Guadalupe Pineda

Guadalupe Pineda (Born February 23, 1955) is a Mexican singer, who has released 26 albums during her career covering various styles of music and selling more than 5 million copies.^[1] She primarily sings in Spanish but has also sung in French, Italian, English and Hebrew. She has been called the “Queen of Bolero” but has also sung ballads, mariachi, tango, ranchera and opera. She has performed all over Mexico and in various countries in Europe and the Americas.

Biography and career

Start

Pineda is originally from Guadalajara, Mexico. She began her singing career while studying sociology at UNAM in Mexico City, leaving school to pursue a singing career full-time.^[2][3] At first, she was paid only thirty pesos plus food per performance. She learned Hebrew and Yiddish from the owner of one of the clubs she sang at.^[3] She began two groups called La propuesta and Sanampay with whom she recorded two records. Shortly afterwards, she went solo.^[4]

For the next ten years, she mostly performed at universities, public plazas, and other such venues until her first major hit Yolanda (Te amo) in 1984 which sold 1.5 million copies in Mexico. This led to major venues in Mexico such as the Teatro de Bellas Artes, La Sala Nezahualcóyotl, the Auditorio Nacional, the Teatro de la Ciudad de México, the Teatro Degollado, the Teatro Juárez and the Festival Internacional Cervantino.^[4]

Appearances

Pineda has appeared all over Mexico and in various parts of the world, playing festivals, headlining her own tours and participating in other events. In Mexico, she appeared at the Festival International Cervantino, Palacio de Bellas Artes, the Auditorio Nacional, the Teatro Metropólitano, Teatro de la Ciudad "Esperanza Iris", Teatro Degollado and the Teatro Juárez.^[2][5] Other countries she has performed in include United States, Italy, Ireland, Spain, France, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela and Argentina.^[2][6] She has appeared in festivals and venues such as the Rimini Italia Festival (1987), El casino de Madrid, Spain (1989), MGM Grand Las Vegas (1996), Teatro de Bellas Artes in Puerto Rico (2003), Saint Germain des Prés Cultural Festival, La maison de L’Amerique Latine (2005), El Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires (2006), the New York Theater and UIC Pavilion in Chicago (2007), Festival Internacional del Mariachi at the Santa Barbara Bowl (2008), Harris Theater in Chicago, Du Rond Point Theater in Paris, and Notre Dame (2009) .^[4] The singer recently presented her daughter, Mariana Gurrola Pineda, on stage as a new talent singing with her in duet.^[7]

Recordings

Pineda has recorded 26 albums, the last eight of which she produced herself under the Inter-sound label, with distribution by Televisa-Emi.^[4][8] Her first album as an independent producer was Arias de Ópera.^[9] Her albums have sold in various parts of the world in countries such as Japan, the U.S., Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia as well as in various other countries in Latin America.^[4] She and/or her voice have appeared in movies such as Monjas coronadas by Mexican director Paul Leduc, Campanas rojas a joint Mexico/USSR production by Sergei Bondarchuk and La finestra di fronte from Italy directed by Ferzan Özpetek.^[2][4]

Awards

Pineda received her first gold record in 1990 for the album Costumbres.^[5] In 2002, she became the only Mexican to be included in a discography compiled by the Buddha Bar of France.(arcade) In 2007, she received an award at the Cannes Festival for her work in French and charity work for the poor, from the Europa-Africa Committee.^[10] In 2009, she became the first Mexican to received the Grand Prix Charles-Leopold Mayer Award for her album Francia con sabor Latino.^[4][9]

Artistry

Her voice is among the best-known in Mexico, with poet Alí Chumacero calling it “a voice of brilliant metal.”^[9] She has sung in various styles from bolero, tango, ranchero, ballads, meringue, jazz and opera.^[4][8] She has sung works by José Alfredo Jiménez, Agustín Lara, Violeta Parra, Pablo Milanés, Carlos Gardel, Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Johannes Brahms and Franz Schubert .^[4] She has been called the “Queen of Bolero” ^[5] with album Los tríos del siglo of various bolero classics such as Historia de un amor, Contigo, Sin ti, Rayito de Luna and Odiame.^[11] She has performed operatic arias such as those by Verdi, Saint-Saëns, Bizet, Donizetti and Puccini.^[2] The Enamorarse album is a tribute to the mariachi, filled with classics from that genre.^[12] A flor de piel pays homage to two Latin American singers, Olga Guillot and Mercedes Sosa, to whom she gave a tribute performance at the Lincoln Center in New York.^[7][8]

She has collaborated with Mireille Mathieu, Linda Ronstadt, Pablo Milanés, Rocío Dúrcal, Fernando de la Mora, Mercedes Sosa, Antonio Aguilar, Aída Cuevas, José Beltrán and Armando Manzanero.^[4][12] She has appeared with musical groups such as Los Tres Ases, Los Tres Reyes, and Los Dandys.^[11] In 2011, she sang with the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (OFUNAM), at the Sala Nezahualcóyotl in Mexico City.^[2]

She mostly sings in Spanish but has sung in other languages as well.^[4] She recorded the song Cómo Fue in Italian. She also recorded an album called Un mundo de arrullos of children’s songs in various languages such as Portuguese, French, Italian, Hebrew, Maya and Gaelic.^[9][13] Other albums have contains songs in other languages such as Corcovado in Portuguese on the Gracias a la Vida album and Over the Rainbow in English.^[9] In 2009, she recorded the French language album called Francia con sabor latino. The album originally was only going to be marketed in France, but it was sold in Mexico reaching number one in sales for a period of eight weeks in the country. Though not a native speaker, she has studied the language since childhood.^[6][13] She sang selections from the album at a gala in Los Pinos in honor of French president Nicolas Sarkozy who was present.^[6]

Discography

• En Bellas Artes, Vol. 2 (2013)
• En Bellas Artes, Vol. 1 (2013)
• A flor de piel (2011)
• Francia con sabor Latino (2009)
• La voz en vivo, Vol.2
• La voz en vivo, Vol 1
• Gracias a la vida
• Un mundo de arrullos
• Canciones de mi tierra
• Arias de ópera
• Con los tríos del siglo (2000)
• Vestida de besos (1998)
• Así como tú (1997)
• Enamorarse así (1994)
• De nuevo sola (1993)
• Costumbres (1991)
• Boleros de siempre (1990)
• Eclipse de mar
• Un canto a México
• Para comenzar…
• Solamente una vez
• Todo cambia (1980)
• Un poco más (1985)
• Te amo (1984)
• Guadalupe Pineda (1981)
• Guadalupe Pineda y Carlos Díaz “Caito”
• Coral Terrestre (Grupo Sanampay)
• Yo te nombro (Grupo Sanampay)

References