Goodbye to Farah María

December 31, 2020

The Gazelle of Cuba: Farah María said goodbye to the people of Cuba on December 30th, at the age of 76. The artist was one of the singers who performed the most works by composer and Commander of the Revolution Juan Almeida Bosque, and among the most important medals and recognitions she achieved were the Medal for Literacy and the Distinction for National Culture.

Through the Official website of the Ministry of Culture, the Cuban Institute of Music mourned the death of the outstanding singer, who began her career very early and was a symbol of grace, sensuality and Cuban mixed-race beauty. Farah, the note also states, was a remarkable singer who knew how to choose her repertoire and demonstrated her indisputable elegance and command on stage.

With a very distinctive personality, the performer who won awards in countries such as Japan, Germany, Bulgaria and Poland, and also performed in the Soviet Union, Chile, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Spain, took advantage of her knowledge in dance and body expression to stand out in the different stages on which she performed.

Masters such as Adolfo Guzmán, Juan Almeida, Meme Solís, Silvio Rodríguez, Mario Aguirre, Juan Pablo Torres and Eddy Gaytán, among others, composed songs for her. She had the honor of performing at the Gran Teatro de La Habana García Lorca with Josephine Baker and Bola de Nieve. In film she acted alongside Enrique Santiesteban in El jinete sin cabezas, in Czechoslovakia, and in Verde verde, by filmmaker Enrique Pineda Barnet, alongside acclaimed actor Héctor Noas. She also performed in musical comedy.

The people will always remember her in songs like El tiburón (No te bañes en el malecón…), the tango Adiós muchachos, La negra Tomasa and in her very personal versions of La flor de la canela. Likewise, in El pájaro Chogui and in El Alardoso or in El Mayor and El día feliz que está llegando, both by Silvio Rodríguez.

And of course, she will also be remembered for her participation alongside Héctor Téllez, Miguel Ángel Piña and Meme Solís, in the well-known quartet Los Meme, after replacing Moraima Secada. There was no genre that when performing she did not put her personal seal and her charisma on, attributes that made her immortal within Cuban music.