Of all the Cuban trova singer-songwriters, Noel Nicola was the most influenced by Cesar Vallejo. His music and poetry overflow with sincerity and humanism and as an artist he never gave in to trends, flattery or fame. Nicola didnt care if people liked him, but he never pretended, like others, to be a bad guy. He was fiercely true to an ethic, an aesthetic, to himself, all of which is intensely reflected in a new double album called 37 canciones de Noel Nicola released on the Ojala label Monday.

The album release took place at the Casa de las Americas Che Guevara Hall, bringing back memories of the early days of Nicola when he shared the venue on February 18, 1968 with Silvo Rodriguez and Pablo Milanes and other musicians supported by Haydee Santamaria who wrote songs that would become references of the revolutionary transformations undergoing Cuban trova music.

The album features respectful but creative versions of 37 Nicola compositions featuring the following musicians: from Cuba, Roberto Carcasses, Juan Manuel Ceruto, Pablo Milanes, Frank Fernandez, Leo Brouwer, Chucho Valdes, Sara Gonzalez, Vicente and Santiago Feliu, Jose Maria Vitier, Omara Portuondo, Amaury Perez, Carlos Varela, Miriam Ramos, Ernan Lopez Nussa, Juan Formell y los Van Van, Anabel Lopez, Liuba Maria Hevia, Pancho Amat y el Cabildo del Son, Sampling, Adalberto Alvarez, Manuel Argudín, Polito Ibamnez, Kiki Corona, Lazaro Garcia, Augusto Blanca, Sexto Sentido, and Silvio Rodriguez; from Spain, Víctor Manuel, Luis Eduardo Aute, Luis Pastor, Caco Senante, Javier Bergia, Ismael Serrano and Javier Rubial; from Latin America, Victor Heredia (Argentina), Tania Libertad (Peru), Cecilia Todd (Venezuela) and Daniel Viglietti (Uruguay). The album was produced by Ana Lourdes Martinez.

The disc is testimony of a body of work that remains current today. German Piniella has said, "The songs heard here continue to speak to us in contemporary terms, many years after they were written, like Comienzo el día, or Maria del Carmen that invited us to look in parks and towns for the ideal women, or Son oscuro that tells us that real art is that which awakens our emotion, or De cierto modo that shows, once again, that even in the most unaffectionate lies some tenderness."

Silvio Rodriguez presented the album to an audience that included Minister of Culture Abel Prieto, Casa de las Americas President Roberto Fernandez Retamar, Cuban Film Institute founder Alfredo Guevara and Luis Francisco Garcia, director of the Author label. Silvio recreated a vivid portrait of Noel Nicola (1946-2005) recalling times the two spent together during concerts, working on projects and on trips. He said that, before becoming ill, Noel had selected the first 20 songs for the album.

Silvio Rodriguez also spoke about the guitar skills of Nicola whose father, Isaac Nicola, was a founder of the Cuban school of guitar. Silvio pointed out that, while Noel never received guitar lessons from his dad, he managed to inherit some of his beautiful abilities that were even praised by Cuban guitar great Leo Brouwer. Silvio said that above all was Noels "passion for music."

The disc launch began with Asi como soy, a documentary on Noel Nicola by Carlos Leon, and ended with a concert with Manolo Argudin, Omara Portuondo and Jose Maria Vitier performing several of Noel Nicolas songs.