UNITED STATES/CUBA: THE QUEEN OF SALSA CELIA CRUZ WOWS AUDIENCES AT THE NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL

Record ID: 389991

  • Title: UNITED STATES/CUBA: THE QUEEN OF SALSA CELIA CRUZ WOWS AUDIENCES AT THE NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL
  • Date: 13th August 2000
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CRUZ SAYING "I am not the author of any of my songs, I am not the composer of the songs but my life is singing, so it comes from within."
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND/ LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES/UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION/ HAVANA, CUBA
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8HUO9NWLWLQ20VS3GPR5NRL5X
  • Story Text: Celia Cruz, the "Queen of Salsa", has been wooing audiences with her Afro-Cuban music performances for more than 50 years. The legendary entertainer recently spoke to Reuters about her musical inspiration, her last album and her most significant accomplishment.
    The legendary artist, who refuses to give her age, recently performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island.
    Cruz who began entertaining in the late 1940's says she continues to be inspired because her "life is singing."
    In 1998 Cruz recorded her last CD "Mi Vida es Cantar"
    which means "My life is singing."
    Cruz says the album is a musical montage dedicated to all of her fans across the globe. Although she remains within the framework of salsa, Celia offers a rainbow of musical rhythms.
    "Really, the CD "Mi Vida Es Cantar" is a salsa CD, there is only one bolero," she says.
    "La Vida Es Un Carnival" is, people see this rhythm like this, they think it's Brazilian, and since they think it's Brazilian, I just let them."
    Cruz was born in the humble surroundings of the Santo Suarez "barrio" of Havana into a family of four children.
    She began singing at an early age. After joining Sonora Matancera in 1950, she made her first recordings and started to build a discography that in time would produce over 20 gold albums and contain many of the most significant Afro-Cuban recordings in the history of the music.
    Touring with the group from 1951 to 1959, she cultivated a growing international following throughout the US and Latin America.
    Since 1961, Celia has been a resident of the United States, capturing the public's attention through a fruitful multi-album association with the late Tito Puente.
    The Grammy award winning Cruz has recorded more than 70 albums and received more than 100 awards from institutions and publications around the world including an honorary doctorate from Yale University and her proudest achievement, a star on Hollywood Boulevard.
    "All of the awards mean so much to me but the one which had the most impact on me was when they gave me the star on Hollywood Boulevard, the Walk of Fame," said Cruz.
    "That was the most important because people told me that if I didn't make a movie in Hollywood they would never give me one. And they gave me one, without making a movie."
    Cruz has since had a few cameo film roles, but she's not giving up her day job any time soon.
    After all, singing is her life.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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