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Artist
Merceditas Valdés
12+ albums
cubalatinfemale vocalistsvocalspanish
about
Merceditas Valdés (1928-1996) was a Cuban singer. Valdés was born in the Cayo Hueso neighborhood in Havana on 14th October 1928. When she was twelve years old, and without her parents´consent, she applied to compete in "The Supreme Court of Art" (a programme that launched the careers of many musicians); she sang two pieces: "Babalú", a theme popularised by Miguelito Valdés, and "La negra Mercé" by Ernesto Lecuona. She was granted an award, the first of many. Her career began with the singing of Yoruba religion prayers in amphitheatres and on radio stations. Her work on programmes for Radio Cadena Suaritos involved an orchestra was conducted by Obdulio Morales, composer, musical arranger and promoter of the Afro-Cuban liturgical music " together with a group of batá drums led by Trinidad Torregrosa, with Valdés as the main soloist. For the first time, the batá drums were broadcast by the radio, outside the temples, and many people even went to the radio station with the purpose of greeting Valdés at the end of the programme. Valdés, already a popular singer, experienced a decisive moment in her artistic career when she met Cuban ethnologist Don Fernando Ortiz. He asked her to work with him, explained to her the extent of his researches, and chose her to illustrate his conference presentations on the influence of African music in Cuba. That is how she began her specialisation process as the main singer in Santería religious ceremonies. At the end of the 1940s she recorded r
