Celia Cruz and the scream

The death of Celia Cruz paralyzed the world of Latin music on July 16, 2003 and caused a great shock among her followers. On the 20th anniversary of her departure today, her incomparable voice, her energy, humility and his cry of sugar! that became her hallmark, are still alive among her admirers, even among those who did not know her.

Nor does anyone forget her striking dresses and daring, colorful wigs in which the “queen of salsa” looked impeccable, a title she earned in her own right in a career spanning five decades, which began in her native Cuba and continued in the US. USA, where he went into exile in 1961.

Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz y Alfonso de la Santísima Trinidad (1925-2003), a black and Cuban woman of humble origins, broke through and prevailed in a genre dominated by menwho loved and respected him.

Today, twenty years after “la Guarachera de Cuba” lost the battle against cancer, the Cuban community paid tribute to her by dedicating a parade and float to her in New York, where its mayor Eric Adams declared July 16 “Day of Celia Cruz”, while her followers did not mind the heavy rain and went to her mausoleum in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, including Michael Grazino, 43 years old.

Graziano, who was wearing a T-shirt with the singer’s face, recalled when, at the age of 9, he heard Cruz for the first time: “I was about to sleep when I heard ‘bemba colorá, hear that you have the bemba colorá.’ hypnotized and I asked my mother who was singing and she insisted that I go to sleep and I that I know who that woman was. ‘Celia Cruz’ and from that day her name was engraved forever”, indicated while other admirers told EFE that it was important to pay tribute to their queen.

“I remember Celia with the same strength, love and sweetness because she is what has always prevailed in our friendship,” the Cuban singer Lucrecia, who gave life to the popular performer in a musical and refers to her as if she were live.

“The admiration I feel for Celia is untouchable for me,” he says, noting that the late singer is “getting bigger and bigger” because young people who didn’t know him are among his new followers.

Cruz showed her interest in music from a young age, but her father wanted her to be a teacher “one of the few careers that a poor black could study in Cuba” and that she abandoned when she was close to finishing it, she recalls in her book “Celia en Cuba (1925-1962)” the Cuban philologist Rosa Marquetti, about the singer’s career in her country, a period about which not much is known.

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CELIA WAS NOT MADE FAMOUS BY THE FANIA

He told EFE that with his book, published in 2022, he wanted to show that “Celia is a phenomenon that transcends generations, that she was a diva and that her contributions to Cuban music were enormous” and also put an end to the idea that she was the Fania orchestra that made it famous.

“With the Fania her popularity expanded, because she had already traveled and was famous in other countries (before arriving in the US) where she traveled singing with the Sonora Matancera. In Cuba she did lyrical theater, vernacular theater, she was one of the big stars of the Tropicana cabaret and did a radio soap opera,” he recalled.

He assures that beyond the musical legacy, the singer left a legacy for Latinas “of his values, of his perseverance, intelligenceof knowing how to fight for their dreams, of their sagacity to deal with complex situations”.

“She knew how to impose herself without losing human quality, without stepping on anyone’s head and many women identify with that legacy, including me,” she says.

“He had respect for the public, he was aware of who he was, he knew the weight of his name but also that without that audience she would not have gotten where she did,” said Marquetti, who is working on the second part of the artist’s career story.

When his death became known, fans gathered in front of the New York funeral home where his remains were brought and sang while hugging his photos and records, while sharing memories for long hours.

After almost a week of massive obsequies of popular fervor, in which her remains were veiled in Miami and New York, she was buried in her mausoleum and rests next to her husband Pedro Knight, who died four years later.

His death has not stopped the recognition of this icon of Latin music, and among the tributes is the release of the Barbie-Celia Cruz doll next September, and in 2025 it will be immortalized on a 25-cent coin in the United States. .

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