By Guille Vilar on February 12, 2025
Eduardo Sosa, photo: Bill Hackwell
Beloved performer and artist of the distinctly Trova style of Cuban music, Eduardo Sosa, has died at the age of 52, in Guantanamo from complications from a hemorrhagic stroke.
Sosa, Dear brother:
It’s true that you caught my attention with the Postrova Duo, but really-really, when you were born to stay in the bosom of your people, it was with the song “A mí me gusta, compay”. And although it’s said very easily, we all know that achieving such acceptance is quite a feat as a composer, because the people don’t make mistakes. Just by mentioning the name of that very Cuban song, everyone knows that you are its creator. But when I met you personally, I could see that you were just what you said in the song: an open, straightforward and simple Cuban, without any major pretensions, but don’t try to take you away from your own because it would be like taking away the oxygen that we all breathe by your side on this beloved Caribbean island.
Tributes to Eduardo Sosa from Raul Castro and President Miguel Diaz Canel. Photo: Yugdanis Vicet Gómez
In addition, you were always involved in something related to trova, whether it was organizing and directing the “Pepe Sánchez” Trova Festival in Santiago de Cuba; hosting the television program Entre Manos with Marta Campos; or lending your voice to songs emblematic of the Cuban nation such as “Cabalgando con Fidel” alongside Raúl Torres, Luna Manzanares and Annie Garcés.
Precisely because of the vital intensity of your emotive singing, you received many requests to make vibrant and beautiful versions such as “Magdalena” with the verses of the Apostle for the album of another brother of ours, Martí in Amaury, or in your version of “La bayamesa”, that other patriotic hymn that we have by Céspedes, Fornaris and Castillo, a song that has immortalized you with a sublime video clip.
Brother, if I could speak to you a little about your legacy, it is so that you know that you will always be among us because we honor your memory with this thought from the Jose Marti: “I know of no death except one, and that is the death of losing faith in my countrymen, and of that, I know I shall not die”.
We love you very much.
Guille Vilar is a journalist, cultural promoter, scriptwriter, music critic and director of important music programs on Cuban radio and television.
Source: Cubadebate, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English