Juana Bacallao died in Havana at the age of 98

The charismatic Cuban artist Juana Bacallao died this Saturday at the age of 98 in a hospital in Havana, where she had been hospitalized for days, the Ministry of Culture reported.

N’s skilleris Amelia Martínez Salazar (Havana, 1925), artistically also known as Juana la Cubana or Juana de Cuba, was discovered by musician Obdulio Morales in the late 1940s when she sang a tune while cleaning the stairs of the house where she was an employee. .

From there, he consolidated a career spanning more than seven decades with the characteristic lightness and humor he displayed in cabarets, on television and in the theater.

The popular Cuban showwoman came to grow up with the greats of Cuban music such as Benny Moré, composers Bola de Nieve and Meme Solís, singers Rita Montaner, Celia Cruz, Celeste Mendoza, Omara Portuondo, Elena Burque and Celia Cruz and foreigners such as the American Nat King Cole .

Since the end of 2019, Juana has moved away from her usual night performances, and the appearance of the coronavirus pandemic on the island the following year also marked the definitive farewell of the “Black Goddess” from the dance floors of Havana’s cabarets, given her advanced age.

In 2020, he received the National Humor Award in recognition of his contribution to Cuban humor with his iconic style of singing songs, accompanied by his special gestures and eccentric clothes, with sequins, wigs, gloves, hats and a lot of makeup.