Meme Solis, the timeless pianoman

"He wakes up at noon in his 25th-floor Manhattan apartment, which has a view of buildings arranged like a scale model on the horizon, where everything human seems momentarily wiped out. The pianist had always wanted to live in New York, and here he is. He went to bed late the night before, as he's used to being a nocturnal creature."

"He makes himself a Cuban coffee, has breakfast, watches television or does some shopping, goes to the gym, spends time swimming, although he admits, I'm not a good swimmer. He sometimes does light exercise, nothing involving heavy weights or anything that might affect his fingering the way he uses his fingers to draw music from the Yamaha piano sitting near the window, as if the skyscrapers, the lights, and the rooftops of New York were his great audience."

"Solís, 87, always seems ready to perform, ever at the ready, just as he was when he was not yet 15 and not yet one of Cuba's most popular musicians, the accompanist to the country's great female voices, or the creator of the quartet that took Cuba by storm. He had been studying music since the age of six at the Rita Capu Conservatory in Santa Clara when he was approached to accompany Olga Guillot, the Queen of Bolero, on the piano."

"I was terrified to accompany that giant. That woman was a goddess at that time. I accompanied her, and that marked the beginning of my career. With Guillot, he began a path as an accompanist, forging close relationships with the most powerful voices of the Havana music scene in the mid-20th century."

A Cuban pianist living in a Manhattan high-rise wakes at noon and views the city as a quiet, humanless landscape. He prepares Cuban coffee, eats breakfast, watches television or shops, and goes to the gym and swimming, while avoiding heavy weights that could affect his fingering. He practices on a Yamaha piano near the window, treating skyscrapers and rooftops as an audience for an ongoing musical ballad. At 87, he remains ready to perform, wearing carefully tailored clothing. His musical path began at age six at the Rita Capu Conservatory in Santa Clara, leading to an early opportunity to accompany Olga Guillot, which launched his career as an accompanist and connected him to Havana’s leading voices.

Read at english.elpais.com