There are four paragraphs and a farewell line that turned exactly 70 years old last Saturday. They are kept perfectly legible in a letter yellowed and somewhat broken, dated December 6, 1954 in Havana, Cubaand sent to Castillo, San Francisco de Macorís, in Dominican Republic. Its content, part of the country’s musical history, begins like this:
“Dear Mr. Estévez: I have the pleasure of addressing you and at the same time introducing myself through Mr. Alberto Beltranmy very friend, to see if it is possible to negotiate to record the composition musical entitled (titled) ‘I LIKE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU’. If you are interested, we can record it with the Sonora Matanceraedit it and disseminate it abroad.”
The letter, signed by Rogelio Martínez, administrator of the MRT Publishing House, then located at 23 Jovellar Street, in Havana, is addressed to composertrumpeter, arranger and teacher of music Dominican Enrique Elías Elisio Estévez Pacheco, known as Cuto Estevez.
After returning from Venezuelawhere he was a founding member of the emblematic Billo’s Caracas Boys orchestra, he lived in Castillo and directed the band of music municipal.
The song mentioned in the letterhe bolero “I like everything about you” (mistakenly called by some “Sortilegio”), would become, after the agreementin an emblematic piece of the anthologies of the bolero Creole.
As Martínez proposed, the piece was recorded by the Dominican singer Alberto Beltran with the iconic Cuban orchestra La Sonora Matancera, which also accompanied him on hits such as the merengue “El Negrito del Batey.” Just as Martínez promised, “I like everything about you” spread throughout America, becoming one of the most international Dominican boleros of the time.
The letterpreserved first by maestro Estévez for more than 30 years, then by his widow Mercedes De León Hiciano, and currently by his children, shows Martínez’s interest in formalizing the agreement:
“Snap composition yours, if you had it assigned to a Publisher, would you be kind enough to contact us or provide us with your address? In addition, attached I send you the contracts to sign them, if you are not committed and if you are interested. I dare to ask your kindness for a quick response to the matter that I had to discuss with you above and that I have the honor of submitting to your consideration.”
After signing the agreementthe success of the piece was evidenced by its inclusion in all anthologies of the bolero Dominican. It is cited in books such as He BoleroVisions and Profiles of a Dominican Passion by Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, Pedro Delgado Malagón and José del Castillo.
In addition, she was selected in the Tribute to the Dominican Song for the 40th anniversary of the Reserve Bank in 1981, in the recording of the “One Hundred Dominican Songs of Greatest Significance”, sponsored by E. León Jimenes in 2005, and in the “Gala of Moca Music” in 2014, an event that highlighted the most emblematic compositions of Moca authors. This year the Moca City Council declared Cuto Estevez as a “musical reference of mocanidad”.
- “I like everything about you” has been performed by artists as Joseito Mateothe Trío Martino, Luchy Vicioso and Fernando Villalona, among others.
He was also part of the band sound of the movie The Goat Festivalbased on the novel by Mario Vargas Llosa, and has recently been included in a movie in an edition by a Cuban director based in Miami, as well as a series about the life of Silvia Pinal.
who was Cuto Estevez
Cuto Estevez He was born on November 24, 1915 in Moca. Son of Isabel Pacheco de Estévez and Elisio Estévez, the latter appears as the first victim of an assassination ordered by Rafael Trujillo, which occurred on March 26, 1930, shortly after the dictator overthrew President Horacio Vásquez. Elisio was murdered in the Ideal restaurant in Moca, leaving Cuto an orphan at the age of 15.
From a young age, Estévez showed an inclination for musictraining at the maestro’s Music Academy Tilo Rojaswhere he learned musical theory and instruments such as the trumpet.
At the age of 22, he was already a prominent trumpeter in the Billo’s Happy Boys orchestra, founded by the Dominican musician Billo Frómeta.
The orchestra left for Venezuela in December 1937 and was established as Billo‘s Caracas Boys. During his stay in Caracas, Estévez participated in radio broadcasts and in the first movie Venezuelan sound, Taboga. His family believes that it was during this time that he composed the bolero “I like everything about you”, inspired by his partner at the time who visited him in Venezuela.
Later, he returned to Dominican Republicwhere he married Lina Mercedes de León Hiciano. He was band director of music in Castillo, La Romana and El Seibo, where the academy music the town hall bears his name. He also worked as a teacher and supervisor of education musical in the Eastern region, training talents such as pianist Sony Ovalles and tenor Francisco Casanova.
Cuto Estevez He died on September 30, 1985 in El Seibo, where he lived the last 25 years of his life. His wife Mercedes survived him until 2019.
Together they left a legacy family that includes five children, twelve grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, who have witnessed the international reach of his work in places as diverse as New York and Lisbonwhere the melody of “Everything I Like About You” still resonates.