Celina González was born in March 16th, 1929 at ''La Luisa'' Farm, near Jovellanos, a small town of Matanzas province, in the middle of a fertile plain having red earth. This information may be an important hint to understand what does spiritual syncretism represent in the expressive outline of the artist, the zone where she passed her childhood concentrates a black majority due to the fact that slavery was abolished in 1878 and many of these slaves kept on working in the same sugar cane plantations. At present, this Cuban region has orubas and Ararás religious and cultural traditions almost untouched.

Being a child, Celina listened to country melodies in which the Hispanic roots were deeply present, dealing also with melodies of African origin. This mixture got stronger when she moved with his family to Santiago de Cuba , there she drank from the most authentic Son waters and listened to the most famous improvisers.

Who always considered herself as Guajira -Cuban term used to name native people from rural zones and, as can be seen further, it is also a musical genre- after trying her first weapons in familiar parties, made her bow in 1947 in the radio. It was the most effective medium to prize her talent then. In these initial forays, she met Reutilio Domínguez by chance, a troubadour having already a story and between them a fluent of sympathy started becoming passion little after, since that very moment, their fates were linked in art and in the foundation of a new family. Since the, Celina and Reutilio Duet reached the pinnacle and aired great in radio Guateques and countryside parties.

This Duet left the farm to conquer the capital and became indispensable not only in radio but also in theater and movies, where more than one country stamp such as Bella Salvaje (1952) was brightened by these two perfectly-entwined voices. Around these years, the main offer in the menu was the guajira-son Santa Bárbara which many people identified as Qué viva Changó . Celina`s deep religious belief inspired her to create this song. She told us that the saint -or maybe the Orisha, because, due to a strange mystery of Cuban syncretism, in a single deity converge the catholic martyr and the Yoruba pantheon male- showed her in a dream, music and lyric of this song in a radiant appearance which would open up all roads of life to her.

Perhaps, not other further creation, with the exception of Yo soy el punto Cubano , can better define Celina's aesthetics. She is an amazing result of a perfect mixture, the guajira-inflected son and the guajira in son style. And it's just in the sones montunos made by her, made for her or soaked by her with montuno tones, where Celina evinced her undoubted excellence. Her prodigious voice entwined to Reutilio's, gave the exact view of a strong seed of an art which, coming from other lands, refined itself in time and insular spaces.

The legend in the early 50's jumped from Cuba to other Caribbean countries. This fact explains why despite the partial darkening Celina suffered a decade later due to the concurrence of diverse factors –split up with Reutilio, promotional decline of country folklore in favor of the strong pop wave and the broken of institutional relations of the majority of the Latin American countries with Cuba-, the remembrance of her art remained in the popular memory of many countries.

The renovated intention of giving the right dimension to the musical exponents supporting the national identity's speech meant for Celina, since the middle of 70's, a repositioning in the artistic hierarchy. New generations started to discover her, now in the company of her son Lazaro Reutilio Domínguez. Their bright attendance at the Jornadas Cucalambeanas -annual event held in the oriental city of Las Tunas , aimed at promoting rural folklore- and in Palmas y Cañas TV program, their performances and recordings with famous son artists and more recent troubadours supported their unyielding kingdom.

In the world places where she left her traces, Celina reinforced her style. Among 1980 and 1998, Celina visited Colombia more than 30 times, executing sometimes long seasons. Any Caleño, Catagines, Paisa or Bogotano hearing about her will surely state: ''Celina is ours''. A good example of her close relation with this country is De mi cosecha CD (1994) which was hired by the popular Cromos Magazine for its distribution to inundate in a few weeks all regions of this South American country with 110 thousands copies.

Europe has surrendered under her art. There, she has been acclaimed in London -Peter Gabriel placed her as a star in one of the WOMAD Festivals and in the Albert Hall she is still remembered for her work along with the fascinating Colombian Totó La Momposina-, at French and Spanish cities -spotlight at festivities for the World Football France 98-, at German and Swedish cities -in Stockholm she was picked to head the Divas of the World Festival, 1998-, BBC and Radio Exterior from Spain have devoted special programs to her.

UNESCO acknowledged her with the Picasso Medal and in Occidental Africa she received a Gold Disk in 1991, delivered by the famous promoter Daniel Cuxac for the selling of her new and old recordings.

Celina is more than El Punto Cubano, she is the symbol of Cuban people.

See SoyCubano Newsletter