Vida

At 92, Portuondo is now older than Compay Segundo was when the original Buena Vista Social Club album was recorded in Havana in 1996. Portuondo's contributions to that record revealed an elegant diva in her mid-sixties whom one assumed was enjoying a last hurrah before a well-earned retirement. That she is still singing adds a new and remarkable chapter to an already extraordinary story. On Vida she duets gracefully with some of the biggest names in Latin music and beyond. Guatemala's Gaby Moreno is everywhere, singing on ‘Bolero a la Vida’ and arranging other tracks. With Puerto Rican salsa star Andy Montañez, Portuondo reprises ‘Silencio’, which she once sang with Ibrahim Ferrer at Carnegie Hall. Spain's Raphael lends his rich baritone to ‘Lo Que Me Queda Por Vivir’ and pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba accompanies on the semi-classical ‘Duele’. Rubén Blades makes a wonderfully romantic foil on ‘Honrar La Vida’ and ‘Como La Cigarra’, and a lilting duet with Peru's Susana Baca is another highlight. If her voice has lost a little lustre over the years, Portuondo more than makes up for it with a grande dame ripeness and character that is near miraculous.