Brito". Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  17. ^ "The Diaz-Ayala Cuban and Latin American Popular Music Collection". latinpop.fiu.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-07.

Bibliography

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