The legendary La Lupe deserves her own thread!

I have "That Genius Called The Queen" album ... her cover of "My Way" (Como Acostumbro) has to be heard.

"Besito Pa Ti" on Shanachie's Voices of Latin Women is great too.

There aren't many female singers of note in current salsa (or other Afro-Cuban rooted Latin music) that I know of. (Mexican music, for example, might be an entirely different matter.) La India seemed promising, but she doesn't seem primarily interested in salsa (or even her career in general).

I happen to be an admirer of La Lupe. I listen to her music constantly. I have all of La Lupe's vinyl Lp's including the first two she recorded in Cuba.

I wanted to know if anyone on this board has any leads or information as to where I can find/obtain any film/video footage of La Lupe and also find any obscure recordings of La Lupe.

I would appreciate any help/suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

El Lupo

Rumor has it that an English translation is in the works, but the publication date has been pushed back. Hopefully that won't go on indefinitely.

kind of a presenting a campy version of a Willie Colonesque vision of pan-Latin American unity

Hey, I like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzwoE4oTaD0&mode=related&search=

Did anyone catch the documentary about her on Independent Lens last night? I was super mad that my local station did NOT broadcast it, but maybe one of you saw it? If so, tell me how great it was.

Here is the website

i just got into her a few weeks ago... been trying to get into more fania stuff since i got her queen of latin soul album.

Damn, I never check TV schedules, but I would like to have seen this.

They'll probably play it again -- keep your eyes open. I am totally perplexed why the Chicago station didn't pick up this particular episode of IL -- instead you know what they played?

AN INFOMERCIAL. Suze Orman. I'm really quite angry about it!

documentary of important Latina vs infomercial...

And the infomercial wins? WTF.

Incidentally, have you all seen this:

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0722,freeman,76785,22.html

La Lupe, who died in 1992, was like a Puerto Rican Shirley Bassey...

...except she's not Puerto Rican.

Ah well. I guess that guy is learning.

Haha. I pointed that out on the salsa thread. This is actually by a certain ilx regular.

Thanks for posting the article, I didn't know the back catalogue was coming out. I only have "Mongo Introduces . ." & these reissues look astonishing. They certainly don't make covers like that any more!

Yeah, actually a lot of this was already in print, but these are remastered and there are liner notes finally, and maybe some actual credits.

The "Independent Lens" was on in Seattle on Sunday night, so check y'all's local listings. I imagine it may be on through the week in various cities.

The Lupe special will be on WETA in the DC area Wednesday night September 12th at 10:30. It was on WNET in NYC last night and will be on there again on the 16th at 3 in the morning.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/lalupe/

Shot in New York City, Miami, La Habana and Puerto Rico, LA LUPE evokes two groundbreaking cultural periods through interviews and rare archival footage: pre-Revolutionary 1950s La Habana and the burgeoning Latin music scene in New York City in the 1960s and 1970s. The film begins with La Lupe’s funeral in 1992—attended by fans, family and the whole of New York’s Latino music aristocracy—and follows her from poverty to celebrity and back again.

Fuck, I saw a news feature story plugging this thing on Saturday, then forgot it was on Monday. Maybe I'll reach out to PBS and see if they'll send me a screener based on my affiliation with Global Rhythm.

i watched this last night, it was great. was near to crying at the end.

YOU WERE NOT.

yes i was :(

Just saw the show tonight and it sure did become sad--how her husband(later her ex-h) treated her, music biz problems,her taking of uppers and downers, various health problems, losing her money...

On the other hand some of that footage of her performing from earlier in her life and on the Dick Cavett and David Frost shows was something else. What energy.

I finally saw this! They played it in Chicago as part of Hispanic Heritage Month (hence the wait, I suppose). I wanted it to be about 2 hours longer. I would have liked to have seen more about the pills, santeria and the difficult shift from Cuba to NY and then to PR. I also enjoyed the short trip through her childhood home. I realize that there is little archival footage, but give the people MORE!

When I saw that thread about "songs with women's laughter in them" I thought of posting "every La Lupe song ever" but forgot.

New movie coming soon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr8NkU4e5qU&feature=related

Very promising-looking reissue:

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/2578.10?y8AzbuLj;;423

1960.

I'm not sure, but this might be the first LP she put out. It's an interesting listen. It sounds quite a bit different from what she put out once she left Cuba. To my ears, this borrows even more from the pop music of the English speaking world than her later albums. It's especially noticeable in the rhythm, which frequently dip into what I'd consider early rock territory (or maybe it would really be classed as R&B) or even country. The chorus backing her up sounds like something from a Patsy Cline song at times (not particularly a sound I like at all, but it's a bit mind-warping to hear La Lupe against that backdrop). At other times it has a jazzier feel than her late material that I've heard. For someone interested in the arc of her career, this seems like a must-have.

A lot of these songs have some kind of swing, but it sounds like maybe it's western swing or something. I don't really know the pop music from this period, so it's kind of hard for me to be precise about this, but I think people who are into that era would find this fun to listen to.

I wish someone would reissue all the albums she recorded with Tito Puente, which I have not heard (aside from some individual songs).

This song: http://www.we7.com/#/song/La-Lupe/No-Te-Vayas

When I was in Austin for SXSW I picked up Puro Teatro, the 2CD, 55-track Fania compilation. It's fantastic. Unless you're planning on tracking down all the original albums, I highly recommend it.

It looks like some or maybe even all of those albums with Tito Puente I mentioned earlier on this thread are available for purchase as downloads. Sooner or later I might have to break down and start paying for more downloads. (I need to get an external hard drive for mp3s and one of those little things that sends a PC audio signal to a stereo, but that's going to have to wait until I've saved up enough to move into a nicer place.)

http://www.npr.org/blogs/altlatino/2013/12/18/255282456/la-lupe-queen-of-latin-soul-the-original-alt-latina

Juan A. Moreno-Velázquez has written extensively about the great performer, and his book Demystifying a Diva: The Truth Behind the Myth of La Lupe is finally available in English. The book is fascinating, covering music, the industry and an important piece in the puzzle depicting Latino life in America.
He also co-authored the script for an upcoming film about the Cuban legend, tentatively titled I Am Lupe and starring Lauren Vélez in the title role. The film is set for release in 2014.