When they tell us that the air that flows and refluxes through their noses is the same air that runs through rivers, valleys and mountains, they confirm the belief that, in the most beautiful land human eyes have ever seen, such a range of beauty is the same that identifies those of us who are lucky to have been born in that natural environment.

These links between landscape and culture interweave the soul of a nation when they are interpreted from the passionate and lucid perspective of an extraordinary musician.

In the venerable moment to which we were summoned this Saturday, we were honored to raise our voices to praise those who, like few others, have found in the face of ours the joy and the essences of identity through dance.

We find the characters of his songs among the most common handles of everyday life, overflowing with that Creole picaresque in which we are reflected. But in order to arrive at the permanent state of grace that distinguishes him, he has had to internalize what he learned during long years of admirable effort, dedicated to empathizing with the enigma of the Cuban.

His genius lies in the fact that, simultaneously, while he bases the formal language of a work conceived from the communicating codes of his time, he also feels obliged to rescue the taste of old musical composites, whose legendary heritage has remained to prevail in each new generation of Cubans

With teachers of such a race it is impossible to have the feeling of meeting the testimony of the artist who recreates for a time that no longer exists, because the paradigm of his professional delivery consistspreciselyin not forgetting those who preceded him, taking into account those who surround and, above all, think of those who are to come.

For these ideals to which he has given his life, the character traits appear framed by those accents of a proverbial simplicity and an effusive nobility that have given him the nickname of the Knight of Son.

Anyway, if one of the apostles of Cuban music, the great Benny Moré, was enough to greet and acknowledge his people to be happy, this inspired prophet of inherent culture in the person of Adalberto Álvarez, does not need a plus.

For these reasons, let's put our hands on our hearts and ask for it to last another 35 years to receive that blessing of the music of Adalberto Álvarez scattered like the air of life that flows into our ears.

Taken from Granma