14ymedio, Havana, 17 December 2021 — Cuban troubadour Vicente Feliú died at the age of 74 this Friday in Havana due to a heart attack, according to the official media. The singer-songwriter was performing at the Music Museum when he suffered a medical emergency that he did not survive, sources close to the artist confirmed to 14ymedio.
“He was on stage. He began to sing ‘La Bayamesa’,” his daughter Aurora de Los Andes Feliú wrote on her Facebook profile. “He left at his full height and with a heart bigger than his chest. I love you, papa, I love you.”
Very close to the official line, Feliú is considered by many of his critics as a “onesong” troubadour because his song Créeme [Believe me], from 1979, established him as a singer-songwriter, without his subsequently having achieved musical production that exceeded that moment.
Feliú is among the founders of the musical movement known as Nueva Trova Cubana, along with other artists such as Pablo Milanés, Silvio Rodríguez, Noel Nicola, Sara González and Augusto Blanca.
During his career he produced seven musical albums and numerous collaborations in other productions, in addition to composing themes for plays, television programs and shows.
The song Créeme, which gives its title to the homonymous album, was one of the songs that the Cuban regime used the most to campaign for the release of the five spies detained in the United States for several years.
“‘I am a soldier of the House’, is how Vicente Feliú used to describe himself. And it’s true, you are our partner, our friend, our brother. You will always be here. This will always be your House. Good trip brother,” the Casa de las Américas published on their social networks upon learning of the death of Feliú.
The brother of Santiago Feliú, who was considered a rebel from the trova and who died at the age of 52 in 2014, the two had very different careers. While Santiago became an icon of Cuban underground music, Vicente was always seen as an official voice within the trova.
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