Celia Cruz as a Queen of Salsa - Essay Example

College: Celia Cruz Celia Cruz is well known all over the world because of her exceptional performances as well as the messages of joy she spread all over the world. Cruz is an artist that has surpassed the legend of time. This is shown by her success as an artist with over six decades in the music industry. This made her to be an icon and inspiration to the whole world and especially to the Latin community. She was identified as the “Queen of Salsa,” and remains to be a significant person in the Cuban music history. It is evident that her vocal talent cannot be matched to anybody else in the world and her highly structured performances influenced numerous individuals and countries. She was a Cuban singer who came from a humble background until she rose to fame in the US. It is through her music that she encouraged the conservation of marginalized people, as well as, promoting a world Latin American identity, principally utilizing the different syncretic threads of Salsa, originated from Cuban. By doing so, she was able to make a huge contribution to the Cuban music. By doing so she made Salsa a highly historical genre, by using her influence of musical aspects from different countries. Salas is defined by ethnomusicologists, as a genre that has Cuban traditions, mixed with guaracha in addition to rumba (Abreu 96-100). Moreover, salsa also has a huge influence of Colombian cumbias, and merengues from the Dominican Republic in addition to Puerto Rican bombas, (Abreu 105-107). However, the final form of this genre was developed by Latin musicians in the US by combining all the named contributions with aspects of American rock and jazz (Brill 2011). Nevertheless, Salsa contains some African melodious elements, apparent in the principal percussive instrumentation especially the drums, as well as, the call and response approach which is used to improve the vocal layers. Additionally, there is a Spanish influence that can be identified in some instrumentation of the genre. In general, salsa’s structure is in a pattern of the main body piece followed by the call-and-response aspects (Brill 120-126). This is what offers Salas a rhythm which is fast and lively which is valued in its performance. This can be depicted in some of the famous Cuban music. For instance, “Flor de Mayo,” starts with the clear guitar timbre. Chord strumming is fast in tempo, with slight tension between notes. The melody’s structure is followed by guitar notes that can only best described to have a Spanish style. These are some of the aspects that are identified in Salsa music that are in Cruz songs. Therefore, one can say that her songs contributed a lot in the invention of Salsa music and mostly because she made it acceptable to different people of diverse origins and culture. This does not mean that the genre was accepted by all genertons. In the 1960s, the trending music was the American rock and pop and many Lation youths did not accept the Salsa rhythm as expected. The genre was associated with the old generation and termed as outdated. This is attributed to the fact that many of them wanted to assimilate into the prevailing American culture. However, decade later, there was an overwhelming popularity of Salsa with the emergence of Celia Cruz as the most popular artist and she was ready to satisfy the transformed enthusiasm portrayed by the Latin American music. Cruz was born in Barrio Santos Suarez in Havana, which was a black neighborhood of Cuba in in October 21, 1924 (Ortiz 5-7). She had 13 siblings but she is the only ones that showed interest in singing. This is because as a child, one or her key chores was singing to her younger siblings to sleep. This encouraged her to sing as a child and in her first appearance, she was able to earn a pair of shoes given to her by some tourist that were watching. She developed to a teenager and performed in numerous talent shows in the community and also at school. Her aunt took her to cabarets and nightclubs. She was supported by her family but the father insisted that she had to continue with her education. She worked hard and continued to pursue her dreams and winning more talent shows. Additionally, being brought up in a primarily Afro-Cuban region influenced her identity which was well depicted in her music expressions. This is because Salsa which is the style that she dominated was and still is highly comprehensive of a variety of Afro-Caribbean weight. Cruz’s inclusion of salsa had an influence of a North American dance style, as well as, some Yoruba aspect. As a young girl, Cruz studied Yoruba songs, and performied them with female Santeria singers (Marceles 25-29). Santeria originates from traditional beliefs combining Catholicism and religions from West Africa (Brill 135-139). Cruz became popular in the 1950s when she was still a vocalist in the Sonora Matancera. This elationship went on throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and her popularity became phenomenal. That is when she immigrated to the U.S in 1961, and that is when she became an icon and this has been the case up to date. Despite the fact that Cruz was Catholic, numerous songs that she has done referenced Santeria. For instance, in “Bambarakatunga,” the refrain identifies to Chango; “oh, bambarakatunga pa’ Chango”. This is a style considered to identify with the Santeria king (Marceles 31). Additionally, there are African music aspects, like the polyrhythmic structures, contrast in timbre as well as the call-and-response saturate her music (Berrios-Miransa 160-165). African instrumentation is also greatly present in her music. The drum layers in the music also add some stressed rhythmic motives as well as mood. Cruz further promotes the Cuban identity by highlighting her music by using of Cuban and African languages, specifically Lucumi, in the lyrics. This can be seen in “Bambarakatunga,” where Cruz combines Lucumi and Spanish by switching from one language to the other. By use of such musical aspects, she has thus highlighted, as well as, celebrated the blackness genealogy in the Cuban music and that is what forms her identity. Just like the Americans (whites) historically are the dominant class, Cruz was not only a champion to the marginalized Cuban people, but she also represented the marginalized African who identify with numerous Latin American nations. Cruz was also a representative of women as one of the marginalized groups. This is because she saw herself to be the voice of the marginalized that were experiencing diverse discriminatory aspects in the world. She therefore looked at music as a liberation tool, and this is why she actively encouraged women to participate in music. This shows that she was not only a celebrity but also an influential icon that many women musicians in the present world should strive to emulate. She also served as a role model for many upcoming musicians in her era. For instant, she played a crucial role in La India life who was another Cuban salsa singer. She advised her to uphold her sovereignty at all cost (Aparicio 38-43). Her songs provide advice to women encouraging them to treasure their capacity in making their independent choices and also to appreciate their freedom (Aparicio 50-55). Generally, Cruz is able to show how women should maintain a balance between their personal identities by influencing the contemporary culture. When she migrated to the US, she portrayed freedom especially from the governmental reproach on media that had been established by Castro regime (Ortiz 2-5). Additionally, the music she played formulated a negotiation between the Cubanness identity and also for the Latin Americans. Despite the fact that she adapted most of her performances to the locations and countries she visited, Cruz made sure to maintain the traditional sound and style off salsa music. For instance, Cruz, included some bits of English in the songs she composed in order to create a bridge and interaction for the English speaking audiences, but the irresistible bulk of the songs were in Spanish. This is depicted heavily in “Flor De Mayo,” by including few English terminologies “bye-bye friend”. Therefore, it is right to argue that her music popularity was in the sounds of local Cuban and Latin American identity. In terms local Cuban identity representation, Cruz’s compositions had a strong foundation of the Cuban exile familiarity. It is by her inspirational lyrics, vigorous sounds, as well as, impressive performances, that she became a sponsor to the exiled Cubans in the US. She strived to express their combined frustrations in addition to their longings and determination to show honor in their heritage and at the same tome discover happiness. Her music therefore became a symbol of hope and essence of Cuba immigrants allowing the listeners to uphold a commemorative connection to their motherland. She therefore functioned like an intermediary between American and Cuban identity (Abreu 110-115). There are numerous songs that contain patriotic messages, as well as, an encouragement to the people. Nevertheless, as people formed a distinct cohesion and ties to their homeland and the past, it also promoted looking forward to a better future. Therefore, she had to change and deviate from some of her original music phrasing in order to indicate of the imperativeness of looking forward. Additionally, Cruz’s music strived to form a bridge between the adults and the Latino youths because it assisted in maintaining their heritage. Cruz’s music was the means by which the second and third generations reconnected with their roots and also be able to maintain their identity in the new society. More importantly, her compositions created an emphasis on solidarity and unity of the Latino people, regardless of their original country. Cruz had a distinct discography that related to different generations. For instance, in 1980s there was the “The Winners, Vaya, 1987”. Selectively, in the ‘90s some of the famous works were “Celia and Willie, Vaya, 1994, Irresistible, Sony Discos, Orfeon, 1995, La reina de Cuba, International, 1999 Mi vida es cantar, RMM, 1998, Tributo a las Orishas, International, 1999, Siempre vivire, Sony, 2000, La negra tiene tumbao, Sony, 2001 and Recuerdos de Cuba, Orfeon, 2002” (Berrios-Miransa 167). The list above provides a section of discografical information showing that she was well oriented with all generations. Cruz was different from all other artists in that she was able to integrate diverse languages and cultures in her music and still retain her style and genre. This is hard for many artists because they want to make money and also identify with trends. This is shown by the multiple cultural aspects in her music from the Cuban, American and African elements that can be identified in her music. This way she was able to create a wave of Salsa music in the world and people from different cultural backgrounds were able to identify with her music. She also portrayed a lot of patriotism in her songs which many exiling people were able to identify with. This was especially the case with the Latin Americans since they were able to identify with their heritage by listening to her music. Cruz’s music was not only enjoyable, but it had a unifying aspect which is imperative and creates a lot of difference from the contemporary artists. In conclusion, it is evident that Celia Cruz’s music still has a big influence in the present world. This is because of her unbelievable contribution to Latin American music and also to the Salsa genre. Her syncretic sounds in the music, was identified by her use of her Cuban and African aspects of instrumentation call-and-response, vocalization, and syncopation. This allowed her to freely express her thoughts on issues of marginalized Afro-Cuban people and also encourage them to hope for a better future. Overall, she balanced her personal identity, and at the same time expressed importance of culture through her music. Moreover, her compositions promoted preservation and growth of Cuban identity and unification of global the Latin American uniqueness.   Works Cited Abreu, Christina. “Celebrity, ‘Crossover,’ and Cubanidad: Celia Cruz as ‘La Reina De alsa,’ 1971-2003.” Latin American Music Review, 28.1 (2007): 94-124. Aparicio, Frances. “La Lupe, La India and Celia: Toward a Feminist Genealogy of Salsa Music.” Disciplines on the Line: Feminist Research on Spanish, Latin American and U.S. Latina Women. Newark: Juan De La Cuesta, 2003. 37-58. Print. Brill, Mark. “Cuba.” Music of Latin America and the Caribbean. Boston, MA: Prentice Hall, 2011. 119-142. Print. Berrios-Miransa, Marisol. “Salsa Music as Expressive Liberation.” Centro Journal 16.2 (2004): 158-173. Marceles, Eduardo. Azucar!: The Biography of Celia Cruz. New York: Reed, 2004. Print. Ortiz, Ricardo. “On (Our) American Ground: Caribbean-Latino-Diasporic Cultural Production and the Postnational ‘Guantanamera’.” Social Text 94 (2008): 1-27. Read More