Born July 26, 1923 in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, Carbonell dreamed of becoming a teacher but succumbed to art, to the point that he confessed to Prensa Latina that 'poetry was his vice'.
Still, his work was a teaching assembly of voices, with a repertoire that even permeated into popular Cuban way of speaking.
He received numerous awards in Cuba and abroad for his career, including national awards of Humor and Music, both in 2003.
He was dubbed 'the watercolorist of Caribbean poetry'.
Watch the video of a famous performance by Luis Carbonell of 'Esa Negra Fulo'
Cuba 50 