Antonio Machín
Who is Antonio Machín?
Antonio Lugo Machín, known by his stage name Antonio Machín, was born in Sagua la Grande, Cuba, on February 11, 1903, and died in Madrid on August 4, 1977. A singer of boleros and Cuban popular music in general, he is regarded as one of the great performers of the genre in the Spanish-speaking world, with unforgettable versions of songs such as “El manisero,” “Dos gardenias” and “Angelitos negros.” He was the son of a Galician immigrant, José Lugo Padrón, and a Cuban mother, Leoncia Machín, and grew up in a large, poor family in which he had to work from an early age.
Career
Machín arrived in Havana in 1926 and began singing in cafés alongside a guitarist. Shortly after, he joined Don Azpiazu’s orchestra as second singer and performed at the Casino Nacional in Havana, becoming the first Black artist to take that stage. With this orchestra he recorded “El manisero” in 1930, considered the first million-selling hit of Cuban music, which launched him first to New York and then to Europe. In 1936 he settled in Paris, where he formed his own orchestra with pianist Moisés Simons.
In 1939, fleeing the war in Europe, he arrived in Spain, his father’s homeland, and would remain there for the rest of his life. He settled in Madrid, married María Ángeles Rodríguez in Seville in 1943, and won over the Spanish public with boleros such as “Noche triste,” “Como fue” and “Amor sincero.” His breakthrough came in 1947 with “Angelitos negros,” one of his most remembered songs. Over the course of his career in Spain he recorded more than sixty records and performed songs by composers such as the Cuban Osvaldo Farrés (“Madrecita,” “Toda una vida,” “Quizás, quizás, quizás”) and the Mexican Consuelo Velázquez (“Bésame mucho,” “Amar y vivir”), as well as the celebrated “Dos gardenias” by Isolina Carrillo.
Legacy
In Spain, Machín earned the nickname “his majesty the bolero” and remained especially linked to Madrid, Seville and Barcelona. He gave his last performance on June 7, 1977, in Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville) and died a few weeks later, on August 4, 1977, in his home in Madrid, at the age of 74; he is buried at the San Fernando cemetery in Seville. A statue was unveiled in his memory in Seville in 2006, a city that also named a street after him, and his hometown of Sagua la Grande keeps a museum with some of his personal belongings, including his maracas.