Chucho Valdés: "I had to pay the price for my dad's departure"

The renowned Cuban musicianChucho Valdes He claimed to have paid a very high price for his father's decision.Bebo Valdes leaving Cuba in 1960, something that later had repercussions on his professional career, always under surveillance by the regime's censors and repressors.

Interviewed byIan Padron insocial networks, the pianist described his father's decision as “one of the saddest and most painful experiences of my life,” something that forced him to shoulder the weight of family responsibility and make his way amidst the suspicion of the cultural authorities. official

“I had to take on the burden of the family and also pay the price for my dad's departure. When you had a father who was gone, you were no longer well regarded, because you could follow his example. It can be said that I crossed Niagara, not on a bicycle, but on roller skates. I passed it in a stroller! “It was very, very hard,” he said.

In that sense, he recalled an anecdote from 1967, when he was taken off the plane that was taking the Cuban Modern Music Orchestra to Canada. “They also took down Paquito, ‘Trompetica’ and many who had relatives abroad,” he said.

His father's departure into exile was traumatic for the musician, both because of the repercussions it had on his development as a professional in Cuba, and because of the closeness he had with him. Bebo Valdés was a teacher and a friend, in addition to his father.

“I worked with my father at Radio Progreso, we did the Havana Hilton show. He had an orchestra and a quintet, sometimes I went with one group or another. “We had a relationship much more than father and son,” he said.

On his father's birthday, Bebo went with him to eat in Chinatown. “Every October 9th we went to eat in Chinatown. Every time we finished work we went to eat fried rice, stuff like that. But on October 9, 1960, Dad confessed to me that he was leaving Cuba,” the composer recalled.

That news affected him deeply, even though his father told him he would return in three months. “When he told me that, it was like pouring a bucket of ice water on me. Go figure! That he was leaving, but would return in three months. He left on October 26, 1960. I was strange all those days.”

“I didn't have the courage to go to the airport. It was my mother, it was my brother... I was crying for a week, even thinking it was coming in December. But time passed and he didn't return. When I was 19, I became the head of the family,” recalled the musician who would eventually become a jazz star.

Bebo Valdés and her son share the same date of birth, the same passion for music and similarly successful artistic careers.Chucho has always shown his admiration and affection towards his father.

“Happy day to all fathers, here as a father with my youngest child and asson of the great Bebo. Enjoy the day,” the exceptional musician wrote on Father's Day two years ago on his Facebook wall, where he shared a photo of three generations of Valdés.