Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 26, 1993 TAG: 9311290170
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By FRANCISCO PEREZ RIVERA ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
``I am very, very happy with the success of `Mi Tierra,' because of all the albums that I have done this is my favorite, this is my most personal project,'' the 36-year-old Estefan said in a recent interview.
Her first Spanish-language album as a solo performer is making chart history in the United States and abroad.
It made its debut on the Billboard Top 200 at No. 41 - the highest-charting debut of a Spanish-language album. On the Latin chart, it opened at No. 1. In the United Kingdom, ``Mi Tierra'' hit No. 11, the highest first-week showing for a Spanish-language album. And VH-1, for the first time, has put an all-Spanish-language video into heavy rotation.
The record-setting album evokes the feeling of Cuban music rhythms of the 1930s and '40s, though all of the songs are originals.
``We considered this project for about five years,'' she said. ``We wanted to have something that evoked the past, that gave us a way of bridging the past while writing new music.
``The actual working time on the project itself, though, was two years. When we got into the studios everything was ready.''
The Cuban-born singer co-wrote many of the songs with her husband Emilio, who also arranged many of the numbers. Another collaborator is singer-songwriter Jon Secada, who started his career as a backup singer for Estefan.
She attributes the record's success to ``the fact that it comes right from the heart.''
``We did it with love, as something very special, and those things come through into the performance. When something is done like that, people can feel it,'' she said.
When she sings the title song ``Mi Tierra'' (My Homeland), she said she indeed is referring to Cuba, adding: ``But that particular song was written by a Colombian ... so for him it meant something else. We wanted something that could catch the feeling of nostalgia felt by every Hispanic immigrant, no matter where he comes from.''
According to Epic Records, ``Mi Tierra'' was certified gold only eight weeks after its release - the fastest that a Spanish album ever reached sales of 500,000 units in the United States - and it seems headed for platinum (a million sold).
Of course, Estefan also has succeeded in raising money for needy people, particularly the victims of Hurricane Andrew in Florida. Her image can seem so untarnished that she once told the publisher of The Miami Herald: ``I'm going to have to do something evil to get rid of this goody image.''
Estefan was born in a Havana suburb on Sept. 1, 1957, and has lived in Florida since her family arrived in the United States in May 1960.
She went to school in Miami and grew up in a bilingual environment, as did most Cuban-American children of the time. She met another Cuban-American, Emilio Estefan, and joined his band, called the Miami Latin Boys. They married in September 1978, and two years later had a son, Nayib.
The band, which changed its name to Miami Sound Machine, released its first album for a small local label in 1976. A couple of years later the group signed with CBS International and recorded several Spanish albums for that label before switching over to Epic Records, which released their English-language ``Primitive Love'' in August 1985. That album, now certified double platinum, included the band's first megahit, ``Conga.''
Then came ``Let It Loose'' (1987), ``Cuts Both Ways'' (1989), ``Into the Light'' (1991) and the compilation ``Greatest Hits'' (1992). They are all now either platinum or double platinum.
Estefan, who's fully recovered from the near-fatal 1990 bus accident in which she broke her back, said she'll be touring to promote her new record and is even open to acting in movies.
``They are sending me some scripts, and if I find something I like I'd take it. But I haven't seen anything yet of the sort,'' she said. ``I am basically a singer first. I want to enjoy my life.''
by CNB