Havana/The popular Cuban singer Haila María Mompié is putting the finishing touches on a tribute album to Celia Cruz for the centenary of the birth of the Guarachera from Cuba to remember her “as she would have wanted, with music,” says the performer in an interview with EFE.
“Celia Cruz is one of my great idols, one of my great musical patrons,” says Haila about the meaning that Cruz (1925-2003), whom she knew personally, has for her.
Haila sees Cruz as the “most universal Cuban artist of all time, charisma personified, a woman of talent and unmistakable voice who with her charm managed to render the world at her feet, making her the most beloved and successful singer in the entire Latin musical field.”
“I didn’t want to overlook her centenary,” says Mompié, and explains that for this reason she has been working on her eleventh album for several months, which contains – mostly – songs that were popularized by someone who has been recognized as the Queen of Salsa.
But in addition, Mompié performs in this new work an unreleased song dedicated to Cruz, titled Legacy of a queen and composed by Maikel Dinza. The song was presented on digital platforms on the day of the centenary, last October 21.
“I wanted to do something different in this new stage of my career,” says Haila and explains that for that purpose it occurred to her to fuse “tropical music with symphonic sound, seeking to create a unique and exciting experience, bringing rhythms such as salsa, guaracha and bolero to this wonderful sound and musical format.”
Her first solo album was released 25 years ago and “it was also a tribute to Celia’s work”
The new phonogram is “almost finished,” adds the performer, before expressing that “I can’t wait to hear it in its entirety. I’m very excited to know that it will soon be available to everyone.”
At the moment it is not clear that he will present this work in Cuba, although he will present it “in many other places” during the tour he is preparing for several countries in Europe in 2026, where he has already signed three concerts and assures that “many more will be added.”
Regarding these already contracted performances, the singer said that she will work with local symphony orchestras and her “spectacular” band, “mostly female,” made up of “excellent and talented” instrumentalists trained on the Island, with whom she feels “very comfortable working.”
Haila recalls that her first solo album was released 25 years ago and “it was also a tribute to Celia’s work,” to whom she had the opportunity to personally deliver a copy of that work during a charity concert in which both participated in Los Angeles, USA, in 2001.
/ 14ymedio
That album – produced by Cuban musician Isaac Delgado – included his version of the song Bemba Colorá, one of Cruz’s international hits. La Guarachera de Cuba, upon receiving it, told Mompié: “Wow! It’s good to know that the future is well assured,” Haila recalls excitedly.
“Her legacy and work is like a luxury bag that always travels with me,” says the interpreter in reference to the Rumba Queen and who confesses that he had the “immense honor of promoting and organizing a memorial mass in her name” in the Havana parish of Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre, which brought together well-known artists, faithful and admirers of Celia Cruz.
For Mompié, this act was “a gesture that was born from respect and love towards his figure”, a “moment full of emotion, faith and memories, where his spirit felt alive among us, reminding us that his art and his essence are eternal.”
That Eucharist was the only public event celebrated on the centenary of the birth of the iconic artist in Cuba, where for political reasons Celia Cruz was not remembered by state institutions. An event at the Fábrica de Arte Cubano, one of the main private cultural centers in the country, was censored at the last minute.
Haila has a full agenda for the next few months. The release of the album will be followed by promotion, video clips and several concerts in Peru and Curacao. “Keep working hard, because singing is my life,” he emphasizes.
