Silvio Rodríguez, upon hearing the news of the death of Pablo Milanés, published on his personal blog, Second datethe lyrics of an unpublished song entitled “Pablo”, dedicated to who was, along with him, founder of the Nueva Trova Movement and one of its most outstanding figures.
The song, which appears in his Songbook (2008), has never been recorded in a studio, although one can be heard casual version in Youtube.
Since Omara Portuondo introduced them, very young, Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés began a shared journey in their careers. They were also united by an endearing friendship.
Years later, with divergent political positions, they distanced themselves. There would be no new rapprochement.
In 2016, in the program Another Turn of the Screw, interviewed by the Spanish professor and politician Pablo Iglesias, Silvio Rodríguez He referred Pablo Milanés as “the greatest troubadour of all time”.
Pablo
i met you tearing
the chest of death one day.
you didn’t know anything
and it was you who wore it
hand in hand
And so you will continue
regardless of your advantage:
that it is you who wears it,
who tames and shrouds her,
walking.
You are a space that becomes
spineless and lost
in the joy of returning.
But now your voice is staying
your hand is already recording
a whole name with his teeth.
Who has not seen sadness
with its four thousand heads
can hear you restfully.
Who has not loved long
and lived with the strange
Of this time without rest.
I met you stuck
to the sky wall one day.
you were carrying then
under the arm a guajira
and walking,
walking.
(1969)
