Cuban Gloria

Key West (Florida), Aug. 27 (AP): Gloria Estefan brought tears to the eyes of older Cuban-Americans who gathered to hear the first live performance of songs from her new album, 90 Millas.

Amid frenzied, unsubstantiated rumours that ailing Fidel Castro has died, Estefan performed Esperando (Cuando Cuba Sea Libre) — Waiting (For Cuba to be Free).

The title of her new album is Spanish for 90 miles (145 km) — the distance from Key West to Cuba. Her performance with the Miami Sound Machine was taped on Saturday at the Westin Key West Resort, just blocks from the famed concrete buoy proclaiming it the southernmost point in the continental US.

After the performance, Estefan recalled the seeds of her passion for Cuban music. “My grandmother would shanghai pilots at the Havana airport so they’d bring me cartons of mango baby food — the only kind I’d eat. I learned to eat peach later. And in every carton, she’d slip a Cuban record,” Estefan said.