Is called Camilo Palacio Hernandez He is Cuban, but his thing is regional Mexican songs. He was born in 1985 in San Cristóbal, former province of Pinar del Río, today within the municipality of Artemisa, and although he began making traditional Cuban music and even performed on the popular program 'Palmas y Cañas', he opted for rancheras and runs Later he ended up adopting El Mariachi Camilo as his stage name, with which he would like to make a living.
Camilo Palacio is not just any mariachi. He has surpassed six hydrocephalus operations, the disability he suffers from and that has conditioned his life. He cannot make physical efforts and he cannot make a living doing what he likes: singing. Therefore, ask for a chance. He wants to show his talent. He is telling the truth: he has never been a professional, but he believes he deserves a vote of confidence.
Mariachi Camilo is married and currently lives in Havana. He has had several opportunities on Artemisa radio, in a program called 'Tierra interior'. "They gave me that space, but they always let me know that since I am not a professional, that it was not a compromising thing," he explains in WhatsApp audios to CyberCuba.
"You can't imagine the trouble I went through to act on television. The first time I had to sleep in a funeral home because I didn't yet know my wife in Havana. I didn't know anyone and I had nowhere to stay. After I left the television I thought: "If I stay on the street, they can take my money; If I stay in the El Lido terminal I could fall asleep and they could take my money. I better go to a funeral home. The dead were not my family, but I had to be there as if they were. The next day, when dawn broke, I went to the terminal and took a car to where my parents live. I arrived at half past one, two in the afternoon. Afterwards I didn't stay at the funeral home, but work continued. It was Sunday after Sunday. I had to come to Havana to sing and on Sundays the transportation is very bad. "I left my house in Artemisa at five thirty in the morning and the show was at the Teatro Principal de Marianao, at 4:00 pm, and I was going to arrive at three in the afternoon."
Camilo had the opportunity to debut as a mariachi on Artemisa television. He liked it and the performance was repeated. But after Covid they didn't call him anymore. He would like music to be his job. He once had a mariachi suit and a mariachi hat, but now he has neither a guitar nor a speaker to play his tracks. "Now what I have to do is sing a cappella."
"It happened to me like the late Polo Montañez. In many places they welcomed me, but in many they rejected me." "I have always been a fighter and I insisted on going on television, but after Covid they told me that the laws had changed and that since I was not a professional I could not continue acting and they left me out."
"I am leading a normal life, but I have a limitation and I cannot do physical exertion. They put a catheter from my head to my bladder to drain the excess fluid I had. My life is normal, like that of any human being" . Even so, Camilo Palacio keeps trying because music, he says, is something that gives him life. "It's like a blood transfusion. Without it I can't move forward."
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