Irrepetible

Celia Cruz was 69 when she recorded 1994's Irrepetible, and at that point in her career, she had nothing left to prove; the veteran singer boasted a huge catalog and had long since been acknowledged as the Queen of Salsa. Although not quite essential, this Willie Chirino-produced CD finds her in good to excellent form and continuing to sing with a great deal of passion. Most of Irrepetible consists of straight-ahead salsa — fans will appreciate the charanga-tinged "La Guagua" and Cruz's inspired performances of Omar Alfanno's "Bembelequa" and Jorge Luis Piloto's familiar "Que le Den Candela" — but Chirino takes Cruz into Latin pop territory on the funky "Drume Negrita" and his own salsa romantica number "Enamorada de Ti." (Salsa romantica is a 1990s style that combines Latin pop and Afro-Cuban rhythms.) Irrepetible ends on a sociopolitical note with "Cuando Cuba Se Acabe de Liberar," a gem that calls for a democratic, non-communist Cuba. It was in her native Cuba, of course, that Cruz first became famous, but like many other Cubans, she fled to the U.S. rather than be subjected to life under the Fidel Castro regime. Irrepetible demonstrated that at 69, Cruz was still quite capable of delivering a solid, lively album.