Two hours before his death theColombian musician Luis CarlosMeyer heard the song Micaela,his most acclaimed inspiration as

a musician. He was in the emergencyroom of Our Lady of Mercy in The Bronx,New York and the oxygen mask was par-tially covering his face. It was one in theafternoon on November 7, 1998.

I stood by his bed and sang the lyrics ofMicaela. Meyer opened his eyes andstarted breathing stronger and faster. Hecouldnʼt move his arms because his en-tire body was covered with blankets toprotect him from the cold temperature inthe emergency room. The depth of hismouth emanated the unmistakable odorof approaching death.

Then I told him that his songs were beau-tiful and that it was time for him to restpeacefully. “Your legacy has made historybecause the Government of Colombia re-produced your music scores and pub-lished a book telling the story of your life,”I told him looking at his blue eyes. “Yourecently were in the City of Barranquilla

receiving La Gran Orden del Ministerio deCultura at the Amira de la Rosa MunicipalTheater. We love you negro Meyer.”

His pulse continued rising. I finally de-cided to ask him to move his head if heunderstood what I was trying to tell him.He moved his head in approval and triedto say something. He couldnʼt. I put myhand on his chest and kissed his fore-head.

Doctor Bonnie Arquilla, who was incharge of the emergency room, handedme a document to sign. The previousSaturday morning, when Meyer wastransferred from the nursing home to thehospital, we reached the difficult conclu-sion that in case his heart stopped itwould be unnecessary to resuscitate him.Why prolong his suffering?, we askedourselves.

The previous Friday afternoon I visitedMeyer at Laconia Nursing Home in TheBronx. He was alert and told me that hewas in no pain. It was not easy to under-stand him because his tongue was veryheavy due to the medications he was tak-ing to calm his sufferings. His renal can-cer had already invaded his bones.

Front page of El Diario/La Prensa, October 23,1997 in the City of New York.

Luis Carlos Meyer was jovial and played seve-ral music instruments.

At he Amira de la Rosa in Barranquilla, Colombia, reporter Javier Castaño, left, Colombian Minis-ter of Culture, Ramiro Osorio, nurse Elba Medina and musician Luis Carlos Meyer.

By Javier Castaño

A life of creativity and struggle in the Big Apple

Luis Carlos Meyer

His beginningsMeyer was born in September 21, 1916and was given the name of Luis MateoMeyer in March of 1917 at NuestraSeñora del Rosarioʼs church in the capi-tal of the state of Atlántico, in Colombia.

Meyerʼs first performance was at the ageof 17 in the nightclub Chancleta del Bar-rio Abajo. At that time he was living inMedio Paso Street in Barranquilla. Afterthat he played with the Atlántico JazzBand Orchestra and performed at theRex and Metro theaters. In Bogotá,Colombiaʼs capital, he recorded porros,cumbias, guabinas and torbellinos withother great Colombian musicians such asMilciades Garavito, Alberto Ahumandaand Francisco Cristancho. He enter-tained the audience at the HotelGranada, the Regina, Monteblanco andCine Colombia. His voice was well knownin radio stations in Central and SouthAmerica. He became famous in the cityof Medellín with his performances at theCovadonga and El Bolívar nightclubs.Meyer has been recognized as the firstColombian rhythmic singer ever.

Colombian musician and well-knowncritic Hernán Restrepo Duque said that“Meyer represented at one time of ourhistory everything the Atlantic coast ofColombia had to offer. That promisemade by Bermúdez and Galán and laterdelivered by Barros and Póveda,Buitrago and Durán. Good or bad, be-cause Meyer did everything his way with-out paying attention to the standardsimposed by vallenato caciques or folk-lorists from the interior of Colombia.”

“He was a womanizer, but very polite andhappy,” said Soila Rosa Consuegra,Meyerʼs foster sister when they both livedin Barranquilla at the intersection of Callede la Cruz and Vesubio. “He was alwayshelping women and singing porros andcumbias for us,” added Carmen Ortiz,one of his girlfriends from his youthfuldays who came to visit him at the hospi-tal in Barranquilla in 1998.

Meyer traveled to Mexico in 1946 with hiselegant and irreverent style to performwith Rafael de Paz Orchestra and torecord songs as Micaela, El Gallo Tuertoand Linda Jarochita. In Mexico City,Meyer recorded his music before the ar-rival of Cuban singer Benny Moré and hissong Micaela was the theme of the suc-cessful film Novia a la Medida.

Colombian singer El Pibe Castillo, whonow has a hair salon in Barranquilla, re-membered when he first met Meyer inthe nightclub La Vacas and years letter in

Bogotá at the cabaret El Principe alter-nating with comedian Campitos. “Meyerwent to México after signing a contractwith the Lottery of that country and everyday his voice was all over the radio sta-tions. Impresarios kept looking for him tomake movies, but nobody could reachhim for days because he had the habit ofusing drugs,” said Castillo in Barranquillawhile cutting the hair of one of his clients.

Then Meyer traveled to Canada wherehe almost died due to a fire in his apart-ment. He arrived at the Port of New Yorkin 1956. He lived on the second floor ofthe Empire Hotel in Manhattan, playedwith Xavier Cugat Orchestra and per-formed in prestigious places like Copaca-bana, Fantasy, Chateau and CarnegieHall.

But in 1993 Meyer suffered a heart attackand a stroke and suffered partial memoryloss. After that episode in his life heʼsforced to live in homeless shelters, hecouldnʼt move as before, lost his guitarand is admitted to several hospitals in theCity of New York. Meyer tried unsuccess-fully to sell his musical legacy for 25,000

dollars to Peer Music Company andwrote to his friend Provi García in Sep-tember 27, 1989, comparing the lastyears of his life to the life of CresencioSalcedo, another great Colombian musi-cian who died penniless.

The last five years of the King of Porrowere very difficult. In 1994, without familyand friends he was forced to transfer toLaconia Nursing Home in The Bronx.That was the destiny of the great Colom-bian musician who first disseminated theAtlantic Coast rhythms throughout coun-tries as Panamá, Venezuela, Cuba,Costa Rica, México, Canada and theUnited States. Orchestras like BilloʼsCaracas Boys and Sonora Matancera,with singers as good as Israel del Pino yDomingo Jauma, performed on stagesome of his composition like Trópico andMicaela, composed in 1941 and 1943 re-spectively.

However, his life changed drastically

At Laconia Nursing Home in The Bronx, Meyersurrondered by Elba Medina and Rafael LamoGuzmán, Colombian General Consul in NY.

Luis Carlos Meyer with his guitar in NY.

A promotion in México for the song Micaela.

when the Puerto Rican nurse Elba Me-dina decided to pay attention to him atLaconia Nursing Home and El Diario/LaPrensa published an article on his redis-covery on October 23, 1997. Meyer re-vived, his mood improved, he tried towalk one more time and sing once again.But the truth is that he was making hislast effort and the Colombian and Latinocommunities of New York helped to miti-gate his pain. Congressmen José Ser-rano of New York and Bob Menéndez ofNew Jersey included Luis Carlos Meyerʼsname in the Book of Record of The Con-gress of The United States of America inWashington D.C.

“Then I wonʼt die”When we were in the waiting area at theMiami International Airport back on July16, 1998, on our way to Barranquillawhere the Government would honor him,Meyer told me in a whisper that he wasdying at that particular moment. My an-swer was very strong: “You have to go toColombia and be at the concert in yourhonor.” His reply: “OK Javier. Then Iwonʼt die.”

He arrived in Barranquilla very tired anddehydrated. He could barely keep himselfup in his wheelchair. The doctor who at-tended him at the Clínica Batista was sur-prised that he was still alive. Because theGovernment of Colombia did not want totake care of him permanently due to hismedical condition, we came back to NewYork with him.

Meyer passed his last days lying down onhis bed, but he never lost his appetite.His favorite food was fish and Coca-Cola.Sometimes he was alert and sang hissongs like the day he received in the hos-pital the visit of his countryman, musicianNelson Pinedo and they sang together. Inother occasions he seemed to be out ofthis world and did not respond to anystimulus at all. He fixed his eyes at theceiling with his mouth wide open. Meyerhad lost his denture.

His music was the only thing that kepthim alive. He seldom remembered anepisode of his life but never forgot thenames of his mother Julia Castandetfrom Martinica, his father Isaac Meyerfrom Trinidad and his niece Olga Elisa de

Romero, all of whom are also dead.Meyer died when he was 82 years oldand his wake was held at the CoppolaFuneral Home in Corona, Queens. Hisbody was repatriated to Colombia thanksto the money donated by the Latino com-munity of New York and New Jersey, theGovernment of Colombia and the city ofBarranquilla, especially Confamiliar delAtlántico.

So long negro Meyer.

November of 2002

Javier Castaño lives in Jackson Heights, Queens

and is the Editor-in-Chief of

A USA Immigration document from 1959 when Meyer entered this country as an immigrant.

Luis Carlos Meyer was honoredby Congressman José Serrano,left, and many people attended

his funeral in Barranquilla.

Meyer performed in nightclubs ofQueens and traveled to differentcountries to promote his music.