Voice of the Waterlily- Our Stories

Celebrating one year of Voice Of The Waterlily! Today you’ll hear a little bit more about me, listen to a wide variety of awesome music and uplift our vibrant music and culture! 

 Whether he invented Mambo, laid the groundwork for Salsa or revitalized són, his contributions are undeniably seminal. This is a story of a phenomenal musician whose compositions are classics that laid the foundation for Salsa. It is a story filled with myths and half truths. This is the story of Arsenio Rodríguez.

read the blog post here: http://voiceofthelily.water.blog/2022/02/27/el-ciego-maravilloso-the-story-of-arsenio-rodriguez/

Arsenio's recordings:

Covers of Arsenio's compositions: 

In part II of my 4 part show about ‘La Guarachera‘ Celia Cruz we will talk about Celia’s life and work in the 60’s, an often overlooked yet important part of her life. 

After Celia left Cuba on July 15, 1960, she and La Sonora went to Mexico where they encountered a booming market for Afro-Cuban music. A year later, Celia left to the LA Palladium and soon after traveled to New York where she settled with Pedro Knight, who she was now dating. Sadly in early April of 1962, Celia’s mother, who was still in Cuba, battling cancer, died. Celia was devastated. Later that day she had an engagement at the Puerto Rico Theater and she recalled crying behind the curtains between sets. Even through this difficult time, there were good moments, soon after, Celia was the first Latina to perfrom at Carnegie Hall and on July 14 of that year, she married Pedro Knight. In 1965, Celia left La Sonora, she had ended her contract with Seeco Records, which meant she couldn’t contniue to work with them. WHen they heard she was leaving, some of the band members even cried. In 1965, Celia released her first album with Tito Puente, now signed with Morris Levy’s  Tico. In all the duo recorded 8 albums, unfortunately none were big hits. Celia’s career wasn’t doing so well, the youth craved the sounds of Latin Soul and Boogaloo, dismissing Celia and Tito as “their parents music“. The late 60’s and early 70’s weren’t easy and she mostly worked in Mexico where she still had many fans. All this would change when Larry Harlow, with permission from Morris Levy, recorded ‘Gracia Divina’ for the first ever Salsa opera, Hommy which debuted at Carnegie Hall in 1973. Celia’s career launched to new heights. Hear all this and morwe in this week’s episode. 

Link to listen to Pa’lante. 

https://wpfwfm.org/radio/index.php (On Sundays 8-10 PM, hosted by Daniel del Pielago) 

Songs: 

For the first 4 Saturdays in July, Voice of the Water Lily will be doing a 4 part celebration of ‘La Guarachera’ Celia Cruz for the 19th anniversary of her passing. This week’s episode will talk about her early years in Havana, beginnings in music and how she became a part of illustrious Sonora Matancera. 

Ursula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso wa born on October 21, 1925 in Santos Suarez, Havana Cuba. Her talent was evident from a very young age. Despite her father, Simon Cruz’s, concerns that music was not a stable or reliable career, Celia had the support of her mother, Catalina (who everyone called Ollita) and her aunt, Ana. In her teen years she sang on amateur radio contests, before she got a job at several major radio stations including CMQ and radio cadena suaritos. After Myrta SIlva decided to return to Puerto Rico, La Sonora Matancera was left without a lead singer. Celia’s debut with the band was August 3, 1950. Surprisingly, Celia was not accepeted by Myrta‘s fans at first, some ven sent her mean letters telling her to quit the band. Soon after, Rogelio Martinez (director of La Sonora) wanted to record an album with her. At the time, La Sonora was signed with Sydney Siegel’s ’Seeco’ records. Siegel was apprehensive and told Martinez that “women didn’t sell records and were only good for live performances’. Rogelio argued back that if Celia’s records didn’t sell, Seeco didn’t have to pay her, Rogelio and the band would be responsible for it. Siegel agreed. Not only did Celia’s records sell, but right off the bat, she had several big hits. How ironic it is that several years later it was Sydney Siegel who presented her with an award in New York City for her ongoing success. You’ll hear about all this and more in this week’s episode. 

Las Muñecas del cha-cha-cha 

La cumbanchera del Belen

Ahi Na Ma

Que Critiquen

Juntitos tu y yo

Madre Rumba

Chango

Oyeme Agayu

Oya Diosa Y Fe 

Agua Pa Mi 

Constestacion de el marinero

Luna Sobre Matanzas 

Goza Negra 

Rinkincalla

Prende La Vela

Elegua Quiere Tambo

Para Tu Altar

Aunque me cueste la vida

Nostalgia Habanera

 This week’s show celebrates ‘La Reina del Guaguanco’, Celeste Mendoza. Though she is often overlooked, she was a versatile and incredibly talented singer. She even recorded with the likes of Bebo Valdes, Los Papines, SIerra Maestra and Clave y Guaguanco.  You’ll hear about her life and some phenomenal music In today’s episode celebrating, ‘La Reina’, Celeste Mendoza. 

While Tito Rodriguez is often seen as solely a sonero and romantic bolerista, his orchestra was as a talented and virtuosic as those of Tito Puente and Machito. Today’s podcast will showcase the sound and innovation of his orchestra as well as the talent of his musicians. From his earliest works to his last albums, Tito was an innovator and a tremendous bandleader, not to mention, a multi instrumentalist. 

https://anchor.fm/anani-kaike/episodes/Ep--36-Celebrating-Tito-Rodriguezs-Boleros-Edicion-Billinge-Bilingual-Edition-e1h6ld1

https://anchor.fm/anani-kaike/episodes/Ep--20-Remembering-The-Unforgettable-One-Celebrating-Tito-Rodriguez-e1c2kk7

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