PERSONAJE
Finally they landed in Panama,
they were received by the PR of RPC,
Red Panamericana, and the Pana-
manian companies in the old airport
of Tocumen.
They performed on June 25 at
the Hotel El Panama, and their per-
formance was broadcast by the Red
Panamericana (1090 kcs) and the
HOA de Colón.
Celia was accompanied by Cu-
ban singers Laito, Caito and Yeyito,
singing their songs from 9 p.m., and
in the Happy Land nightclub from
12:30 p.m. The general admission
costed 75 cents.
Then it was announced in the
newspapers on 27, 28 and 29, in the
Central Theater and Happy Land,
on June 29.
Jorge Alemán Vallarino remem-
bers: “At that time I had a yellow
Mercury, and Chino asked me for it
to take Celia for a ride... Her smile
caught my attention... she was wear-
ing it like a garment”.
César Villalobos affirms: “I
wasn’t in Panama for those times,
but the press critics praised his tone
of voice, his dynamics and his abil-
ity to improvise”. The Panamanian
people fell in love with that first time.
Here’s to you: Celia Cruz!
That’s right, she’s back: This
time, with the troubadour Carlos Ar-
gentino, accompanied by the orches-
tra La Sonora Matancera. There
were two shows in the Happy Land
night club from 11:30 pm to 1:30 am,
on March 15, 1957.
Lineth O. del Cid T. informed of
another visit in her writing La reina
Celia, on March 19, 1958 at the Fe-
ria de San José, in Chiriquí, where
she also performed with the Sonora
Matancera orchestra.
Ana Matilde Icaza says that, in
March 1958, Gladys Moreno re-
members her in a show she gave at
the Neco de la Guardia gymnasium
for the National Guard’s anniver-
sary. “That was a dance open to
the public, and my husband, neither
short nor lazy, dared to ask her to
dance and she accepted very cor-
dially,” Moreno said.
Juan A. Aragón talks about an-
other visit in 1959, with his afore-
mentioned Cuban orchestra, to the
Huevos de Altura awning near Bar-
raza, in front of the old Hispanic
Theater for the carnivals.
It was the turn of animator Víctor
18
PA N A M Á
Martínez Blanco to present the Queen
of the Guarachas on Radio Musical.
She was accompanied by singer Caito,
and also performed in the garden Viña
del Mar, and in Chitré in the garden El
Patio and in El Recreo.
César Bermúdez, interviewed by
Ana Matilde Icaza, said: “He also
traveled to Chitré, where he sang in
the awning El Recreo. That was the
last show she gave in Panama along
with La Sonora Matancera.
One unforgettable anecdote was
told by Raúl Ortiz, who owned a super
orchestra with his name: “She came in
total like seven times and I accompa-
nied her as on four of them. She was
the best guarachera in the world and a
very calm woman. Her husband never
left her. Every time she came, he would
say to me: “Raúl, I know that the or-
chestra is yours, but I would like to
conduct it myself, because she is going
to sing”, and since that same day they
would leave I accepted”.
In 1959 the revolution triumphed on
Cuba, and there were no major prob-
lems. The thing is that she culminated
her work with La Sonora Matancera
in 1965 and joined the man orchestra
and timbalero Tito Puente.
She was hired to perform with
Rubén Blades, Willy Colón, Toby
Muñoz and his orchestra, and Ed-
gardo Quintero’s orchestra, at the
so-called aluminum weddings of Club
Unión, the tenth anniversary of the
new headquarters of that exclusive
club, exactly on August 24, 1979, from
9 p.m. onwards.
Others tell us -we have not verified
it- that it was presented to the people in
the New Panama Gymnasium.
In an interview published in El
Panama América, Celia said about
her work with Willy Colón: “Oh,
look..., with Willie I did very well too.
It was in 1977. We recorded an LP that
hit well, especially in Panama for the
song Zambullete, that one that says:
“Zambullete y ven pa’cá, ven conmigo
a Panamá”.
The years went by and, in the early
1980s, Ricardo Gago and Rosita Abad
became members of the 1986 Carni-
val Board, and they hold the queen’s
choice party, a pre-carnival in Octo-
ber 1985, and Celia performed with
Tito Puente a memorable concert that
day.
Another year, 1987, in the middle
of the crisis of the American politi-
cal-economic aggression to our home-
land, Celia visits Panama to present
and participate in a homage between
friends to Cheo Feliciano, in Enrique
Padrón’s house. She joined this tribute
party after her presentation at the At-
lapa Convention Center, according to
Lineth del Cid.
For us Panamanians, it is remark-
able to mention that the queen of the
guaguancó, among other rhythms, re-
corded four songs by the Panamanian
composer José Slater Badán: Rompe
bonche and Rumba de cajón (both in
1954), Bachata en Navidad (1955),
no me engañes más (1957), and also
Zambúllete, dedicated to Panama by
the composers Osvaldo Carratu and
Hugo Alberto Santos Nascimento, in-
cluded in the 1977 album with Willy
Colon, Only They Could Have Made
This Album.
Another Panamanian composer
Celia recorded with was Omar Alfa-
no, in Bembelequa (1994), and she did
some duets with Rubén Blades.
¿WHO IS THE QUEEN?
She was baptized as Ursula Hilaria
Celia Caridad Cruz Alonso. Some
called her the queen of guaracha,
rumba, guaguancó, salsa..., but
she’s just simply Celia. She entered
the artistic world as a dancer in
the group Las Mulatas de Fuego.
She worked as a vocalist in the
orchestra La Sonora Matancera
from 1950 to 1965. She concluded a
contract with the record company
Seeco with 24 recorded LPs. Then
she joined timbalero Tito Puente
and his orchestra, recording more
songs until 1973 for the label Tico
Records, with another 9 LPs. The
boom arrived and Fania Records
made it exclusive, reaching the fi-
gure of more than 70 LPs. The film
industry has immortalized her in
several movies. She will always be
remembered all around the world.
Azucaaaa!