las mejores cosas de la vida
i got to spend time my 96 year old great aunt who was an opera singer in Cuba. she sang with the famed Ernesto Lecuona, and has led a very interesting life. (she also ran a business back in the day in Cuba - a woman in the 1950's!) she made me sing for her, so she could judge my voice. what do you do when a 96 year old woman tells you cantas ahora. well, you do it. she made it clear that she despised "cultura moderna" (pop culture)..... so i do not think she would care for most of the music i have done...i sang a Spanish folk love song for her and she was happy. whew. she is a tough cookie. "su tono es muy bueno" .....then things got really cool - we started talking music and she was telling me some of the things she had done & she wanted me to learn some songs "muy bonito y sencillo de cantar para todas las gentes." it was a perfect afternoon.
when i see someone like her who is 96 - it shows you life is not over by any means. as long as we are here - we can create and love. eso es eterno.
and i was able to get this on tape. this may be the only video of her singing. what i love about this is you can visibly see her go back to Cuba, performing in the golden light and sticky air en un tiempo antes de Fidel:
when i see someone like her who is 96 - it shows you life is not over by any means. as long as we are here - we can create and love. eso es eterno.
and i was able to get this on tape. this may be the only video of her singing. what i love about this is you can visibly see her go back to Cuba, performing in the golden light and sticky air en un tiempo antes de Fidel:
posted by free dominguez at 9:56 AM
8 Comments:
Wow... brief, but there was a part where it seemed she was 20 again and I did imagine a time when everything was right.
It's clear that her mind is still extremely active - sure, she could be nostalgic at times - but then again, so do I, at a third of her age. It's amazing when folks keep their personality and mental acuity in older ages. I personally think it's a matter of mental exercise.
My housemate's grandmother is something similar - she's wonderful, really sharp but getting a touch fatalistic - maybe she feels that her number's up. But it's clear where my housemate's dad and housemate get their smarts from.
Would you say that's where you get your inquiring nature and singing talent from, Free? Sometimes it skips a generation - I know I got my eccentricity and memory from both my grandmothers, my desire for socialism and pacifism from one of my grandfathers (and artistic ability, he was quite the painter) ... and possibly my height from my other one, haha - never knew him.
Can you feel a sense of satisfaction as "I hope I'm like that when I get to her age."? That's what I hope!
that's excellent...
aside from that, words are few.
peace
erin
pure talent.
she is a gift
My grandfather told me a story this autumn, on a hayride through Appalachian fall-coloured flora, about an acquaintance who flew a biplane under the Brooklyn Bridge - and missed.
"And that's how Ralph died," he told us.
The reminiscent gaze in your great-aunt's eyes reminded me of that. The remembering. Perhaps not as eternal as an aria... but stories still remain.
this is amazing. neither of my grandmothers were professional singers, but they certainly sang -- wish i had it on video!
this is probably one of the most precious videos i have. glad to be able to share.
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