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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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♪

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Welcome.

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Welcome to the Avalon
in Hollywood.

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It is a privilege
to be here tonight

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to celebrate the life
of this extraordinary woman

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that I'm just so touched by...

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By her soul

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and her spirit

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and then, her story
just blew me away.

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She represents a generation.

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Perhaps our greatest generation
of Cubans.

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So without further ado,
I would like to introduce

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the members of
Angela Alvarez's Orchestra.

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Let's meet the band.

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♪

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♪

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Ladies and gentlemen,
please join me

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in finally making a teenage
girl's dreams come true

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and welcome the star
of tonight's show,

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singing her own songs,

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the extraordinarily talented

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and the sublimely beautiful

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Miss Angela Alvarez.

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Angela Alvarez
is just weeks away

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from her first
professional concert

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in Hollywood.

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At the age of 90,

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she has waited her whole life

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for a chance to perform
her songs.

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I like to move,
that's why I feel so well

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because you see how I walk,

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I don't walk like an old lady
like this.

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I walk like this.

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I dance with the broom

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and then make... I put the broom

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like this and I make exercise.

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Exercise like this.

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♪

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I have all these songs
that I composed

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I pass on.

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These were in this old, old book

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and then all the songs

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when I wrote a long time ago,
August 8th, '62.

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- Yes.
- This one's very old.

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Yes, they are very old.

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I think that music
is the language of the soul.

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Yes.

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♪

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This remarkable journey
begins many years ago

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on the island of Cuba.

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The largest
and most important island

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of the West Indies is Cuba.

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♪

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Strikingly picturesque
metropolis

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of three-quarters
of a million people,

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Havana is a blend of the
cosmopolitan and the native,

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the ancient and the modern.

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I grew up in a little town
in Cuba

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and my life, when I was
a little girl in Cuba,

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was very beautiful.

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I was a very, very happy girl.

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My grandfather
and my grandmother.

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My mother's parents.

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He died 110

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and she died 105.

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And they are... they have
16 children.

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My father have a big farm

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in a town close to Elia,

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that was the name of the Cuban
mill where I was living.

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Sugar is king.

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♪

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It is the heart
of the island's economic life.

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I love United States
when I was a little girl.

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At that time, we don't have TV

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but I hear in a radio station
about New York,

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about everything United States.

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Glenn Miller, I like him.

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You are a little girl,

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you learn very easy
any language.

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♪

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And then I like to sing...

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♪ Pardon me, boy ♪

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♪ Is that a
Chattanooga Choo-Choo ♪

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I didn't even know what I said

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but I sing all
the songs in English.

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♪ Chattanooga Choo-Choo ♪

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♪ Won't you choo-choo me home ♪

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♪ Chattanooga Choo-Choo ♪

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I start to learn to play piano

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when I was eight years old.

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When they put me
in the private school,

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there was a person who come

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to teach guitar.

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And then I wrote a letter
to my father,

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"I want to learn
to play guitar,"

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and then he say, "Okay."

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And then that's why
I started to sing.

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♪

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I was about 15 years old

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and I said to my father,

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"May I sing a song
with the mariachi."

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And then he'd say, "Okay."

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And then I talk with
the mariachi, I sing the song,

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and then the mariachi say, "Wow,
we like that you sing for us

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we now full mariachi."

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♪

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I feel that I could be famous

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but my father say, "No, no."

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♪

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Well, I remember
she was always on the guitar.

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It was always... any gathering
with any...

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It didn't matter how many
family members were there.

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So my earliest memories
of my grandmother

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would be her on the guitar

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and just cranking out a tune.

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♪

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If we were at a restaurant
and there was a piano

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or a guitar,
somehow she made herself

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up on that stage.

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♪

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All the time when I see
an opportunity to me sing,

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I find it,
I talk with everybody.

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♪

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My father one day told me
that he wanted to talk to me.

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He asked me,
"Well, now it is time

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that you are going
to leave for university.

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May I have an idea of what
you have in your mind to do?"

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"Oh yes, I'm going to tell you

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that I want to be a singer,
a star."

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"Oh, my daughter, no.

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I like to hear you sing,
I love you so much.

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No, I don't want that
for my daughter."

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I love him very much
and then I keep that in my mind

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and in my heart.

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I tried to forget about it.

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But always was sing in me, yes.

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♪

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She was a wonderful mother
and a wonderful wife

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and a wonderful grandmother,

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but this underlining tone

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where this dream, that was
just on the back burner.

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♪

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It was always during
family gatherings

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that we would... you know,
after dinner or...

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A lot of time when the family
was together on holidays.

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She just... she just wanted to
entertain

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after every meal
or whenever she was there.

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So it's just
this collage of memories

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that I have of her
just always playing.

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I don't know, I just had some
kind of epiphany

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where I called her and I said,

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"Nana, I'm gonna fly out
to Baton Rouge

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and I want you to sing every
song that you've ever written

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for me, I want to hear them all.

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I want to hear
what they're about

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and just so that we can
have them in the family.

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And I'm going to stick
a microphone in front of you

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and I just want you
to play your songs."

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♪

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Now that I have these recordings

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I can become more familiar
with the songs

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and even when we were
recording them at her house,

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I just remember
I kept having this reaction

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to how incredible
the melodies of her songs were.

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It was almost like
we had heard them before

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but they had never
existed anywhere.

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Well, I composed a song in Cuba.

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I was 14 or 15 years old

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and at that age
you would dream a lot.

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And it was a...

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a guy that was my friend

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and then I liked him

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but he don't pay attention
to me.

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I write a song about
how beautiful is love.

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So tell us who that boy was.

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Well, it was my husband.

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And I composed a lot of songs
thinking of him, yes.

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Now that these songs
have been discovered

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and you see the writing,
you see the emotion,

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you see all that was in there,

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you see how it was
her coping mechanism.

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During those times,
she just expressed herself

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through song,
through composition

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and it's just beautiful.

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My husband, Orlando,

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he came to LSU,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana,

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and he graduated
mechanical engineer

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to work in sugar industry.

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When he come back with a degree,

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he told me one day
he want to talk with my father

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because he wanted to marry me.

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This is a very special
and unusual thing

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You know, these songs
mark moments in her life.

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♪

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The company, when we married
they give us a house

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because that was
the style in the sugar mills

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00:14:34,468 --> 00:14:37,238
and then I have four children.

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José, Maria, Orlando
and Gerardo.

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I was very, very, very
happy with my children.

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It was a very happy life
that I had at that time in Cuba.

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♪

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What I remember,
they all lived in a little town

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00:15:04,234 --> 00:15:06,432
in Cuba called Guáimaro.

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00:15:06,467 --> 00:15:11,437
My mother had had my sister,
my third brother, Orlando,

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00:15:11,472 --> 00:15:14,374
and my young brother,
Jerry, or Gerardo.

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♪

209
00:15:21,086 --> 00:15:25,682
They had a farm too
so we go there, you know, too

210
00:15:25,717 --> 00:15:28,685
and play with the horses, cows.

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00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:31,391
All the animals, chickens.

212
00:15:31,426 --> 00:15:32,623
But it was a happy life?

213
00:15:32,658 --> 00:15:34,295
It was, it was.

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00:15:34,330 --> 00:15:39,432
♪

215
00:15:39,467 --> 00:15:42,105
I remember, the first memory
of her singing,

216
00:15:42,140 --> 00:15:45,009
she would get
my brother Jerry and myself

217
00:15:45,044 --> 00:15:48,144
and she would sing
a lullaby that involved a race.

218
00:15:48,179 --> 00:15:50,377
And then my horse
would be winning

219
00:15:50,412 --> 00:15:52,115
and then Jerry
would start complaining

220
00:15:52,150 --> 00:15:55,019
and then she would
change the song on the fly

221
00:15:55,054 --> 00:15:58,517
where Jerry's horse
should be winning.

222
00:15:58,552 --> 00:16:02,455
This is me in Varadero, Cuba,
with my children.

223
00:16:02,490 --> 00:16:04,325
It was a beautiful...

224
00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:06,426
A beautiful beach.

225
00:16:06,461 --> 00:16:08,428
This is a good memory.

226
00:16:08,463 --> 00:16:10,562
When we was living
in that sugar mill,

227
00:16:10,597 --> 00:16:14,236
José come from
the school very happy.

228
00:16:14,271 --> 00:16:18,075
Marucha take piano class.

229
00:16:18,110 --> 00:16:25,247
Orlando liked to help
the man who clean in the yard.

230
00:16:25,282 --> 00:16:28,514
And Boby, all the time
he asking for food

231
00:16:28,549 --> 00:16:31,748
because he like food.

232
00:16:31,783 --> 00:16:33,783
Yes, very happy.

233
00:16:33,818 --> 00:16:38,524
But suddenly,
Fidel took the country.

234
00:16:38,559 --> 00:16:45,399
♪

235
00:16:45,434 --> 00:16:47,368
Exiled revolutionary
Fidel Castro

236
00:16:47,403 --> 00:16:50,107
landed in Cuba in 1956,

237
00:16:50,142 --> 00:16:52,142
in an attempt to overthrow
the corrupt government

238
00:16:52,177 --> 00:16:54,309
of Fulgencio Batista.

239
00:16:54,344 --> 00:16:56,443
I was in boarding school
so, you know,

240
00:16:56,478 --> 00:16:59,578
we lived in a big dorm
with about 100 people,

241
00:16:59,613 --> 00:17:01,316
100 kids.

242
00:17:01,351 --> 00:17:04,682
One of the Jesuit Brothers

243
00:17:04,717 --> 00:17:08,125
during lunch said to us,

244
00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:12,195
I remember this very vividly
because it was really

245
00:17:12,230 --> 00:17:13,724
quite revealing at that point,

246
00:17:13,759 --> 00:17:19,169
he says,
"I want to show you a film

247
00:17:19,204 --> 00:17:23,206
and I want to show you
a film that you cannot talk

248
00:17:23,241 --> 00:17:25,076
to anybody about."

249
00:17:25,111 --> 00:17:26,440
And I said, "Well, what is it?"

250
00:17:26,475 --> 00:17:28,244
He said, "You'll see it."

251
00:17:28,279 --> 00:17:30,642
So we went into
where there was a classroom

252
00:17:30,677 --> 00:17:32,413
where they had a projector

253
00:17:32,448 --> 00:17:36,714
and he showed us a film

254
00:17:36,749 --> 00:17:39,321
about communism.

255
00:17:39,356 --> 00:17:42,357
And then he said,
at that point he said...

256
00:17:50,895 --> 00:17:54,237
- Sorry.
- It's okay.

257
00:17:58,738 --> 00:18:01,706
He said at that point,

258
00:18:01,741 --> 00:18:04,808
"This is what's gonna happen
in Cuba."

259
00:18:10,222 --> 00:18:14,224
Batista, that's not
the one to admit

260
00:18:14,259 --> 00:18:18,228
that he is incapable
of defeating us.

261
00:18:18,263 --> 00:18:21,165
One night, we um...

262
00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:23,563
The town was attacked.

263
00:18:23,598 --> 00:18:26,731
My father kind of sensed
that this was gonna happen.

264
00:18:26,766 --> 00:18:29,272
I guess he got word

265
00:18:29,307 --> 00:18:31,802
that they were going
to have a big push

266
00:18:31,837 --> 00:18:38,215
into the town to try to drive
out the Batista forces.

267
00:18:38,250 --> 00:18:43,286
I remember right at sunset
the first shot went out.

268
00:18:46,555 --> 00:18:48,588
There was gunfire.

269
00:18:48,623 --> 00:18:52,394
That was sort of the earliest
strongholds of Batista

270
00:18:52,429 --> 00:18:54,429
that Fidel was able to take

271
00:18:54,464 --> 00:18:57,696
because it was right
at the foothills where he was.

272
00:18:57,731 --> 00:18:59,764
And they would fight at night

273
00:18:59,799 --> 00:19:02,569
and my father would
get us all together,

274
00:19:02,604 --> 00:19:05,836
put us in like the bathtub and
put a mattress over everybody.

275
00:19:05,871 --> 00:19:11,545
Our house was the furthest away
from the Batista Army Barracks.

276
00:19:11,580 --> 00:19:14,713
So because of that, I think
that's why they established

277
00:19:14,748 --> 00:19:16,946
their control center there.

278
00:19:16,981 --> 00:19:19,322
I could hear throughout
the night them talking

279
00:19:19,357 --> 00:19:24,327
and instructions and what
have you on the walkie-talkie.

280
00:19:24,362 --> 00:19:25,922
Going to school the next day,

281
00:19:25,957 --> 00:19:28,232
seeing the shells,
the bazooka shells

282
00:19:28,267 --> 00:19:29,761
and stuff like that on the...

283
00:19:29,796 --> 00:19:32,401
On the street.

284
00:19:32,436 --> 00:19:38,803
I remember seeing
the bullet holes in the houses.

285
00:19:38,838 --> 00:19:41,377
The concern now was,

286
00:19:41,412 --> 00:19:45,711
well, this is gonna happen
again.

287
00:19:45,746 --> 00:19:49,847
It was just a matter of time
before they came back.

288
00:19:49,882 --> 00:19:53,851
So for safety, my father
then made arrangements

289
00:19:53,886 --> 00:19:57,723
to fly us out.

290
00:19:57,758 --> 00:19:59,307
The only thing
that was coming in and out

291
00:19:59,331 --> 00:20:01,628
was the mail by air.

292
00:20:01,663 --> 00:20:04,961
And it was one of those
single-prop planes.

293
00:20:04,996 --> 00:20:07,304
We flew out one morning

294
00:20:07,339 --> 00:20:08,833
and we didn't take
anything with us.

295
00:20:08,868 --> 00:20:11,275
It was just what
we were wearing at the point

296
00:20:11,310 --> 00:20:12,969
'cause it was very quick.

297
00:20:13,004 --> 00:20:15,840
So we flew to Havana.

298
00:20:15,875 --> 00:20:20,284
We stayed in Havana and I
started listening to the radio.

299
00:20:20,319 --> 00:20:24,486
And then, all of a sudden,
the announcement comes out

300
00:20:24,521 --> 00:20:28,853
that Batista has left.

301
00:20:28,888 --> 00:20:30,492
So I run in, I say to my father,

302
00:20:30,527 --> 00:20:31,933
"Batista has left"
and he said, "Be quiet,

303
00:20:31,957 --> 00:20:34,397
you're going to get us
in trouble here."

304
00:20:34,432 --> 00:20:37,730
Because, you know,
there was a lot of hush-hush

305
00:20:37,765 --> 00:20:39,468
back in those days.

306
00:20:39,503 --> 00:20:43,736
♪

307
00:20:43,771 --> 00:20:45,804
Joyous followers of Fidel Castro

308
00:20:45,839 --> 00:20:48,378
sweep triumphantly
through the Cuban capital

309
00:20:48,413 --> 00:20:50,479
hours after their rebellion
had toppled

310
00:20:50,514 --> 00:20:52,712
the regime of Fulgencio Batista.

311
00:20:52,747 --> 00:20:54,780
It was chaotic,
after that, I mean,

312
00:20:54,815 --> 00:20:58,553
the streets were full
of people firing shots

313
00:20:58,588 --> 00:21:00,621
and there was...
The normal citizenship

314
00:21:00,656 --> 00:21:02,590
went out onto the streets

315
00:21:02,625 --> 00:21:04,328
and there was celebrations

316
00:21:04,363 --> 00:21:06,022
and Castro drove in.

317
00:21:06,057 --> 00:21:08,431
He came in with a tank

318
00:21:08,466 --> 00:21:09,960
and the troops
and what have you.

319
00:21:09,995 --> 00:21:15,471
And he had a parade going down
the Malecon

320
00:21:15,506 --> 00:21:17,869
and we were on the third floor
looking at it.

321
00:21:17,904 --> 00:21:19,508
So I was very close.

322
00:21:21,446 --> 00:21:23,710
At first, he promises
free elections.

323
00:21:23,745 --> 00:21:25,712
He acknowledges many
of the traditional rights

324
00:21:25,747 --> 00:21:29,716
of citizens and the established
institutions of government.

325
00:21:29,751 --> 00:21:31,883
But the elections
never take place

326
00:21:31,918 --> 00:21:33,918
and the government quickly
becomes an instrument

327
00:21:33,953 --> 00:21:35,359
of coercion.

328
00:21:37,759 --> 00:21:42,465
Batista left
and Fidel took the power.

329
00:21:42,500 --> 00:21:44,863
I never seen worse change.

330
00:21:44,898 --> 00:21:50,341
♪

331
00:21:50,376 --> 00:21:52,970
Fidel Castro's
new regime wasted no time

332
00:21:53,005 --> 00:21:55,379
in making radical changes
to the country.

333
00:21:55,414 --> 00:21:57,579
♪

334
00:21:57,614 --> 00:22:00,384
In the school
where my children was,

335
00:22:00,419 --> 00:22:04,355
they put new people
to teach them

336
00:22:04,390 --> 00:22:08,359
and one day, my children come
to say they have a new teacher,

337
00:22:08,394 --> 00:22:09,822
they don't like her,

338
00:22:09,857 --> 00:22:12,693
what she teach that day.

339
00:22:12,728 --> 00:22:17,368
And she start to teach
the children about socialists.

340
00:22:21,165 --> 00:22:22,802
The teachers say,
"Well, children,

341
00:22:22,837 --> 00:22:24,969
do you believe in God?"

342
00:22:25,004 --> 00:22:25,903
"Yes."

343
00:22:25,939 --> 00:22:29,446
"You believe
in God because God is good.

344
00:22:29,481 --> 00:22:33,945
Close your eyes
and ask a candy from him,

345
00:22:33,980 --> 00:22:35,518
and repeat with me,

346
00:22:35,553 --> 00:22:37,718
'God, because You are good,

347
00:22:37,753 --> 00:22:40,083
put a candy in my desk.'

348
00:22:40,118 --> 00:22:42,657
Open your eyes." No candy.

349
00:22:42,692 --> 00:22:45,660
"Now ask Fidel.

350
00:22:45,695 --> 00:22:47,090
Fidel loves Cuba,

351
00:22:47,125 --> 00:22:48,993
Fidel loves you,

352
00:22:49,028 --> 00:22:51,534
Fidel loves the revolution

353
00:22:51,569 --> 00:22:53,998
and then close your eyes

354
00:22:54,033 --> 00:22:55,835
and say,
'Fidel, because you love me,

355
00:22:55,870 --> 00:22:58,772
you love my parents
and you are good,

356
00:22:58,807 --> 00:23:00,840
put a candy on my desk.'

357
00:23:00,875 --> 00:23:01,907
Open your eyes."

358
00:23:01,942 --> 00:23:04,140
Candy was there.

359
00:23:04,175 --> 00:23:06,714
I wasn't going to school.

360
00:23:06,749 --> 00:23:08,023
My father didn't want me
to go to school

361
00:23:08,047 --> 00:23:12,819
because the school
became sort of...

362
00:23:12,854 --> 00:23:15,657
the way to indoctrinate
the kids.

363
00:23:15,692 --> 00:23:17,164
So he says,
"You're not going to school.

364
00:23:17,188 --> 00:23:18,990
You're gonna stay away
from the schools."

365
00:23:19,025 --> 00:23:22,026
I do remember
that there was a dirt road

366
00:23:22,061 --> 00:23:24,193
that you could
see from the house,

367
00:23:24,228 --> 00:23:26,602
maybe about a half a mile,
three-quarters of a mile,

368
00:23:26,637 --> 00:23:28,637
and we would always be cognizant

369
00:23:28,672 --> 00:23:30,067
if there was a car coming

370
00:23:30,102 --> 00:23:31,574
that it would be
someone we knew.

371
00:23:31,609 --> 00:23:33,213
Because we were afraid
they would come and ask

372
00:23:33,237 --> 00:23:36,139
about why aren't you in school.

373
00:23:36,174 --> 00:23:39,648
I was thinking,
why is this happening in Cuba

374
00:23:39,683 --> 00:23:42,750
that they have a change,
you know.

375
00:23:42,785 --> 00:23:47,117
And then I was thinking
I would like to break that.

376
00:23:47,152 --> 00:23:52,023
But... and then, I have the
inspiration to sing about that.

377
00:23:52,058 --> 00:23:54,960
Most of the time,
when I compose a song,

378
00:23:54,995 --> 00:23:57,732
the inspiration comes to my mind

379
00:23:57,767 --> 00:24:00,768
or something happened in my life

380
00:24:00,803 --> 00:24:05,674
that touched me very deep.

381
00:24:05,709 --> 00:24:08,512
With just 15 days
before her concert,

382
00:24:08,547 --> 00:24:11,042
Angela and Carlos begin
rehearsing songs

383
00:24:11,077 --> 00:24:15,552
at her home
in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

384
00:24:15,587 --> 00:24:16,619
Okay.

385
00:24:18,084 --> 00:24:19,655
Okay.

386
00:24:27,929 --> 00:24:31,161
I have a grandson
that is the son of José,

387
00:24:31,196 --> 00:24:33,867
my oldest son.

388
00:24:33,902 --> 00:24:36,232
Carlos, he went to Boston

389
00:24:36,267 --> 00:24:39,708
and make the master in music

390
00:24:39,743 --> 00:24:42,645
and I feel very proud of him.

391
00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:44,680
We have a lot of connection

392
00:24:44,715 --> 00:24:47,650
because we understand
very well together

393
00:24:47,685 --> 00:24:51,588
because they love music
and I love music.

394
00:24:51,623 --> 00:24:54,283
The thing about Cuban music is

395
00:24:54,318 --> 00:24:58,958
it really is a fusion
of European tradition

396
00:24:58,993 --> 00:25:02,060
mixed, infused with
this African tradition.

397
00:25:02,095 --> 00:25:04,062
So, so much of what
makes Cuban music

398
00:25:04,097 --> 00:25:08,132
sound the way it does are those
two worlds coming together.

399
00:25:09,674 --> 00:25:10,970
♪

400
00:25:32,994 --> 00:25:35,126
Perfect.

401
00:25:35,161 --> 00:25:37,799
Bring in the rhythm section
as we go here.

402
00:25:37,834 --> 00:25:40,197
The bass is always really,
really, really important

403
00:25:40,232 --> 00:25:42,936
in Cuban music.

404
00:25:42,971 --> 00:25:45,301
♪

405
00:25:45,336 --> 00:25:48,711
The rhythm she picked
and the style she picked,

406
00:25:48,746 --> 00:25:51,076
there's just...
There's nothing more Cuban.

407
00:25:51,111 --> 00:25:52,781
Whenever she talks
about this song,

408
00:25:52,816 --> 00:25:54,816
she talks about
she wishes there was a way

409
00:25:54,851 --> 00:25:57,984
to calm the anger and the hate.

410
00:26:13,837 --> 00:26:17,839
Along with drastic social,
political, and economic changes

411
00:26:17,874 --> 00:26:20,369
rumors were rife
of children being taken away

412
00:26:20,404 --> 00:26:22,305
to be raised by the state.

413
00:26:22,340 --> 00:26:26,111
All the laws start to change

414
00:26:26,146 --> 00:26:30,951
and Fidel make a law
that he'll send your children

415
00:26:30,986 --> 00:26:33,316
to Russia for two years

416
00:26:33,351 --> 00:26:36,022
when they are under 18.

417
00:26:36,057 --> 00:26:39,091
When President Kennedy
hear that,

418
00:26:39,126 --> 00:26:41,896
he opened the door
for Cuban people

419
00:26:41,931 --> 00:26:44,162
to send the children
to the United States.

420
00:26:44,197 --> 00:26:49,233
♪

421
00:26:49,268 --> 00:26:52,269
It became obvious
that we were going to leave.

422
00:26:52,304 --> 00:26:54,172
Life changed a lot

423
00:26:54,207 --> 00:26:57,175
when we need
to make the decision

424
00:26:57,210 --> 00:27:01,047
that we have to leave Cuba.

425
00:27:01,082 --> 00:27:03,379
Then the process
of trying to get out,

426
00:27:03,414 --> 00:27:05,315
I believe, began.

427
00:27:05,350 --> 00:27:07,856
And when you made known
to the government

428
00:27:07,891 --> 00:27:09,363
that you were going to leave,
they will come

429
00:27:09,387 --> 00:27:13,125
and do an inventory
of your possessions

430
00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:18,262
to make sure
that when you left Cuba

431
00:27:18,297 --> 00:27:20,264
all those possessions
were still there.

432
00:27:20,299 --> 00:27:24,070
And then,
once you have done everything

433
00:27:24,105 --> 00:27:27,436
you have to go back
and wait for the announcement

434
00:27:27,471 --> 00:27:29,141
of your leave,

435
00:27:29,176 --> 00:27:32,815
and that happened in 1962.

436
00:27:32,850 --> 00:27:35,444
I remember being at the farm
and my father said,

437
00:27:35,479 --> 00:27:38,117
"We gotta go to Havana,
we're leaving."

438
00:27:38,152 --> 00:27:39,987
He wasn't leaving,
he was going to stay.

439
00:27:40,022 --> 00:27:42,726
At that point, he was working
for the Castro government.

440
00:27:42,761 --> 00:27:46,829
What Castro did
with the sugar mill industry

441
00:27:46,864 --> 00:27:51,031
is that he turned it into
regional productions.

442
00:27:51,066 --> 00:27:53,770
Blessed day, blessed sugar day.

443
00:27:53,805 --> 00:27:56,773
The United States bought
the huge sugar cane crop,

444
00:27:56,808 --> 00:28:00,205
that is, when Cuba
was good and obedient.

445
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,780
But on the state farms, they are
harvesting without worries.

446
00:28:03,815 --> 00:28:06,079
You are not buying
because we are no longer

447
00:28:06,114 --> 00:28:07,410
a good little Cuba.

448
00:28:07,445 --> 00:28:10,380
It doesn't matter,
others will buy.

449
00:28:17,422 --> 00:28:20,731
He had no choice
but to really work for him

450
00:28:20,766 --> 00:28:23,195
at that point in time.

451
00:28:23,230 --> 00:28:26,935
You couldn't reveal your hand
that you were leaving.

452
00:28:26,970 --> 00:28:29,498
You could... the fact that
we were leaving it was okay

453
00:28:29,533 --> 00:28:33,073
but the fact that he
was not applying to leave Cuba,

454
00:28:33,108 --> 00:28:37,308
he never did apply,
then that was okay.

455
00:28:37,343 --> 00:28:39,948
You know, he was safe.

456
00:28:39,983 --> 00:28:44,513
This is my husband and me.

457
00:28:44,548 --> 00:28:46,449
When we take the picture

458
00:28:46,484 --> 00:28:51,355
is when we made the decision
that I have to go

459
00:28:51,390 --> 00:28:53,797
to the United States
with my four children.

460
00:28:53,832 --> 00:28:56,833
And I told him
that I wanted to go to a studio

461
00:28:56,868 --> 00:28:58,230
to make a picture with him

462
00:28:58,265 --> 00:29:02,872
because when I left Cuba
he stayed in Cuba

463
00:29:02,907 --> 00:29:04,841
and then I go to United States

464
00:29:04,876 --> 00:29:09,307
and I told him, "I want
to keep a memory of that moment

465
00:29:09,342 --> 00:29:12,948
because I don't know when we
are going to see each other."

466
00:29:12,983 --> 00:29:17,887
♪

467
00:29:17,922 --> 00:29:22,023
They send you a telegram
the day that is your flight.

468
00:29:22,058 --> 00:29:25,554
I went to the airport
with my four children.

469
00:29:25,589 --> 00:29:28,359
Well, the plan was... and
they were all at the airport,

470
00:29:28,394 --> 00:29:30,900
my grandmother
and all of the children

471
00:29:30,935 --> 00:29:33,045
and they did understand that
they would never come back

472
00:29:33,069 --> 00:29:34,530
to Cuba,
it just wasn't an option.

473
00:29:34,565 --> 00:29:36,169
It wasn't a vacation.

474
00:29:36,204 --> 00:29:37,841
It was the end.

475
00:29:37,876 --> 00:29:39,975
They all had like four pairs
of underwear,

476
00:29:40,010 --> 00:29:42,010
three pairs of pants,
five shirts.

477
00:29:42,045 --> 00:29:45,574
Whatever they could carry
with them because that was it.

478
00:29:45,609 --> 00:29:48,544
They weren't allowed
to carry too much out of Cuba.

479
00:29:48,579 --> 00:29:52,218
The airport was very sad
in a way

480
00:29:52,253 --> 00:29:56,024
because we knew
that our dad wasn't coming.

481
00:29:56,059 --> 00:29:58,389
Being so young, I didn't know
really what was going on

482
00:29:58,424 --> 00:30:00,864
but I knew it wasn't right

483
00:30:00,899 --> 00:30:04,263
because we were
leaving our home.

484
00:30:04,298 --> 00:30:07,233
What do you remember
about that day?

485
00:30:07,268 --> 00:30:10,907
That's gonna be tough to...

486
00:30:20,149 --> 00:30:25,416
to say... sorry,
it always happens and...

487
00:30:29,191 --> 00:30:33,094
- Take a minute.
- Wow, give me a second.

488
00:30:34,427 --> 00:30:37,626
Anyway, the reason
this is difficult

489
00:30:37,661 --> 00:30:39,298
is because...

490
00:30:43,073 --> 00:30:45,040
I don't know this is possible.

491
00:30:45,075 --> 00:30:46,976
That was when we got separated,
you know,

492
00:30:47,011 --> 00:30:49,308
and I think, um...

493
00:30:49,343 --> 00:30:52,278
I think a lot of the junk
in my life,

494
00:30:52,313 --> 00:30:56,381
you know,
in terms of how things changed,

495
00:30:56,416 --> 00:30:58,515
I can trace it back
to that moment.

496
00:31:00,651 --> 00:31:03,058
We left on May 23rd, 1962.

497
00:31:03,093 --> 00:31:04,620
I'll never forget the day.

498
00:31:04,655 --> 00:31:06,556
When we check in

499
00:31:06,591 --> 00:31:14,591
the man who check say, "For the
five passengers, one can't go."

500
00:31:14,698 --> 00:31:17,600
And then I said, "Who is that?"
"Angela Alvarez."

501
00:31:17,635 --> 00:31:21,637
"That's me, why I didn't go,
why I can't go?

502
00:31:21,672 --> 00:31:24,145
Because I fix all my papers

503
00:31:24,180 --> 00:31:26,081
in the same plane
with my children."

504
00:31:26,116 --> 00:31:30,349
"Well, listen,
don't make any questions to us.

505
00:31:30,384 --> 00:31:32,923
We always are right.

506
00:31:32,958 --> 00:31:35,189
If I say you can't go,
that's it.

507
00:31:35,224 --> 00:31:37,928
Don't ask me any questions."

508
00:31:37,963 --> 00:31:40,458
I mean, at the last moment
before we boarded the plane

509
00:31:40,493 --> 00:31:42,592
they said she couldn't go.

510
00:31:42,627 --> 00:31:45,265
The guy from the government
looked at us, he says,

511
00:31:45,300 --> 00:31:49,500
"This is no good
so you can't leave."

512
00:31:49,535 --> 00:31:54,175
So at that point in time,
it became sort of

513
00:31:54,210 --> 00:31:57,013
a decision as to whether
we were going to go or not.

514
00:31:57,048 --> 00:32:02,447
She asked me and asked Boby,
you know, my brother.

515
00:32:02,482 --> 00:32:04,988
We're the younger ones, she
said, "What do you want to do?

516
00:32:05,023 --> 00:32:09,256
Do you want to go
or you want to stay?"

517
00:32:09,291 --> 00:32:11,687
And I wanted to go,
I mean, get on a plane

518
00:32:11,722 --> 00:32:16,362
So that's when I said,
"I want to go,

519
00:32:16,397 --> 00:32:18,694
I want to ride the plane."

520
00:32:18,729 --> 00:32:22,005
It felt like an adventure to me.

521
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:25,404
The man told me,
"You can go tomorrow

522
00:32:25,439 --> 00:32:29,672
if you go to that place
and fix the mistake.

523
00:32:29,707 --> 00:32:31,476
What are you going to do?

524
00:32:31,511 --> 00:32:33,379
Are you going to
send your children?"

525
00:32:33,414 --> 00:32:35,051
"Yes. They can go?"

526
00:32:35,086 --> 00:32:36,547
"Yeah, they go."

527
00:32:36,582 --> 00:32:39,990
My grandmother had to make
a split second decision

528
00:32:40,025 --> 00:32:42,190
because she wasn't allowed
to call my grandfather.

529
00:32:42,225 --> 00:32:46,227
She... So the children stay
or they go on their own

530
00:32:46,262 --> 00:32:47,756
but she was not able to go.

531
00:32:47,791 --> 00:32:52,662
I've always been in awe
of that moment for her

532
00:32:52,697 --> 00:32:55,071
that she could do that.

533
00:32:55,106 --> 00:32:57,733
When they was walking
to reach the flight,

534
00:32:57,768 --> 00:33:01,638
my husband and all my family
was in the terrace looking

535
00:33:01,673 --> 00:33:04,179
and they see them by themselves.

536
00:33:04,214 --> 00:33:07,479
They don't see me
and my husband's uncle say,

537
00:33:07,514 --> 00:33:09,481
"Where is your mother?"

538
00:33:09,516 --> 00:33:13,584
"No, she can't come,
they don't let her come,"

539
00:33:13,619 --> 00:33:16,653
and they go in the airplane.

540
00:33:16,688 --> 00:33:24,688
♪

541
00:33:26,665 --> 00:33:28,764
Immediately,
I call a friend of mine

542
00:33:28,799 --> 00:33:31,107
and tell her what happened

543
00:33:31,142 --> 00:33:34,440
and then she told me
that she'll go to the airport

544
00:33:34,475 --> 00:33:39,742
in Miami and take
my four children to her house

545
00:33:39,777 --> 00:33:42,811
until I go there next day.

546
00:33:42,846 --> 00:33:45,814
The flight, which is only,
I think, 45 minutes,

547
00:33:45,849 --> 00:33:48,091
or something like that,
I mean, you don't get to think

548
00:33:48,126 --> 00:33:50,159
much about the flight
because you leave Cuba

549
00:33:50,194 --> 00:33:51,490
and you're landing in Miami

550
00:33:51,525 --> 00:33:53,426
shortly afterwards, so.

551
00:33:53,461 --> 00:33:56,264
They gave us gum on the plane,
which we hadn't seen gum

552
00:33:56,299 --> 00:33:59,399
in Cuba for about
probably two years.

553
00:33:59,434 --> 00:34:00,633
Bubble gum,

554
00:34:00,669 --> 00:34:04,503
and they gave us like... I think
they gave us a ham sandwich

555
00:34:04,538 --> 00:34:07,605
and we hadn't seen ham
in a long time either.

556
00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:09,640
We were excited.

557
00:34:09,675 --> 00:34:11,477
So the children,
I would imagine,

558
00:34:11,512 --> 00:34:16,284
was like, "Okay, Mom's not
coming but we'll see her soon."

559
00:34:16,319 --> 00:34:18,814
And soon to a child, you know,

560
00:34:18,849 --> 00:34:20,816
doesn't really have
any concrete meaning.

561
00:34:20,851 --> 00:34:22,752
- It's just soon.
- It was okay.

562
00:34:22,787 --> 00:34:24,556
I mean, at that moment
it was okay for me.

563
00:34:24,591 --> 00:34:31,596
But looking back,
that was I think really

564
00:34:31,631 --> 00:34:34,203
the moment that really,
I think, changed my life.

565
00:34:34,238 --> 00:34:36,469
You know, being without her.

566
00:34:40,442 --> 00:34:42,772
Next day, we went to the place

567
00:34:42,807 --> 00:34:46,248
and the man say, "I don't know
why they say you that

568
00:34:46,283 --> 00:34:50,450
because everything is right."

569
00:34:50,485 --> 00:34:54,256
"Well, I can go today?"
"No, you can't go today.

570
00:34:54,291 --> 00:34:58,722
You need to... we send you
telegram again.

571
00:34:58,757 --> 00:35:03,694
Could be a month,
six months, or year."

572
00:35:03,729 --> 00:35:07,731
We were well received and
well cared for for a few days

573
00:35:07,766 --> 00:35:11,438
until they had
to kind of give us up

574
00:35:11,473 --> 00:35:13,572
to the welfare system.

575
00:35:13,607 --> 00:35:21,607
♪

576
00:35:24,552 --> 00:35:26,618
Operation Pedro Pan

577
00:35:26,653 --> 00:35:27,817
was the Catholic church

578
00:35:27,852 --> 00:35:30,721
and the US Government's
extraordinary exodus

579
00:35:30,756 --> 00:35:34,461
of 14,500 unaccompanied
Cuban children.

580
00:35:34,496 --> 00:35:36,397
♪

581
00:35:36,432 --> 00:35:41,567
Between 1960 and 1962,
kids as young as five

582
00:35:41,602 --> 00:35:43,470
arrived at Miami Airport

583
00:35:43,505 --> 00:35:46,176
and were taken
to special camps nearby.

584
00:35:46,211 --> 00:35:53,744
♪

585
00:35:53,779 --> 00:35:56,384
These are copies
of the airport logs.

586
00:35:56,419 --> 00:36:01,455
They arrived
on May 23rd of 1962.

587
00:36:01,490 --> 00:36:03,754
Alvarez Portilla, Maria,

588
00:36:03,789 --> 00:36:05,789
Gerardo, José, and Orlando

589
00:36:05,824 --> 00:36:07,758
and their birthdates.

590
00:36:07,793 --> 00:36:11,729
It's important to realize that
these were commercial flights.

591
00:36:11,764 --> 00:36:13,566
There were no Pedro Pan flights.

592
00:36:13,601 --> 00:36:15,865
You had two flights
per day going out of Cuba

593
00:36:15,900 --> 00:36:17,100
and everybody wanted to leave.

594
00:36:17,135 --> 00:36:21,244
So getting a seat on a plane
was like winning the lottery.

595
00:36:21,279 --> 00:36:22,872
♪

596
00:36:22,907 --> 00:36:25,677
We end up in Florida City.

597
00:36:25,712 --> 00:36:28,449
It was an Air Force base
compound

598
00:36:28,484 --> 00:36:30,979
with many apartments.

599
00:36:31,014 --> 00:36:33,916
All the apartments were
turned into living quarters

600
00:36:33,951 --> 00:36:35,951
for kids.

601
00:36:35,986 --> 00:36:37,755
We wanted to mark the camp

602
00:36:37,790 --> 00:36:39,361
as a very special place,

603
00:36:39,396 --> 00:36:41,363
not only for us,
but for all the children

604
00:36:41,398 --> 00:36:43,365
that were in the camp.

605
00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:45,301
On that side of the street,

606
00:36:45,336 --> 00:36:49,239
all those were
boys and girls houses.

607
00:36:49,274 --> 00:36:51,406
This at night
was a lot of activity

608
00:36:51,441 --> 00:36:52,737
because that's where...

609
00:36:52,772 --> 00:36:54,541
It was like a park
because in Cuba

610
00:36:54,576 --> 00:36:57,346
we had central parks
and so this was our park here

611
00:36:57,381 --> 00:36:58,644
in the United States.

612
00:36:58,679 --> 00:37:01,284
And that's why we had it
named Pedro Pan Place

613
00:37:01,319 --> 00:37:02,450
because it was our place,

614
00:37:02,485 --> 00:37:03,847
our very special place.

615
00:37:03,882 --> 00:37:06,883
♪

616
00:37:06,918 --> 00:37:09,754
The place was fenced
so you couldn't get out,

617
00:37:09,789 --> 00:37:11,789
the whole compound.

618
00:37:11,824 --> 00:37:13,329
We stayed in an apartment

619
00:37:13,364 --> 00:37:15,727
and the room
that we were was probably

620
00:37:15,762 --> 00:37:17,828
not more than 10 by 11.

621
00:37:17,863 --> 00:37:23,438
There were bunk beds
three levels high.

622
00:37:23,473 --> 00:37:27,475
There was probably about
15 people living in the room.

623
00:37:27,510 --> 00:37:31,710
I think in our apartment, which
was a three-bedroom apartment,

624
00:37:31,745 --> 00:37:34,449
there might have been 40 kids
or something like that.

625
00:37:34,484 --> 00:37:36,979
Oh, it was chaotic.

626
00:37:37,014 --> 00:37:39,751
But at night,
when our heads hit the pillow,

627
00:37:39,786 --> 00:37:41,588
everybody started crying
at the same time.

628
00:37:41,623 --> 00:37:44,294
You could hear, you know,
a choir of crying in the room.

629
00:37:44,329 --> 00:37:48,430
Because at that point, we
couldn't avoid what to think

630
00:37:48,465 --> 00:37:50,399
what is happening
to our parents in Cuba.

631
00:37:50,434 --> 00:37:53,600
There were no cell phones
or any way to communicate.

632
00:37:53,635 --> 00:37:55,041
Sometimes a letter
would take two months.

633
00:37:55,065 --> 00:37:57,472
So there was no
real-time information

634
00:37:57,507 --> 00:38:00,508
of what was happening in Cuba.

635
00:38:00,543 --> 00:38:01,740
At the time that I was there,

636
00:38:01,775 --> 00:38:04,677
there were maybe 3,000 kids

637
00:38:04,712 --> 00:38:08,450
in Florida City.

638
00:38:08,485 --> 00:38:10,386
They would stay there
for a while

639
00:38:10,421 --> 00:38:12,520
and then they would fly them out
to different places

640
00:38:12,555 --> 00:38:14,423
around the United States.

641
00:38:14,458 --> 00:38:15,765
When her papers were not
gonna go through,

642
00:38:15,789 --> 00:38:17,030
when it was going
to take some time,

643
00:38:17,054 --> 00:38:20,561
something more permanent
had to be decided

644
00:38:20,596 --> 00:38:23,498
and that's when they
were shipped off to Colorado.

645
00:38:23,533 --> 00:38:25,533
The welfare called me to Cuba

646
00:38:25,568 --> 00:38:29,537
and they told me if my children
can go to Pueblo, Colorado,

647
00:38:29,572 --> 00:38:34,410
where they found...
They have a cousin there.

648
00:38:34,445 --> 00:38:38,381
And I told them, "If you promise
me don't separate,"

649
00:38:38,416 --> 00:38:41,384
I said, "okay,"
and they send to Pueblo.

650
00:38:41,419 --> 00:38:42,528
They call us up one morning,

651
00:38:42,552 --> 00:38:44,387
they said, you're leaving.

652
00:38:44,422 --> 00:38:48,952
And there was a bus
of about 30 people... 30 kids

653
00:38:48,987 --> 00:38:51,724
that were going to the same
place that I was going

654
00:38:51,759 --> 00:38:53,363
in Pueblo, Colorado,

655
00:38:53,398 --> 00:38:55,365
to the orphanage.

656
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:58,698
Children were sent
to a Catholic archdioceses

657
00:38:58,733 --> 00:39:00,931
throughout the United States.

658
00:39:00,966 --> 00:39:03,802
We are still
researching the number

659
00:39:03,837 --> 00:39:06,673
but we have like 48 states
and over 100 cities

660
00:39:06,708 --> 00:39:09,808
where the children were sent to.

661
00:39:09,843 --> 00:39:12,008
They've never been separated
from their mom,

662
00:39:12,043 --> 00:39:14,417
now they're in an airplane
to Colorado

663
00:39:14,452 --> 00:39:17,849
and you just get there
and it is what it is.

664
00:39:17,884 --> 00:39:21,116
Boys go to one side,
girls go to the other,

665
00:39:21,151 --> 00:39:24,889
and just a realization of,
"I'm all by myself."

666
00:39:26,827 --> 00:39:34,827
♪

667
00:39:36,507 --> 00:39:39,068
The children arrived
at the Sacred Heart Orphanage

668
00:39:39,103 --> 00:39:41,609
in Pueblo, Colorado.

669
00:39:41,644 --> 00:39:45,415
It was a mix of Cuban refugees
and troubled children

670
00:39:45,450 --> 00:39:48,583
from all over the country.

671
00:39:48,618 --> 00:39:52,180
When the children flew over,
her and her three brothers,

672
00:39:52,215 --> 00:39:56,591
the boys stayed together on
the boys' side of the orphanage

673
00:39:56,626 --> 00:39:59,660
while my mother
was alone in the girls' side

674
00:39:59,695 --> 00:40:02,729
and she experienced some
unpleasantness there a lot

675
00:40:02,764 --> 00:40:04,159
because it was a home for...

676
00:40:04,194 --> 00:40:06,964
It was an orphanage
for abused children.

677
00:40:06,999 --> 00:40:10,066
So she was going into
an environment unknown

678
00:40:10,101 --> 00:40:13,773
in Colorado,
and she comes from an island.

679
00:40:13,808 --> 00:40:16,710
There's a pecking system,
almost like a small prison.

680
00:40:16,745 --> 00:40:19,812
You know,
right off, the first day,

681
00:40:19,847 --> 00:40:23,750
I went to eat breakfast
and they were taking the food

682
00:40:23,785 --> 00:40:25,114
off my plate.

683
00:40:25,149 --> 00:40:26,720
So I confronted that kid,

684
00:40:26,755 --> 00:40:29,855
you know, at recess.

685
00:40:29,890 --> 00:40:31,604
I went to him, I didn't say
anything at that moment

686
00:40:31,628 --> 00:40:35,157
but I confronted him and we got
into a big, big fight.

687
00:40:35,192 --> 00:40:38,534
But there was nobody there
to solve this.

688
00:40:38,569 --> 00:40:41,867
This is a fight
and they would just let it...

689
00:40:41,902 --> 00:40:46,575
Pretty much, they would just let
it go to its normal conclusion.

690
00:40:46,610 --> 00:40:49,545
My mom, very quickly,
as an older child

691
00:40:49,580 --> 00:40:52,581
at nine and ten and eleven,
she was, in the orphanage,

692
00:40:52,616 --> 00:40:54,946
she was assigned little ones
to take care of

693
00:40:54,981 --> 00:40:58,851
so that mothering
came in and she would say

694
00:40:58,886 --> 00:41:00,215
that was her job.

695
00:41:00,250 --> 00:41:01,524
She had duties to do.

696
00:41:01,559 --> 00:41:03,790
She was very good at ironing

697
00:41:03,825 --> 00:41:05,924
so she had ironed
all the priestly robes

698
00:41:05,959 --> 00:41:07,662
and all the children's clothes.

699
00:41:07,697 --> 00:41:10,731
She had a little girl
that was rescued

700
00:41:10,766 --> 00:41:12,502
out of an abusive situation

701
00:41:12,537 --> 00:41:14,042
and that was her little girl
that she took care of

702
00:41:14,066 --> 00:41:16,066
and it was her baby,
it was her child.

703
00:41:16,101 --> 00:41:17,903
So sort of an instant
growing up,

704
00:41:17,938 --> 00:41:20,235
"I'm no longer a child,
there's no time for that.

705
00:41:20,270 --> 00:41:22,512
Now I'm a motherly figure
to this child

706
00:41:22,547 --> 00:41:23,942
and I must help that child."

707
00:41:23,977 --> 00:41:25,141
That was my mother's heart,

708
00:41:25,176 --> 00:41:27,517
"I must help, I must comfort.

709
00:41:27,552 --> 00:41:29,981
I must make this better."

710
00:41:30,016 --> 00:41:32,951
My youngest brother was seven.

711
00:41:32,986 --> 00:41:36,526
I want to say Orlando,
I want to say eight or nine,

712
00:41:36,561 --> 00:41:37,956
in that range, yeah,

713
00:41:37,991 --> 00:41:40,255
and my sister was a year
and half younger than me.

714
00:41:40,290 --> 00:41:43,027
You were looking after them
and being responsible for them

715
00:41:43,062 --> 00:41:45,568
and keeping them safe.

716
00:41:45,603 --> 00:41:47,966
My brothers were there,
and José,

717
00:41:48,001 --> 00:41:53,202
you know, to me,
he's my second dad.

718
00:41:53,237 --> 00:41:57,976
José was... was, he put
the pants of a father

719
00:41:58,011 --> 00:42:02,112
and he did a good job.

720
00:42:02,147 --> 00:42:05,753
Do you remember being aware
of a sense of responsibility

721
00:42:05,788 --> 00:42:08,250
that you had
for your younger siblings?

722
00:42:08,285 --> 00:42:10,725
Yeah, of course.

723
00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:13,695
Yeah, that was...
I was always there

724
00:42:13,730 --> 00:42:20,295
and it was always something

725
00:42:20,330 --> 00:42:26,169
that took a toll
on my childhood.

726
00:42:26,204 --> 00:42:28,204
I'm sure, because
they're asking you questions

727
00:42:28,239 --> 00:42:29,645
that you can't answer.

728
00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:32,109
Right.

729
00:42:32,144 --> 00:42:34,947
And it was really
the responsibility

730
00:42:34,982 --> 00:42:38,115
of playing that role.

731
00:42:38,150 --> 00:42:39,281
Yeah.

732
00:42:46,125 --> 00:42:48,994
After months of agony,
Angela finally received

733
00:42:49,029 --> 00:42:52,899
the telegram allowing her
to travel to the United States.

734
00:42:52,934 --> 00:42:58,971
They left Cuba May 17th, 1962,

735
00:42:59,006 --> 00:43:03,844
and they send me the telegram
for come to the United States

736
00:43:03,879 --> 00:43:06,242
August 8th, '62.

737
00:43:06,277 --> 00:43:08,013
You can't take
with you anything.

738
00:43:08,048 --> 00:43:10,653
They don't let me
bring a suitcase,

739
00:43:10,688 --> 00:43:15,284
just my dress on
and no money and no English.

740
00:43:17,662 --> 00:43:20,861
When I go into the flight,

741
00:43:20,896 --> 00:43:23,061
on Pan American flight
to come over here

742
00:43:23,096 --> 00:43:27,131
to United States
and the airplane go up,

743
00:43:27,166 --> 00:43:29,804
I was sitting in the window

744
00:43:29,839 --> 00:43:31,971
and I look down,

745
00:43:32,006 --> 00:43:35,040
and I saw Cuba there, I say,

746
00:43:35,075 --> 00:43:36,877
"Goodbye, Cuba.

747
00:43:36,912 --> 00:43:39,880
I don't know when
I'm going to see you again.

748
00:43:39,915 --> 00:43:45,248
But I'm going to keep a good
memory in my heart for you."

749
00:43:45,283 --> 00:43:50,825
And then, when I sit
straight, I start to sing,

750
00:43:50,860 --> 00:43:52,222
"Que linda es mi Cuba"

751
00:43:52,257 --> 00:43:54,862
and then I compose a song.

752
00:43:54,897 --> 00:44:00,329
These songs, in a way, were
almost like a coping mechanism

753
00:44:00,364 --> 00:44:03,805
for... she lived
this really dramatic life

754
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,676
and she had to make decisions
that no mother

755
00:44:06,711 --> 00:44:08,172
should ever have to make.

756
00:44:19,790 --> 00:44:21,955
Angela tries out
some of her songs

757
00:44:21,990 --> 00:44:23,924
with Carlos' new arrangements

758
00:44:23,959 --> 00:44:25,728
and local friends and family.

759
00:44:31,296 --> 00:44:33,065
How many more do you want to do?

760
00:44:33,100 --> 00:44:34,264
One many more?

761
00:44:41,306 --> 00:44:42,844
♪

762
00:44:56,519 --> 00:44:59,894
She is someone who ultimately

763
00:44:59,929 --> 00:45:02,226
is about celebrating life,

764
00:45:02,261 --> 00:45:04,261
no matter how difficult.

765
00:45:04,296 --> 00:45:08,100
So you're hearing these lyrics
and they're difficult

766
00:45:08,135 --> 00:45:12,038
and she's just celebrating life
underneath it all.

767
00:45:14,944 --> 00:45:19,782
♪

768
00:45:27,484 --> 00:45:29,484
The song itself
and when she performs it,

769
00:45:29,519 --> 00:45:34,456
it really does
show us who she is.

770
00:45:34,491 --> 00:45:36,425
How positive of a person she is

771
00:45:36,460 --> 00:45:38,229
given everything
she's been through.

772
00:45:41,806 --> 00:45:49,504
♪

773
00:45:49,539 --> 00:45:51,374
Angela arrived
in Miami, Florida,

774
00:45:51,409 --> 00:45:53,343
with just the clothes
on her back

775
00:45:53,378 --> 00:45:57,347
but her children were
2,000 miles away in Colorado.

776
00:45:57,382 --> 00:46:03,089
I immediately, I went to see
my friend who pick up them

777
00:46:03,124 --> 00:46:06,796
and talk with my children
by phone

778
00:46:06,831 --> 00:46:08,457
because I don't have phone.

779
00:46:08,492 --> 00:46:11,460
I say, "Mommy is here
in United States.

780
00:46:11,495 --> 00:46:14,804
We are going to see
each very soon."

781
00:46:14,839 --> 00:46:16,839
♪

782
00:46:16,874 --> 00:46:18,401
I need to find a job.

783
00:46:18,436 --> 00:46:20,568
The welfare told me,
"Mrs. Alvarez,

784
00:46:20,603 --> 00:46:23,538
if you find a job in Miami,

785
00:46:23,573 --> 00:46:26,277
we promise you to bring
the children to you

786
00:46:26,312 --> 00:46:29,412
because you need
to sustain them."

787
00:46:29,447 --> 00:46:33,955
At that time, all Miami
was full of Americans.

788
00:46:33,990 --> 00:46:36,056
They don't have
Latin people there.

789
00:46:36,091 --> 00:46:37,926
You need to speak English

790
00:46:37,961 --> 00:46:40,093
to find a job.

791
00:46:40,128 --> 00:46:43,063
For me, it was very hard

792
00:46:43,098 --> 00:46:45,329
to find a job.

793
00:46:45,364 --> 00:46:46,968
And a friend of mine,

794
00:46:47,003 --> 00:46:51,038
he told me, "I have
a job for you, Angela."

795
00:46:51,073 --> 00:46:52,336
"Are you crazy?

796
00:46:52,371 --> 00:46:54,140
I don't speak English!"

797
00:46:54,175 --> 00:46:56,274
"No, you don't need
to speak English.

798
00:46:56,309 --> 00:46:58,210
It's picking tomatoes
in the field.

799
00:46:58,245 --> 00:47:00,542
You don't need to speak
English with the tomatoes.

800
00:47:00,577 --> 00:47:03,380
You pick the tomato,
put it in the basket."

801
00:47:03,415 --> 00:47:06,053
They give me a big hat,

802
00:47:06,088 --> 00:47:08,550
and then,

803
00:47:08,585 --> 00:47:12,862
I wash the tomato
with my tear because

804
00:47:12,897 --> 00:47:14,589
it was very hard for me.

805
00:47:14,624 --> 00:47:17,328
And all the time when I
pick up a tomato, say,

806
00:47:17,363 --> 00:47:21,365
"God, why you did that to me?"

807
00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:23,906
And I remember
writing letters to her,

808
00:47:23,941 --> 00:47:27,437
of course, it was in Miami,

809
00:47:27,472 --> 00:47:28,605
Lord knows, working,

810
00:47:28,640 --> 00:47:31,144
probably making ten cents
an hour or something like that,

811
00:47:31,179 --> 00:47:36,050
and we'd write her letters...

812
00:47:36,085 --> 00:47:38,283
and her letters
sounded pretty normal

813
00:47:38,318 --> 00:47:39,889
coming back, you know.

814
00:47:39,924 --> 00:47:42,287
And my grandmother
was just that spirit,

815
00:47:42,322 --> 00:47:45,125
she picked tomatoes,
she was a waitress,

816
00:47:45,160 --> 00:47:46,456
and didn't speak the language.

817
00:47:46,491 --> 00:47:49,129
She just did everything
she had to do

818
00:47:49,164 --> 00:47:50,900
to get her children back,

819
00:47:50,935 --> 00:47:54,002
and I think
the children knew that.

820
00:47:54,037 --> 00:47:56,939
My mother knew that,
my uncles knew that,

821
00:47:56,974 --> 00:48:00,470
that it wasn't for
lack of love, or abandonment,

822
00:48:00,505 --> 00:48:02,637
or any of that,
it was just the circumstances,

823
00:48:02,672 --> 00:48:04,914
and that sort of
helps you persevere.

824
00:48:04,949 --> 00:48:06,641
This is not a forever situation.

825
00:48:06,676 --> 00:48:08,346
Really tough situation to be in,

826
00:48:08,381 --> 00:48:10,051
but it wasn't forever.

827
00:48:10,086 --> 00:48:12,647
The first check
that they pay me,

828
00:48:12,682 --> 00:48:16,222
I went to the welfare
and said, "Look, I have a job."

829
00:48:16,257 --> 00:48:20,094
"Oh, good for you, Miss Angela,
that you have a job,

830
00:48:20,129 --> 00:48:21,656
but you don't make enough money

831
00:48:21,691 --> 00:48:25,396
for support your four
children here with you.

832
00:48:25,431 --> 00:48:27,497
If we found a job
for you in Pueblo,

833
00:48:27,532 --> 00:48:28,630
you go over there?"

834
00:48:28,665 --> 00:48:30,071
"Yes."

835
00:48:30,106 --> 00:48:32,436
And they sent me to Pueblo.

836
00:48:36,640 --> 00:48:41,445
♪

837
00:48:41,480 --> 00:48:44,415
Angela finally made it
to Pueblo, Colorado,

838
00:48:44,450 --> 00:48:48,320
and was reunited
with her children.

839
00:48:48,355 --> 00:48:52,192
This is me in
the airport of Pueblo

840
00:48:52,227 --> 00:48:53,963
with my children.

841
00:48:53,998 --> 00:48:56,427
♪

842
00:48:56,462 --> 00:48:57,692
Look at them!

843
00:48:57,727 --> 00:49:00,629
- Show us who is who.
- He, he asked her,

844
00:49:00,664 --> 00:49:03,434
"Who is she?"

845
00:49:03,469 --> 00:49:06,107
And then I said,
"I'm your mother!"

846
00:49:06,142 --> 00:49:08,538
And then, "Oh..."

847
00:49:08,573 --> 00:49:11,145
- He forgot to speak Spanish.
- That's Boby?

848
00:49:11,180 --> 00:49:13,983
Yeah, Boby, yeah, yeah.

849
00:49:14,018 --> 00:49:15,677
I forgot to speak Spanish.

850
00:49:15,712 --> 00:49:17,745
By the time my mom came,

851
00:49:17,780 --> 00:49:20,484
I couldn't communicate with her.

852
00:49:20,519 --> 00:49:22,321
I didn't know when she came to...

853
00:49:22,356 --> 00:49:24,686
I didn't recognize who she was.

854
00:49:24,721 --> 00:49:27,623
I asked my sister,
"Who's her?"

855
00:49:27,658 --> 00:49:31,033
"That's your mom," you know,
and then I realized

856
00:49:31,068 --> 00:49:32,562
it was her.

857
00:49:32,597 --> 00:49:35,565
It was a very
touchy moment there,

858
00:49:35,600 --> 00:49:38,667
but it turned out to be

859
00:49:38,702 --> 00:49:41,373
the greatest moment
in our lives.

860
00:49:41,408 --> 00:49:43,012
♪

861
00:49:43,047 --> 00:49:44,574
Somebody was there with a camera

862
00:49:44,609 --> 00:49:47,247
when my grandmother
reunited with her children,

863
00:49:47,282 --> 00:49:49,480
and just the rawness
of that moment

864
00:49:49,515 --> 00:49:51,119
in my mother's face...

865
00:49:51,154 --> 00:49:53,583
So, my uncles were together,

866
00:49:53,618 --> 00:49:56,190
and I know that the oldest,

867
00:49:56,225 --> 00:49:58,621
José, sort of took charge,

868
00:49:58,656 --> 00:50:00,491
and sort of protected
his brothers

869
00:50:00,526 --> 00:50:03,065
'cause that's always been
who he is as the oldest.

870
00:50:03,100 --> 00:50:07,234
But my mom, by herself
on the girls' side,

871
00:50:07,269 --> 00:50:09,203
and just the emotion
of that picture,

872
00:50:09,238 --> 00:50:11,766
sort of this joy,
but then intense realization

873
00:50:11,801 --> 00:50:14,340
of breaking free
of all that she lived

874
00:50:14,375 --> 00:50:16,144
and just feeling it.

875
00:50:16,179 --> 00:50:17,684
You just couldn't
feel it in the orphanage.

876
00:50:17,708 --> 00:50:18,607
There was no time for that.

877
00:50:18,643 --> 00:50:20,808
You just survive,
you just push through.

878
00:50:20,843 --> 00:50:22,777
But seeing her mother,

879
00:50:22,812 --> 00:50:25,813
and just feeling
the rawness, the hurt,

880
00:50:25,848 --> 00:50:27,485
the pain of that moment,

881
00:50:27,520 --> 00:50:32,094
that picture just is
worth a thousand words too.

882
00:50:32,129 --> 00:50:36,461
She was very much
hugging the young ones

883
00:50:36,496 --> 00:50:38,265
rather than me, so, you know,

884
00:50:38,300 --> 00:50:42,434
I was already 15
or whatever, 16, so,

885
00:50:42,469 --> 00:50:46,405
her concentration...
Which makes sense...

886
00:50:46,440 --> 00:50:51,344
It was mostly with
Jerry and Orlando.

887
00:50:51,379 --> 00:50:53,643
It was really
a gift from God that,

888
00:50:53,678 --> 00:50:56,481
that she was able to come to us.

889
00:50:56,516 --> 00:50:58,417
But this was no happy ending.

890
00:50:58,452 --> 00:51:00,419
♪

891
00:51:00,454 --> 00:51:02,487
The job that they found for me

892
00:51:02,522 --> 00:51:06,458
is clean a bank
after the people left

893
00:51:06,493 --> 00:51:08,691
in the town of Pueblo.

894
00:51:08,726 --> 00:51:12,464
And then he'd take me
every day at 5:00,

895
00:51:12,499 --> 00:51:16,699
and I'd be there
for clean the bank.

896
00:51:16,734 --> 00:51:18,833
♪

897
00:51:18,868 --> 00:51:21,176
Still not earning enough money,

898
00:51:21,211 --> 00:51:24,872
Angela was only able to see
her children at weekends.

899
00:51:24,907 --> 00:51:27,512
She soon became a mother figure
to many of the other children

900
00:51:27,547 --> 00:51:28,680
in the orphanage,

901
00:51:28,715 --> 00:51:32,484
who would join the visits
at her tiny basement apartment.

902
00:51:32,519 --> 00:51:35,124
They'd keep my
children in the place.

903
00:51:35,159 --> 00:51:37,687
And then every weekend,

904
00:51:37,722 --> 00:51:40,657
I bring my children
to my apartment

905
00:51:40,692 --> 00:51:43,231
Saturday and Sunday.

906
00:51:43,266 --> 00:51:45,893
And always I like to bring

907
00:51:45,928 --> 00:51:48,401
a Cuban boy and a Cuban girl.

908
00:51:48,436 --> 00:51:50,205
I cook for them.

909
00:51:50,240 --> 00:51:51,701
Did you sing them songs?

910
00:51:51,736 --> 00:51:56,244
Yeah, we're singing,
and then we...

911
00:51:56,279 --> 00:51:59,709
Everybody was happy
because we see each other.

912
00:51:59,744 --> 00:52:02,745
♪

913
00:52:02,780 --> 00:52:06,221
She played a huge
role in our life.

914
00:52:06,256 --> 00:52:10,291
She was our mother in absentia

915
00:52:10,326 --> 00:52:12,788
because our parents
were in Cuba.

916
00:52:12,823 --> 00:52:16,891
So, the weekends
were looked forward to.

917
00:52:16,926 --> 00:52:19,927
- So fun, affection?
- She always...

918
00:52:19,962 --> 00:52:22,732
Fun and affection,
but always a song.

919
00:52:22,767 --> 00:52:26,670
♪

920
00:52:26,705 --> 00:52:29,310
On some of our Sunday visits,

921
00:52:29,345 --> 00:52:31,543
she would play the guitar

922
00:52:31,578 --> 00:52:34,777
and sing Cuban songs,
Cuban melodies,

923
00:52:34,812 --> 00:52:36,746
and sort of wrap up

924
00:52:36,781 --> 00:52:40,552
the visit with her singing, yes.

925
00:52:40,587 --> 00:52:42,884
This one is Juan del Aguila

926
00:52:42,919 --> 00:52:45,227
with here in my
little apartment,

927
00:52:45,262 --> 00:52:47,460
in the basement
on Christmas time,

928
00:52:47,495 --> 00:52:49,924
the first time in Pueblo,
first year.

929
00:52:49,959 --> 00:52:51,794
I cook for everybody,

930
00:52:51,829 --> 00:52:54,500
and then we celebrate Christmas.

931
00:52:54,535 --> 00:52:57,536
It was just
a very lonesome time,

932
00:52:57,571 --> 00:53:01,474
so she particularly took on

933
00:53:01,509 --> 00:53:04,213
a very important role

934
00:53:04,248 --> 00:53:06,347
in our life there.

935
00:53:06,382 --> 00:53:08,514
And then, afterwards,

936
00:53:08,549 --> 00:53:10,582
because we've had reunions,

937
00:53:10,617 --> 00:53:12,419
and we keep in touch,

938
00:53:12,454 --> 00:53:16,753
and there's a bond
that was created

939
00:53:16,788 --> 00:53:18,953
that nobody will
be able to break,

940
00:53:18,988 --> 00:53:21,626
or anything.

941
00:53:21,661 --> 00:53:22,560
To tell you the truth,

942
00:53:22,596 --> 00:53:25,300
I don't know that
I was mature enough

943
00:53:25,335 --> 00:53:30,767
at the time... even 12, 13, 14...

944
00:53:30,802 --> 00:53:33,737
To realize the radical

945
00:53:33,772 --> 00:53:37,675
change that we had gone through.

946
00:53:37,710 --> 00:53:41,547
It had a decisive

947
00:53:41,582 --> 00:53:43,450
and irreversible impact,

948
00:53:43,485 --> 00:53:45,749
not only on our lives

949
00:53:45,784 --> 00:53:48,015
and that of our families,

950
00:53:48,050 --> 00:53:51,326
but indeed on our entire
community and nation.

951
00:53:51,361 --> 00:53:53,427
This is a Cuban American story.

952
00:53:53,462 --> 00:53:55,759
It's an immigrant story.

953
00:53:55,794 --> 00:53:58,630
And it's a story
of displacement,

954
00:53:58,665 --> 00:54:02,370
and a story of having
to start over again,

955
00:54:02,405 --> 00:54:05,472
and longing for your home

956
00:54:05,507 --> 00:54:08,310
and where you come from.

957
00:54:08,345 --> 00:54:15,680
♪

958
00:54:15,715 --> 00:54:16,912
When I left there,

959
00:54:16,947 --> 00:54:18,364
we were told we were
going to Miami,

960
00:54:18,388 --> 00:54:19,662
I thought it was
a vacation, you know.

961
00:54:19,686 --> 00:54:21,059
I was five and a half
years old, so...

962
00:54:21,083 --> 00:54:22,786
They never said
"We're leaving Cuba,

963
00:54:22,821 --> 00:54:24,491
we're never coming back."

964
00:54:24,526 --> 00:54:26,460
There's an adventure aspect...
There's many kids

965
00:54:26,495 --> 00:54:28,759
from Pedro Pan who
never saw their families again.

966
00:54:28,794 --> 00:54:30,695
Some of their families
were then imprisoned

967
00:54:30,730 --> 00:54:31,529
and gone to jail,

968
00:54:31,564 --> 00:54:35,403
and they were
separated for life.

969
00:54:35,438 --> 00:54:37,031
In the case of Angela,

970
00:54:37,066 --> 00:54:41,739
she didn't come here and say,
"Oh, now I can sing."

971
00:54:41,774 --> 00:54:43,939
No, she had to pick tomatoes.

972
00:54:43,974 --> 00:54:45,776
She had to do
whatever she had to do,

973
00:54:45,811 --> 00:54:48,383
along with her husband
and that generation,

974
00:54:48,418 --> 00:54:51,650
to immediately make do
for their family.

975
00:54:51,685 --> 00:54:53,091
It wasn't a question of,
"No, I don't wanna do

976
00:54:53,115 --> 00:54:54,554
that kind of job," it's like,

977
00:54:54,589 --> 00:54:56,457
"What's the job
that's open today,

978
00:54:56,492 --> 00:54:57,590
and I will do it."

979
00:54:57,625 --> 00:55:02,430
♪

980
00:55:02,465 --> 00:55:03,992
I went to a place

981
00:55:04,027 --> 00:55:07,831
that they have
a beautiful garden.

982
00:55:07,866 --> 00:55:10,768
When I see the flowers,
different colors,

983
00:55:10,803 --> 00:55:13,540
different sizes,

984
00:55:13,575 --> 00:55:17,709
I compare the flowers
to my children.

985
00:55:17,744 --> 00:55:19,876
I promise to myself

986
00:55:19,911 --> 00:55:24,485
giving them more attention
and more love than before

987
00:55:24,520 --> 00:55:26,619
for the separation that we have.

988
00:55:26,654 --> 00:55:29,017
That they miss me,
and I miss them.

989
00:55:29,052 --> 00:55:31,019
♪

990
00:55:31,054 --> 00:55:33,527
And then I composed a song,

991
00:55:33,562 --> 00:55:34,891
"En Mi Jardín."

992
00:55:34,926 --> 00:55:36,398
♪

993
00:55:49,974 --> 00:55:52,480
"En Mi Jardín,"
which is "In My Garden,"

994
00:55:52,515 --> 00:55:55,043
it's more of like
a song and a bolero.

995
00:55:55,078 --> 00:55:57,980
It has that kind of
ballad, dance feel,

996
00:55:58,015 --> 00:56:00,114
but some of
the percussion's playing

997
00:56:00,149 --> 00:56:03,887
more out of a song tradition,
and then towards the end here,

998
00:56:03,922 --> 00:56:06,923
we break into

999
00:56:06,958 --> 00:56:08,826
a full-on song right here.

1000
00:56:08,861 --> 00:56:16,537
♪

1001
00:56:16,572 --> 00:56:18,539
Through a contact in Miami,

1002
00:56:18,574 --> 00:56:21,740
Angela managed to get a letter
to the president of Mexico.

1003
00:56:21,775 --> 00:56:24,644
She begged him to help get
her husband out of Cuba.

1004
00:56:24,679 --> 00:56:26,140
The president intervened,

1005
00:56:26,175 --> 00:56:29,044
and Orlando was sent
to a sugar mill in Mexico.

1006
00:56:29,079 --> 00:56:31,849
♪

1007
00:56:31,884 --> 00:56:35,952
We received a call
from my husband from Mexico.

1008
00:56:35,987 --> 00:56:39,560
When the telephone ring,
I talk with my husband.

1009
00:56:39,595 --> 00:56:41,628
I cry a lot.

1010
00:56:41,663 --> 00:56:45,599
Emotion because I...

1011
00:56:45,634 --> 00:56:49,702
He gave security to me
because I was living by myself.

1012
00:56:49,737 --> 00:56:51,902
And then he told me,

1013
00:56:51,937 --> 00:56:53,970
"I wanna talk
with the children."

1014
00:56:54,005 --> 00:56:56,170
And then, each child
talked to him.

1015
00:56:56,205 --> 00:56:58,546
My daughter,
everybody was crying.

1016
00:56:58,581 --> 00:57:00,207
Everybody was crying.

1017
00:57:00,242 --> 00:57:01,846
That triggered

1018
00:57:01,881 --> 00:57:06,455
the thing that we were gonna
leave, eventually, the orphanage

1019
00:57:06,490 --> 00:57:09,557
because now my
father is able to,

1020
00:57:09,592 --> 00:57:12,593
to support the family.

1021
00:57:12,628 --> 00:57:15,959
I'll never forget that day.

1022
00:57:15,994 --> 00:57:20,799
It was a very emotional day.

1023
00:57:20,834 --> 00:57:22,669
We rode the train

1024
00:57:22,704 --> 00:57:26,706
from Pueblo, Colorado,
to Mexico,

1025
00:57:26,741 --> 00:57:30,138
and he met us in Mexico City.

1026
00:57:30,173 --> 00:57:32,173
My husband was waiting for me

1027
00:57:32,208 --> 00:57:35,011
in Mexico in the station,

1028
00:57:35,046 --> 00:57:38,212
and it was a very,
very beautiful moment

1029
00:57:38,247 --> 00:57:39,983
to see each other.

1030
00:57:40,018 --> 00:57:44,493
♪

1031
00:57:44,528 --> 00:57:47,188
So how long did
all of that take?

1032
00:57:47,223 --> 00:57:49,861
Oh, it took about two years.

1033
00:57:49,896 --> 00:57:53,227
♪

1034
00:57:55,066 --> 00:57:56,835
As the show date approaches,

1035
00:57:56,870 --> 00:57:59,002
rehearsals move to a live studio

1036
00:57:59,037 --> 00:58:01,268
in California.

1037
00:58:03,877 --> 00:58:05,877
This song was another one

1038
00:58:05,912 --> 00:58:09,045
that I got to really,

1039
00:58:09,080 --> 00:58:10,882
through talking
about it with her

1040
00:58:10,917 --> 00:58:12,653
and working with her
on this song,

1041
00:58:12,688 --> 00:58:16,052
I got to experience

1042
00:58:16,087 --> 00:58:18,054
her love for my grandfather.

1043
00:58:18,089 --> 00:58:19,726
One, two, three...

1044
00:58:26,064 --> 00:58:27,635
It's just so poetic,

1045
00:58:27,670 --> 00:58:30,066
and it's so romantic
and beautiful.

1046
00:58:30,101 --> 00:58:32,640
My father has
a very romantic voice,

1047
00:58:32,675 --> 00:58:34,642
and we've kind of agreed

1048
00:58:34,677 --> 00:58:36,677
this would be a great
song for him to sing.

1049
00:58:41,717 --> 00:58:46,621
♪

1050
00:58:46,656 --> 00:58:47,754
- That's a take.
- Huh?

1051
00:58:47,789 --> 00:58:48,689
That's a take.

1052
00:58:48,724 --> 00:58:49,724
That's a take.

1053
00:58:53,091 --> 00:58:54,893
♪

1054
00:58:54,928 --> 00:58:56,829
Reunited at last,

1055
00:58:56,864 --> 00:58:59,095
the Alvarez family
then followed Orlando

1056
00:58:59,130 --> 00:59:02,197
to sugar mills
around Central America.

1057
00:59:02,232 --> 00:59:05,266
♪

1058
00:59:05,301 --> 00:59:08,676
My father, he told us
that he wanted to,

1059
00:59:08,711 --> 00:59:10,139
he wanted to leave Mexico

1060
00:59:10,174 --> 00:59:12,174
and come to the United States.

1061
00:59:12,209 --> 00:59:15,782
He gets a job in

1062
00:59:15,817 --> 00:59:17,883
a sugar mill called Talisman

1063
00:59:17,918 --> 00:59:21,117
an hour and a half from Miami.

1064
00:59:21,152 --> 00:59:22,855
So, we moved to Miami.

1065
00:59:22,890 --> 00:59:25,022
♪

1066
00:59:25,057 --> 00:59:27,662
It was a program on radio

1067
00:59:27,697 --> 00:59:30,599
in a station in Miami

1068
00:59:30,634 --> 00:59:32,898
that in the morning they say,

1069
00:59:32,933 --> 00:59:37,804
"If you wanna sing
and be a star,

1070
00:59:37,839 --> 00:59:40,169
you can enroll in the program."

1071
00:59:40,204 --> 00:59:41,775
And one day I called.

1072
00:59:41,810 --> 00:59:44,008
It was in the morning,
I was in the kitchen.

1073
00:59:44,043 --> 00:59:47,077
My children was at school,
my husband was at work.

1074
00:59:47,112 --> 00:59:50,685
And then I sing,
and I won the first prize!

1075
00:59:52,986 --> 00:59:57,384
And then, the man told me,
"Well, the next step is

1076
00:59:57,419 --> 01:00:01,289
you are going to
sing in a club."

1077
01:00:01,324 --> 01:00:03,324
And then one day,

1078
01:00:03,359 --> 01:00:06,360
my husband come early
from the sugar...

1079
01:00:06,395 --> 01:00:08,362
Talisman, and I told him,

1080
01:00:08,397 --> 01:00:10,903
"I've been disobedient with you

1081
01:00:10,938 --> 01:00:14,104
because I did something that I
know you are not going to like."

1082
01:00:14,139 --> 01:00:15,743
And he was looking at me like,

1083
01:00:15,778 --> 01:00:17,745
"Please tell me what you did."

1084
01:00:20,849 --> 01:00:24,719
I went to singing, and I placed,
and I told him everything.

1085
01:00:24,754 --> 01:00:27,282
And he told me, "Well,
it was okay what you did,

1086
01:00:27,317 --> 01:00:28,855
but night club?

1087
01:00:28,890 --> 01:00:31,957
No, you don't sing
in the night club."

1088
01:00:31,992 --> 01:00:33,321
I just stopped.

1089
01:00:35,358 --> 01:00:39,129
A year, a year and a half,
he got a word that

1090
01:00:39,164 --> 01:00:42,330
there was an opening
in Louisiana

1091
01:00:42,365 --> 01:00:45,674
in a sugar mill, Cora Texas.

1092
01:00:45,709 --> 01:00:47,368
So we moved to Louisiana

1093
01:00:47,403 --> 01:00:50,173
to a little town
called White Castle.

1094
01:00:50,208 --> 01:00:54,408
♪

1095
01:00:54,443 --> 01:00:57,312
And I said when I became
an American citizen,

1096
01:00:57,347 --> 01:00:59,985
when the ceremony finished,

1097
01:01:00,020 --> 01:01:02,823
the judge come
and give to each couple

1098
01:01:02,858 --> 01:01:03,957
an American flag.

1099
01:01:03,993 --> 01:01:07,828
And then he asks, "Well,
I wanna ask you a question.

1100
01:01:07,863 --> 01:01:11,227
During the ceremony,
all the time you were

1101
01:01:11,262 --> 01:01:14,296
smiling, smiling,
you have to have a big reason."

1102
01:01:14,331 --> 01:01:16,397
"Yes, I have a big reason.

1103
01:01:16,432 --> 01:01:17,398
You know what?

1104
01:01:17,433 --> 01:01:20,907
Before, I'm a Cuban lady

1105
01:01:20,942 --> 01:01:22,843
who don't speak English,

1106
01:01:22,878 --> 01:01:27,276
but now I am an American
who speaks fluent Spanish."

1107
01:01:33,757 --> 01:01:36,120
The Alvarez family
finally settled down

1108
01:01:36,155 --> 01:01:38,925
to make their life in Louisiana,

1109
01:01:38,960 --> 01:01:42,456
but then news came
that Orlando was ill.

1110
01:01:42,491 --> 01:01:43,897
He smoked a lot,

1111
01:01:43,932 --> 01:01:47,835
and then he have
cancer in the lung.

1112
01:01:47,870 --> 01:01:50,904
He died 53.

1113
01:01:50,939 --> 01:01:52,367
Very young.

1114
01:01:56,010 --> 01:01:59,814
Well, when my husband died,

1115
01:01:59,849 --> 01:02:02,883
I was living here in this house

1116
01:02:02,918 --> 01:02:04,379
thinking of my husband

1117
01:02:04,414 --> 01:02:08,823
how, how I'm going
to be in my life

1118
01:02:08,858 --> 01:02:11,089
because I'm walking without...

1119
01:02:11,124 --> 01:02:12,893
I didn't know where I'd go,

1120
01:02:12,928 --> 01:02:14,829
and then I composed a song,

1121
01:02:14,864 --> 01:02:17,898
"Camino Sin Rumbo."

1122
01:02:17,933 --> 01:02:20,967
That I walk without,
I didn't know where I'd go.

1123
01:02:21,002 --> 01:02:22,232
Yeah.

1124
01:02:22,267 --> 01:02:30,267
♪

1125
01:03:07,246 --> 01:03:15,246
♪

1126
01:03:27,299 --> 01:03:30,938
It takes time to boil
the water to come up.

1127
01:03:40,378 --> 01:03:43,885
Many people ask me
why I didn't marry again

1128
01:03:43,920 --> 01:03:46,118
when I became widowed.

1129
01:03:48,320 --> 01:03:51,057
Because I promised
to the Lord that

1130
01:03:51,092 --> 01:03:53,994
I wanna be
a good mother with them.

1131
01:03:56,526 --> 01:04:00,000
The rest of my life
that I'm going to be alive,

1132
01:04:00,035 --> 01:04:03,003
I'm going to dedicate to them.

1133
01:04:03,038 --> 01:04:05,566
There are my four children
when they were

1134
01:04:05,601 --> 01:04:07,601
around five months,

1135
01:04:07,636 --> 01:04:10,637
José, Marucha,

1136
01:04:10,672 --> 01:04:14,179
Orlando, and Boby.

1137
01:04:14,214 --> 01:04:16,181
My daughter Marucha,

1138
01:04:16,216 --> 01:04:19,052
her name is Maria,
but we call her Marucha.

1139
01:04:19,087 --> 01:04:21,252
When she lived in Spain,

1140
01:04:21,287 --> 01:04:24,926
she told me that
she don't like Maria.

1141
01:04:24,961 --> 01:04:28,556
In Spain, people call people
Marucha, Carmucha.

1142
01:04:28,591 --> 01:04:32,967
When she was
preparing her wedding,

1143
01:04:33,002 --> 01:04:34,639
she told me, "Mother,
do you think you can

1144
01:04:34,663 --> 01:04:37,499
compose a song to me
about my wedding?"

1145
01:04:37,534 --> 01:04:40,436
And she said, "I want you
to sing in my wedding."

1146
01:04:40,471 --> 01:04:43,373
I said, "Okay," but that day,
I couldn't do it

1147
01:04:43,408 --> 01:04:46,112
because when I saw her walk in,

1148
01:04:46,147 --> 01:04:49,445
I started to play the song,

1149
01:04:49,480 --> 01:04:51,678
but I can't because
I start to cry.

1150
01:04:51,713 --> 01:04:54,153
I couldn't sing in the church.

1151
01:04:54,188 --> 01:04:55,286
Yes.

1152
01:05:05,969 --> 01:05:09,531
♪ Maria ♪

1153
01:05:10,600 --> 01:05:12,600
♪ Maria ♪

1154
01:05:12,635 --> 01:05:15,669
♪ Maria ♪

1155
01:05:15,704 --> 01:05:18,947
♪

1156
01:05:43,699 --> 01:05:45,534
♪

1157
01:05:45,569 --> 01:05:48,570
She died of cancer

1158
01:05:48,605 --> 01:05:52,013
in 1999,

1159
01:05:52,048 --> 01:05:56,149
and she was 46 years old.

1160
01:05:56,184 --> 01:06:00,021
To me, it was a very,
very hard moment

1161
01:06:00,056 --> 01:06:02,485
to lose my daughter.

1162
01:06:02,520 --> 01:06:07,094
But God always gave me peace.

1163
01:06:07,129 --> 01:06:14,035
♪

1164
01:06:14,070 --> 01:06:16,334
I think it did represent
some closure for her,

1165
01:06:16,369 --> 01:06:18,765
you know, singing this song.

1166
01:06:18,800 --> 01:06:20,580
Towards the end here,
she says she wishes that

1167
01:06:20,604 --> 01:06:23,572
she'd never brush
against a thorn.

1168
01:06:23,607 --> 01:06:26,476
♪

1169
01:06:26,511 --> 01:06:28,346
When my mother passed away,

1170
01:06:28,381 --> 01:06:31,448
it was her and I in the hospital
when they wheeled her in.

1171
01:06:31,483 --> 01:06:34,022
And my grandmother,
her words to me,

1172
01:06:34,057 --> 01:06:35,749
"We're just gonna
hold onto the Lord."

1173
01:06:35,784 --> 01:06:43,784
♪

1174
01:06:50,370 --> 01:06:58,370
♪

1175
01:07:11,391 --> 01:07:13,292
The person that I became

1176
01:07:13,327 --> 01:07:16,724
as a result of that
experience, it's good.

1177
01:07:16,759 --> 01:07:19,166
I mean, I think the strength

1178
01:07:19,201 --> 01:07:23,698
and the ability to overcome,

1179
01:07:23,733 --> 01:07:26,503
it's been a good thing for me

1180
01:07:26,538 --> 01:07:27,538
without a doubt.

1181
01:07:27,572 --> 01:07:30,606
And I said, "Given the choice,"

1182
01:07:30,641 --> 01:07:32,212
I would tell my mother,

1183
01:07:32,247 --> 01:07:34,115
"Do it exactly the same way.

1184
01:07:34,150 --> 01:07:35,710
That was the right decision."

1185
01:07:35,745 --> 01:07:39,714
♪

1186
01:07:39,749 --> 01:07:43,289
My father said,
"Why don't you come down

1187
01:07:43,324 --> 01:07:46,127
and work for me?"
and I did that,

1188
01:07:46,162 --> 01:07:49,427
so I got my Master's
in Business Administration.

1189
01:07:49,462 --> 01:07:51,330
I heard of the job in Florida,

1190
01:07:51,365 --> 01:07:53,332
then I moved to
my current position

1191
01:07:53,367 --> 01:07:57,402
where I became general manager,

1192
01:07:57,437 --> 01:08:01,109
and I've been since 1989.

1193
01:08:01,144 --> 01:08:05,278
It's going into 28 years.

1194
01:08:05,313 --> 01:08:09,414
♪

1195
01:08:09,449 --> 01:08:11,878
Mr. Gatti's Pizza.

1196
01:08:11,913 --> 01:08:14,320
I've been working here
for 36 years.

1197
01:08:14,355 --> 01:08:15,453
Does your mom come here?

1198
01:08:15,488 --> 01:08:16,320
Yeah, she comes here every day

1199
01:08:16,356 --> 01:08:18,522
- and just watches me.
- Oh, does she?

1200
01:08:18,557 --> 01:08:20,205
- Yeah, she does.
- She comes here every day?

1201
01:08:20,229 --> 01:08:23,890
Yeah, and she's adopted
everybody as her grandchildren

1202
01:08:23,925 --> 01:08:25,496
when she's here.

1203
01:08:25,531 --> 01:08:27,597
Everybody loves her here.

1204
01:08:27,632 --> 01:08:35,632
♪

1205
01:08:45,617 --> 01:08:48,486
I put this pillow here

1206
01:08:48,521 --> 01:08:50,719
because if I don't
use the pillow,

1207
01:08:50,754 --> 01:08:53,887
I look that I'm driving
like this, like an old lady.

1208
01:08:53,922 --> 01:08:56,362
And then I put this pillow
because that way,

1209
01:08:56,397 --> 01:08:58,331
I'm straight.

1210
01:09:00,302 --> 01:09:02,269
Angela worked for
the state of Louisiana

1211
01:09:02,304 --> 01:09:05,536
until her retirement
at the age of 60.

1212
01:09:05,571 --> 01:09:07,505
Then she took a job
as a babysitter,

1213
01:09:07,540 --> 01:09:10,805
housekeeper, and cook
to a local family

1214
01:09:10,840 --> 01:09:15,381
for the next 30 years.

1215
01:09:15,416 --> 01:09:20,518
I quit to work
with them in June.

1216
01:09:20,553 --> 01:09:23,356
And then, now I'm a free person.

1217
01:09:26,724 --> 01:09:30,924
I can do whatever I want.

1218
01:09:30,959 --> 01:09:33,597
Asking someone in their 90s,

1219
01:09:33,632 --> 01:09:35,643
who's never given a professional
concert in her life

1220
01:09:35,667 --> 01:09:38,371
to get on an airplane,
fly to Los Angeles,

1221
01:09:38,406 --> 01:09:39,933
sing in a historic theatre

1222
01:09:39,968 --> 01:09:41,935
with a world-class band
in front of,

1223
01:09:41,970 --> 01:09:44,839
in front of an entire audience,

1224
01:09:44,874 --> 01:09:46,808
is pretty much a bad idea.

1225
01:09:48,878 --> 01:09:52,715
For her to say yes,

1226
01:09:52,750 --> 01:09:54,486
it's extraordinary.

1227
01:09:54,521 --> 01:10:02,521
♪

1228
01:10:16,906 --> 01:10:19,511
At a production rehearsal
in Los Angeles,

1229
01:10:19,546 --> 01:10:22,514
Angela performs her songs
with a full band

1230
01:10:22,549 --> 01:10:24,252
for the first time.

1231
01:10:37,333 --> 01:10:40,565
Nana, Nana,

1232
01:10:40,600 --> 01:10:43,502
I want you to meet Andy Garcia.

1233
01:10:43,537 --> 01:10:46,901
Oh, my goodness, no,
that's not true.

1234
01:10:46,936 --> 01:10:49,442
My goodness!

1235
01:10:49,477 --> 01:10:51,477
Ay, ay, ay!

1236
01:10:53,580 --> 01:10:55,910
Oh, my God.

1237
01:10:55,945 --> 01:10:57,747
You are my hero, my hero.

1238
01:11:04,822 --> 01:11:06,393
- You're our hero.
- Okay.

1239
01:11:07,594 --> 01:11:08,626
Thank you.

1240
01:11:08,661 --> 01:11:10,496
I heard you needed
a bongo player.

1241
01:11:10,531 --> 01:11:11,596
Okay.

1242
01:11:17,505 --> 01:11:19,736
Oh, my Lord!

1243
01:11:19,771 --> 01:11:23,575
This is the most beautiful thing
that could happen in my life.

1244
01:11:23,610 --> 01:11:26,479
Yeah, but we're gonna have
a little rehearsal on the night.

1245
01:11:34,522 --> 01:11:35,884
Did you take
a wrench outta here?

1246
01:11:43,366 --> 01:11:46,763
This project has been
75 years in the making.

1247
01:11:46,798 --> 01:11:49,502
She literally has been
waiting for this moment

1248
01:11:49,537 --> 01:11:51,603
her entire life.

1249
01:11:51,638 --> 01:11:53,902
Okay, everybody,
ladies and gentlemen,

1250
01:11:53,937 --> 01:11:56,641
please welcome Angela Alvarez.

1251
01:12:39,015 --> 01:12:40,355
Okay.

1252
01:13:03,743 --> 01:13:05,776
One, two, three...

1253
01:13:05,811 --> 01:13:13,811
♪

1254
01:13:13,951 --> 01:13:16,688
Just about every
musician on this project

1255
01:13:16,723 --> 01:13:20,593
has either won a Grammy,
or been nominated for a Grammy.

1256
01:13:20,628 --> 01:13:22,925
We're very lucky
to have this band.

1257
01:13:22,960 --> 01:13:24,498
When I walked in, man,

1258
01:13:24,533 --> 01:13:26,533
it's just the love in the air.

1259
01:13:26,568 --> 01:13:27,963
♪

1260
01:13:27,998 --> 01:13:28,931
It was just amazing.

1261
01:13:28,966 --> 01:13:31,637
This project is incredibly
all about love.

1262
01:13:31,672 --> 01:13:33,001
That's the way I look at it.

1263
01:13:33,036 --> 01:13:36,103
♪

1264
01:13:44,080 --> 01:13:45,882
When I met Nana,

1265
01:13:45,917 --> 01:13:49,820
it was very special
for me, I mean,

1266
01:13:49,855 --> 01:13:52,020
knowing that she
wrote all these lyrics

1267
01:13:52,055 --> 01:13:54,022
and the stories that
she start telling us,

1268
01:13:54,057 --> 01:13:55,760
it was like,

1269
01:13:55,795 --> 01:13:57,696
it's a lot of love in that room.

1270
01:14:11,547 --> 01:14:13,217
I was astounded when I heard
her music... first of all,

1271
01:14:13,241 --> 01:14:15,945
when I saw her sing,
just the sophistication

1272
01:14:15,980 --> 01:14:20,686
and beauty of her lyrics,

1273
01:14:20,721 --> 01:14:23,920
and how they were
formed musically.

1274
01:14:23,955 --> 01:14:26,824
It shows how dedicated she was

1275
01:14:26,859 --> 01:14:30,256
to the music of her culture,
and how much she's enjoyed it,

1276
01:14:30,291 --> 01:14:33,501
even though she never had
a chance to sing professionally,

1277
01:14:33,536 --> 01:14:35,734
it was still,
music was so alive in her

1278
01:14:35,769 --> 01:14:37,032
throughout her life.

1279
01:14:37,067 --> 01:14:38,539
This is a real discovery here,

1280
01:14:38,574 --> 01:14:41,674
and I'm honored
to be a part of it,

1281
01:14:41,709 --> 01:14:45,711
to be asked to just
lend my support.

1282
01:14:45,746 --> 01:14:48,549
She's still the real deal
from that era.

1283
01:14:48,584 --> 01:14:49,957
You can listen to it
in her melodies,

1284
01:14:49,981 --> 01:14:52,113
in her chord structure.

1285
01:14:52,148 --> 01:14:53,917
It's of the era,
it's very authentic,

1286
01:14:53,952 --> 01:14:55,017
and it's like, "Wow!"

1287
01:14:55,052 --> 01:14:57,789
One, two, three, four...

1288
01:15:24,081 --> 01:15:26,653
When she said yesterday,
"My birthday's

1289
01:15:26,688 --> 01:15:27,587
the same day of the concert.

1290
01:15:27,623 --> 01:15:30,085
I'm gonna be 91,"
and we're like...

1291
01:15:30,120 --> 01:15:31,328
I said, "Well,
everything in its time.

1292
01:15:31,352 --> 01:15:33,286
It's never too late,
you never know."

1293
01:15:33,321 --> 01:15:35,794
This is the perfect example,
look at this.

1294
01:15:35,829 --> 01:15:37,961
♪

1295
01:15:37,996 --> 01:15:40,194
She's amazing, 91,

1296
01:15:40,229 --> 01:15:43,263
and with a beautiful voice,
a beautiful spirit,

1297
01:15:43,298 --> 01:15:45,573
and really strong.

1298
01:15:45,608 --> 01:15:47,641
She's standing up
in the rehearsals,

1299
01:15:47,676 --> 01:15:49,676
and it's amazing!

1300
01:15:49,711 --> 01:15:51,744
She has more energy
than all of us!

1301
01:15:51,779 --> 01:15:54,208
Yeah, Nana's done
singing until the concert.

1302
01:15:58,852 --> 01:16:01,721
The biggest unknown
and challenges,

1303
01:16:01,756 --> 01:16:02,887
there's no rulebook

1304
01:16:02,922 --> 01:16:06,825
for what a 90-year-old
voice can do,

1305
01:16:06,860 --> 01:16:07,826
especially someone
who doesn't have

1306
01:16:07,861 --> 01:16:10,224
a lifelong career of doing this.

1307
01:16:10,259 --> 01:16:12,897
And so, trying to gauge

1308
01:16:12,932 --> 01:16:15,669
when we've pushed her too far,

1309
01:16:15,704 --> 01:16:16,370
physically, you know,

1310
01:16:16,405 --> 01:16:18,067
and it's hard to know that

1311
01:16:18,102 --> 01:16:20,707
'cause she's always
just a yes to everything.

1312
01:16:20,742 --> 01:16:23,941
She's working harder
than anybody here.

1313
01:16:23,976 --> 01:16:27,043
There's just been a lot,
and I've had doubt.

1314
01:16:27,078 --> 01:16:29,012
In the beginning,
I was very excited,

1315
01:16:29,047 --> 01:16:31,652
very nervous,
but now I'm relaxed

1316
01:16:31,687 --> 01:16:34,215
because I know everything
is going to be okay

1317
01:16:34,250 --> 01:16:36,085
'cause I trust in the Lord.

1318
01:16:36,120 --> 01:16:37,955
Yes.

1319
01:16:37,990 --> 01:16:40,287
I feel so happy, my life,

1320
01:16:40,322 --> 01:16:42,861
for many, many years ago,

1321
01:16:42,896 --> 01:16:45,028
I don't feel
like I'm feeling now

1322
01:16:45,063 --> 01:16:47,998
because this is
something that, like,

1323
01:16:48,033 --> 01:16:50,902
the program is going
to be my dream

1324
01:16:50,937 --> 01:16:53,102
come true.

1325
01:16:53,137 --> 01:17:01,137
♪

1326
01:17:09,021 --> 01:17:11,153
After a 75-year wait,

1327
01:17:11,188 --> 01:17:12,990
the theatre is booked,

1328
01:17:13,025 --> 01:17:15,025
the band is ready,

1329
01:17:15,060 --> 01:17:17,225
and Angela's big day

1330
01:17:17,260 --> 01:17:20,063
has finally arrived.

1331
01:17:20,098 --> 01:17:22,296
There's so many people here.

1332
01:17:22,331 --> 01:17:24,166
♪

1333
01:17:24,201 --> 01:17:26,806
Wow!

1334
01:17:29,239 --> 01:17:33,879
♪

1335
01:17:36,312 --> 01:17:38,147
♪

1336
01:17:38,182 --> 01:17:40,985
Wow.

1337
01:17:43,418 --> 01:17:51,418
♪

1338
01:17:57,498 --> 01:18:04,910
♪

1339
01:18:34,238 --> 01:18:38,075
Once upon a time,

1340
01:18:38,110 --> 01:18:40,308
and nearly a lifetime ago,

1341
01:18:40,343 --> 01:18:43,179
on the Caribbean island of Cuba,

1342
01:18:43,214 --> 01:18:47,084
a father asked his teenage
daughter what she wanted to do

1343
01:18:47,119 --> 01:18:48,415
with her life.

1344
01:18:48,450 --> 01:18:50,857
And the little girl
said, "Father...

1345
01:18:57,063 --> 01:18:59,459
I want to be a singer,

1346
01:18:59,494 --> 01:19:01,362
and I want to be a songwriter."

1347
01:19:03,366 --> 01:19:05,069
And he said,
"Oh, no, my daughter.

1348
01:19:05,104 --> 01:19:07,335
That is not suitable for you.

1349
01:19:07,370 --> 01:19:10,778
That is not
a suitable life for you.

1350
01:19:10,813 --> 01:19:13,781
You sing for the family
and for your friends,

1351
01:19:13,816 --> 01:19:15,442
but no more."

1352
01:19:15,477 --> 01:19:19,952
And the dutiful daughter
obeyed her father.

1353
01:19:19,987 --> 01:19:24,825
That teenage girl's name
was Angela Alvarez.

1354
01:19:24,860 --> 01:19:26,453
So tonight, we're here

1355
01:19:26,488 --> 01:19:29,357
to celebrate
on her 91st birthday.

1356
01:19:36,905 --> 01:19:37,970
Ladies and gentlemen,

1357
01:19:38,005 --> 01:19:40,236
please join me in finally making

1358
01:19:40,271 --> 01:19:43,041
a teenage girl's
dreams come true,

1359
01:19:43,076 --> 01:19:44,944
and welcome the star
of tonight's show

1360
01:19:44,979 --> 01:19:47,342
singing her own songs,

1361
01:19:47,377 --> 01:19:49,443
the extraordinarily talented,

1362
01:19:49,478 --> 01:19:51,852
and the sublimely beautiful,

1363
01:19:51,887 --> 01:19:54,382
Mrs. Angela Alvarez.

1364
01:20:42,432 --> 01:20:50,432
♪

1365
01:21:57,606 --> 01:22:00,475
♪

1366
01:23:08,611 --> 01:23:09,611
Angela Alvarez.

1367
01:23:26,332 --> 01:23:30,466
We are going to sing for
first time together the song.

1368
01:23:31,634 --> 01:23:35,702
My only daughter,
Maria, when she

1369
01:23:35,737 --> 01:23:37,374
have plans to marry,

1370
01:23:37,409 --> 01:23:39,211
and then the day that

1371
01:23:39,246 --> 01:23:42,775
they have the wedding
in the church,

1372
01:23:42,810 --> 01:23:45,415
he told me to sing
the song for her

1373
01:23:45,450 --> 01:23:47,252
that I composed for her.

1374
01:23:47,287 --> 01:23:51,091
And then I can't do it
because I feel too emotional,

1375
01:23:51,126 --> 01:23:55,689
and then I start to cry
when I start to sing the song.

1376
01:23:55,724 --> 01:23:57,757
But I'm going to
sing here today.

1377
01:24:07,703 --> 01:24:15,703
♪

1378
01:24:36,666 --> 01:24:42,208
♪ Maria, Maria ♪

1379
01:24:42,243 --> 01:24:44,738
♪ Maria ♪

1380
01:25:24,285 --> 01:25:25,713
♪

1381
01:25:31,622 --> 01:25:35,294
♪ Maria ♪

1382
01:26:26,006 --> 01:26:28,347
♪ Maria ♪

1383
01:26:38,656 --> 01:26:41,294
♪

1384
01:26:43,727 --> 01:26:47,828
♪

1385
01:27:14,461 --> 01:27:21,532
♪

1386
01:27:32,512 --> 01:27:37,383
♪

1387
01:27:37,418 --> 01:27:41,013
Give a round of applause
for this extraordinary band!

1388
01:27:41,048 --> 01:27:46,854
♪

1389
01:27:46,889 --> 01:27:48,757
I'm going to tell
a little bit in English

1390
01:27:48,792 --> 01:27:50,825
because my English
is not too good.

1391
01:28:10,814 --> 01:28:11,879
Angela Alvarez!

1392
01:28:13,487 --> 01:28:15,322
Angela Alvarez!

1393
01:28:29,063 --> 01:28:37,063
♪

1394
01:30:41,096 --> 01:30:49,096
♪

1395
01:31:49,296 --> 01:31:52,968
♪

1396
01:31:56,611 --> 01:31:58,105
Angela Alvarez!

1397
01:32:12,022 --> 01:32:20,022
♪

1398
01:32:26,740 --> 01:32:34,740
♪