Overnight, radio stations in the country surprised us one fine day with the charm of titles such as Un montón de estrellas and Guajiro natural, danceable pieces sung by a certain Fernando Borrego, who was none other than the composer and performer better known as Polo Montañez, from Pinar del Río,.
With his original take on sones and guarachas written by him and contained in the album Guajiro natural (2000), Polo reiterated the powerful onslaught of the original music of our countryside when it is assumed with honesty, talent and simplicity, coming from both his work and his way of being as a person.
Precisely, the song Un montón de estrellas reached an unexpected popularity, capable of overturning the course of contrived marketing campaigns of other musical contexts, as if art were not closely linked to the irrefutable criterion of evidence, embodied in the facts that occurred with this relevant artistic event. There is no other way to explain the rapid and massive reception it had among us, which led to him becoming the celebrity Polo Montañez, and let’s not talk about his great success in countries such as Colombia, Mexico and France, among others.
Polo was a charcoal maker, or cane cutter. As a hobby, he indulged in his passion for music, and was discovered, to the amazement and delight of crowds around the world. When personalities of the artistic rank of the Puerto Rican Gilberto Santa Rosa included in his active repertoire the version of Un montón de estrellas, at the same time that he was invited to share the stage with legends such as Compay Segundo and the Panamanian Rubén Blades, Polo knew that in less than three years after his professional career took off and with only two albums recorded, he had managed to place himself among the legends of popular music of the time, without fame going to his head.
In spite of having the support of favorable economic conditions, he never abandoned his homeland in Pinar del Río, nor the essence of his roots that defined him in his ennobling Homage to José Martí, as well as in his commitment to put music to the poem Regresaré, by the Hero of the Homeland Antonio Guerrero, written during his imprisonment in the United States.
