Xiomara Alfaro

Cuban popular music singer currently residing in Miami, United States. Soprano voice.

"I never thought I would be an artist, I wanted to be a nurse… to do so many things, but God wanted to give me a voice to earn my daily bread. I met a boy who was a dancer, Alexandre. He would listen to me sing in my house and he always told me that I should dedicate myself to singing. On one occasion, Alexandre asked me to accompany him to the Teatro Martí for a rehearsal of a musical revue called "Batamú". The maestro Obdulio Morales, director and composer of the revue, asked me to sing a song, and I performed "Siboney" by Ernesto Lecuona. He liked my performance and hired me. That was the beginning of my career."

She established her own style, very particular and with a singularity that had not been presented in the interpretation of Cuban popular song, directing her activity toward the bolero, for which she was selected a repertoire that was adapted to her amazing soprano voice, which allowed her to make impressive high registers, which was almost immediately accepted by bolero lovers, since it was something new and with very sonorous musical characteristics adorned with those surprising notes, more characteristic of a bel canto performer than of a popular music singer.

Because of her fine soprano voice, because of those high notes she reached, she was called "La Alondra de la Canción" or "El Ruiseñor de la Canción", being known more by this last designation.

It is remembered that her debut was around 1951, in the musical revue "Batamú", presented at the Havana theater Martí by the author, composer and director Obdulio Morales. Xiomara Alfaro worked in musical revues in the 1950s and in cabaret shows, performed at Tropicana and did spectacular numbers in various countries around the world, released more than 28 records, some in collaboration with Bebo Valdés or Ernesto Duarte Brito, among others.

The bolero Siboney by Ernesto Lecuona was very popular in her voice and the interpretation that the author liked most.

She worked in the main cabarets of Havana: Sans Souci in the revue Bondelle with which she traveled to Las Vegas, Tropicana, Montmatre. On her trip to the United States as part of the chorus of the revue Sum sum babaé, the American dancer Katheryn Dunham saw her and was fascinated by how Xiomara Alfaro sang and hired her. With her company she went to Italy where she worked in the film Mambo and continued the tour through Germany, Greece and Switzerland. Later she was in South America, visited Montevideo and Buenos Aires where she began her solo career in 1956 and became popular with songs in Italian such as Luna rosa and Amena e core.

In Peru she sang for the President of the Republic and triumphed with Sube espuma. Later she was in Chile, Ecuador, and again in Peru. In 1957, in Peru she recorded several of her greatest hits and returned to Cuba as a star, where she recorded for RCA Víctor, worked on Radio Progreso, did television and performed at the Tropicana Cabaret, in a starring role.

In 1959 she returned to Europe and visited Paris, Athens, Madrid and London with great success. After five years in Paris she traveled to New York, was in Venezuela and returned once again to England where she performed especially at the bachelorette party of Princess Margaret. Later she headed to Panama and Costa Rica, and later visited Central and South America. In 1979 she had 28 recorded albums and performances in thirty-two countries, including the Scandinavian countries where she remained touring for an entire year.

She appeared in countless radio and television programs and in theaters.

Married to Panamanian pianist Rafael Benítez, who has been her arranger and artistic orchestra conductor collaborating in the recording of her albums. She participated in the Italian film Mambo with Silvana Mangano and Vittorio Gassman, directed by Robert Rossen in 1954.

Xiomara Alfaro established her own style in Cuban popular song, with her bolero repertoire in her coloratura soprano voice with impressive high notes, contemporary artist of Olga Guillot, Celia Cruz, Omara Portuondo and Yma Sumac.

Other pieces she performed were Moliendo café, Niebla del riachuelo, Malagueña, Noche de ronda, Negra triste, Ochún, El manisero, Duerme negrita, Alma llanera, Mírame así, Mis noches sin ti, Nunca en domingo, Cenizas, Angelitos negros… In another mention online of this magnificent artist we are shown that: She is one of the stellar voices of Cuba, classified as a coloratura soprano, that is, very agile for brilliant ornamentations and extremely high notes, reaching a fourth above high C.

Some albums by Xiomara Alfaro
Besos en mis sueños
Recordar es vivir (with Rafael Benítez's Orchestra)
Siboney (with the orchestras of Ernesto Duarte and Chico O'Farill)
Xiomara Alfaro en gira
Xiomara Alfaro en Nueva York (with Joe Cain and his Orchestra)
¡No puedo ser feliz! (with Rafael Benítez's Orchestra)
Xiomara Alfaro Sings International Flavors
Lamento borincano (With the Orchestras of Bebo Valdés and Adolfo Guzmán)
La Sublime
Más éxitos
Latin Nightingale (with the Orchestras of Bebo Valdés and Adolfo Guzmán)
Recuerdos de Cuba
Todo para recordar
Cuando vuelva a tu lado
Padre Nuestro
En ti me escondo yo
El Ruiseñor trina de nuevo
Aquellas canciones