Omara Portuondo (born in Havana, Cuba on 29 October 1930) is a Cuban singer… Read Full Bio ↴Omara Portuondo (born in Havana, Cuba on 29 October 1930) is a Cuban singer whose career has spanned over half a century.

Portuondo was born in October 1930 in Havana, one of three sisters; her mother came from a wealthy Spanish family, and had created a scandal by running off with and marrying a black professional baseball player. Omara started her career in 1945 as a dancer at Havana's Tropicana Club (following her older sister, Haydee). The two sisters used to sing for family and friends, however, and after a brief time in a band called Loquibambla Swing, in 1952 they got together with two friends (Elena Bourke and Moraima Secada) and formed the singing group Cuarteto las d'Aida, backed by pianist Aida Diestro. The group had considerable success, touring the United States, performing with Nat King Cole at the Tropicana, and recording an album for RCA Victor.

In 1959 Portuondo recorded a solo album, Magia Negra, involving both jazz and Cuban music. This didn't, however, mark the beginning of a solo career, and although Haydee left the group in 1961, Omara continued singing with Cuarteto las d'Aida until 1967.

In 1967 Portuondo embarked on a solo career, and in the same year represented Cuba at the Sopot Festival in Poland, singing Juanito Marquez' "Como un Milagro". Alongside her solo work, in the 1970s she sang with charanga band Orquestra Aragon, and toured with them.

In 1974 she recorded, with guitarist Martin Rojas, what would become one of her most critically acclaimed albums in which she sings praises to Salvador Allende and the people of Chile a year after the military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. Among many other hits from the album, she also praises the work of Ernesto "Che" Guevara in the beautiful "Hasta Siempre".

During the 1970s and 1980s Portuonda enjoyed considerable success at home and abroad, with tours, albums (including one of her most lauded recordings in 1984 with Adalberto Alvarez), film rôles, and her own television series. Her international profile was due to soar, however, in 1996.

Portuondo sang (duetting with Compay Segundo) on the album Buena Vista Social Club in 1996. This led, not only to more touring (including playing at Carnegie Hall with the Buena Vista troupe) and her appearance in Wim Wenders' film The Buena Vista Social Club, but to two further albums for the World Circuit label: Buena Vista Social Club Presents Omara Portuondo (2000) and Flor de Amor (2004). In July 2005 she presented a symphonic concert of her most important repertoire at the Berlin Festival Classic Open Air am Gendarmenmarkt for an audience of 7,000. The entire program was specially orchestrated by Roberto Sánchez Ferrer, a colleague with whom she had worked during her early years at Havana's Tropicana Club. Scott Lawton conducted the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg.

He Perdido Contigo
Omara Portuondo Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Me quisiste lo sé, yo también te he querido
Me olvidaste después, pero yo no he podido
A sufrir por tu amor, me condenó el destino

Qué le vamos a hacer yo tenía
Qué perder y he perdido contigo
Qué le vamos a hacer yo tenía
Qué perder y he perdido contigo

Tantos amores buenos, que con fe me adoraban
Yo les negué el cariño de inocente quedado
Pero fuiste tan cruel que jugaste conmigo

Qué le vamos a hacer yo tenía
Qué perder y he perdido contigo
Qué le vamos a hacer yo tenía
Qué perder y he perdido contigo

Tantos amores buenos, que con fe me adoraron
Yo les negué el cariño que inocente quedado
Pero fuiste tan cruel que jugaste conmigo

Qué le vamos a hacer yo tenía
Qué perder y he perdido contigo

Qué le vamos a hacer yo tenía
Qué perder y he perdido contigo

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Omara Portuondo's song "He Perdido Contigo" are a poignant expression of lost love and heartbreak. The first verse acknowledges the mutual love between two people, with the singer admitting that they too had loved the other person deeply. However, the second line reveals that the other person had forgotten about the singer, whereas the singer had been unable to forget about their love. The third line expresses the singer's suffering and how they feel condemned to suffer for this love that was lost due to destiny.

The chorus expresses the singer's resignation and acknowledgement that they had something to lose and had indeed lost it with the other person. The second verse repeats many of the same themes, but this time also includes a reflection on the singer's past, where they had denied the love of others who truly cared for them. The final line of this verse reiterates how cruel the other person had been to them.

Overall, the lyrics of "He Perdido Contigo" are a bittersweet reflection on a lost love that brings the singer to a place of acceptance but also carries with it the pain of what could have been.

Line by Line Meaning

Me quisiste lo sé, yo también te he querido
I know you loved me, and I loved you too

Me olvidaste después, pero yo no he podido
You forgot about me, but I couldn't forget about you

A sufrir por tu amor, me condenó el destino
Fate condemned me to suffer for your love

Qué le vamos a hacer yo tenía
What can I do, I had

Qué perder y he perdido contigo
What to lose and I lost with you

Tantos amores buenos, que con fe me adoraban
So many good loves, who adored me with faith

Yo les negué el cariño de inocente quedado
I denied them the affection of an innocent left behind

Pero fuiste tan cruel que jugaste conmigo
But you were so cruel, you played with me

Qué le vamos a hacer yo tenía
What can I do, I had

Qué perder y he perdido contigo
What to lose and I lost with you

Tantos amores buenos, que con fe me adoraron
So many good loves, who adored me with faith