Celia Cruz

[Chiwas]

Amazing funerals in Miami and NY.

I wonder if there has had a more populated and heartfelt funerals ever in the US. Maybe Elvis' or John Kennedy's, but I doub it, well, I don't know but I'm still astonished.

I just watched the funerals at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, and was very moved listening a singer and the people singing "La Vida es un Carnaval" (Life is a Carnival) during the ceremony.



Queen of Salsa.

[MavKikiNYC]

Azúcar!

[MavKikiNYC]

it's been a very tough couple of weeks for Cuban music fans--first Compay Segundo dies, now Celia Cruz.

I think I preferred his music to hers, but she certainly occupied an iconic status in the hearts and minds of Cubanos here. Maybe a difficult thing for a non-Cuban to understand. But you could tell that a lot of mourners felt her death personally.

Que Díos bendiga a Celia Cruz.

[Chiwas]

She is a legend for Cubans course, for Hispanics and American-Hispanics.

I'm now watching her singing rancheras with mariachi (she normally sang Salsa with tropical orchestra) along Vicente Fernández in a Mexican TV show from the early 80's I think. Great singer, great person.

Maybe a difficult thing for a non-Cuban to understand. But you could tell that a lot of mourners felt her death personally.

You're quite right. Although many Mexicans and Americans had her very close in their hearts too.

¡Azúcar!

Descanse en Paz.

[OutletPass]

Ever since I heard the news, I've been listening to some of her old work with Tito Puente.

And the newest Buena Vista Social club CD. As kiki pointed out Compay was the best of the best. Or as Ry Cooder put it...the LAST of the BEST.

I'm a huge Cubano fan...so all of this is very sad...and coming on the heels of the passing of Nina Simone....it seems like the end of an era. I got my start in Afro-Cuban music with Irakere in the late 70's when I visited Havana and Pinar del Rio and then worked my way back to the work of these incomparable legends (and the incomparable Patato, among others).

God, please protect Arturo y Paquito....let death pass by their door for quite some time to come.

¡azúcar!

¡El dios debe amar Salsa tropical!