Book about Joseíto Fernández to be launched in Cuba

The Fayad Jamís bookstore, in Havana's Historic Heart, will launch a book on Joseíto Fernández on Wednesday. The book, by María Eugenia Azcuy and Osmar Noriega, is dedicated to the so-called King of Melody.

According to the Cuban Book Institute, the event, scheduled for 3:00 p.m. local time, on Wednesday, will foster dialogue about the book on the creator of Guajira Guantanamera, on the occasion of his 115th birthday and the six decades of the universalization of the world-renown song.

Present at the book launch will be Ilaín de la Fuente, deputy director of Ediciones En Vivo, the publishing house that printed the book; the authors, and journalist and critic Fernando Rodríguez.

According to the authors, Joseíto Fernández managed to conceive a song with such a genuine melody that it breathes identity from the root of a verse by José Martí to the honey of its Montuno chords.

“Sixty years after the universalization of his Guajira Guantanamera and due to his very unique way of singing and communicating feelings in the style of the most authentic troubadours, his presence will always be remembered as that of the minstrel committed to his time.”