Updated Tuesday, July 13, 11:55 EST
TAKEAWAY: She was the queen of the bolero and nobody could bring the dramatic emphasis to each phrase of those Cuban love ballads like la Olga. She died in Miami Monday. It is bolero time in heaven. I remember, as a child, sitting through some of her rehearsals in that Havana of another era.
The bolero is sad today
Olga Guillot: 1922-2010
This is the Olga I remember from those days in Havana: late 50s
As my father was a saxophone player who accompanied some of Cuba’s most major stars, I was privileged to attend rehearsals with him from time to time. One specific rehearsal had Olga Guillot preparing for her show at Montmartre—-one of Havana’s top night clubs. That rehearsal, and Olga dressed in black slacks and white blouse, are forever in my mind, wrapped in the sounds of several boleros, the most memorable of which was Olga’s signature song, Miénteme (Lie to Me). This bolero had such strong lyrics that even my late father-in-law, a surgeon with not much of an inclination towards anything musical, would ask me to play it in the piano everytime we had a gathering many years later. That bolero would somehow transport Dr. Rafael Nobo to Havana, to another time, and the voice he heard in his head was that of Olga.
Olga had a special, unique way with a bolero. She could sing each letter of a word as well, especially the letter “r”, which she rolled as if demonstrating it in a language class, as in “amorrrrrrrrrr”. To Olga, the word for love in Spanish had a melodious cascade of “r’s”. So did the “L” when she used the word “alma” (soul). I remember that rehearsal where her ‘r’s and l’s stayed with me to this day.I was the very impressed young boy listening to Olga, in a corner of the empty nightclub, and she never stopped in the middle of the song, even though this was supposed to be a rehearsal; she was living the song as if a full house was watching her. At the end, she thanked the musicians with the warm, jovial style that characterized her.
To the Cubans, Olga is an institution. She was the first Cuban singer to sing at Carnegie Hall in New York City; she is said to be the first woman bolero singer to sell records as fast as her male counterparts.
To the Cubans in exile, she was simply Olga de Cuba—-an indefatigable fighter, proud of who she was, and forever denouncing Castro’s dictatorship and dreaming, till her last day, to return to a free Cuba. My dad, too, died hoping for such a wish.
If they would give Oscars for Best Actress in a Bolero Interpretation, then Olga would have taken home several of them.
If there is an orchestra in heaven, then they now have the queen of the bolero to sing Mienteme, Tu me Acostumbraste and, one of my all time favorites, No Te Importe Saber.
I have a collection of Olga’s LPs and CDs, and, today, upon arriving in Genoa, Italy, I listened to some of her songs, all of which bring back the memories of my childhood in Havana, of my dad and of an era which their music will preserve forever.
Hear Olga sing her signature song: Miénteme
Olga Photo Gallery: El Nuevo Herald
For a special gallery of Olga Guillot photos, turn to El Nuevo Herald:
http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2010/07/12/764473/fallece-en-miami-la-cantante-olga.html
TheMarioBlog post #592