Havana, March 17 (RHC)-- This past Tuesday, March 16th, Celina González, the finest exponent of Cuban country music, would have turned 93, born in 1929.
Celina had a powerful voice and a versatile style and was equally successful singing in a small acoustic group or in a big band, backed by brass and strings. She was also a highly successful songwriter.
Her best-known composition ‘Santa Bárbara’ which she wrote in the late 1940s, was a reminder of her belief in Santería --the religion brought to Cuba by West African slaves.
Celina González and her singing partner and husband Reutilio Dominguez wrote "Yo soy el punto cubano". The recording was a hit in many countries across the world.
In 1948, they began working with the already famous artist Ñico Saquito and gained increasing popularity on radio, film and television.
They also toured the US, performing in New York with Beny Moré and Barbarito Diez.
An award-winning artist, in 1980 Celina González won EGREM's Disco de Plata Award for the album ‘Celina’. In 1984, she won the award for Best Singer at the 27th International Music Festival in Cali, Colombia. She also enjoyed success in Venezuela, and toured all over Europe, where she recorded a session for the BBC. In 1998, she performed at the Royal Festival Hall, in London.
Her albums ‘La rica cosecha’ and ‘Desde La Habana te traigo’ were also well received.
In 2001, Celina González was nominated, unsuccessfully, to the Grammy in the category of 'Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album' for her CD ‘Cincuenta años... como una reina’. The album won instead Cuba’s Cubadisco Award that same year.
Celina González died on February 4, 2015, in her native Cuba. She was 85. She left an indelible legacy followed by a growing number of peasant singers inside and outside of Cuba.
