Pablo Milanés was born in the region of Bayamo and studied music at the conservatory in Havana.

Pablo Milanés was part of an important musical trend in Cuban music that began in the forties, known as Feeling. It represented a new approach to songs where feeling defined interpretation; it was influenced by American trends like the romantic song and jazz. Feeling is accompanied by a guitar, in the style of the old troubadours, to establish communication or “feeling” with listeners.

As an interpreting artist, Pablo Milanés later joined the Los Bucaneros quartet, a group he collaborated with on his first projects. Milanés tried his luck as an occasional soloist, which led him to diversify his experience and inspired subsequent solo projects.

In 1965 Pablo Milanés released Mis 22 años, considered by many as the connection between feeling and the Nueva Trova Cubana, including new musical and vocal elements that were precursors to the Cuban music that followed.

His joint collaboration with Los Bucaneros lasted until 1966. In 1967 he joined the army for obligatory military service. During the Vietnam War, Pablo Milanés became influenced by social causes, and concern for his surroundings found a way into his music.

In 1968, Milanés performed his first concert with Silvio Rodríguez at La Casa de las Americas.

This was the beginning of what later gave rise to the popular musical movement, nueva trova, in 1972.  Milanés began to discover the culture and music of other American countries, which shared similar social concerns. Violeta Parra, Mercedes Sosa, Chico Buarque, Vinicius de Moraes, Milton De Nascimiento, Víctor Jara, amongst others, also passed through the Casa de Las Américas at that time.

As a composer, Pablo Milanés has touched on different styles, which include the son cubano and the canción protesta at the end of the sixties.

He has formed part of the Grupo de Experimentación Sonora and has composed music for the cinema. Through GESICAIC, Pablo Milanés took part in a creative workshop with other outstanding Cuban musicians, including Silvio Rodríguez, which trained young Cuban filmmaking talent in the best of Cuban music. This was later reflected in a generation of filmmakers that fused music and cinema into new levels of perfection.  This stage of Pablo Milanés’ career extends from the end of the sixties until the mid seventies, during which time he enjoyed far-reaching success.  Yo no te pido, Los años mozos, Cuba va , Hoy la vi, Yolanda, No me pidas, Los caminos, Pobre del cantor, Hombre que vas creciendo, Yo pisaré las calles nuevamente, etc.

At the beginning of the eighties, Pablo Milanés formed his own group, together with several friends who had been in GESICAIC with him. This stage of his career is characterized by the rich variety of musical resources used in combination with the fusion of musical genres, although the content continued to be influenced by a strong social foundation.

One of Pablo Milanés` most important albums is called Querido Pablo, created with, and in homage to, some of his greatest friends. Artists such as Víctor Manuel, Ana Belén, Lúis Eduardo Aute and Mercedes Sosa, as well as others, participated on this album. This album received huge acclaim in 2001, which was finally entitled Pablo Querido. Twenty years later, a group of artists reunited to sing to the sound of Pablo Milanés. On this occasion, as well as “classic” friends of Pablo, new pop music artists, such as Fher – the singer from Maná, were also present.

In 2005 he composed part of the soundtrack for the film Siempre Habana, directed by Ángel Peláez.

His extensive musical repertoire includes the following songs, which are especially famous: Yolanda, Yo me quedo and Para vivir.

Many musicians have worked with Milanés and artists that stand out include Maná, Silvio Rodríguez, Joaquín Sabina, Ana Belén, Joan Manuel Serrat, Víctor Manuel, Los Van Van, Lilia Vera, Caco Senante, Ismael Serrano o Luís Represas, in addition to many others.

RECORDINGS
. •Versos sencillos de José Martí [1973]
. •Canta a Nicolás Guillén [1975]
. •La vida no vale nada [1976]
. •No me pidas [1977]
. •El guerrero [1979]
. •Aniversarios [1979]
. •Filin 1 [1982]
. •Acto de fe [1982]
. •El pregón de las flores, con Lilia Vera[1983]
. •Años 1, con Luis Peña [1983]
. •Ao vivo no Brasil [1984]
. •Querido Pablo [1985]
. •Comienzo y final de una verde mañana [1985]
. •Años 2, con Luis Peña y Cotán) [1986]
. •Buenos días América [1987]
. •Trovadores, con Armando Garzón[1987]

•Proposiciones [1988]
•Filin 2 [1989]
•Filin 3 [1989]
•Identidad [1990]
•Canto de la abuela) [1991]
•Filin 4) [1991]
•Filin 5 [1991]
•Años 3', con Luis Peña, Cotán y Compay Segundo [1992]
•Canta boleros en tropicana [1994]
•Evolución [1994]
•Igual que ayer, con Caco Senante [1994]
•Orígenes [1994]
•Plegaria [1995]
•Si yo volviera a nacer, con María Felicia y José María Vitier [1995]
•En blanco y negro, con Víctor Manuel [1995]
•Despertar [1997]
•Vengo naciendo [1998]
•Días de gloria [2000]
•Live from New York City [2000]
•Pablo querido [2002]
•Como un campo de maíz [2005]
•Líneas paralelas, con Andy Montáñez [2005]

Collective projects
Protest songs: Protest song of Latin America (Collective work) [1970]
•Hombro con hombro (Collective Work) [1975]
•La canción, un arma de la revolución (Collective work) [1975]
•7 Festival des politischen liedes (Collective work) [1977]
•En México (Silvio Rodríguez -Pablo Milanés) [1983]
•En vivo en Argentina (Silvio Rodríguez -Pablo Milanés) [1984]
•Con ciertos amigos (Pablo Milanés -Xiomara Laugart -Raúl Torres) [1989]
•Piero & Pablo en vivo (Piero -Pablo Milanés) [1993]
•Temas del cine cubano (Obra colectiva) [1993]
•Éxitos de la Nueva Trova (Obra colectiva) [1996]
•Antología de la Nueva Trova Vol. 1 (Obra colectiva) [1998]
•Antología de la Nueva Trova Vol. 2 (Obra colectiva) [1998]
•Carta de provincia (Lázaro García) [1999]
•Lo + Plus (Obra colectiva) [1999]
•¡Mira que eres canalla, Aute! (Obra colectiva) [2000]
•Encuentros con la Habana (Obra colectiva) [2001]
•Canción para Vieques (Obra colectiva) [2001]
•Canciones del Buen Amor (José María Vitier) [2002]
•Del agua que bebimos (Obra colectiva) [2003]
•18 boleros chulos (Obra colectiva) [2003]
•Neruda en el corazón (Obra colectiva) [2004]
•Cuba le canta a Serrat (Obra colectiva) [2005]

Collective works with gesi  
• Cuba va (Pablo Milanés -Silvio Rodríguez -Noel Nicola) [1971]
• Cuba va (Pablo Milanés -Silvio Rodríguez -Noel Nicola) [1971]
• Grupo de Experimentación Sonora del ICAIC (GESI) [1973]
• Grupo de Experimentación Sonora del ICAIC (GESI) [1974]
• Grupo de Experimentación Sonora del ICAIC 2 (GESI) [1974]
• Grupo de Experimentación Sonora del ICAIC 3 (GESI) [1975]
• La Nueva Trova Cubana en vivo (Pablo Milanés -Sara González -Amaury Pérez -GESI) [1976]
• Grupo de Experimentación Sonora del ICAIC 4 (GESI) [1976]
• El hombre de Maisinicú (GESI) [1976]
• 25 años Cine Cubano Revolución 1 (GESI) [1984]
• 25 años Cine Cubano Revolución 2 (GESI) [1984]
• GESI Vol. I (GESI) [1997]
• GESI Vol. II (GESI) [1997]
• GESI Vol. III (GESI) [1997]

Collaborations
• Sara (Sara González) [1976]
• Cuando digo futuro (Silvio Rodríguez) [1977]
• Nueva visión (Emiliano Salvador) [1979]
• Cuatro cosas (Sara González) [1982]
• Entre amigos (Luis Eduardo Aute) [1983]
• Tríptico (Silvio Rodríguez) [1984]
• Chico Buarque (Chico Buarque) [1984]
• ¡Oh, melancolía! (Silvio Rodríguez) [1987]
• Árboles (Silvio Rodríguez -Roy Brown) [1987]
• Memorias (Silvio Rodríguez) [1987]
• Aves dentro (Alberto Tosca) [1987]
• Mercedes Sosa ´87 (Mercedes Sosa) [1987]
• En el jardín de la noche (Anabell López) [1988]
• Amigos míos (Mercedes Sosa) [1988]
• Con un poco de amor (Sara González) [1988]
• Con dulce rabia (Enrique Núñez) [1989]
• Canción con todos (César Isella) [1991]
• Simone (Simone) [1991]
• Ayer y Hoy (Emiliano Salvador) [1992]
• Represas (Luis Represas) [1993]
• Mucho más que dos (Ana Belén y Víctor Manuel) [1994]
• Esta boca es mía (Joaquín Sabina) [1994]
• En compañía de… (Elena Burke) [1995]
• 20 de colección (Tania Libertad) [1996]
• Este árbol que sembramos (Augusto Blanca) [1997]
• Mírame (Sara González) [1998]
• Trova de Amor. Soledad Bravo canta a Pablo Milanés (Soledad Bravo) [1999]
• Como soy (Marta Campos) [1999]
• Momentos vividos (Illapu) [2000]
• 50 años... Como una reina (Celina González -Reutilio Domínguez) [2000]
• XV Aniversario (Luar na lubre) [2001]
• Malecón (Isaac Delgado) [2001]
•Habana a flor de piel (Síntesis) [2001]
•El corazón se me abrió (Fuerte Ventura) [2002]
•Diario de un peatón (Joaquín Sabina) [2003]
•Temas inolvidables para la TV (
José María Vitier) [2004]
•Saudade (Luar na lubre) [2005]
•Bachata entre amigos (Víctor Víctor) [2006]
•A História Toda -Ao Vivo no CCB, Lisboa (Luís Represas) [2006]

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