Celia Cruz Celebrated through Ivy Queen & Extra at Latin Grammy Match

A who’s who of tropical tune royalty, together with Ivy Queen, Tito Nieves, Aymee Nuviola, Albita and Gente de Zona carried out for just about 3 hours as a part of the Latin Grammy Basis’s fundraiser honoring the legacy of Celia Cruz.

The non-public match, which came about Saturday (Dec. 14) on the Miami-area house of Loud and Reside founder/CEO Nelson Albareda and his spouse, Elena Albareda, now not most effective performed tribute to the overdue “Queen” of salsa and tropical tune, however raised cash for the Latin Grammy Cultural Basis, with all proceeds going to the basis’s scholarship, grant and academic techniques for younger musicians.

Sponsored through the Celia Cruz All-Stars as area band, one megastar after any other were given at the out of doors degree to accomplish songs popularized through Cruz all the way through her prolific profession. Albita opened the night with a rendition of “Que le den candela,” the place she improvised at duration about Cruz; Gente De Zona stepped into the target audience to sing “Los angeles Negra Tiene Tumbao;” Aymee Nuviola jammed to “Bemba Colorá;” younger weapons Christian Alicea and Peter Nieto carried out a stunning duet model of “Toro Mata;” and reggaetón queen Ivy Queen and pianist Arthur Hanlon grew to become Cruz’s farewell anthem “Yo Viviré” right into a funk/Latin improvisational celebration.

Different performers integrated Spanish singer Beatriz Luengo, Nicaraguan singer Luis Enrique, Jorge Alberto El Canario, Tito Nieves, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Lenier, Lena Bruke, Brenda Navarrete, Carmen de León and dancer Siury. Many punctuated their performances with private reminiscences of Cruz and the large and small tactics she touched such a lot of folks’s lives.

“Celia Cruz used to be a cornerstone of the soundtrack of my lifestyles,” mentioned Albareda, who as a teenager labored on the places of work of RMM, the place Cruz used to be signed. It used to be there that he met a tender Omer Pardillo, who labored in advertising and marketing, and who would turn out to be Cruz’s supervisor. Cruz would depart him in command of her property after her demise in 2003 at 77 years previous.

Because the steward of Cruz’s legacy, Pardillo is guidance the various occasions and celebrations that surrounding the centennial of Cruz’s delivery in 2025. This 12 months’s preludes integrated the release of an reliable Celia Cruz quarter and Saturday’s live performance, which additionally celebrated the introduction of the Celia Cruz Legacy Scholarship, benefitting the Latin Grammy Cultural Basis.

Up to now, the basis has given out greater than $10 million to other techniques and equipped 427 scholars with scholarships. A few of the ones scholars carried out on Saturday night time as a part of an excellent all-student staff.

Past the performances, the night used to be filled with poignant moments, together with a recollection through host Enrique Santos, who serves as president/CCO of iHeart Latino, that illustrated each Cruz’s spirit and joie de vivre. A Miami downpour, Santos mentioned, close down an outside tune competition the place Cruz used to be slated to accomplish. When organizers got here behind the curtain to inform her it used to be good enough to cancel since the degree used to be rainy and muddy, Cruz used to be unfazed. “Are there nonetheless folks available in the market within the target audience?” she requested. “If that’s the case, I’m acting,” she mentioned firmly, and went onstage.