Celia Cruz Remembered 15 Years After Her Death

July 16, 2018

The undisputed queen of salsa remains more alive than ever in the eternal legacy of her music and among her millions of fans throughout the world.

The most iconic voice of Cuban music fell silent on July 16, 2003, at the age of 78 and after an intense battle against cancer. By then, her extroverted personality, her charisma and her powerful presence on stage at the cry of "¡Azúcar!" had managed to transcend the borders of Spanish-speaking culture.

In commemoration of her death, the Latino community in the United States is preparing various tribute events that will include the exhibition of her dresses, her colorful wigs and other items in New York, Miami and Washington.

Even after her death and despite her enormous success worldwide, listening to Celia in Cuba still remains a taboo because of her open opposition to Fidel Castro's government. It was not until 2012 that her voice was heard for the first time on Cuban radio.

Until her last days, the interpreter of Quimbara was haunted by the sadness of not being able to return to her country, not even to bury her mother. The regime prohibited her entry for having abandoned the Island when she left on tour in 1960 with the Sonora Matancera.

In 1990 she had the opportunity to bring her music to the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, where upon arrival she knelt down and kissed the ground three times, and as she left she took with her a handful of earth, which she requested be placed in her coffin.

As happens on each anniversary of her death, today Monday her mausoleum will be open at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York, where the love of her life, Pedro Knight, is also buried. The Sonora Matancera trumpet player was her companion for more than 41 years.

Woodlawn will pay tribute with "Celia vive," an exhibition in its chapel in late September, during Hispanic Heritage Month.

The tribute will also expand this year to the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora in Miami with the exhibition "Celia Forever," which will open on October 18 according to Omer Pardillo, former representative of the artist and executor of her legacy, who informed the EFE agency.

"They wanted to do something for a long time and I told them this was the right year," said Pardillo, who noted that Miami's "will be the largest Celia exhibition that has ever been done to date," with 700 pieces that include her trophies, dresses, wigs, documents, and which can be visited for a year.

The agenda also includes "Celia, el musical," a touring project that "is very personal," which premiered in December of last year in Miami and stars Lucrecia, a Cuban singer based in Spain. The production will arrive in that Iberian nation on August 18, at the Starlive Festival in Marbella, accompanied by an orchestra and dancers.

The musical that chronicles the artist's life with multimedia support will return to Miami on November 16 and 17 to perform at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

"Her legacy is very much alive, her memory and people continue to remember her, her music is played throughout the world. I feel honored," Pardillo affirmed.