Jorge Anckermann, Cuban pianist, composer, and conductor, was born on March 22, 1877. When he was 8 years old, he began his musical studies with his father, Carlos Anckermann.

In 1892, he traveled to Mexico, serving as musical director for Narciso López’s comic company. During his tenure, he visited several Mexican states and even took the company as far away as California. He lived for a few years in Mexico City, seeking greater horizons, where he worked as a music teacher and contributed to the dissemination of the Danzón.

He conducted a small orchestra that enlivened silent films in the cinemas of the Cuban capital.

Some time later, in 1899, he was given the opportunity to compose music for the magazine Toros y gallos, at the Teatro Lara. With this work he achieved significant success and made known his immoral guajira El arroyo que murmura.

After the resignation of the renowned director Manuel Mauri of the Alhambra, Jorge was called to take over his position, a position he began in 1911 and ended when the walls and ceiling of the theater collapsed in February 1935.

He composed the music for the major premieres of the works, and the short scores for the five or six musical numbers in the revues that premiered every Friday. Anckermann also created the so-called Cuban Typical Concerts, which were offered four or five times a year. These concerts featured artists such as Rita Montaner and Alejandro García Caturla.

He wrote numerous scores for zarzuelas, revues, and comic toys, as well as songs, criollas, and boleros. He is considered the creator of the “guajira” genre.

He premiered numerous of his own works, such as “La Casita Criolla” and “La Isla de las Cotorras” at the popular Alhambra Theater. Among his best-known compositions are “El arroyo que murmura” (The Murmuring Stream), “El Quitrin” (The Quitrin), “Flor de Yumurí” (Yumuri’s Flower), “Un bolero en la noche” (A Bolero in the Night), and “Oye mi clave” (Hear My Key).

Anckermann was described as one of the most prolific Cuban composers of all time. Rodrigo Prats described Jorge Anckermann’s music as follows: Anckermann’s music was always inspired, fresh, and youthful. His posthumous work, the bolero song “Bésame, bésame,” attests to this. The most prolific and most Cuban.

Jorge Anckermann died in Havana on February 3, 1941.