Guantanamera canta Celia Cruz

Música por José Fernández Díaz
Letra: por Julián Orbón, basada en el poema de José Martí

Guantanamera Guajira Guantanamera Guantanamera Guajira Guantanamera Yo soy un hombre sincero De donde crecen las palmas. Yo soy un hombre sincero De donde crecen las palmas. Y antes de morirme quiero cantar mis versos del alma. Guantanamera .... Cultivo una rosa blanca En junio como en enero. Cultivo una rosa blanca En junio como en enero. Para el amigo sincero Que me da su mano franca. Guantanamera .... Mi verso es de un verde claro Y de un carmín encendido. Mi verso es de un verde claro Y de un carmín encendido. Mi verso es un ciervo herido Que busca en el monte amparo. Guantanamera ....

Más sobre Celia Cruz:

(from; Yahoo): Born in Santos Saurez district, Havana, Cuba. Described as the 'Queen of Salsa' - just one of her several superlative epithets - Cruz refuses to divulge her age, but has been performing for over four decades. Her family and neighbours became aware of the young Celia's singing ability from listening to her croon lullabies to her younger relatives. While she was training to become a literature teacher, an older cousin entered her in a competition on the talent show La Hora del Té on Radio García Serrá, in which she won first prize. Her 1983 biography refers to 1947 as the year when this contest occurred, but the sleeve notes to two of her early albums, Canta Celia Cruz (Celia Cruz Sings) and Cuba's Queen Of Rhythm, mention 1935. Celia's father, Simón Cruz, viewed music a dishonourable career for a woman, but he was overridden by his wife, Catalina Alfonso. Professional radio work followed. Celia concluded her teacher training and did some classes at Havana's National Conservatory of Music. She eventually switched to singing full-time when a trusted teacher advised her that she would be foolish to do otherwise.

She appeared on Santero, an album of Afro-Cuban cult music on the Panart label. Two of her later best-selling albums on Seeco, Homenaje A Los Santos and Homenaje A Los Santos Vol.2, contained recordings of sacred songs. Her association with Santeria or Yoruba has been highlighted in UK media coverage, but she claims to be a practicing Roman Catholic and told Carol Cooper in 1990: 'I've sung Yoruba religious music, and yes, I like it, but I stopped singing it because it wasn't commercial'. In addition to radio, Cruz worked with the group Gloria Matancera and in small theatres and cabaret. She befriended Roderico 'Rodney' Neyra, later choreographer at the famous Tropicana nightclub in Havana, who helped her get work there as a singer during the club's winter seasons. She toured Mexico and Venezuela with him and his dance troupe, Las Mulatas de Fuego (The Fiery Mulattas). Rodney introduced Celia to Rogelio Martínez, the director of the popular band Sonora Matancera. On 3 August 1950, Celia replaced Myrta Silva, who had returned to her native Puerto Rico, as lead vocalist of Sonora Matancera on their weekly show on Radio Progreso.

Celia made her recording debut with Sonora Matancera on a 78 rpm single released in January 1951 entitled 'Cao Cao Mani Picao' (later included on Canciones Premiadas de Celia Cruz, her biggest hit album on Seeco), with the flip-side 'Mata Siguaraya' (later contained on Homenaje A Los Santos Vol.2 ). She made a long list of records during her 15-year tenure with the band. During the 50s, Cruz and the band appeared on television, topped the bill at the Tropicana and toured the Caribbean, South and Central America and the USA. She made her first appearance in New York at the old St. Nicholas Arena in 1957. Celia and Sonora Matancera left post-revolutionary Cuba permanently in July 1960. 'We gave them the impression we were just going on another temporary tour abroad. That's how we got out' (quoted in her 1983 biography). They worked in Mexico for one-and-a-half years, during which time they made their fifth Mexican movie appearance. 'Castro never forgave me', she said in a 1987 interview. The Cuban government refused her permission to return home to attend her father's funeral.

A lengthy commitment at the Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, in 1961 enabled Celia and Sonora Matancera to apply for US residency. On 14 July 1962 she was able to dispense with her chaperone (a female relative), when she married the band's first trumpeter, Pedro Knight, who became her manager and on-stage musical director.

Cruz switched to Tico Records - then a division of Morris Levy's Roulette Records - and released a series of 12 albums (excluding compilations) between 1966-72, including seven in partnership with Tito Puente and four recorded in Mexico with the band of Memo Salamanca (issued by Tico in the US under license from the Mexican Orfeon label). A combination of poor promotion and a young Latino audience more interested in other music styles than music from the old country, meant that her Tico releases clocked up poor sales. However, by the early 70s, young Latinos 'in New York, New Jersey and Miami began to take a new pride in their roots, and salsa became the musical symbol of that rediscovered identity' (quote from Elizabeth Llorente, 1987). Jerry Masucci, who co-ran the successful salsa labels, Fania and Vaya, with bandleader Johnny Pacheco, had his eye on the Tico catalogue and was especially interested in developing Celia's talents. He struck a deal with Levy, and Tico became part of the Fania fold.

Cruz was touring in Mexico in 1973 when it was decided that she would sing the part of Gracia Divina on Larry Harlow 's Latin opera album Hommy on Fania, a version of the Who 's Tommy. Celia's outstanding performance at the all-star Carnegie Hall presentation of Hommy on 29 March 1973 served to re-launch her career and connect her with a new, younger audience. Her new-found popularity was consolidated the following year. The summer of 1974 saw the release of Celia & Johnny, the first of a series of six successful collaborations with Johnny Pacheco on Vaya, which went gold. Masucci thought of alternating Celia with other top leaders on his roster, like Willie Colón, Papo Lucca and Ray Barretto, whose bands each had their own trademark sound. Celia made her album debut with the Fania All Stars in 1975 on the two-volume Live at Yankee Stadium. Bobby Valentín 's re-arrangement of her 60s track 'Bemba Colora' ('Red Lips', originally from Son Con Guaguanco produced by Al Santiago ) on volume two was a show stopper with the hypnotized audience chanting the single word chorus 'colora' and calling Celia back for an encore. Film footage of this performance was featured in Masucci's movie Salsa (1976). She continues to use Valentín's chart of 'Bemba Colora' to close her live shows. Cruz toured Africa and Europe with Fania All Stars and recorded with them up until 1988.

After a gap of about 17 years, Celia reunited on record with Sonora Matancera on Feliz Encuentro (Happy Encounter, 1982). She was the subject of BBC television's Arena film profile My Name Is Celia Cruz broadcast in 1988. Later that year, a programme in the BBC's Rhythms Of The World series was devoted to concert footage of Cruz teamed up with Puente's big band (with special guest Pacheco) recorded at the Apollo Theater, New York in 1987. She joined a reunion of 13 former lead singers of Sonora Matancera for a series of three concerts by the band in June 1989 in celebration of their 65th anniversary and was commemorated by a double album release. In 1989 Celia was awarded an honorary doctorate of music by Yale University. Her second collaboration with Ray Barretto, Ritmo En El Corazón (1988), won a Grammy Award in 1990. The same year also saw Cruz get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Celia made her UK debut with the Fania All Stars in 1976 and has made regular UK appearances with Puente since 1984, the only exception being 1988, when she was accompanied by José Alberto. In 1991, Celia appeared in the Hollywood movie The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love. The same year, she joined an all-star line-up of vocalists from the RMM Records roster, including Oscar D'León, José Alberto, Tony Vega, Tito Nieves and Ismael Miranda, on Puente's The Mambo King: 100th LP.

Celia - la reina de la salsa La biografía de Celia

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