New York. Celia Cruz already has her own street in New York, the city that saw her sing countless times and where she rests in peace.
Local politicians and friends of the deceased Salsa queen They unveiled a new sign with the inscription Celia Cruz Way on a street in the Bronx, also known as Salsa County.
“His courage and persistence inspire us every day,” said Councilor Fernando Cabrera during the naming ceremony for the road. “We are very proud of who she was and who she is in our hearts.”
Cabrera unveiled the sign at the corner of Reservoir Avenue and West 195 Street to the applause of about thirty people present and some shout of “Azúcar!”, The one that the singer often used in her presentations. After the ceremony, members of the orchestra from the nearby Celia Cruz music school played Life is a party Y The black woman has tumbao, two great successes of hers.
At least three other streets and squares in the United States are named after the legendary sauce boat, said Omer Pardillo, a former representative of the Cuban and president of the Celia Cruz Foundation.
The streets are in Miami, Los Angeles, and Union City, New Jersey, where a Cuban community was established decades ago. There are also others in Spain, Costa Rica and Mexico, he noted.
“However, this street is very special because this is the city where Celia Cruz chose to live part of her life, since the year 60. She settled here and lived until her last day. It brought him great joys. I’ve always said that New York carries the sound of Celia Cruz on its walls, “he added.
The singer, who died in 2003 at age 78 at her Fort Lee, New Jersey home, is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. “He never wanted to be underground. That is why he chose that place, where he found a space to make a mausoleum, ”said Pardillo.
Cruz came to the United States in 1960, a year after the Cuban Revolution. He recorded more than 70 albums, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 1994 he received the National Medal of Arts, the highest government recognition for an artist in this country, from then-President Bill Clinton.
Among those who unveiled the Celia Cruz Way sign was the Puerto Rican Ruth Sánchez Laviera, who was a friend and stylist of the sauce boat. “This is a great honor, which he deserved, deserves, and will continue to deserve,” he said.
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