By Errol Nazareth -- Toronto Sun.
Jam! Showbis, February 16, 2001
I bet any money that if I were interviewing Celia Cruz, one of the most
prominent female figures in the history of Afro-Cuban music, in a hotel room the
only other person joining us would be a translator.
I empathize with my colleague Jane Stevenson who had to endure two
publicists, a bodyguard and a videographer looking on while she interviewed
Jennifer Lopez Monday.
It's sad enough that the media is forced to participate in a travelling
circus whose main attraction is a woman who can't sing. Sadder still is that
they'd rather interview Lopez than Cruz.
Over a career that spans half a century, Cruz has released more than 50
albums, garnered 10 Grammy nominations, has a medal from the U.S. National
Endowment for the Arts, a star on Hollywood Boulevard, and countless prestigious
awards. Oh, one of her dresses and a pair of shoes sits in the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington.
But, the thing that is most impressive is her humility.
Adored equally for her majestic, commanding voice and flamboyant outfits,
Cruz performs at Massey Hall tomorrow with Dominican-born salsa singer Jose "El
Canario" Alberto and a 12-piece orchestra.
"I didn't realize I had a good singing voice," she says from New
York through translator Marcela Aranda. "I used to sing to my brothers and
cousins in the afternoon to put them to sleep, and people would come over just
to hear me.
"I didn't sing the normal baby songs, I sang whatever was in at the
time," she recalls. "It could've been a salsa song or a cumbia."
Oh, to be one of your siblings, I say.
"It would have been a long time ago!" Cruz says, laughing
heartily.
"My cousin saw this talent for attracting people, so she took me to a
talent show, and that's how my career began."
Cruz studied music theory at Havana's Conservatory of Music -- "I was
just about to start piano but I didn't want to cut my nails," she says
laughing -- while performing in talent shows and on the radio. She got her big
break in 1950 when she was asked to replace Mirta Silva, the lead singer in
Cuba's legendary orchestra La Sonora Matancera.
She sang with the group for 15 years, ending the relationship a few years
after leaving Cuba for good.
Last year, Cruz released Siempre Vivire, her first for Sony Music. A
straight-ahead salsa record, Siempre Vivire differs from Marc Anthony's and
Ricky Martin's Sony Music debuts in that it isn't an attempt to cultivate a
non-Hispanic audience.
Yes, there's a lively version of Tito Puente's classic Oye Como Va (Celia's
Oye Como Va) and a salsafied take on Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive (Yo Vivire),
but a close listen to both songs reveals interesting subtleties.
"What makes (Celia's Oye Como Va) special isn't my voice or how I sing
it, it's the fact that we've added a few words to the song," Cruz explains,
adding that she'd planned on having Puente play timbales on it. The legend
passed away before joining her in the studio.
"We were very close, he was like a brother, so I get sad when I sing
it," she says.
And why cover I Will Survive?
"No one else had sung it in Spanish, so I decided to do it," says
Cruz, whose CD, A Night Of Salsa, has been nominated for a Grammy in the Best
Salsa Album category this year.
Intriguingly, Yo Vivire isn't a literal translation of the disco classic.
"The song is about me remembering my country," Cruz says before
poetically reciting lines from it. "It's about how far away I am from Cuba,
the country I was born in. It talks about going back, about my voice taking me
back to places and friends I left before I went looking for my freedom."
Cruz doesn't waste a second when asked what would make her dream of
returning to Cuba a reality?
"The government would have to change."
GOD BLESS THE QUEEN!: Tix for Celia Cruz are $39.50, $49.50, and $59.50. The
concert begins at 8 p.m.
Copyright © 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership. All rights reserved. | 