Latin American composers and their muses

Latin Beat Magazine, March, 1998 by Fran M. Figueroa

For reasons that have never been established, the love between Nilo and Conchita never blossomed. Conchita was a poet herself and wrote a farewell poem to Nilo Menéndez to put and end to their impossible love affair. lt is an interesting reversal of roles with the Muse composing for the inspired. Here is my translation of what she wrote:

Farewell, Forever Farewell, I'm headed for far away places, I leave without rencor or regrets. Please don't cry! Dry your tears and write another song. But, never to my eyes, they will no longer be able to see you, write only to my sorrow, and to this great disillusionment. It was destiny's fault. Why? I sill don't understand it. It sprang as a gentle, idyllic melody between your piano and my voice. My youth and your artistry overcame this cruel world. Farewell, in God's name give me a kiss, please don't prolong this parting. Consider; this year was for you sheer poetry. It was a brief half in the journey of your cruel reality. I was tbe naive adolescent and you a great gentleman. I was too young to know what to offer you and you in fact, couldn't reciprocate... Farewell, loves of my fancy, my romantic fantasies. I take your "green eyes" with me those eyes that you will never kiss again.

Sometimes, a living Muse inspires more than one composer. Such was the case with Pedro Flores, one of Puerto Rico's most beloved songwriters, and his best interpreter, singer and composer Daniel Santos. Her name was Linda, and she was a shadowy, mysterious figure who allegedly was present in Pedro Flores' life, but was only a symbol in Daniel Santos' experience. Only one of Pedro Flores' compositions bears her name, but her spirit is felt in many of his songs. Daniel Santos wrote three songs inspired by Linda. They constitute what has been called the first phononovel in the history of recorded music.

Linda has been a metaphor for the tragic love affairs endured by many men. The story goes that Linda appeared to Pedro Flores' one Sunday summer afternoon at the Luis Muñoz Rivera Park in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She was a mere child, sitting on a park bench. Her gaze was directed towards the far-off horizon over the Atlantic Ocean. Linda was totally unaware that she would soon be the inspiration for one of the most popular love ballads in the Hispanic world. No one knows the details of that fateful encounter between Pedro Flores and his Linda. All we know is what the composer tells us in the lyrics of his song. We know he tried in vain to see her again after that first meeting, He asked all those who might have known her, but no one could give him any information. Finally, he received the sad news that Linda had left unexpectedly for New York and that she had not written to anyone.

This is a tvpical romantic plot with the idealization of women. To the poet, woman is an angelical being, a pure spirit untarnished by sexual contact. In another of his songs (Irresistible), Pedro Flores tells us about an angel who escaped from heaven and now meanders through the world dressed as a woman. In the composer's vision of Linda, she resembles the Virgen of Altagracia. Here is Linda's story as told by the composer in his song.