Francisco Gabilondo Soler

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Francisco Gabilondo Soler (6 October 1907, Orizaba, Veracruz - 14 December 1990, Texcoco) was Mexican composer of children's songs. As a child, he delighted in stories by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen and taught himself to play piano. He entered the National Observatory in 1928 to study astronomy - although these studies were cut short for lack of resources.

From 1934 to 1962 he hosted his own radio show for children on Station XEW in Mexico City. He performed as 'Cri-Cri, El Grillito Cantor' (Cri-Cri, The Singing Little Cricket) on this show and sang his own songs. This run of shows was only interrupted by service in the Mexican merchant marine from 1941 to 1944.

He wrote more than 200 songs and recorded about 116 of these - all of which still enjoy great affection and popularity throughout the whole of Latin America.

Before his death, he participated in a memorial concert with Eugenia León, and he sang Bombón 1º, 'El Ropero' and 'La Merienda'. Gabilondo's songs were also recorded by the opera singer Plácido Domingo and the French singer Mireille Mathieu amongst other world-famous performers. He recorded Cri-Cri, El Grillito Cantor (1956), Homenaje a Cri-Cri (1957), 'Mas Canciones del Grillito Cantor' (1958), 'Los Amigos de Cri-Cri' (1959, 'Cuentos y Canciones de Cri-Cri' (1963), 'Todo el Año con Cri-Cri' (1963) '30 Aniversario de Cri-Cri' (1964), 'Conejo Blas a Dónde Vas' (1964) and several other compilations.

Some of his songs have been considered racist, mostly by English speakers and recently by the North American media. The most famous examples of such songs being: "Negrito Sandía" (Little Watermelon Black Boy); "Negrita Cucurumbé" and "Negrito Bailarín" (Little Dancing Black Boy). However, the words "Negro" and "Negrito" in Spanish simply mean "Black Boy" and "Little Black Boy" respectively and thus carry no offensive connotations. The songs lack any sort of degrading of Black people.

The song "Negrito Sandía" depicts a rude Black boy about to be punished by his aunt, but it should be noted that Gabilondo Soler wrote many songs about disobedient children, regardless of race. "Negrita Cucurumbé" tells the story of a Black girl who desires to be white, and tries to whiten her face by washing with sea water, only to find a talking fish who tells her that her black skin is beautiful. "Negrito Bailarín" is simply about a tin toy in the form of a Black tap dancer.