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One of those nights, cherished by me, I met her in person at the Gato Tuerto café-concert in Havana. Her voice was too much for such a small venue. I began to think the roof would come down. I was amazed by that impressive display of talent and vocal prowess. I approached her, congratulated her, and we talked about Celia Cruz. And here, today, the "Daughter of the Buena Vista Social Club" or as they named her in Puerto Rico, the “Queen of bolero and continental son,” Osdalgia Lesmes answers my questions for CiberCuba.
Osdalgia, welcome, my friend! Let’s revisit some of that conversation from so many years ago: Celia Cruz, an essential figure in Cuban culture. Do you think she has influenced your career?
It is a pleasure to talk to you once again! You know, in my artistic career and my learning about Cuban music, I have been influenced by many singers, musicians, and composers; each of them has gifted me something. It has been a true artistic rainbow, and within that rainbow is Celia Cruz.
Since my debut as a singer in 1992, one of the personalities I study is Celia Cruz, although it has also been very important for me to study La Lupe, Elena Burke, Omara Portuondo, Benny Moré; and I include the music of Puerto Ricans, the music of Cubans based in Miami, Gloria Estefan, for example.
I always say that for me, it would have been spectacular to be born in those prodigious years of Cuban music, the 50s and 60s, because Cuban music is incredibly vibrant. When you start to study it, you realize it's a rhythmic garden that has contributed immensely to all of Latin America and the world. And of course, our great Celia Cruz is one of those essential flowers in the Cuban musical garden.
I know you are in the "Motherland" and that you will be doing a concert soon. What do you say?
Yes, I am in Spain, a country that I love, where I have some of my ancestry. And now I am developing a promotional tour across the peninsula, precisely so that those who have seen me before can see me again and those who haven't can get to know me. Above all, I want to learn from the audience I meet at each of the concerts I will be giving.
The next one will be on Sunday, April 19, at “El Elefante Blanco” in Madrid. "De tardeo," as they say here. It will be a very important concert within the tour and in a city that I adore. It’s been many years since I last performed in Madrid. I will be accompanied by excellent Cuban musicians who live here. I have high hopes for this concert; I want them to get to know me and the musical maturity I have achieved.
And then?
Well, I will continue promoting my music, my recent discography, in Valencia, Alicante, Xátiva, Tarragona... I am doing a fairly simple tour, but with steady steps. I want the audience to take home a beautiful memory forever when the lights go out.
And if the audience bids farewell with smiles, warmth, and excitement, I feel peace, immense pleasure, and joy. The audience changes over the years. They are no longer the same ones who saw me here in Spain before. Moreover, Cuban musical trends have expanded. For this reason, I am looking forward to it, but above all, I am happy to be able to share my art with this lovely audience.
For me, all I need to sleep happily is the intensity of the interaction and the connection between those attending my concerts and myself. And, of course, with the musicians who accompany me. My family understands that: my son, who is the one I have closest every day; my mother, my brother, my nephews... my family in general understands it.
I adore tranquility, the special silence of the city, the simplicity of listening to the birds singing and watching the sun coming through my doors and windows, the joy of creating. And above all, being in harmony with my family, friends, and loved ones. Feeling the flow of prosperity with my faith, my projects, and my people. That is true happiness.
When you look back on your childhood in Jesús María and Belén, what family memory do you feel still resonates in your voice every time you step onto a stage?
I have Jesús María and Belén in my veins. In my heart, the essence of the suburbs. I lived at Revillagigedo 165, between Gloria and Misión, in a lot.
My childhood was spent there, and I absorbed its culture, learning about its traditions. The fervor of spontaneous music happening at the street corners, with a can and a stick, making rumba and congas. I loved it! I wasn't aware of the Cuban clave; however, I danced to it, sang it, and enjoyed it.
The first concert I attended was when I was four years old. I watched it from a window, and the singer was Barbarito Diez. It left a lasting impression on me, and from that moment on, I fell in love with music and live concerts.
From my family, my aunt Luisa María Lesmes, an artist of vernacular musical theater, singer, and actress, has always supported me. Also, my grandparents, my parents... I am the result of a familial ajiaco of races: African and Haitian blacks, whites from Spain and France, Chinese... and this has nurtured my inner musical and cultural rhythm.
And another of the most important conditions of my life, which has shaped my path, is that I am a mother. I have a beloved son. His name is Joia and he is 22 years old.
Your voice flows effortlessly from guaracha to the most intimate filin. How do you define the timbral architecture of your vocal instrument within the canon of Cuban popular music?
My timbral architecture? Well, I am a mezzo-soprano, although some people say I am a spinto soprano, hehehe! I have a wide range. And I enjoy, let's put it in good Cuban terms, playing with every musical note and phoneme that I interpret.
And I believe that's where the richness of what I do lies... I sing guaracha, filin, son, salsa, bolero, afro, cha cha chá, mambo, rumba... well, all of Cuban music, and I do it with love, with joy, and fully aware of the importance of every note and every lyric. For example, I sing rumba infrequently due to opportunities, but it is one of the Cuban rhythms that resonates with me the most.
I adore its triad—guaguancó, yambú, columbia—its special accent, the playfulness of the clave with the syncopation, the swagger and sensuality it exudes, the double meanings of its expressions and dances... the complex and undeniable Cuban essence it carries. I love it! But at the same time that I immerse myself in its flavor, I take it seriously, paying attention to the melody and improvisations.
I study each song I am going to perform. This enriches me. I am a songwriter, and in my creations, I tell my life through my joys and disillusionments. When the song is by another author, I seek the context in which it was written and try to understand the emotional why of the song. I then attempt to incorporate what I discover into myself and present it to the audience as a character shaped by the moment, the place, and the emotional connection. Then, thanks to God, my vocal instrument assists me, and what is so beloved emerges.
It is important for you to know that I did not study music, I studied Performing Arts. Therefore, I cannot define myself musically with technical terms. I simply believe that I am a singer who enjoys every musical note, and when it becomes difficult for me, I seek technique, support, and emotion in theatrical interpretation, trusting in the memory of sound acquired through my experience of over 30 years in studies and concerts.
Indeed, you come from an academic background in performing arts. How do character development and acting techniques influence your phrasing, breathing, and handling of musical subtext?
Indeed, as I mentioned, I studied Performing Arts. I am an actress and a teacher, and I firmly believe that this has been the key to the kind of artist I am.
The theater is the ideal training, not only for actors, artistic directors, and playwrights... singers should also study performing arts! It provides you with interpretive breadth, knowledge on how to create a story with each song, and self-awareness.
Look, for example, I build the character based on what I want to convey to the audience at that moment; I don't just sing the genre, but I turn the moment into a personal anecdote with a message, depending on the circumstances in which I find myself in front of that audience and in my emotional and sentimental state.
So, that's when it comes out how I want to phrase things, how I want to breathe, how I wish to engage in dialogue. Breathing has a lot to do with emotion, with what I want to show, the type of feeling I want people to experience while I sing. For example, in the filin genre, I manipulate my voice between intonation and whispering, sometimes almost speaking... more than singing, it's a performance. That's filin done with feeling.
Your repertoire converses with both tradition and contemporaneity. How do you balance the legacy of figures like Elena Burke or César Portillo de la Luz with your own distinctive vocal imprint?
I am a woman of today; I always try to surround myself with and listen to young people, those who are being born and growing up around me. For example, with my son or new friends who are much younger than I am. This is how I try to grasp contemporary life, even though I may not always fully understand it.
In unison, I uphold the tradition; I really enjoy Cuban music since the time it was created, and I like to maintain the authentic Cuban identity.
How could I forget when I met Elena Burke? Since you mentioned “Gato Tuerto,” that's where I met her. When I started performing on that stage (on Fridays), César Portido de la Luz was the first to sing. Unforgettable! At 11 o'clock at night, guitar in hand and interpretive magic.
Then, at half past midnight, our Lady Sentimiento, Elena Burke, with her vocal and interpretive splendor. And then, at half past one in the morning… me! Osdalgia, behind those giants, wrapping up the night. I even sang until four in the morning sometimes!!! And there were times I finished at six in the morning surrounded by an audience of bohemians who refused to let me go. Haha!
It was a magical time: singing, expressing, creating; I wish I could build another "Gato Tuerto." You know? I cherish the memory of Elena listening to my outpouring, the words she dedicated to me, the advice that has meant so much to me. A magical time with César Portillo de la Luz, from which I have funny anecdotes, and others that are quite overwhelming...
Do you have any memory of those "monsters" that you haven't forgotten?
A few, what do you want me to say? Look, Julita, one night, Elena took a watch off her wrist, and before I went on stage, she said to me solemnly, “Osdalgia, take off the watch you’re wearing!” and of course, I did. She put hers on me, a beautiful, delicate, elegant, unique watch: “When I die, I want you to wear that watch.”
I can't express what that gesture meant. More than an object, it is history. I always ask for glory for our Elena Burke.
And what about Portillo? When we inaugurated the "Diablo Tún Tún" in Miramar, Havana, I sang his “Son al Son” at Portillo's request. When I finished, he applauded me, came closer, and held my hands. I was apprehensive about the "sergeant with the bad face," but with a smile, he leaned in and said in my ear, "This song is for you."
Nobody doubts your broad musical spectrum, where Afro-Cuban rhythms blend with influences from rock, traditional and nueva trova, and feeling, but I believe that Osdalgia is synonymous with a jam session.
Julita, I am already writing my second book. The first one, Osdalgia, the songs I download, is being sold online on various platforms: Ruth Tienda Casa Editorial, Casadellibro.com, Book Beat, Amazon.com, and Apple Books. In that book, I write about the influences that gave me the opportunity to learn what the concept of descarga is, related to filin and other traditional Cuban genres.
I describe how a "descarga" is done the Cuban way, what you should know about it, and how the repertoire should be arranged with the accompanying guitarist or pianist. I also wrote about the years I spent working at the café concert Gato Tuerto. I remember that night when we met and you congratulated me on my "descarga."
The performance, whether it lasts an hour or four, is not a concert. It is a flood of feelings and emotions accompanied by harmonies, controversial, sometimes dissonant, suspended in improvisation... and that is what I love.
It also depends on the audience in front of you, the atmosphere you encounter or create in the setting. Indeed, in a performance, there is no fixed repertoire because, as the name suggests, you are expressing emotions through each note, each lyric, and each way of saying or singing.
Tell me about your albums.
I have several albums available on Spotify: from my first album La Culebra to the more recent ones La Cumbanchera and Mi voz al piano; the latter two represent two different sounds in the same era. One features dance music with orchestral and ensemble arrangements, while the other is an intimate, heartfelt album. Both include songs of my own composition. I invite you to discover them.
Projects, in addition to the concerts...
I am someone who loves to read, write, learn, and create, and right now I am working on several projects: one in collaboration with La PlaSita Centro Cultural Reus/Cuba, in Tarragona.
Another music album of bolero jazz, featuring Cuban and American musicians. And a new book is on the way.
In addition, I have two scripts for music programs for Cuban television, and the fifth edition of the Bohemia Mía Filin Festival, waiting for the right moment to produce them.
The goal is to spend as much time as possible creating and to do it well. To set my mind to it and work hard on the paths that will lead me to achieve it. That is where the triumph will be!
And the thing is, I'm always in walking mode.
As I bid farewell to Osdalgia Lesmes, something lingers in the air beyond words: a vibration, a certainty, an emotional imprint that is difficult to describe. Her art is not just music; it is living memory, it is root and flight, it is a bridge between generations.
From the mulata who was born in a cradle of stories that resonate softly in the heart of Havana, a voice emerges that does not impose itself: it settles. She came for acting, but found in song her greatest destiny: a mezzo-soprano with profound nuances, she wove her art as someone who understands the value of silence between the notes, allowing each phrase to breathe in an intimate tempo, almost an andante of the soul.
Composer, producer, and artistic director, she does not simply interpret genres: she embodies them. She is referred to as the daughter of an immense tradition, yet she chooses to be a bridge between what was and what still quivers on the brink of birth, and in this generous and authentic way, she always affirms: "I am always in andante mode".
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