The singer, composer and music critic passed away on October 3 in Havana at the age of 90.
14ymedio, Havana, 30 December 2024 — The artist Marta Valdés died in 2024 at the age of 90. Although she did not have the fame of other musicians of her generation, notably all those from the Buena Vista Social Club project, her talent as a lyricist and composer was extraordinary, and her songs became immortal.
She herself told this newspaper ten years ago that although she did not enjoy recognition from the market or the media, she was lucky enough to have her songs become famous before she turned 25. “My songs have never been, nor will they be, songs for the market, or for the media. Above all because they were not made for that, they were songs made from the heart, for the love of music. The singers who understand that are those who have sung my songs,” she said then.
Songs such as Palabras, Deja que siga sola, En la imaginación, Canción simple, José Jacinto, Llora o Tú no sospechas, full of complexity in form and content, took the traditional bolero to another level.
They became famous in the interpretations of legendary singers such as Bola de Nieve, Elena Burke, Fernando Álvarez, Omara Portuondo, Vicentico Valdés, Cheo Feliciano, Miriam Ramos and Pablo Milanés, and, more recently, Haydée Milanés, Martirio and Sílvia Pérez Cruz. However, in her velvet voice, discreet like herself, but deep and exciting, they were unmatched.
Her role as a music critic was also very relevant. She herself explained that she was fascinated by the idea of “remembering,” especially about Cuban music, because the Island, she said, “is a goldmine of music.” Her influence on the new generations of creators, for whom she served as a teacher and mentor, is exemplified by her important role in the creation of the Cuban musical duo Gema and Pavel, and in her work as a promoter of artistic spaces.
Although she was marginalized in the 70s and 80s for being a symbol of a night-time Havana showbiz uninhibited in its sexuality, both the official press and government websites never stopped referring to her as an artist “faithful to the process.” During her lifetime she even received awards from state institutions, including the 2007 National Music Prize, the Replica of Máximo Gómez’s Machete from the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and various distinctions from the Hermanos Saíz Association and the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, of which she was, incidentally, a founder.
Thus, she was “honored” upon her death by the Ministry of Culture, which praised her “artistic sensitivity, her poetic word and her great musical talent.”
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