Celia Cruz Live <\/span><\/h1>\nIn Kinshasa, Zaire 1974<\/span><\/h1>\n\n![\"celia-cruz-africa-kinshasa-zaire-1974\"](\"http:\/\/www.okayafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/celia-cruz-africa-kinshasa-zaire-1974.jpg\")
<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>BY\u00a0DERICA SHIELDS
\n<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nThe undisputed Queen of Salsa\u00a0Celia Cruz<\/strong>\u00a0would have been 88 years old today. In homage we\u2019re looking back on the time she spent in Kinshasa, (then-) Zaire back in 1974.<\/span><\/p>\nBorn in 1925 Celia\u00a0Cruz\u2019s career spanned a remarkable six decades. She was known for pioneering the salsa sound and for her remarkable voice of which curator\u00a0Marvette Perez\u00a0<\/strong>has\u00a0said<\/span><\/a>: \u201cIt was as if\u00a0the earth opened her mouth to talk and to sing.\u201d Her humour was also second to none \u2014 even in the most heartfelt and poignant songs she would find room to improvise a punchline. In this\u00a01988 BBC Arena performance<\/span><\/a>\u00a0she addresses the audience \u201cIf your husband hits you, make sure you hit him back. If you can\u2019t do it with your hand, hit him with the frying pan,\u201d an injunction that she follows with laughter and some on-point hip-rolls.<\/span><\/p>\nCruz was also a pioneer in her celebration of AfroLatinidad and foregrounded the African elements of her identity at a time when it was not popular to do so. In the Americas, music, dance and religious practices informed by African cultural survivals had a long history of being\u00a0outlawed or condemned<\/span><\/a>\u00a0as base, vulgar, even evil. In her music, lyrics and dress, however, Cruz drew on the parts of Cuban culture that were rooted in African\u00a0cultural survivals. She often sang about Shango and drew her lyrics from Santeria ceremonies (see her hit\u00a0Quimbara<\/em>\u00a0below). Her flamboyant dresses were pure Caribbean syncretism: part Spanish colonial, part Afro-Cuban they were modelled on a\u00a0style called bata Cubana worn by rumba dancers. Even her well-known cry\u00a1Azucar!<\/i>\u00a0can be interpreted as a nod to her enslaved forbears who harvested sugar to produce European delights.<\/span><\/p>\n
Born in 1925 Celia\u00a0Cruz\u2019s career spanned a remarkable six decades. She was known for pioneering the salsa sound and for her remarkable voice of which curator\u00a0Marvette Perez\u00a0<\/strong>has\u00a0said<\/span><\/a>: \u201cIt was as if\u00a0the earth opened her mouth to talk and to sing.\u201d Her humour was also second to none \u2014 even in the most heartfelt and poignant songs she would find room to improvise a punchline. In this\u00a01988 BBC Arena performance<\/span><\/a>\u00a0she addresses the audience \u201cIf your husband hits you, make sure you hit him back. If you can\u2019t do it with your hand, hit him with the frying pan,\u201d an injunction that she follows with laughter and some on-point hip-rolls.<\/span><\/p>\n Cruz was also a pioneer in her celebration of AfroLatinidad and foregrounded the African elements of her identity at a time when it was not popular to do so. In the Americas, music, dance and religious practices informed by African cultural survivals had a long history of being\u00a0outlawed or condemned<\/span><\/a>\u00a0as base, vulgar, even evil. In her music, lyrics and dress, however, Cruz drew on the parts of Cuban culture that were rooted in African\u00a0cultural survivals. She often sang about Shango and drew her lyrics from Santeria ceremonies (see her hit\u00a0Quimbara<\/em>\u00a0below). Her flamboyant dresses were pure Caribbean syncretism: part Spanish colonial, part Afro-Cuban they were modelled on a\u00a0style called bata Cubana worn by rumba dancers. Even her well-known cry\u00a1Azucar!<\/i>\u00a0can be interpreted as a nod to her enslaved forbears who harvested sugar to produce European delights.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>BY\u00a0DERICA SHIELDS
\n<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nThe undisputed Queen of Salsa\u00a0Celia Cruz<\/strong>\u00a0would have been 88 years old today. In homage we\u2019re looking back on the time she spent in Kinshasa, (then-) Zaire back in 1974.<\/span><\/p>\n