Juana Bacallao

Neris Amelia Martínez Salazar, better known as Juana Bacallao, is a Cuban singer, musician, cabaret actress and popular character who was born on May 26, 1925 in the Havana neighborhood of Key West.

Orphaned at the age of six, she was placed in a nun's school run by the Oblate Sisters, where she learned to play the piano. He also played tumbadoras. She was discovered by  Obdulio Morales, Cuban conductor, orchestra composer and musician, who heard her sing while cleaning the stairs of the place where she worked as a domestic. The musician offered to give her some tests and thus Juana's luck changed. Her debut was at the Teatro Martí with Obdulio, who composed the guaracha Yo soy Juana Bacallao for her, the name with which she was baptized forever.

Juana shared the stage with the most valuable and shining of her time, Rita Montaner, who she says was a close friend, Meme Solís, Moraima Secada, Celeste Mendoza, Nat King Cole, Bola de Nieve, Ninon Sevilla, Cantinflas, Rosita Fornés, Omara Portuondo, Rafael Carrá, Benny Moré, Chano Pozo or Elena Burque. His artistic life in Cuba was relegated to Havana nights in the main cabarets: Sans Sousi, Tropicana, Copa Room del Riviera, Parisien del Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Salón Rojo del Capri, Caribe del Hotel Habana Libre, Bar Alí and Palermo.

Internationally, it was presented in the United States, France, Mexico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Spain and at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, where it had three successful performances.

Bacallao developed his long career away from television, radio or the great theater shows that never wanted to broadcast his work even years after the triumph of the revolution because they considered it vulgar and inappropriate. Displaced to nightclubs, popular festivals, provincial carnivals and bar shows, Juana began carving out her own style on stage where she did and did not follow any acting rules, accompanied by a unique, exaggerated costume and grotesque makeup. She forgot or changed the lyrics on stage, she improvised, she spoke to the audience openly and without fear of inappropriate comments, she did not master the dance nor did she have a great voice, but her authenticity made her become one of the most beloved and recognized popular characters on stage. all the Cubans who applauded and waited for her at each presentation.

In June 2015 he reunited with colleagues in Miami. There he attended the show hosted by presenter Carlos Otero, TN3, from América TeVé, sharing the stage with Angel García (Antolín el Pichón and La Pia) and Boncó Quiñongo.

In November 2018, actor Will Smith, who was visiting Cuba, performed with Bacallao, the Cimafunk band and Kelvis Ochoa at the Fábrica del Arte Cubano.

In 2018, at the age of 93, he joined the Cuban music project "Tradicionales de los 50". who performed at the Rosalía de Castro Society where he continued to perform his legendary songs such as Mata Siguaraya or Yo Soy Juana Bacallao.

In July 2019, the popular Cuban singer Cimafunk premiered the video clip for his song Ponte pa' lo tú in which he included Juana Bacallao, El Tosco and Roberto Carcassés.

He has received the Distinction for National Culture, the "Alejo Carpentier" Medal and a Gold Record in Canada.