Francisco Gabilondo Soler (October 6, 1907, Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico – December 14, 1990, Texcoco, State of Mexico) was a Mexican composer and performer of children's songs. He recorded and performed those songs under the name of Cri-Cri: El Grillito Cantor ("Cri-Cri: The Little Singing Cricket").
Biography
Gabilondo was born in the city of Orizaba, Veracruz. Both his parents were children of Spanish immigrants to Mexico.
When he was 25 years old, he began performing as a professional musician, interpreting humorous subjects of his inspiration. At first he played in public bath houses. He entered the new field of radio to become one of the main figures in the "Golden Age of Mexican Radio", beginning with humorous and social criticism programs, using the sobriquet El Guasón del Teclado (The Joker of the Keyboard). He used the experiences of his childhood to write some children's songs, and on October 15, 1934, he appeared, for the first time, on Radio Station XEW in Mexico City, singing many of the songs he had previously written. This marked the first performance in his persona as 'Cri-Cri'. The first songs to be played were "El ratón vaq
uero" (The cowboy mouse), "Los mosquitos trompeteros" (The trumpeter mosquitoes), "Negrito Sandía" (Little Black Boy Watermelon), "Cucurumbé", and "La Muñeca fea" (The ugly doll). A statue of the "grillo cantor" has been placed on the plaza in front of it, and a plaque on the wall of the house commemorates his birth.]]Between 1941 and 1944 he served in the Mexican merchant marine travelling around South America. He returned to Radio Station XEW in 1944 and continued his shows there for the next 28 years. He retired in 1962.
Despite never finishing his astronomical studies, he maintained a lifelong passion for the field, being inducted into the Sociedad Astronómica de México (Astronomical Society of Mexico) and having an observatory built in Tultepec. A film about his life was made in 1963 called Cri-Cri, el grillito cantor starring Ignacio López Tarso and Marga López.
Career
Francisco Gabilondo Soler was 25 years old when he started his professional musical career.
At first he did not write children's songs, but he soon realized that most of his fans were children, so he decided to concentrate his efforts on writing songs for children. Gabilondo Soler composed a total of 210 songs, of which three are unaccounted for. Almost all his songs are stories that teach values to children. He had the tendency to give animals and things human-like characteristics, and wrote songs about dolls, animals and toys who had something special about them that separated them from the rest.
On October 15, 1934, he performed on the XEW radio for the first time, singing his own songs. "CRI-CRI" the singing cricket was born that day. In 1944 Gabilondo Soler created his own radio show on XEW where he played his songs for people of all ages.