Of Cuban Singers

Buena Vista Social Club and Omara Portuondo are another example that, in the United States, if you know how to package, market and promote anything, the people will buy it--regardless of merit (“Voice of Experience,” by Tom Miller, Sept. 28).

In the case of Portuondo, her talents as a “feeling” singer are adequate but not extraordinary. Any Cuban can tell you that she is only one of many. That is precisely why she did not become a big star in Cuba until the revolution sent the real superstars of the genre running into exile or into jail.

As far as the comparison to Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday, if any Cuban artist can boast of being as great as the immortal Sassy it is Olga Guillot, who lives in the U.S., and no American record company has ever cared. Cubans also had their own Lady Day in La Lupe, who died in exile a few years back, penniless.

In the meantime, the people behind Buena Vista Social Club and its derivations continue to channel American dollars into the coffers of “El Comandante” via aging second-rate singers and musicians. How sad that is.

MARK MARTINEZ

Glendale