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.
Veinte Años
Omara Portuondo Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Si tú no me quieres ya
El amor que ya ha pasado
No se debe recordar
Fui la ilusión de tu vida
Un día lejano ya
Hoy represento al pasado
Hoy represento al pasado
No me puedo conformar
Si las cosas que uno quiere
Se pudieran alcanzar
Tú me quisieras lo mismo
Que veinte años atrás
Con qué tristeza miramos
Un amor que se nos va
Es un pedazo del alma
Que se arranca sin piedad
Es un pedazo del alma
Que se arranca sin piedad
Si las cosas que uno quiere
Se pudieran alcanzar
Tú me quisieras lo mismo
Que veinte años atrás
Con qué tristeza miramos
Un amor que se nos va
Es un pedazo del alma
Que se arranca sin piedad
Es un pedazo del alma
Que se arranca sin piedad
The lyrics of Veinte Años convey the pain of unrequited love and the melancholy that comes with looking back at a relationship that has ended. The first stanza introduces a sense of bitterness and disappointment, with the singer questioning the significance of their love for someone who does not reciprocate their feelings - "What does it matter that I love you / If you no longer want me? / The love that has already passed / Should not be remembered." The second stanza expresses the singer's longing to be loved just as intensely as they were twenty years ago, and their inability to come to terms with being relegated to the past - "I was the illusion of your life / A long-gone day / Now, I represent the past / And I cannot accept that."
The repetition of the last two lines of each stanza underscores the sadness that permeates the song - "It is a piece of the soul / That is torn away without mercy." The final stanza drives home the idea that the loss of love is akin to losing a piece of oneself, and the sense of despair that comes with the realization that time cannot be turned back - "With what sadness we see / A love that slips away from us / It is a piece of the soul / That is torn away without mercy."
Line by Line Meaning
Qué te importa que te ame
Why do you care if I love you
Si tú no me quieres ya
If you don't love me anymore
El amor que ya ha pasado
Love that has already passed
No se debe recordar
Should not be remembered
Fui la ilusión de tu vida
I was the illusion of your life
Un día lejano ya
A distant day already
Hoy represento al pasado
Today I represent the past
No me puedo conformar
I cannot be content
Si las cosas que uno quiere
If the things one wants
Se pudieran alcanzar
Could be achieved
Tú me quisieras lo mismo
You would love me the same
Que veinte años atrás
As you did twenty years ago
Con qué tristeza miramos
With what sadness we look
Un amor que se nos va
A love that is leaving us
Es un pedazo del alma
It's a piece of the soul
Que se arranca sin piedad
That is ripped out without mercy
Es un pedazo del alma
It's a piece of the soul
Que se arranca sin piedad
That is ripped out without mercy
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Unison Rights S.L.
Written by: Maria Teresa Vera
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@LuisFernandoPino
Qué te importa que te ame
si tú no me quieres ya
El amor que ya ha pasado
no se debe recordar.
Fui la ilusión de tu vida
un día lejano ya,
hoy represento el pasado
no me puedo conformar.
Si las cosas que uno quiere
se pudieran alcanzar
tú me quisieras lo mismo
que veinte años atrás.
Con qué tristeza miramos
un amor que se nos va
es un pedazo del alma
que se arranca sin piedad.
@oscarivanherreraerazo1375
La voz de Omara no esta cansada,es un estilo musical de interpretación; bellísima con sentimiento y emoción. Obra de la compositora cubana Maria Teresa vera.
@linarosalatorregarcia6899
Sí, lo hemos entendido como la admiradora Sonia Medina lo acota.. Es intencional de Omara.... Además el acompañamiento instrumental la conduce y la autoriza a hacerlo. ¡Admirable su versatilidad! ¡Gracia y pujanza! ¡Inigualable!
@Alfredoperu777
El lo siente así, cada uno lo aprecia a su manera. Somos seres diferentes, para mi su interpretación es maravillosa, pero cada uno lo escucha y aprecia a su manera. Desde el puerto del Callao en el oceano pacífico en mi amado Perú.
@TheFiscalizador
Claro no es la voz cansada eso se llama cadencia , y esa candencia que le da esta Gran cantante a esta Hermosa canción, mas propiedad para comentar amigos mios.
@Manyfests
Hi! Recently I did a cover of Veinte Años by Buena Vista Social Club. Here is the link if you might be interested in watching it https://youtu.be/VsWKLlcEcqI ❣️🌻 I'd be really happy if you'd take a few minutez to watch it.
@amandamazuera4386
Nunca habia escuchado está hermosa canción, que letra más hermosa.
@karycentycenty4403
Like si llegaste aquí por el vídeo de los dos niños de Facebook🙂
@camilaguerrasaavedra3892
Jaja si
@adrihcar4289
Absolutamente.... La voz de la nena conmueve! ✨ ✨... Y si te trae a la memoria algún viejo amor!!! Se multiplica el sentimiento!!
@armandochicomamorales2279
Jajaja si esa niña con todo respeto le pone más sentimiento y una ternura única!