Grazie, Gracias, Thank You… a Momentary Ciao to Lucía Altieri

“I still don't know what made me fall in love with Cuba, there were difficulties from the first moment... I had to do everything here, but, I learned and it was very stimulating to be able to develop and face the public by myself; "here I’ve found a Lucía not created by the media," said the Italian singer and actress Lucía Altieri, who has lived in Cuba for 45 years, during the presentation of her album Thanks, signed by the Musical Recordings and Editions Company (EGREM) and with which she bids an artistic farewell to the stage after a beautiful career spanning for six decades.

From her house gardens – in the presence of friends, cultural directors and representatives of the Italian Embassy in Cuba – with nostalgia on her face, perhaps with tears inside her that she did not want to let see, the tireless artist promoter of Cuban-Italian culture, she said goodbye to the stage, but not to her adopted homeland where she found love in all its extension: filial, that of the intimate nest and that of a people that will love her forever and whom she brought her work as a vocalist and tireless promoter of the culture of both nations.

“I wanted to retire little by little, convince myself of that,” she confessed. Then she added: “I wanted to help Cuba, I did a lot for it, this people have given me courage; I’m proud to have opened the door of Italy to Cuban culture, I felt more fulfilled being a promoter of Cuban music than being a singer.” At the cost of this altruistic work, she relegated her presence on stage and her record production, but, not sorry, she revealed that she fell in love with the culture and people of this country, especially, with the Cuban woman, “so feisty”, as she expressed.

She remembered two great artists of the Cuban music who helped her in her beginnings in Cuba: the musician, composer, and arranger Enrique Jorrín and the pianist, composer, and also arranger Adolfo Guzmán, “they believed a lot in me and taught me many things”, she declared.

Talking about the album, the artist expresses: “The public is the crown of an artist, they are the ones who in the end decide for your career and, to them, I owe everything I was and everything I will be forever, thank you my public, once and for all. Thank you a thousand times for your huge support, I will always be grateful to you.” She especially dedicates this volume to her son.

Thanks was born from an almost archaeological search of everything that Altieri has recorded in her life, mainly in her native country. The idea came from singer René Luis Venero Martínez, known artistically as Laronte; we know that no one better than him could have thought about it. It was thought in the midst of Covid-19, a time that made the world reflect. Laronte, also the CD producer, discovered that Lucía had the original matrices of more than 200 analog recordings – some of them with original songs and accompaniment by important musicians – now digitized and remastered.

A total of nine songs make up this album, eight in Italian and one in Spanish – Uno entre mil, authored by Roberto Fia and arranged by Laronte himself –, the latter performed as a duet by Lucía and Laronte. “Here you are going to find a Lucía we never imagined, there are 6 more albums prepared,” she said. She commented that the title of the album was suggested by Altieri and that there will be other surprises, “there are 10 more unreleased songs with Lucía's current voice, recorded two years ago, I convinced her to record,” he said.

Prior to this new phonogram, the vocalist gave the Cuban public and the world the CD La mulata callejera, also produced by EGREM and in which her work of cultural promotion stands out by “accentuating the ties between Cuba and Italy… she has done Cuban music her own and has included in her musical work, especially with the aim of defending his Italian roots, but with the Cuban flag held high,” said musicologist Heidi González.

Fernando León Jacomino, vice minister of culture, highlighted Lucía's courage in betting on Cuba and at the times she did it, in addition to her cultural management in our country, "it’s what moves me the most, a person who had everything and comes here, that holds an extraordinary value… what she did for this country and its music feels important,” he said.

Meanwhile, Reinier Rodríguez, general manager of EGREM, thanked her for this important compendium of songs that are released with the oldest recording house in the country, "EGREM and Cuba thank her for this first release of 2024," he said. Heidi put in just a few words the feeling of the record company with this production and the figure of Lucía, whom they thank for legitimizing, trusting and placing them as a company as a proactive agent in the promotion of the best of music in Cuba, despite the turbulent moments the country is experiencing.

The audiovisual producer Lissette Vila, an unconditional friend of Lucía, dedicated words of praise to her, “Lucía is an Olympic winner jumping obstacles… the most important thing has been her virtue, she has gone through all this with pride, honor, and dignity,” she finished.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff