Happy Birthday, Sonia Silvestre!
Sonia Margarita Silvestre Ortiz ( San Pedro de Macoris , August 16 of 1952 - Santo Domingo , April 19 of 2014), was a Dominican singer and announcer.
Silvestre was born in San Pedro de Macoris on August 16 of 1952 , she was the daughter of Manuel and Estela Ortiz y Silvestre. By that time in Hato Mayor del Rey, where his parents resided, no hospital and her previous three sisters had been born from the hands of a midwife, her mother presented complications in the last of the deliveries. Therefore, her mother decided to give birth to Sonia in the “San Antonio” hospital in nearby San Pedro de Macoris. Sonia and her younger brother were found in Hato Mayor del Rey.
I was born there, but never in my life I lived in San Pedro de Macoris. My mom and dad since my mom gave birth today went to Hato Mayor. I am from Hato Mayor del Rey, there I grew to nearly 11 years.
Sonia spent her childhood in Hato Mayor del Rey, where completed her primary and secondary education. Next to the home of her paternal grandmother was the largest bar in Hato Mayor, where a jukebox was sounded boleros and all Latin American music popular in that time. Similarly, her father had a record collection. This sparked her love of music.
In 1962 , her family moved to Santo Domingo . Sonia studied at the school Our Lady of Mount Carmel and at school, “St. Theresa”was where she finished high school. She studied pedagogy at the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU) and languages at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD).
In this new urban environment, Silvestre came into contact with rock , The Beatles , the hippie movement, and her rejection of the Vietnam War. It was also impacted by events such as the war in April 1965 in Santo Domingo, the social doctrine of the Catholic Church and its youth movement , the events of the French May , the political repression of the first governments of Joaquín Balaguer in the seventies and hive of the world was then. All this was socially sensitized and later infuence that was evident in some of their songs and in their support of certain social struggles.
Sonia began singing when, while still a teenager, she met singer Cecilia Garcia, who introduced her as a singer of jingles.
As a student of pedagogy, she made her official debut as vocalist in May of 1970 , the “People” program produced by Freddy Ginebra for Radio Television DominicanaSaturday at one o’clock. On that occasion, he played the theme of Los Hermanos Castro ”Yo Sin Tí” accompanied by the band teacher José Luis Mella . Her performances in the program were the beginning of his projection as a singer and allowing her to sign his first record contracts.
Soon after she began her presentations at the nightclub “Boite Office” and other hot spots in the 1970s, accompanied by the group 's bémols .
A turning point in his career was when the composer Leonor Porcella Brea chose to interpret his song "Where can I shout that I love you?" in the IV Festival of Song hosted by the Dominican AMUCABA (Association of Musicians, Singers and Dancers) in Santo Domingo , in 1971 . Sonia came in second and later recorded for artistic entrepreneur Welcome Rodriguez his first LP entitled “ This Is Sonia Silvestre ”
In 1971, Silvestre finished as a finalist in the International Song Festival of Bogotá and in 1972 the magazine Tele-3 was selected as the most popular singer, as did the Farándula program in 1973 .
Her concern for social issues determined joining movements and musical groups linked to the “Nueva Canción.” She was part of “Nueva Manera,” an experimental music group composed of social Victor Victor , Tommy Garcia, Tomas Luis Oviedo, Claudio Cohen, Carlos Francisco Elias and Soledad Alvarez.
Silvestre participated in the show “ Seven Days in Town,” which was held in November 1974 . During the week-long event presented artists like Victor Manuel , Mercedes Sosa , Los Guaraguao Group Treat , Young Expression , Silvio Rodríguez , Noel Nicola and Pi de la Serra , among others. This festival, which was organized by the General Confederation of Workers and Youth Expression Group, became a milestone in the fight against the political repression of those times.
Their active participation in the movement of the New Song enriched his repertoire and gave his work and her image a social meaning.
Missing from New Group, Sonia recorded for Karen Records production “Sonia sings Poets Homeland .” This work became the first popular singer to present a concert at the National Theatre . On that occasion he was accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Jorge Taveras.
In 1975 , 1976 and 1977 , she won the El Dorado site as the most popular female singer. In 1977 he won the Gold Award for best show.
In 1986 , Sonia traveled to Lima , Peru , accompanied by the SFO Trio and presented at the “First Meeting” of the “New Song” during the Latin American Cultural Week event integration.
In early 1990 , she was awarded by Casandra Awards as the most prominent singer and his song “Heart of jukebox,” produced by Claudio Chea and composition Luis Días, received the award for best video .
During the 1990s , following the success of the album I want to walk, produced by Cholo Brenes, Sonia made multiple presentations throughout the country accompanied by the Trilogy group formed by Chichi Peralta on percussion, Hector Santana in the Low and Juan Francisco Ordóñez on guitar. This helped mature the tecnoamargue, based on gender bachatas of Luis Días.
Luis and Sonia performed bachata together.
In 1991 she received the Paoli Award for Best International Artist of the Year, in Puerto Rico .
On November 6 of 1999, she presented the show “I went everywhere” and November 7 of the same year was selected among “The ten best singers of the 20th Century” by the newspaper La Nacion. He was also winner of the top prize of Casandra Awards 2000 , “The Sovereign.”
In the early 2000s, Sonia went to work at the Ministry of Culture, as Director General of “Houses of Culture” where she promoted the development of these institutions.
On March 16 of 2004 , the Senate of the Dominican Republic declared “national folk song Gloria” for her 30 years of contributions to art and culture in Dominican society and the world.
The 2 November of 2010 , Sonia and Urban Transport , presented to a full house at the Palace of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo ’s concert “My friend on Terror” as a posthumous tribute to Luis Dias , founder of the Dominican rock.
In September of 2011 , was recognized and included in the Music Collection of the Reserve Bank . This tribute included the launch of a CD with his most popular songs under the artistic production of Luis Ovalle .
Internationally, Sonia Silvestre’s scenarios presented in Venezuela , Peru , Puerto Rico , Nicaragua , Spain , Colombia , Mexico and the United States .
Her relationship with Cuba begin to place the XII Central American and Caribbean Games in the city of Santo Domingo , Dominican Republic in 1974 . Sonia was chosen by Casandra Damirón to attend the National Folkloric Ensemble of Cuba, who had gone with the delegation Cuba . These journalists, athletes and Cuban artists were responsible for raising awareness of the music of Sonia Silvestre in Cuba.
During the festival “7 Days with the People” held in November of 1974 in Santo Domingo, Sonia was invited to Silvio Rodríguez and Noel Nicola to present to Cuba. In 1975, Sonia traveled to Cuba at the invitation of the National Council of Culture, which toured around the island accompanied by Dominican singer Víctor Víctorand Irakere Orchestra .
The Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) Sonia made a documentary, directed by Juan Carlos Tabio . He was one of the first documentaries made by ICAIC dedicated to an artist.
In 1988 she made her second trip to Cuba on a tour entitled Three Caribbean women, accompanied by Lucecita Benítez and Sara González , a production for documentary that included two orchestras and set designers, choirs, lights, sound and film crew ICAIC.
In 2008 through Decree 566-08, Sonia Silvestre was appointed by President Leonel Fernández as deputy chief of the Dominican Embassy in Cuba, being in charge of cultural affairs.
"My appointment as minister counselor for cultural affairs of the embassy of my country here, it’s just formalizing what I have been doing since 1975 when I first traveled to this island"
She was married to the broadcaster, producer and host Dominican Yaqui Núñez del Risco. After her divorce, Sonia decided to move to Mexico, where she remained about three years.
Later, she entered a relationship with the Venezuelan photographer José Betancourt, who fathered her two children, Andre and Heloise. After 28 years, they decided to get married in November 2009.
She suffered a massive stroke and two heart attacks on 17 April 2014 in Santo Domingo. She was removed from a respirator two days later. She was 61 years old.[2]
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