Virginia de Cuba at Bellas Artes

November 22, 2019

"Coming back to Cuba fascinates me. My roots are here and will always be here," said singer and composer Virginia Orihuela, better known as Virginia Guantanamera, regarding the concert she performed on Thursday, November 21, at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Cuban Art Building, in Old Havana.

Winner of the Cubadisco Prize 2019, in the Varied Tropical Music category, with her album "Soy lo que soy," the artist, currently residing in Spain, celebrated in this way her 38 years of artistic life and the 500th anniversary of the founding of Havana, a city that has always welcomed her as a daughter, to which she is "eternally grateful for receiving her with open arms," when she arrived there from her native Guantánamo, some years ago.

"I am going to review many of my songs, the ones I have made known throughout all this time of professional life. Of course I will perform my works that appear on the cd Soy lo que soy. Among them are La Vie, No sigas, Ser madre, Yo traigo un son, Soltando notas and Soy. The audience will also be able to listen to works by other authors that I have incorporated into my repertoire, we are talking about Cómo fue, by Ernesto Duarte Brito; Santa Bárbara, by Celina González, and La Guantanamera, by Joseíto Fernández," the artist expressed in an interview before the concert.

The concert by the distinguished interpreter of traditional and popular Cuban music, which had the musical direction of Yanio Abreu and the accompaniment of Alejandro Falcón and his group Cubadentro, had among its guests the performers Beatriz Márquez and Duani Ramos, and saxophonist Michel Herrera, among others.

Virginia, owner of an energetic and firm voice, skilled in winning over the most diverse audiences with her performance, had expressed to Granma that her concert would be "a kind of musical journey through my life and a gift to Havana."