July 16, 2003 - The Day That Celia Cruz Died

My experience was changed by Celia Cruz, known as "La Reina de Salsa" (The Queen of Salsa) when she blurted out the 1998 salsa hit, "La vida es un carnaval" (Life Is A Carnival). She was forbidden to sing that song in her home country, so Issac Delgado stepped in to sing that famous song. When I was at the Regent Ballroom in Savoy, almost every time, DJ Dario Farias was the DJ at that time. Almost every time since 1998 during the salsa nights in that ballroom, DJ Farias would spin "La vida es un carnaval." I believe the song was the great breakthrough of the emergence of Colombian salsa since Orquesta Guayacan. Without Celia Cruz, this "salsazo" would not be the "salsazo" that would be today. Who sang that song in place of Celia in that salsa hit? It was, as I mentioned before, Issac Delgado.

I knew Celia Cruz by her TV shorts. She was like any Latin showgirl in Club Tropicana. She was the "Rita Moreno" of salsa singing because I believe that even when the music trends faded away from mambo (from her experience with her past conjunto, La Sonora Matancera) to rap and techno-driven stuff. Celia adjusted to new music trends, combining salsa with merengue, cumbia, and other Latin and non-Latin forms.

One of the things I remember about Celia was not just her famous shout "Azucarrrrrrr!"--but also the song "Timbala Timbala" song. The song reminiscences the first rumbas during the 1950s and 1960s, when fast mambos (like "Para Los Rumberos") were common. It was a very fast salsa and I was trying so hard to keep the beat with my big salsa steps to that music.

I was watching funeral coverage on the Telemundo network, and the pre-mass funeral procession that led to the church. The hearse car was decorated with flowers as the procession crowed threw flowers in respect to the loss of this great salsa-singing lady.