This Monday, the world of bolero and ballads was in mourning, as the Cuban singer Marta de Santelices Cabrera, an emblematic figure of these genres, died in Havana at the age of 76.
After her death, whose cause was not revealed, the artistic world of the Island shared its sadness, as it lost an incomparable singer who spent several years of her life representing Cuban music in several nations.
The woman was born on February 23, 1947 in the province of Camagüey, beginning her career in the artistic field in 1968.
Four years later, in 1972, Marta de Santelices graduated as an actress from the School for the Training of Actors of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT).
During her career, the singer represented the Island in several festivals, some of them in other countries such as the former Russian Soviet Union (USSR), Italy, Mongolia, Angola and Nicaragua.
The death of the Cuban was confirmed by the Cuban Institute of Music, which recalled that she was not only one of the main voices of bolero, but also of other genres such as son and children’s songs.
During the last years of her life, Marta de Santelices Cabrera was part of the musical project “Tradicionales de los 50”, an initiative that brought together several of the main figures representing bolero and Cuban songs.
During her long career, she received various awards, such as the Literacy Medal and the Raúl Gómez García Medal. Likewise, the Directorate of Culture of Camagüey awarded her the Mirror of Patience distinction in 1995, while the Directorate of Culture of Havana gave her the Tropical Gypsy distinction.
In more recent years, the Cuban received the Adolfo Guzmán Seal in 2021, an award created that same year in honor of the 101st anniversary of the artist’s birth.
Despite her age, Marta de Santelices was still an active member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) and was also part of the companies Adolfo Guzmán and Ignacio Piñeiro, which specialize in the promotion of Antillean music and culture. .
