The father of the Cuban bolero — Pepe Sánchez (José Sánchez) composed the first recognized Cuban bolero in Santiago de Cuba in the 1880s, establishing the genre that would become one of Cuba's most beloved musical forms.
Pepe Sánchez was a trova singer and composer from Santiago de Cuba who developed the bolero form within the Cuban trova tradition. His compositions — including Tristezas, considered the first Cuban bolero — established the genre's essential character: intimate, melodically rich, harmonically sophisticated, and built around romantic themes.
The bolero he created in eastern Cuba was a very different animal from the later Mexican bolero — slower, more refined, and deeply connected to the guitar trova tradition. From Sánchez's compositions, the genre spread throughout Cuba and later throughout Latin America, becoming one of the most globally recognized song forms.