Music as an expression of art has been one of the means that man has used to transmit his experiences, his fears, his joys and his dreams.
Black wedding is an outstanding song of the Cuban trova that without knowing it immortalized in its stanzas one of the most terrifyingly romantic legends of the Cristóbal Colón Necropolis in Havana.
The musical piece describes the unfortunate fate of two lovers who, close to marriage, suffered the misfortune of not seeing their desire to marry consummated, as the bride died suddenly of tuberculosis.
Julio Flores is one of the presumed creators of the song, others assure that it was authored by Carlos Borges, and it is speculated that it was Alberto Villalón who brought the theme to music.
A love story with a sad ending
black wedding It is inspired by the life of the intellectual, poet and journalist Francisco Caamaño de Cárdenas, who, limited by the demands of the time, the few advances in medicine and economic issues, saw his fiancée Irene Gay die of Tuberculosis at the young age of 18. years.
The young woman was buried in the Colon Necropolis, in the area known as the section of the poor, away from the tombs of the aristocrats and with less luxury and pomp than the wealthy.
This, knowing that in the eyes of death no luxury is necessary, because the Grim Reaper is not impressed with this and does not accept bribes or gifts.
Irene Gay was buried dressed as a bride carrying a bouquet in her hands, fulfilling her last wish with this action.
Every day he went to the cemetery to visit the grave of his beautiful
Her lover, who was devastated by her loss, came daily to meet her, until three years later, during her exhumation, he bribed the undertaker to take away Irene's mortal remains and when his financial resources allowed him to build a pantheon where they could rest together on the day Francis died.
The neighbors, knowing the rumor that surrounded the lovers, denounced Francisco, fearful of contracting tuberculosis and moved by certain gossip and acts of bad faith, accused the young man of practicing necrophilia and the mortal remains of the deceased girlfriend were seized, the They were returned to the cemetery.
Since those days, locals claim to have seen the specter of the bride hanging around the poor section of the Colon Necropolis in search of the opportunity to find the way back home with her love.
Other testimonies reveal having seen her hanging around the cemetery church waiting for her fiancé to marry her, thus fulfilling the word that had been promised to her in the past.
black wedding poem
Hear the story he told me one day
the old undertaker of the region:
He was a lover whom, with impious rage,
his sweet girlfriend stole his Grim Reaper...
Every day I went to the cemetery
to visit the tomb of the beautiful;
the people murmured mysteriously:
It is a dead man escaped from a grave.
On one horrendous night he shattered
the abandoned grave slab,
dug up the earth and carried it in his arms
the rigid skeleton of his beloved.
And there in his sad, gloomy room,
from a funeral candle to the uncertain flame,
the cold skeleton sat by his side
and celebrated his wedding with the dead.
He bound the bare bones with ribbons,
the stiff skull crowned with flowers,
he covered the hideous mouth with his kisses,
and told him smiling his loves.
He took the bride to the soft bed,
he lay down beside her in love,
and forever fell asleep
to the rigid skeleton embraced!