HAVANA, Cuba.- On June 5, 1955, in the Sierra del Rosario (Pinar del Río), Fernando Borrego Linares was born, a humble peasant who in a very short time rescued traditional Cuban music to make it fashionable inside and outside the Island. Cubans and the world knew him as Polo Montañez, the “natural guajiro”.
Since he was a child he had an extraordinary facility to capture the rhythms and melodies of the they are cuban. He composed songs in the most unthinkable moments: driving a tractor, swimming in the river, planting and they say, even while he was sleeping. Polo Montañez was raised in a very musical environment. His father played the accordion and his mother danced. He used to accompany them with a tumbadora during family parties.
His sensitivity and his memory, which kept many songs heard on the radio, were key to his success, as well as his innate talent for playing the guitar, proving to have an excellent ear.
In the nineties he began his professional career as a vocalist and tres player. By then he had composed approximately seventy songs that he arranged for his band in a self-taught way: his musicians simply followed the tone of his voice with the instruments, and the harmonies emerged, simple, beautiful, masterful.
His popularity skyrocketed with the release of his debut album, Natural Guajirowhich consolidated him in the preference of the Cuban public and catapulted him to the first place of the hit parades radio stations with the song “A lot of stars”.
Said album won the hearts of the Latin American public and opened the doors to stages in Europe. His way of making Cuban music did not leave anyone indifferent, despite his short career. The success of Natural Guajiro it was overwhelming. In Colombia alone, he sold some 40,000 copies that earned him gold and platinum records, as well as being recognized as the most listened to international artist.
In Cuba his concerts were massive, a phenomenon of popularity based on son montuno, boleros and guarachas that had not been seen for decades.
Polo released a second album, titled my guitarand a third was published after his death, occurred prematurely in a car accident. The imprint left by his music was so great that performers of the stature of Gilberto Santa Rosa and Marc Anthony have made versions of his popular songs “Un montón de estrellas” and “Flor pálida”, respectively.
