Pablo Milanés is the most internationally renowned Cuban composer since the 1980s in the singer-songwriter genre, with his songs being performed and recorded in dozens of countries. Although he initially started artistically within the politically-oriented music movement of the 1960s and 1970s, his music transcended mere political-social boundaries, attracting thousands of admirers around the world. This is evident from the circulation of his albums and his performances, which consistently enjoy large public success.

In his adolescence and youth, he participated in the groups El Cuarteto del Rey, when he was about sixteen, and later, around the mid-1960s, in the group Los Bucaneros. It was around this time that he began composing, within a musical movement that started in Cuba in the 1940s, known as filin (from the English word feeling). Filin was influenced by American music, including romantic songs and jazz, and in certain aspects, aligned with the Cuban trova tradition. Biographers point to the year 1963 as the emergence of Pablo Milanés as a singer and songwriter, with his song “Mis 22 años” (1965) marking an important milestone.

In 1968, along with composer Silvio Rodríguez, he became part of the Centro de la Canción Protesta and one of Cuba’s most recognized cultural institutions, Casa de las Américas. He also participated in the Grupo de Experimentación Sonora (GES) at the Cuban Institute of Cinematic Arts and Industry (ICAIC), founded in 1969 under the leadership of composer and conductor Leo Brouwer. Additionally, he was one of the founders of the Cuban Nueva Trova movement. His image is closely linked to Silvio Rodríguez, with whom he performed the first recital at Casa de las Américas in 1968. They were part of the same generation of Cuban composers who gained prominence through musical and political renewal movements.

Milanés’ first official album was released in 1973, titled Versos sencillos de José Martí (1853-1895), a Cuban national hero, liberator, and poet. In 1975, he released another tribute album: Pablo Milanés canta Nicolás Guillén (1902-1989), another highly recognized Cuban poet. This was followed by a discography of dozens of albums and songs, many of which are now classics in the Latin American songbook, such as “Yolanda,” “Yo no te pido,” “Canción” (“De qué callada manera,” a poem by Nicolás Guillén), “Años,” “Canción por la unidad latinoamericana,” “Son de Cuba y Puerto Rico,” and many more.

In 1972, he performed his first concert outside Cuba, participating in a festival in the city of Valparaíso, Chile, where he met the then-president Salvador Allende—a socialist to whom he later dedicated some songs. In 1975, he performed in Berlin and Mexico City, and the following year he went to Spain, embarking on an international career that, starting in the 1980s, became filled with successes. He even had four songs featured on a single international telenovela soundtrack album in Brazil in 1994 (Tropicaliente), including: “Quien me tienda la mano [al pasar]”; “Años,” recorded with Mercedes Sosa; “De que callada manera,” recorded with Ana Belén; and “Canción unidad” [“Canción por la unidad latinoamericana”]. In addition to vocal compositions, he also composed music for films, documentaries, and television series. The thematic and genre variety (rhythms) of his work is vast, including: son, bolero, canción, guajira, guaguancó, ballads, and more.

In 2007, with the collaboration of several artists, he released the album Regalo, which earned him the Latin Grammy Award for Best Tropical Album.