Guajiro Natural (2021 Reissue, 2 LPs)

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Fernando Borrego Linares, aka Polo Montañez, was born in Cuba, in the Rosario mountains, and his music is as pure the rivers of his region. To catch it, there is no need to understand Spanish: his melodies and rhythms are intelligible in any part of the world. Initially, Polo was a coalman by trade, and during the watches of the night, he learned how to celebrate the scent of the dawn and to enjoy watching the sunrise behind the mountains ridge. The seventy songs he has written are 'printed' in mind, because this composer and performer has never got an academic musical education, in other words, he has never studied music Lusafrica released Polo Montanez' first album, Guajiro Natural, on the 14th March 2000. A few months later, the record was released on the MTM label in Colombia and met with almost immediate success, making a star of the artist overnight. The tracks Guajiro Natural then Un monton de Estrellas reached number 1 on all the country's radio stations and the album's sales rapidly climbed to an extraordinary level (to date, it has sold a total of 60,000 copies in Colombia where a platinum record is awarded for sales of over 40,000). This success spread to other countries in the region: Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico... The modest Cuban farm worker was suddenly a household name. The Cuban media finally paid tribute to this remarkable triumph. At the end of 2001, Polo became a sensation in his own country where his guajiro build and plain speaking won the hearts of the people, unaccustomed to such unaffectedness.