Celia Cruz - "Yo Viviré"

My parents are both from Cuba, and my family came to this country in 1969 after the communists, led by Castro, had stripped them of everything that they had worked so hard for just before that.

My parents came when they were super young and assimilated into American culture but still held on to their Cuban identities, imparting some of that on me.

Thinking about this I wanted to do a post on Celia Cruz, who many of you may know as a salsa singer who wore really bizarre outfits like this one or this one and especially this one. But throughout my life she was a lot more than that.

She was nominated for, and won 5 grammies (yes, I know, she's a beast) and Celia Cruz was at the forefront of not only Cuban music, but Latin music as a whole for years before the Cuban Revolution. When she was exiled, she only became even more famous. She caught on in the Unites States not only because of pockets of Cuban exiles like my parents living in Miami, New York, and L.A., but because people throughout Latin America grew to love her and her music.

I grew up with this music throughout my childhood so there's an element of nostalgia in it for me, but for anyone else interested in different kinds of music you should definitely give Celia a listen. Try making a Celia Cruz Pandora station, so far I love my results with it and have studied, danced, and even worked out to that station.

She's made God-knows-how-many songs over the years and it's hard for me to pick just one to feature right now, but I decided on this song because it's an awesome adaptation of an American classic, Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive"...and most of you are familiar with that song.

Rather than singing about moving on from a past relationship, Celia sings about how, even after her death, she will live on through the music that she's made over the years.

"En el alma de mi gente, en el cuero del tambor, en las manos del conguero, en los pies del bailador yo viviré, ahi estaré"


"In the soul of my people, in the skin of the drum, in the hands of the drummer, in the feet of the dancer I will live on, I'll be right there"


(That's the best translation I can give)

She goes on to sing about leaving Cuba and how painful it was, and again how she'll live on through her music, it's an amazing song. Give it a listen: