"[1] Félix B. Caignet’s radio dramas were broadcast throughout Central and South America and brought stories of social reality and the "speaking in metaphors" narrative style into popularity.
Félix Benjamín Caignet Salomón was born on a coffee plantation in Santa Rita de Burene, San Luis, in the eastern region of Cuba.
[citation needed] The newspaper El Diario de Cuba took him on in 1918 and within two years he had his own theatre column, "Vida teatral" (Theater Life) with the byline of Salomón.
[citation needed] Deciding to move to Havana, he took a job with millionaire Desiderio Parreño, who hired him to paint stones, called "cromolitos", for his estate in San Miguel de los Baños, Matanzas while he looked for work in the capital.
Eventually Radiodifusión O´Shea broadcast a test airing of "Chan Li Po y la Serpiente Roja," narrated by Marcelo Agudo and starring Mercedes Díaz and Carlos Badías.
[citation needed] Circuito CMQ S.A. also produced Caignet’s most popular drama, "El derecho de nacer" (The Right To Be Born) recounting the sad tales of Albertico Limonta and Mamá Dolores.
"El derecho de nacer" was filmed in 1952 by Mexican director Zacarías Gómez Urquiza, starring Jorge Mistral and Gloria Marín.
[citation needed] Of Félix B. Caignet’s many popular songs, the two best known are Frutas del Caney, recorded by the Venezuelan combo Dimensión Latina, and Te odio (I Hate You) sung by the Trío Matamoros and by Rita Montaner and Barbarito Diez with Antonio María Romeu’s band.
[citation needed] Félix B. Caignet also wrote poems and novels gaining him the reputation one of the originators of the afrocubanista (Afro-Cubanist) movement as well as writing a number of popular songs.
[citation needed] Although immensely popular with audiences, Caignet was harshly treated by critics who condemned his work for its mixed metaphors, for ridiculous plots, and tear-jerking sentimentality.