Omara Portuondo looking forward to concert in Mexico

Cuban singer Omara Portuondo, the diva of the Buena Vista Social Club, said she is looking forward to her upcoming concert here with Mexico’s Regina Orozco.

“I feel very good, very happy and optimistic about being able to deliver a tribute to love,” the 84yearold artist said. “For me, it is great that I can do it now in Mexico, where they also know how to sing of love, and so much the better alongside Regina Orozco, who I admire very much.”

Portuondo, who is to receive a lifetime achievement award in July at the La Mar music festival in Cartagena, Colombia, said she was born to sing.

With song, she said, one can express the entire range of feelings about love “in every phrase and musical note.”

Numbers by two of her favorite songwriters, Mexicans Agustin Lara and Alvaro Carrillo, are part of the set list for Saturday night’s show at Mexico City’s Teatro Metropolitan, Portuondo said.

“It is a selection of songs that Regina and I sought to dedicate them to love, which also tends to be painful, pleasant or sinful,” the Cuban singer said.

Asked whether she plans to take part in the Buena Vista Social Club’s international farewell tour, Portuondo said: “if the dates work out, of course I will be there.”