Az'ucar!... A Knight's delight...

By Julio C. Zangroniz

Pedro Knight went to Washington DC last week -and he saw and conquered... a throng of newspeople, photographers, Smithsonian Museum staff and others who were just plain curious... at "Az'ucar, The Life and Music of Celia Cruz."

Only a few hours he arrived in the nation's capital, Knight enjoyed a very special preview tour of "Azucar!" which features the legendary performer’s memorabilia spanning nearly six decades of her life, ranging from her very beginnings in her native Cuba until the time of the Queen of Salsa's death in 2003.

With his voice trembling with great emotion , Knight declared in Spanish to an audience numbering close to 100: "This is a very, very great moment for me. I was married to her 42 years, and would love to have another 42. I would like never to be apart from her." He would reiterate the thought again and again throughout the special preview tour for the local and world press.

Asked what item or items on exhibit he liked the most, he replied: "All of it. She will never be away from me. She is present here, she is with me 24 hours a day, and I will always be near her."

With nearly a dozen television cameras whirring away, taping his every move, and dozens of still cameras and electronic flashes clicking madly in sometimes vain efforts to capture the gray-headed man's every emotion, Knight smiled brightly as the room erupted in applause. Some family members and at least one representative of the Celia Cruz Foundation helped the somewhat weakened Knight return to his seat. Shortly afterwards, the press corps left the room to get its first glimpses of "Azucar!"

Earlier, Brent D. Glass, Director of the National Museum of American History, opened the proceedings by observing that over three million visitors come to the Smithsonian Institution each year, where they have the opportunity to explore the American Dream.

Larry Small, Secretary of the Smithsonian, recalled that Celia Cruz performed before an audience of about 45,000 during a previous visit to the museum. "Celia is a quintessentially American story," he declared.

Glass concurred, reflecting that many of the great aspects of the American Dream are commonly expressed in music throughout this museum, from the "Star Spangled Banner" to civil rights songs to the Andrew Sisters in performance in the recently-opened exhibit about the America military, "The Price of Freedom."

"We have a very rich foundation on which to build," said Glass, who made special note of the fact that the Celia Cruz exhibit contains musical instruments from many individuals who performed with the singer, such as the trumpet used by her husband, Pedro Knight when the two met in the 1940s, as well as other instruments from Latin music greats like Tito Puente, Johnny Pacheco, Willie Colon and Ray Barreto.

Glass then introduced Marvette Perez, Curator of Latino History for the Smithsonian, who explained that the Azucar! exhibit "celebrates the life of one of the most extraordinary human beings… she had immense passion for what she did. When she sang it was as if the Earth opened its mouth to sing… an amazing singer."

Perez recalled that Celia Cruz "was already famous when she came to this country… (but) she exploded in the sixties and the seventies. I am very honored to have been able to do this. I know she’s here with us."

Omer Pardillo-Cid, vicepresident of the Celia Cruz Foundation, recalled that the singer broke many barriers after she left her native Cuba in the early 1960s. He relished the thought that in other countries such as Peru, Colombia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and many others, the locals consider her "one of their own," as do Cubans both in exile and on the island, where her music continues to be banned by the totalitarian regime, though appreciation for her talent and her dozens of recordings continue to grow among the general population.

A small area of the Smithsonian exhibit was quickly arranged to serve as an impromptu news studio, and the cameras, both from television and print media once again engulfed Knight, who sat on a small stool and continued to speak in Spanish.

What would Celia have said about all this? one of the newspeople asked him. "She would have been very happy and very proud about it. (The exhibit) is something tremendous for her. I am very happy to see everything they have here, and all the people that have come today," Knight replied.

I asked Knight if he would like this exhibit to eventually travel to Havana and other cities in Cuba. "I would like it to go all over the world," he declared emphatically. And he added, perhaps in reference to the lack of official recognition about Celia Cruz’ body of work by the Cuban dictatorship and even her death in 2003: "They couldn’t remember her the way she deserved to be remembered."

What should the legacy of Celia be? someone else inquired. "I believe that each of us should remember her with the same love that she showed all the people of the whole world," Knight said. "I wish everyone remembers her forever," he concluded.

And once again, family and friends gently guided Knight around the exhibit, to the delight of the swarm of cameramen who nearly encircled him and photographed his every move as he looked at glass case after glass case yet one more time.

In addition to some of Celia Cruz’ most beautiful gowns, or "batas," including one that looks like the Cuban flag and the blue and white dress and wig that she performed in during the Latin Grammy Award Ceremonies in 2002, there are huge photographic murals that show the singer in action, wearing many of those very gowns.

Many videos, some made especially for this exhibit by award-winner film producer and director Joe Cardona, liven up the galleries. One is a special 12-minute documentary that features original footageand interviews with musicians, family members, producers, music critics and friends.

There are also many pairs of shoes on display, as are musical instruments, movie posters and album covers. One enormous case contains a re-created "tocador," or, as a sign puts it: "The Dressing Room –a Transforming Place." The arrangement shows not only the cosmetics and implements that the singer used to prepare herself to go before the cameras or the public, but also how she "personalized" her space by always bringing along with her such items as devotional figures like our lady of Monserrat, Our Lady of Regla, Saint Lazarus, Saint Barbara, la Caridad del Cobre and many others, as well as her own coffee cups and elegant wine glasses for her and for husband Knight.

One of the panels illustrates Celia Cruz on the day of her final departure from Cuba. She is traveling with the Sonora Matancera, and the group is being received at an airport by Panamanian musician Arturo "Chino" Hassan. Celia would never return to her native land, unhappy with the political tragedy already developing there.

Nearby, another display case contains some documents from Cuba, including one issued on December 4, 1961 by Rafael Elejalde Mora of the Ministry of the Interior. In it, the document states: "…no se han encontrado antecedentes que perjudiquen la moral y la buena conducta…" (roughly translated, we haven’t found anything that goes against good ethics and good conduct) on the part of Celia Cruz y Alfonso, then a youthful 36 year old artist.

One of the largest display cases holds yet another beautiful, glimmering gown, surrounded by the timbales of Tito Puente (who appears in a photo with Celia), Johnny Pacheco’s flute, Willie Colon’s trombone and Ray Barreto’s congas. Nearby, there’s another photograph of Celia and a very youthful Tito Puente, long before he had grown his trademark mustache.

The free exhibit, at the Museum of American History, opened to the public on Wednesday, May 18 and it is expected to remain in Washington DC until the end of October. After that, the Smithsonian plans to take the exhibit on a national tour expected to include cities like Miami, New York and a few others. Specific times and locations are still to be determined.

To see more of the exhibit via the Internet, log onto Azucar. The Life and Music of Celia Cruz.

Posted by Val Prieto at May 22, 2005 03:38 PM

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