Merceditas Valdés

Mercedes Valdés Granit (September 24, 1922 – June 13, 1996), better known as Merceditas Valdés, was a Cuban singer who specialized in Afro-Cuban traditional music. Under the aegis of ethnomusicologists Fernando Ortiz and Obdulio Morales, Valdés helped popularize Afro-Cuban music throughout Latin America. In 1949, she became one of the first female Santería singers to be recorded. Her debut album was released at the start of the 1960s, when the Cuban government nationalized the record industry. She then went on hiatus before making a comeback in the 1980s with a series of albums entitled Aché, in collaboration with artists such as Frank Emilio Flynn and rumba ensemble Yoruba Andabo. She also appeared in Jane Bunnett's Spirits of Havana and continued performing until her death in 1996.

Life and career Early life Valdés was born in Cayo Hueso, Centro Habana, on September 24 (Día de las Mercedes), 1922. Her father was Ángel Valdés, known as Angelito "El Dichoso" (The Lucky One), a musician in Ignacio Piñeiro's influential rumba ensemble Los Roncos. Unlike her mother, her father did not want his daughter to become a musician, so Merceditas started her career as a nun in the black congregation Hermanas Oblatas de la Providencia. She then joined the orchestra of pianist and musicologist Obdulio Morales thanks to his sisters, who lived with Valdés at the congregation.

First recordings and rise to fame Valdés made her first recordings of Santería music in April 1949 for Victor. She sang in the same sessions as Evelia Collazo, another female akpwón and the mother of percussionist Julito Collazo. In 1951, Valdés sang in the Rapsodia negra show directed by Enrique González Mántici at the CMQ radio station. In Cuba, she became the star of the Zun Zun Danbaé show at the Cabaret Sans Souci.

After the Cuban Revolution, the commercialization of Afro-Cuban music was restricted. Nonetheless, Valdés managed to make several recordings in the early 1960s before effectively halting her recording career. In 1959, she recorded her debut album, which comprised one side of secular Afro-Cuban music, recorded in collaboration with Los Bucaneros under the direction of Rafael Somavilla and Adolfo Guzmán, and one side of religious Santería music featuring Jesús Pérez and his group, Isupo Irawo (a new incarnation of the Coro Yoruba y Tambores Batá). The recordings were made at the former Panart studios and later released by Panart Nacionalizada when the label was taken over by the Cuban government. In 1960 and 1961, she recorded carnival music with Alberto Zayas for Impresora Cubana de Discos (ICD). In 1988, she toured Spain and Canada with Sergio Vitier's Grupo Oru. Her last album, Ache V, which had only been available in cassette format, was re-released in 1998 by Ralph Mercado under the title Merceditas Valdés with her Big Band - The Final Recordings.

Awards and honors 1996: UNESCO Picasso Medal and Diploma of Merit

Discography LPs 1954: Santero (Panart) – with others under the direction of Facundo Rivero 1960: Merceditas Valdés (Panart Nacionalizada) – with Los Bucaneros 1961: Carnaval 1960-61 (ICD) – with others under the direction of Carlos Ansa 1982: Aché (EGREM) 1988: Aché II (EGREM) 1989: Orishas: Aché III (EGREM) 1990: Cubanísimo (EGREM/Fonomusic) – with others under the direction of Andrés Alén and Ramón Huerta 1990: Aché IV (EGREM) – with Yoruba Andabo 1993: Aché V (EGREM) – with Yoruba Andabo

Singles & EPs 195x: Canto oriundo lucumí (1 & 2) (SMC) 1957: "Er día que nací yo" / "Ya me cansé" (Puchito) 1960: "Una pena" / "Vida, mi delirio es quererte" (Panart Nacionalizada) 1961: "A coger la guampara" (INC) 1961: "Ochún" / "Yemayá" (INC) 1964: Rezos yorubas (EGREM) 1964: "Invocación a Elegua y a Changó" / "Tasca-Tasca" (EGREM) 1964: "Muriéndome de risa" / "Devuélveme el coco" (EGREM)