San Juan Daily Star “Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Antonio Caban Valle, known as ‘El Topo’ and a top local performer in the ‘nueva trova’ music genre, has died at the age of 81,” the report said.
Caban Valle is the author of “Verde Luz” (Green Light), considered the second national anthem of Puerto Rico. Nueva Trova is a musical movement that emerged in the 1960s after the Cuban Revolution. It combines traditional folk music with poetic and political lyrics.
The singer-songwriter passed away three years after suffering and surviving a stroke in March 2021. Health problems had left him unable to move parts of his body and unable to earn a living, leaving him in a precarious position.
Born in Moca on November 22, 1942, Caban Valle spent his childhood in a small town in the west of Puerto Rico, experiences that awakened a deep interest in contemplation and meditation. In 1961, the young man moved to RÃo Piedras to study at the University of Puerto Rico, where he began a new phase in his life. Known in his community as “El Topo”, he began to work in the artistic world under that name.
During his college years, in addition to publishing several poems in Guajana, a magazine representing outstanding young people in the literary arts, El Topo also began to branch out into the musical field.
In 1966, the late Caban Valle obtained a bachelor’s degree in arts and social sciences. For two years, Caban Valle earned a living as a public school teacher. In the 1970s, he began to set his poems to music and formed a band that he later named “Taone”. He was the lead singer of the band, which performed his compositions. His compositions were composed of simple poems and created a new style of contemporary folklore music that became popular. His musical style also included instruments, for example: Quattro And that GuiroSome of his works became popular in various versions. One of Cavan Vallee’s most popular works is Danza The Puerto Rican song is titled “Verde Luz” (Green Light) and is known in the genre as “Verde Luz.” “Verde Luz” has been performed by the late Argentine singer Jinamaria Hidalgo as well as numerous Puerto Rican artists.
His composition “Say What You Feel” became the theme for a campaign for the Agency for Substance Abuse Services (now ASSMCA). He also denounced abuse in his son’s songs “Antonia” and “The People’s Song.”
Cavan Vallee is also a writer and has published two books of poetry. [. . .]
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