Albita - Biography
By J Poet
The Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and bandleader Albita has helped revive guajira, a form of Cuban music that many young Cubans had considered out of date. Since Albita came to the United States in 1993, she’s made the form a staple of her shows, while also singing and composing sones and puntos. She is known today as the Cuban Diva.
Albita Rodriguez was born in Havana in 1962. Her parents were well-known singers of musica folklorico (folk music) and she grew up surrounded by musicians. Albita started singing early in life and by her teens she was performing with and without her parents. At the age of 19 she was already a regular on the Cuban TV show, Palmas y Cañas, a show considered by hip Cubans to be a Latin version of Hee Haw, but Albita was dedicated to Cuban folk forms. She began composing new guajiras, which became popular due to their poetic lyrics and strong melodies. She put together a band of like-minded people her own age and performed traditional music dressed as punks, which caused a little controversy.
In keeping with her autonomous nature, Albita produced her first album herself. Habra Musica Guajira (1988 Egrem) became an international best-seller once the Cuban national record label licensed it overseas. In 1991, Fonocaribe, a Columbian label, signed Albita to a deal and, with the blessing of the Cuban government, Albita y Su Grupo toured widely in Europe and Latin America. She produced two albums for Fonocaribe, Si se da la Siembra (1991 Fonocaribe Columbia) and Cantare (1992 Fonocaribe Columbia), but the Cuban government pocketed most of the money she made.
In 1993, Albita y Su Grupo booked a recording session in Mexico. Instead of going to the studio, they walked across the El Paso bridge into the United States and asked for political asylum. With the help of Emilio and Gloria Estefan, the band moved to Miami and started a successful residency at Little Havana’s Centro Vasco. Their nightly shows drew scene-makers like Madonna, Liza Minelli, and Gianni Versace. Albita signed to Estefan’s Crescent Moon label in the mid-1990s and made No Se Parece a Nada (1995 Epic/Crescent Moon), which featured Cachao López on bass and arrangements by Ruben Blades. No Se Parece a Nada was nominated for a Best Contemporary Tropical Album Grammy.
After almost 15 years of performing, Albita was an overnight success. She had a video directed by Madonna’s younger brother, Christopher Ciccone and she posed for photo spreads in the fashion pages of magazines like Detour and Mirabella—all the while staying true to the pure Cuban music she loved. Albita was also controversial for attiring herself in men’s clothing on stage. It was a trend that didn’t stick, as she began wearing feminine clothes as her career took off. Albita remains one of the rare Cuban female singers leading her own band.
Her albums Dicen Que . . . (1996 Epic/Crescent Moon) and Una Mujer Como Yo (1997 Epic/Crescent Moon)—both of which were produced by Kike Santander, Roberto Blades, Julia Sierra, and Albita—only served to continue her success, as both received Best Contemporary Tropical Album Grammy nominations. Her amazing stage shows and sizzling band shot Albita to the top of the Latin charts worldwide.
Son (2000 Silva Screen/Times Square) and Hecho a Mano (2002 Silva Screen/Times Square) found her back in the producer’s chair and in 2004 she started her own label, Angels’ Dawn. Her first set for her own logo, Albita Llegó (2004 Angels’ Dawn), won her two Latin Grammys—Best Contemporary Tropical Album and Best Producer of a Contemporary Tropical Album. She followed up with Albita Live at the Colony Theater (2006 Angels’ Dawn) and Cuba: Un Viaje Musical (2008 Sony International), the latter a collaboration with salsero Rey Ruiz and trova singer-songwriter Donato Poveda of Donato & Estefano. In 2009 she released Mis Tacones.