It would seem she was always at the summits: prima ballerina, prima singer and prima actress of the National Folkloric Ensemble, and one of its founders; called by critics “the most complete folklorist of Cuba” and “one of the most all-round Cuban artists”; known as the Ayagba (which in the Yoruba language means The Queen). And also National Dance Prize winner in 2005 and Artist of Merit of the UNEAC.
But Zenaida Armenteros, who passed away last Sunday in the capital, at 94 years of age, came from the humblest of origins. She was born in 1931 in the Carraguao neighbourhood, into a working-class family; and it was precisely from that popular starting point that her greatest riches came: in the public school the teachers taught her to love Martí and Maceo; and from life in El Cerro came the discovery of the passion and talent for singing and dancing.
Many years later she would say: “Dancing is part of my life, and I have so many experiences of all these African traditions since I was a child, that gives me strength to interpret all the orishas”.
The times of her early youth were not easy for making a living from art, but Zenaida sought paths in radio, television, cinema and cabaret; and without ever going to a music school she laid the foundations of an exquisite professionalism, which blossomed with the creation of the Folklórico, and the lessons of Rogelio Martínez Furé, Rodolfo Reyes and Ramiro Guerra. Because she not only had aptitudes, but the memory of the people within herself.
As Pedro de la Hoz pointed out in these very pages, from the first performances of the Ensemble, Zenaida sang and danced the Yoruba and Congo cycles, the comparsas and popular dances, and brought to light guarachas and habaneras, sones and criollas. “She understood and projected to the full what Ramiro Guerra called the theatricalisation of folklore in works like Alafín de Oyó and Palenque, in which she articulated her knowledge and multiple talents to become one of the icons of popular culture taken to the stage, applauded in more than 50 countries across all continents.”
Not in vain, upon learning the news of her death, diverse personalities and institutions have conveyed their sorrow; among them the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who lamented “profoundly the passing of one of the greatest exponents of Cuban folklore.”
Besides her energy on stage, her records, the films, Zenaida was a dedicated teacher, who was very concerned that traditions be cared for, because “there are places where they are deforming the songs and the melodic lines, and we have to fight so that this does not happen.” Then, she called for studying and preserving: “The richness of African culture is very great and very important for us.” Towards this end she watched over in the company to which she dedicated a good part of her life, and in the workshops and courses she taught.
And there, distinguished, honoured, awarded, at all the summits that the young girl who dreamed of being an artist could one day yearn for, she continued to find in her roots all the impetus: “I feel an immense love for my people. To them, I owe my successes.” Behind her, a path has been cleared: the Ayagba will continue to reign.
