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St. Cloud State University
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Briefly
Cuban music legend Celia Cruz dies
Published:
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Celia Cruz, the grande dame of Cuban music, the woman whose unmistakable voice resonated of the rhythm-rich island itself, died at 5 p.m. Wednesday in her Fort Lee, N.J. home after a battle with brain cancer. She was 77.
To Cubans on this side of the Florida Straits, her death is much more than the silencing of one of their homeland's greatest musical figures.
Celia was the very embodiment of a fabled, nostalgia-hued Cuba, an icon in nine-inch heels and sky-high wigs whose heart always beat to the sway of those long-lost palm trees. Her death represents the shattered hopes of every abuelo and abuela who prayed they'd live long enough to see the end of Fidel Castro.
