It's been a sad week for lovers of Cuban music. We bid a loving Adiós to the Queen of Salsa. In the 1960s Celia Cruz, having emigrated from Cuba, joined forces with Tito Puente and ushered in New York's legendary Latin Jazz scene. This was the birth of modern Latin music with all of its enchanting rythyms. Celia released over 76 albums in her lifetime and won 2 Grammys and 3 Latin Grammys. Her voice was singularly unique. Yet to Cubans, Celia represented much more than just a musical celebrity. To quote the Miami Herald:
Her death represents the shattered hopes of every abuelo and abuela who prayed they'd live long enough to see the end of Fidel Castro.
''Students often ask me what I think will happen when Castro dies,'' said Gustavo Pérez-Firmat, professor of literature at Columbia University and author of several books on Cuban-American culture. ``I say that whatever happens, it will have happened too late, thinking of my father and my grandfather and the hundreds of thousands of Cubans who have died in exile. Celia Cruz is part of that generation that you sometimes see the remnants of, walking like lost souls up and down Calle Ocho.''
Celia will be sorely missed. Another Cuban performer also died this past week, though he never attained the fame that Celia did. He was Compay Segundo, and he was thrust into the concsiousness of American Latinos in 1999 with the hit release of , an album produced by Ry Cooder. Ry went to Cuba searching for authentic Cuban music and he found it in the likes of Eliades Ochoa, Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez, Omara Portuondo and Compay Segundo. There is a PBS special about the group, and I highly recommend watching it.
Posted by Christian at July 17, 2003 10:50 AM |