He had tried everything. His close friend Romeo (Shakespeare’s character) provided him with the endless-love formula for Julieta, but it did not work. He needed something more effective, a music composed for love: a bolero.

A PHENOMENON CALLED LUIS MIGUEL Luis Miguel grew as an idol after his father, initiated him in the world music.César Portillo de la Lúz, Alvaro Garrido and others composers praise him and thank the roll he has played in the present popularity of boleros with works like the Romances CDs series, which carry his personal seal, modern with a touch of the oldies, time on which they were composed. In his recent visit to Madrid, he said he loved boleros since childhood, to such an extent that he is unable to choose one as his favorite, but he admitted the influence of Armando Manzanero. Nothing better to put an end to this trip along the history of boleros than Luis Miguel´s own words: “ Love is the reason why we are here, that´s all”

Cuba. End of the 19th century. The song in the Caribbean Island was looking for new airs. The guitar of minstrels, mulatto and Creole broke up with European influences from old artifices of Italian opera, melodic lines of French romanza and the Neapolitan song. Guitars and voices became main characters. One of the most significant movements in the popular music of the continent was born: the Cuban vieja trova (old trove), a group led by Josi (Pepe) Sanchez. Its name was taken from a Spanish dance fashionable in every ballroom of the time, bolero had its roots in that movement and its father was Pepe Sanchez, author of "Tristezas" (Sadness), a song that marked the beginning of a new way of expression that went beyond Latin American frontiers to become the most universal genre. This bolero can be sung and danced, two facts that differentiate it from its Spanish homologue. It mixes Hispanic and African roots and found a more diffused poetry in the popular speech, its basement. Frustrated love, retrained hate, breaks-up due to deceit and also happy romances, were and are, so far, its sole and unique raw material. The 40's were renovating for Cuban bolero. A rhythmic and melodic, constant and regular conception was adopted; a phenomenon that facilitated a more lyrical expression. In this way, "feeling" arose, a movement that emerged when the song was in a foggy atmosphere, without defined forms. To Cesar Portillo de La Luz and Josi Antonio Mendez, greatest exponents of feeling and authors of "Delirio" (Delirium), "Contigo en la distancia" (With you in distance", "Novia mia" (My Girlfriend) and "La gloria eres tu"(You are the glory), respectively, are added Luis Marquetti ("Plazos traicioneros" (Treacherous Terms), "Alli donde tu sabes" (There where you know)), Isolina Carrillo ("Dos Gardenias" (Two gardenias), "Vivire para amarte" (I will live to love you)) and great singers as Bola de Nieve, Rita Montaner and Benny More, who was a great lover of son and bolero.

THE BOLERO TRAVELS TO MEXICO Mexico. Beginning of the 20th century. Companies of vernacular Cuban Theater arrived to Yucatan accompanied by musical genres that had spread throughout the island on that time; guarachas, claves and boleros. And, precisely the last is the one that strengthens and finds many followers. In the 20's, Guty Cardenas made the song "Presentimiento" (Premonition) very famous. This piece arose the popularity of bolero in Mexico. With the song "Mujer" (Woman), Agustín Lara undoubtedly defined the profiles of a style that astonished and revolutionized the Mexican popular taste and went beyond its frontiers. Its lyric, which broke up with the classic subjects of betrayal and deceit, and its sensibility while being interpreted, quickly placed it in the top. Critics and experts of the outstanding composer's work coincide in pointing out that, with Lara, the bolero arrived to its golden age because he began to create in such a personal and original way, that it triumphed not only at world level, but also influenced some Cuban creators with its melody and style." Trios, led by Los Panchos, strengthened the taste for a music with lyrics that will continue praising love, for the audience of 50 years ago and the one that has recently reached 13.

IS BOLERO DYING? NO, IT'S REVIVING Although there are many people who affirm that the bolero is not in use anymore and that its death is approaching, it doesn't seem to have arrived even to its final hour. Mexican Armando Manzanero and Cuban Pablo Milanes, just to mention two examples, demonstrate in their lyrics that the melodic essence of the bolero continues resisting the pace of time. The genre has not died, it still has lots of life left.