Celia Cruz — Bemba Colorá
Son Con Guaguanco · 1966
Label: Tico Records · Genre: Funk / Son / Guaracha · From: Havana, South America
Celia Cruz left Cuba in 1960, the year after Castro's revolution, and spent the rest of her life in exile — never returning, even to bury her mother. Son Con Guaguanco was recorded in New York in 1966 with the Sonora Matancera, the band she had led through Cuba's golden era of son and guaracha. It was the sound of a culture being kept alive at a distance, and Cruz poured everything into it. She would go on to record 37 studio albums, earn the nickname Queen of Salsa, and remain the most recognised Cuban voice in the world until her death in 2003.
Did you know: When Celia Cruz's mother died in Cuba in 1962, the Castro government denied Cruz permission to return for the funeral. She never set foot on Cuban soil again for the remaining 41 years of her life. Her dying wish was that her ashes be scattered at sea between the US and Cuba, so she would be carried home by the tide.
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