by the El Reportero’s wire services
Chavela Vargas
Mexican singer Chavela Vargas died Sunday from respiratory failure after her health took a marked turn for the worse earlier in the morning, her doctor said. She was 93.
“She was quite conscious up until the last moment and expressed her best wishes for Mexico, which is in great confusion, to improve and she said that she has the best memories … of her public,” her physician, Jose Manuel Nuñez, told Efe.
The Costa-Rican-born artist died at 12:55 p.m. local time (1755 GMT) from acute respiratory insufficiency, chronic bronchial pneumonia and kidney failure, the doctor said.
He also said that she was very serene and calm just before her passing, recalling “her Mexico” and her fans in her last moments, and in particular she expressed her thanks to the communications media and everyone for their support.
Vargas – whose real name was Isabel Vargas Lizano – had been cared for since last Sunday by a medical team led by Nuñez at the Inovamed Hospital in Cuernavaca, capital of the central Mexican state of Morelos.
Before dawn on Saturday morning a group of admirers serenaded Chavela Vargas far enough away to avoid annoying the other patients.
The head of her medical team said that Vargas had refused to allow artificial or invasive measures to be used to prolong her life.
Vargas had wished to be cremated and her relatives and friends intend to scatter her ashes on Chalchi Hill, near her house in Tepoztlan, in the state of Morelos.
The singer arrived in Mexico on July 26 after almost a month in Spain, where she went to give a recital of songs from the disc she dedicated to the poet Federico Garcia Lorca entitled “La Luna Grande” (Great Moon), and to present her memoirs.
The effort took its toll and on July 12 she was admitted to hospital in the Spanish capital, where she stayed until July 21.
From that day she rested in the Madrid Students Residence, looked after by her nurses, friends and the institution’s personnel until she returned to the Mexican town of Tepoztlan, where she has lived in recent years.
A Concert in Review: Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez in Chicago
On Friday, August 3, two music superstars, Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez put on very different but equally as impressive shows at Chicago’s United Center.
Mexican-born singer Frankie J, a member of the Kumbia Kings before going solo in 2003, did a fantastic job of getting the crowd excited. Dressed in a dapper gray suit, the 36-year-old singer showed off the soulful voice I swooned over in high school. He ended his set with 2005’s Billboard Hot 100 hit “Obsession (No Es Amor)”.
As the stage crew reset the stage, those empty seats began to fill steadily and a large screen on stage displayed a simple “ei” which alone sent the decibel level up to near deafening levels for a few seconds.
After a few more minutes, the screen that had been at center stage began to rise and the crowd went what can only be described as “completely nuts” as Enrique appeared from behind it. As it rose above the stage, Enrique grabbed onto the bottom of the sign and lifted off the ground.
Just as he drops down the energetic music begins and the blissful abuse of my eardrums begins, as the fans will not be anything close to silent for his entire set. He is clearly a performer and honestly gave nothing short of an amazing show. Report was a contribution by Hispanically Speaking News.
