Olga Guillot and the fine art of the popular song

Latin Beat Magazine, August, 2004 by Francisco J. Ojeda

Exile and New Triumphs (1961 to 1982)

Unlike most Cuban artists that went into exile during the convulsive period that began in 1959, Olga Guillot continued enjoying great commercial success uninterruptedly, something she owed mainly to the great relationship that for years she had nurtured with the Mexican public. After leaving Cuba came a brief stay in Caracas, Venezuela, and definitive settling in the Mexican capital, where she immediately began recording with the Musart label with the accompaniment of orchestras led by musicians such as Josè Sabre Marroquín, Juan Bruno Tarraza, Cuco Valtierra, Jorge Ortega, Alejandro Sosa, Nacho Rosales, and Jorge Ortega. With Mexico City as her new homebase, Guillot continued traveling throughout the Americas, Asia and Europe, and receiving the honors due to a living legend of the Latin American popular song.

In October 1964, Olga Guillot became the first Spanish speaking popular artist to give a solo concert on the stage of New York's Carnegie Hall, and during the years that followed she continued recording, making personal appearances all over the world (in the company of stars such as Frank Sinatra, Miguelito Valdés, El Trio Los Panchos, and many others) and receiving important recognitions such as Hollywood's Golden Palm Award; The Heroe's Award, given by the group Founders of the Recording Academy (the association that also gives the famous Grammy awards); and the Smithsonian Centennial Medal, awarded by The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Semi-retirement (1982 to the present)

In the late 1970s, Olga Guillot began to purposely slow down what for years had been a hectic and tolling artistic schedule. Her recordings became fewer and her personal appearances were carefully chosen and less frequent. In November, 1982, at a memorable recital at Carnegie Hall that included Performances by composer and pianist Julio Gutiérrez, saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera, composer Titi Soto, and the group Miami Sound Machine, Olga Guillot made public her decision to go into what she called "semi-retirement."

Since then, Olga Guillot's semi-retirement has allowed the singer to continue making occasional appearances in various cities around the world and even go back into the studios, which she did in 2000 for a set of recordings that were subsequently released in CD form under the title of Faltaba Yo and included the work of musicians such as Arturo Sandoval and the venerable Cachao. Today, several decades past her period of artistic prime, Olga Guillot continues to represent the highest order of artistic integrity at the same time that her legacy signifies the loftiest peak of musical achievement in its class.

Post Data

The true stature of an artist--as we said before--is appreciable only when the passage of time allows for proper focusing by creating sufficient distance between the critical lens and the artist's legacy. Any categorization made without the benefits of the clear view that only time provides, runs the risk of eventually showing itself as having been premature and short-sighted. What at one moment appears to be great artistic worth may only be a temporary mirage produced by effective marketing or the whimsical results of a fabricated fad. Only the passage of time and the comings and goings of diverse stylistic Currents can provide the basis for a true measuring of artistic stature. Fifty-nine years after making her first recordings, listening once again to the great discography left for us to enjoy and appraise, and detecting the influence of her style on several generations of popular vocalists, it is very safe to say that Olga Guillot is a true artist indeed.