Francisco Gabilondo Soler (Cri-Cri)

Hello! My name is Francisco Gabilondo Soler, but you might know me by another name: Cri-Cri, the Singing Cricket! I was born on October 6th, 1907, in the city of Orizaba, in Veracruz, Mexico. When I was a boy, I wasn't very interested in school. Instead, I loved to lose myself in books filled with adventure and fantasy. My grandmother was a fantastic storyteller, and she would tell me wonderful tales from authors like the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. These stories sparked my imagination. I also had another great love: looking up at the night sky. I would spend hours dreaming about the stars and planets, wondering what they were and what secrets they held.

Even though I adored music, I never attended a special school to learn it. I was curious and determined, so I taught myself how to play the piano and write my own songs. Around that time, a new invention called the radio was becoming very popular, and I was completely fascinated by it. In the early 1930s, I started working at a radio station. One day, my boss had an idea. He suggested that I create a show just for children. On October 15th, 1934, my program aired for the very first time on the famous XEW radio station in Mexico City. At the beginning, the show didn't have a name, but I soon invented a little cricket character who became the star. That little cricket was me, Cri-Cri!

For the next 27 years, all the way until 1961, I invited children on incredible journeys through my songs. I wrote both the words and the music for over 260 songs! My imagination was my guide, and it helped me create a magical world filled with unforgettable characters. One of my most famous characters was 'El ratón vaquero,' a tiny cowboy mouse who spoke English with a funny accent. I also created 'La patita,' a mother duck who wanted to buy new shoes for all of her little ducklings. Then there was 'El ropavejero,' a camel who traveled around collecting old things in his hump. My songs were about all sorts of things, from sleepy mice and marching letters to clumsy bumblebees and dancing dolls. My greatest wish was to make children smile and encourage them to dream.

Music wasn't my only passion. My love for the stars, which began when I was just a boy, never faded. I spent a lot of time studying books about space and the universe. I was so passionate about it that I even built my own observatory at my house, complete with a telescope, so I could get a closer look at the planets and galaxies. One of the proudest moments of my life came in 1951, when I was accepted into the Astronomical Society of Mexico. This taught me an important lesson: you can have more than one dream in your life. For me, creating fantasy worlds in my songs and exploring the real universe in the sky came from the same place—a deep sense of curiosity and wonder.

I lived to be 83 years old, and my life came to a peaceful end on December 14th, 1990. Although my radio show ended many years ago, my music has never gone silent. My songs are still sung by children and their parents all across Mexico and in many other Spanish-speaking countries. People remember me as the man who gave a voice to a little cricket and built a universe of joy and imagination for so many families. I hope my stories and melodies continue to inspire children everywhere to look at the world, and up at the stars, with a sense of wonder.