Haydee Milanes Dedicated ‘A Night of Boleros’ to the City of Havana on the Verge of its 500th Birthday

Haydée Milanés dedicated her two concerts to the city of Havana last Wednesday.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Luz Escobar, La Habana | Junio 22, 2018 — The singer Haydée Milanés shone on Wednesday night in one of the first days of the 30th edition of the Boleros de Oro International Festival, in which she paid homage to great composers of this genre.

The National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba was the scene of two concerts by the artist, one at seven in the evening and another at nine.

The singer performed with great skill classic songs from Cuba and Mexico that challenge the oblivion in which the bolero has fallen in spite of its numerous interpreters in Cuban music. Haydée Milanés does not stand on a pedestal to interpret these beautiful songs, she does it from the simplicity of her scenic projection and her excellent fluency in a genre she has cultivated intensely throughout her career.

La gloria eres tú  by the Cuban composer José Antonio Méndez, and  Contigo en la distancia by César Portillo de la Luz were some of the songs performed. The singer also did justice to some Mexican boleros including Se te olvida by Álvaro Carrillo or Esta tarde vi llover from Armando Manzanero.

Special tribute was offered to Marta Valdés, a woman whom she already considers of her family and who “life and the universe” put in her way to change her destiny. “I will not say anything about her songs because they speak for themselves,” said Milanés, who asked for applause that the audience offered with gusto and intensity.

From her father, Pablo Milanés, she played two compositions that were not widely disseminated in the media, Todos los ojos te miran and Requiem por un amor, with the piano accompaniement of Cucurucho Valdés, a friend from her time as a student at the conservatory.

Milanés is usually accompanied by three musicians in her concerts, but that night the orchestra grew as some of the best musicians of the national scene paraded on stage. Enrique Plá on the drums, Raúl Verdecia and Dayron Ortiz on the guitars, Roberto García on the trumpet and Edgar Martínez on the percussion, while the young Samuel Burgos alternated on the bass with the renowned Fabián García Caturla.

The artist dedicated the concert to La Habana, “a woman I love with all the strength of my soul, a very special woman who will be celebrating 500 years next year.” At the beginning of the concert, the public received a postcard with an ecological message on the back: “I invite you to take care of your Havana.”

The vocalist, invited to the event by maestro Guido López Gavilán, said she felt honored and confessed that for her it was always an dream to participate.

Before she closed, she performed a song by Cuban singer-songwriter Frank Domínguez, Tú me acostumbraste, and after a long ovation she closed with Palabras, by Marta Valdés.

The Boleros de Oro International Festival began with a concert by Beatriz Márquez accompanied by Alejandro Falcón and his Grupo Cubadentro, among other guests, and ends on June 24.

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