Juana Bacallao: Cuban Music Legend and Show-Woman Dies

February 24, 2024 Hour: 2:34 pm

The artist and legend of Cuban popular music Amelia Martínez Salazar, known nationally and internationally as Juana Bacallao, died this Saturday in Havana, according to a note from the Minster of Culture of the island.

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Juana was unforgettable by her time in the capital cabarets Sans Sousi, Tropicana, Copa Room del Riviera, Parisien del Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Salón Rojo del Capri, Caribe del Hotel Habana Libre, as well as the clubs Alí and Palermo, the Campoamor Theatre and the Aires Libres del Prado.

Also known as Juana La Cubana, she shared the stage with artists such as Chano Pozo, Meme Solís, Moraima Secada, Nat King Cole, Bola de Nieve, Rosita Fornés, Ninón Sevilla, Celeste Mendoza, Benny Moré, Elena Burque, Rafaela Carrá and Omara Portuondo.

Juana Bacallao combinó en su modo de interpretar letras de canciones con textos burlescos y trágicómicos, aderezados por su singular histrionismo. Dueña de un especialísimo sentido de la cubanía y el humor criollo, llevó su arte e ingenio a varios países. pic.twitter.com/LzQGgpFrAF

— Cubadebate (@cubadebatecu)
February 24, 2024

Owner of a very special sense of Cuban and Creole humor, she took her art and ingenuity to countries such as the United States, France, Mexico, Venezuela,
Dominican Republic and Spain. His physical departure represents a significant loss for the Cuban music scene.

Several figures have sent their condolences to the family and her loved beings. The president Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez expressed in his X account his greatly regretted the death of “the beloved and most Cuban” Juana Bacallao. “Cuba today loses one of its most charismatic and popular artists. His work and his joy remain among us,” he added.

Ha muerto Juana Bacallao �� pic.twitter.com/l9Gi4qIKEl

— franklin (@elfranklinpalau)
February 23, 2024

Also, the Arts Guild in Cuba, the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) remembered in X she had a peculiar way of projecting herself on stage, a unique histrionics and she was the owner of a special sense of Cubanness and Creole humor.

Born in Havana, in May 1925, she debuted with the outstanding musician and composer Obdulio Morales, marking a milestone in the history of Cuban cabaret, from the 1950s until just a few years ago.