It is very rare that you come across someone who keeps their passion alive even if people around them stop doing it. For sure, Cuban singer, Omara Portundo Pelaez is one of them who believes that age is just a number. At 92, the singer is still going strong and hopes to perform more songs in the future. Lucky are those who witness her performances and now she hopes to leave her mark in the city when she performs for the first time in India. Specialising in Cuban Son and Boleros (types of Cuban folk songs), Omara won her first Latin Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Tropical Album and a Latin Grammy Life time Achievement Award in 2009. She also received three Grammy Award nominations in 2019 and was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports. We talk to the Cuban singer to know more about her upcoming performance, how her career in music began, the type of music that Cubans listen to, upcoming projects and lots more…
Omara, first of all, congratulations on the release of your latest album. The album is titled Vida, which means life. Could you tell us more about the album?
The album is named Vida because it is a trajectory of music about my life that was recorded during the COVID-19 lockdowns, while I was confined to my house.
What is the motivation that helps you make songs?
I am a performer not a composer. So, even at 92 years, I do what I love, which is to sing.
This is going to be your first performance in the country. Was performing in India on your bucket list?
Yes, it is part of my bucket list. I have never visited India. I hope India will like the music of my country, and I am looking forward to coming here.
What are you looking forward to most about your visit?
I hope that the public that goes to my concert will enjoy it to the fullest and I hope to learn about the culture of India.
What will you be performing in the city?
A varied cycle of songs that I have performed in different periods of my life.
What have been your most memorable performances to date?
There have been many and I have visited the world with my work and in every corner of this planet each performance has always been remembered with much love.
How long have you been working on the album?
The album took two years to make and finish because of the pandemic.
Tell us how you started your career in music?
It started when I was 18 years old, my parents were the ones who brought me to this career in music and since then I started singing. I was in several vocal quartets and the one I was in the longest was the quartet Las D Aidas for 15 years, it was a wonderful musical formation and that is how I took this path.
You are Cuban. Tell us about the kind of music that the people there like?
In Cuba, we have a very wide musical culture. In Cuba we like Jazz, Son, Guaracha, Rumba, Bolero and Rock, in short, lyrical music and also you see many movies of the Indian musicals that you make with your music. So, the Cuban people have a wide musical culture.
Can you tell us about your next projects?
My next projects are to record two more albums and continue my tour. We are also working to make a book on my life and see if we can also make a movie and if I can continue singing until my health allows me to do so.
INR 2,000 onwards. June 8, 8.30 pm. At Windmills, Whitefield.
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