Tag: trova

Silvio Rodriguez has described a trovador as ‘a poet with a guitar.

Trova is one of the great roots of the Cuban music tree. In the 19th century a group of itinerant musicians known as trovadores moved around Eastern Cuba, especially Santiago de Cuba, earning their living by singing and playing the guitar. According to one writer, to qualify as a trovador in Cuba, a person should:

a) sing their own composition, or of others of the same kind;

b) accompany themselves on the guitar; and

c) deal poetically with the song.

This definition fits best the singers of boleros, and less well the Afro-Cubans singing funky son.

Wikipedia