Celia Cruz Memorabilia at the Eduardo Brito National Theater

[NALs]

Today's La Información includes an article of Cuban singer Celia Cruz now has a personal memorabilia at the Eduardo Brito National Theater. She died a few years ago and promised she will not go back to Cuba while Fidel Castro rules. She never went back to Cuba, but Santo Domingo was one of her favorite places because she said it was the most similar to her native Cuba.

 

[Joseph NY2STI]

When I was teaching there I would play a music video for the kids at the end of class as a "reward", and also out of my own curiosity to learn who and what they knew from the outside world. For example, they somehow knew Frank Sinatra, but not Carlos Santana. To my surprise they had never heard of Celia nor Johnny Pacheco, even though we were in Santiago. Anyway, this is the Celia video I played for them. Yes, they loved it:

 

[NALs]

Johnny Pacheco was born in Santiago, DR.

 

[JD Jones]

I don't know why, but every time I read about these artists I immediately start thinking about Hector Levoe's "Periodico de Ayer"

 

[NALs]

The tombs of Johnny Pacheco and Celia Cruz in The Bronx, NY.

I notice this cemetery actually looks quite nice and gives an air of peacefulness. I wondered why and then researched on it. Well, it was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted from Hartford, Connecticut and the father of Landscape Architecture in the USA. He is the one that helped designed Central Park in Manhattan, the Capitol grounds in Washington DC, Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT (the first large park next to a sea); he also designed the lakefront park in Chicago, the Stanford University campus in California, Bushnell Park in Hartford, CT (supposedly the first large park in a city), the parks system in Boston and many others. He also designed some cemeteries including this one.

All the places he designed are meant to inspire peace and beauty. No wonder that cemetery instead of giving an air of sadness or crippiness actually felt nice.

 

[SKY]

About 50 years ago my friend's son married a Cuban girl. The Cuban family gave the wedding and Celia Cruz was the singer. I had never heard of her but when she came out it was apparently a complete surprise to all and they went nuts. She was just a great person and mingled with all the guests like she was one of us. This was in Brooklyn, NY. Great lady RIP..........