His languid, melancholy, intensely lyrical guajiras and his elegant, stylish singing made him popular throughout Latin America, where he is still revered.
His father was José Quesada y Perez from Casteiro Oreste Spain and his mother was Marcela Estefania Castillo y Rodriguez from Vueltas Cuba.
The later English translation reinstated such 'enemies of the state' as Celia Cruz (who was a determined opponent of the regime) and Portabales, giving 6 April 1914 as his date of birth.
This simple refutation throws doubt upon Orovio's other data, and has led to a general acceptance of Cristobal Díaz's version of 25 October 1970.
In the beginning, Portabales sang a variety of styles — canción, tango, bolero, son — until he discovered that his listeners enjoyed the guajira the most.
In 2006 the African group Kékélé released an album, Kinavana, that re-Africanized songs Portabales had composed or performed, giving them new lyrics in the Lingala language and playing them in a Congolese style.
As a Washington Post writer Mark Jenkins said, the 2006 album "celebrates [Portabales], who died before learning that his music had become popular in Africa.
This includes examples from his three recording sessions in the 1960s For the quality of his voice, its purity and its subtle evocation of emotion, and the exceptionally high calibre of his guitar technique – which is certainly worth attention by young musicians – Portabales must be rated as a performer of the highest calibre even given the unusually high standards of Cuban popular music.
His style is on the Spanish side of creole in contrast to many other Cuban trova performers in the 20th century: his music is clearly in the tradition of the old Spanish-descent countryside people, the guajiros.
Three of his noteworthy compositions: El carretero; Nostalgia guajira; Cumbiamba; Cuando salí de Cuba(composed by the argentinian Luis Aguile in 1967) was one of his famous songs as well.