Zaida del Río, between a special dedication and a realized dream

June 19, 2021

The acclaimed visual artist Zaida del Río managed to fulfill the dream of capturing some of her favorite songs on a record, with the support of Sello Unicornio de Producciones Abdala.

The production of 10 songs, titled De mi padre lo aprendí, was presented this Thursday at the well-known studios in the presence of one of the mentors of this project, singer-songwriter and founder of the Movimiento de la Nueva Trova, Silvio Rodríguez.

Known for her prolific and acclaimed visual work, Zaida del Río confessed her long-held desires to sing, since those early days in 1967, when after a cumbersome trip with her father, she was unable to enroll in singing studies and had to opt for Visual Arts instead.

Upon returning, my mother was cooking beans in her wood-burning stove and asked, "so what are you finally going to study," recalled the admired artist. "I answered, 'I think plastic combs' and she told me 'well, that could be a good job'".

As I crossed the fence in front, where my cousin lived, –she continued reminiscing–, she asked me the same question and I answered that I would study visual arts. "Oh, you got yourself into it! –she said– That's working with mud! I said to myself, But really! Am I going to get out of the mud just to stay in the mud? What have I done with myself?"

Of course, when she arrived at the School of Art, she realized that it was actually her own father who had told her she had to leave there to study, so as not to waste her intelligence.

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From then on, Zaida definitely did not study singing, but whenever she has had the opportunity, she has performed songs like those that appear on De mi padre lo aprendí.

Famous compositions such as Amorosa Guajira, by Nené Allué, or great songs by Manuel Corona (Longina and Santa Cecilia), along with El amor de mi bohío, by Julio Brito, and Una Rosa de Francia, by Rodrigo Prats, among others, make up the selection.

Songs that she always heard at guateques in the voice of her father José, on the radio or learned during her adventures and parties with friends, but all felt and recorded thanks to the Lázaro Horta Record´s studios, with the subsequent mixing by Olimpia Calderón Arias, from the Ojalá studios.

Images from the painter's own work are part of the record's design (Mauricio Chávez Delgado), enriched by photography by her son Cristhian González-Téllez del Río, in a phonogram that is completed with notes by musicologist Oni Acosta Llerena.

Zaida recreates her guajira roots from her untrained, unmolded, non-academic voice, but authentic, as the notes say. "I invite you then to imagine in the intimate listening of this record, a woman riding a horse through the fields of Cuba."

"De mi padre lo aprendí" is now available on the Altafonte platform and constitutes a tribute to the parents of Cuba as the celebration of their day approaches, this coming Sunday, June 20th.