- Title: VARIOUS: CUBAN DIVA ALBITA RODRIGUEZ ON WORLD TOUR
- Date: 13th November 2000
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 26, 2000) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ALBITA ANSWERING REPORTER'S QUESTION WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO LEAVE CUBA? "For the reason everyone else has been leaving for the last 40 years. You can't live in Cuba if you think differently to the government. So there's really only one thing to do - leave." REPORTER SAYING TELL US HOW YOU LEFT (SOUNDB
- Embargoed: 28th November 2000 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM AND HAVANA, CUBA
- City:
- Country: Cuba United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVAASYL558RI2EB7CG1QPBASLMD7
- Story Text: They call her the Cuban Diva, the Marlene Dietrich of Latin music. Amongst her biggest fans are Madonna, Quincy Jones, Liza Minelli and Bill Clinton. In Peru she's voted best female singer. In The States she received a Latin Grammy.
Universally considered one of the most exciting exports of Cuba, Albita Rodriguez is touring the world to bring to Cubans and foreigners alike a piece of her country's musical heritage. And last week she 'burned down' "The Fridge" in Brixton.
Albita Rodriguez' life has always revolved around music.
Ever since she began her career at the age of 15 in her native Cuba, Albita has been on a mission: to perform authentic traditional Cuban music in a contemporary framework.
And that's what this Latin lady has continued to do even after she left Cuba and settled down in Miami.
After a rollercoaster ride of both enormously successful years of silence because of a break-up with her old record label, Albita is now back with a new album and a world tour to bring a piece of her beloved Cuba to the masses.
And that's exactly what she did in her recent performance at "The Fridge" in London's trendy Brixton district.
"I am the daughter of a 'campesino' poet and in my house we grew up with traditional Cuban music and fiestas.
Especially one particular fiesta which I don't know how well known it is, it's called "serenata". I grew up in this environment since I was a child, when for the first time I had bongo drums in my hands."
Albita has always been a great defender of the Cuban 'son' - the island's traditional folksong but realized that younger audiences weren't that keen on it, and found herself well known in Cuba, but not so much poplar.
"I grew up in a rural household with rural folksongs, and then later on during my adolescence I lived through the musical phenomenon 'nova trova', then with the Revolution all English music was forbidden. And my generation is very dependent on English speaking music like Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath, we mix it all. For four years I did cabaret and all sorts of other things - combining Cuban music of all sorts."
"I think I was one of the first who sang 'Chan Chan' (traditional Cuban 'son') and at that time this kind of music wasn't popular at all with young audiences. I don't know about now."
The world renewed its love affair with Cuban music ever since the Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon - but what effect does that have on people in Cuba? "During the first years of the Revolution they prohibited English music and the young people started to adore anything that was foreign and almost completely ignored Cuban music. And that's why I imagine - I mean I don't live in Cuba so I don't know - but I imagine that the whole Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon or for instance my success must be very strange. The young ones maybe tend to like a bit more other types of music."
Albita defected to the United States in 1993, because she says she couldn't go on under the Castro regime.
"You can't live in Cuba if you think differently to the government. So there's really only one thing to do - leave...I was working in Columbia and from there I went to Mexico. Then I walked across the border into the United States."
She now lives in Miami with her parents but her aunts and uncles still live in Cuba.
"Miami is like a province of Cuba. It's like an extension of Cuba."
Although she misses Cuba, Albita takes the island's music with her in her heart and treats audiences to the delightful sounds of son and salsa. And you don't have to be Cuban to understand her message: "I've always thought that Cuban music has in it a language a movement and an aggression that speaks to all kinds of audiences. You don't necessarily have to understand the language to understand the music. And my tour right now really is the biggest test for that. Yesterday for instance I did a really interesting concert in Germany, in Nurnberg. There wasn't one Latin person in the concert hall, you know normally, there's local people and then there's Latin people but yesterday they were all Germans and it was a beautiful concert. It was lovely because our emphasis was on movement and the expression that goes along with Cuban music. I am sure everybody received the music in their hearts and souls.And that's what matters."
Albita has enchanted Madonna, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder and Bill Clinton - with something that comes natural to her: "Singing for me is like breathing, living. And life for me is music. I always say that my heart is music and music is my heart. I can't explain it any other way."
Albita's latest album 'Son' was released in the UK on October 4. Her tour dates include: November 1-2: Berlin, Germany. November 6: Munich. November 8-11: Madrid, Spain.
November 25: Miami. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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