Juana Bacallao. Photo: Prensa Latina. Juana Bacallao, Cuban cabaret legend, dies at age 98
Legendary Cuban artist Juana Bacallao died today, Saturday, February 24, in Havana, Cuba, at the age of 98, the Cuban Ministry of Culture confirmed. Just a few days before, it had transcended through Cubanet who had been urgently admitted to the Carlos J. Finlay Military Hospital, in the municipality of Marianao, due to a generalized infection. According to the news site Cuban NewspaperThe cause of death was pulmonary thromboembolism.
Known for her particular voice and exuberant style, Juana traced a vital career that spanned more than seven decades in which she became an icon of Cuban nightlife, allowing her to share the stage with artists such as Chano Pozo, Benny Moré, Nat King Cole, Celeste Mendoza and Rafaela Carrá. Born as Neris Amelia Martínez Salazar, she earned the nickname Juana Bacallao for her interpretation of the guaracha I am Juana Bacallaocomposed by pianist and orchestra conductor Obdulio Morales.
Despite the many obstacles she overcame in her life -a poor, black woman who did not conform to the prevailing canon of beauty-, her energy and contagious grace made her one of the most unique characters of Cuban popular culture, and she won the affection of the public on the island and across the seas. Until a few years ago it was possible to see her with her group Tiembla Tierra at the Gato Tuerto cabaret, where even Beyoncé and Jay Z came to admire her during their visit to Havana. "The divine God is going to retire me", she once declared. Among other awards, she received the Distinction for National Culture, the Alejo Carpentier Medal, the National Humor Award and the Gold Record in Canada.
Since his death was announced, social networks have been flooded with messages lamenting the loss of a unique figure of national popular culture. From the editorial staff of Magazine AM:PM we join those messages and remember his legacy and his unrepeatable personality through the text of Julio Cid that we published a couple of years ago, on the occasion of his 95th birthday.
