Search - Doris De La Torre :: Music Original De Cuba

Icy hot Doris

Joe Marr Tee | 06/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Whereas Olga Guillot was tremulous passion and Elena Burke the fountain of life, Doris de la Torre was the cool, icy, philosophical part of this trilogy that those in the know call the best of Cuban singers of the second half of the XX century... and who knows even the whole century!

Brainy, musical, intelligent, absolutely capable of catching, stirring and keeping in the palm of her hand an entire audience while slowly walking up and down the stairs of the intimate Bellas Artes little theater (I was there!), Doris is unparalleled in "En la imaginacion" y "Envenename los labios", classics composed by Marta Valdes that carried all the alienation of the 1950's. By the way, nobody else has ever recorded the latter, a beautifully eerie song that only lasts a few seconds.

Coming from the Felipe Dulzaides group, in which she was the main vocalist and where she played instruments like the vibraphone, Doris -who also played the guitar- didn't hesitate at all if she had to play the tumbadora while singing a difficult song like "Yo tengo un pecado nuevo", as I saw her in a TV show at the peak of her talent. What could be more beautifully adventurous for a singer?

Also, she was one of our very few who could do well songs in English, French, Italian and Portuguese... and even Yiddish (Hebrew?).

Doris may be an acquired taste, but once you penetrate the cold mien and close your eyes her incredible power of communication will make you surrender, and you'll want more.

But, alas, this is the only cd (LP initially)she recorded back en the late 50's (or early 60's?). There are some tracks sung by her in several Dulzaides's cd's.

The instrumentations and arrangements have not, in general, resisted the passage of time. However, her voice, warm, sensous and charismatic survives fully. Also, her crisp diction makes her stand out.

Some people compare (and I don't know why) Elena Burke to Ella Fitzgerald. and if I were to follow that line, Doris would be our Carmen McRae.

Being details of her private life somewhat publicly known, the stupidly prissy, mentally underdeveloped and cruel Cuban regime censored her and never allowed her to record again, so there's no follow up in her career after this first and only LP. Later on, the so-called "revolutionaries" in their witch-hunt fenced her in and made her leave her country.

I don't think her talents were not appreciated in exile lands, above all because the Cuban music fad of the 90's hadn't started yet. Years later, she returned to the island to die in peace, I hope.

I truly miss her. Her kind blooms just once in a blue moon."