Compasion by Vince and Tony Estrada and Friends

The Story Of This Album

This album (recorded in 2018) is a sequel to an original album recorded in 2000, by adding four songs. Those songs, as the original four ones, are old Cuban songs.

The original album was the result of a Fathers’ Day present in 2000. My five children (Bea, Vince, Teri, Tony and Carlos), always looking for something to give the ‘old man’, presented me with the most unusual and precious gift: A certificate for 4 hours of recording at a well-known professional music studio in St. Louis. There were, however, a few conditions – all great, as it turns out. One was that I played with one of my children, my fourth offspring, José Antonio (Tony) who is an accomplished, professional guitar player. Another condition was that the music be Cuban. A third condition was that the selection included a song called Compasión. That story is told below.

The Story Behind The Story of the Original Album
All four songs in the original album are old. The newest one is from the 1970’s. The oldest one, Compasión is from the 1920’s. That song has a very special meaning in my life. As the story was told to me by my mother, my father had a tough time courting her and gaining her acceptance. He was considered ‘too old’ for her, being at the time 42 years of age to my mother’s 18. There was at the time in Cuba a gifted Spanish guitarist and composer named Vicente Gelabert. Not a household name in music, except for those who know the background. Gelabert was a bohemian, a free spirit. But Gelabert was not just any old guitar player. He was a disciple of the very famous Spanish guitar master Francisco Tárrega, who also had another famous disciple – Andrés Segovia. Tárrega is alleged to have commented that “to be a Segovia you have to practice many hours a day, but to be a Gelabert you have to be born like that.” Against that bit of background, here is finally the story of Compasión. My father commissioned Gelabert to write, play and sing a love song for my mother, on my father’s behalf. That song was Compasión and according to my mother, when it was played as a surprise at a social gathering, it turned the tide. I learned Compasión from my mother. It had never been ‘published’, until now. One wonders what would have happened if Vicente Gelabert had not entered our life... Thank you, Maestro Gelabert! The image on this CD is Maestro Gelabert’s own guitar. When my mother was visiting us in St. Louis, we played for her as a surprise the recently recorded CD. When she heard the words and music of Compasión and recognized that I was singing the song, she cried in my arms. My children, the ‘sponsors’ of the project, were also there. Precious.
Vicente F. Estrada – St. Louis, MO, August 2000 – January 2019