Toña La Negra
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Antonia del Carmen Peregrino Álvarez (2 November 1912 – 19 November 1982), known by her stage name Toña la Negra (Toña the Black Woman), was a Mexican singer and actress of partial
Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
an ancestry, known for her interpretation of
bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...
s and '' canciones'' written by
Agustín Lara Ángel Agustín María Carlos Fausto Mariano Alfonso del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Lara y Aguirre del Pino (; ; October 30, 1897 – November 6, 1970), known as Agustín Lara, was a Mexican composer and performer of songs and boleros. He is rec ...
.


Life and career

Toña la Negra was born Antonia del Carmen Peregrino Álvarez on 2 November 1912, in La Huaca, a neighborhood of
Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...
,
Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...
. Her father, Timoteo Peregrino Reyes (born c. 1857), played guitar and was a founding member of a guild of local port workers. Her mother, Daría Álvarez Campos (born c. 1867), sang at family gatherings. Toña had four siblings and three paternal half-siblings. Toña's paternal grandfather, Severo Peregrino, was from
Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...
,
Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
and had immigrated to
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
in the 19th century. Toña began her career in the 1920s singing
tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...
s as the lead singer of the Trío Peregrino-Uzcanga. In 1932, she traveled to Mexico City and met songwriter and composer
Agustín Lara Ángel Agustín María Carlos Fausto Mariano Alfonso del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Lara y Aguirre del Pino (; ; October 30, 1897 – November 6, 1970), known as Agustín Lara, was a Mexican composer and performer of songs and boleros. He is rec ...
. She first became famous for her interpretation of Lara's "Enamorada", as well as "Lamento jarocho", written specially for her to sing. She later popularized "Noche criolla", "Veracruz", and other Lara compositions associated with her home state. She first recorded these songs and many others for
Peerless Records Peerless Records was a record label based in Mexico. Peerless was founded in 1921 in Mexico City by E. Baptista. Early pressings of their gramophone record were made under contract by Gennett Records. By 1933, Peerless was pressing its own rec ...
in the 1940s. She began to record for the
RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...
label in the late 1940s. In February 1953, her single "Como golondrinas" peaked at number 2 on '' Cashboxs Mexico's Top Ten Tunes chart. She went on to record numerous hit singles and also several studio albums, including ''Caleidoscopio musical con Toña la Negra'' (1958), ''Noche criolla, vol. II'' (1961), and ''La sensación jarocha, vol. III'' (1964). In the mid-1960s, she signed a contract with the Orfeón label and recorded more studio albums. She recorded two songs with the
Sonora Matancera La Sonora Matancera is a Cuban band that played Latin American urban popular dance music. Founded in 1924 and led for more than five decades by guitarist, vocalist, composer, and producer Rogelio Martínez, musicologists consider it an icon o ...
in 1974.


Personal life

Toña la Negra was married twice. Her first husband, Guillermo Cházaro Ahumada, was a musician. They had three sons, Ramón (b. 1932), Guillermo (b. 1933), and Ernesto (1935–1979), and separated in 1945. Her second husband was Mexican
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
pioneer and bass player Víctor "Vitillo" Ruiz Pazos; they were married from 1955 to 1963.


Death and legacy

On Wednesday, 17 November 1982, she was admitted to a hospital in Mexico City because of cardiovascular problems. That following Friday, 19 November, at the age of 70, Toña la Negra died of a heart attack. She was interred in the actors' section of the
Panteón Jardín Panteón Jardín ("Garden Cemetery") is a cemetery in Mexico City in which several notable people are interred. It is located in the southwest of the city, between the San Ángel and Olivar de los Padres boroughs. It is a garden cemetery, buil ...
in Mexico City. The municipality of Veracruz erected a statue of Toña la Negra after her death. The alley where she was born in the old barrio of La Huaca carries her name. In 1993, German film director Christian Baudissin made a television documentary about Toña la Negra that included interviews with her ex-husband, musician Víctor Ruiz Pazos, and others artists who knew her. Rafael Figueroa Hernández, a researcher and professor at the
Universidad Veracruzana Veracruzana University () is a public autonomous university located in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Established in 1944, the university is one of the most important in the southeast region of México. Its academic organization is a structure ...
, wrote the first full, in-depth biography of Toña la Negra.


Discography


Studio albums

* ''Caleidoscopio musical con Toña la Negra'' (
RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...
, 1958) * ''Noche criolla, vol. II'' (RCA Victor, 1960) * ''La sensación jarocha, vol. III'' (Arcano, 1961) * ''Íntimas'' ( Orfeón, 1964) * ''Toña la Negra interpreta a Agustín Lara, vol. I'' (Orfeón, 1964) * ''Toña la Negra interpreta a Rafael Hernández y Pedro Flores'' (Orfeón, 1964) * ''Toña la Negra interpreta a Agustín Lara, vol. II'' (Orfeón, 1964) * ''Con Orquesta'' (Discos Fuentes, 1970)


Compilation albums

* ''Lo mejor de Toña la Negra'' * ''Inmortales de Toña la Negra'' * ''Las estrellas de La Hora Azul'' * ''Lo mejor de lo mejor: Toña la Negra, 40 temas originales'' * ''RCA 100 años de música'' * " RCA "Las Estrellas del Fonografo- Toña La Negra" (1995)


Selected filmography

* '' Heads or Tails'' (1937) * ''
María Eugenia ''María Eugenia'' is a 1943 Mexican drama film written and directed by Felipe Gregorio Castillo and starring María Félix, alongside Manolita Saval and Rafael Baledón. The film's sets were designed by the art director Manuel Fontanals. Cast * ...
'' (1943) * '' Red Konga'' (1943) * '' The Mulatta of Cordoba'' (1945) * ''
Revenge Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...
'' (1948) * '' Love for Sale'' (1951) * '' In the Flesh'' (1951) * ''
A Galician Dances the Mambo ''A Galician Dances the Mambo'' (Spanish: ''Una gallega baila mambo'') is a 1951 Mexican comedy film directed by Emilio Gómez Muriel and starring Niní Marshall, Joaquín Pardavé and Silvia Pinal.Posadas, p. 117. It was shot at the Azteca Studio ...
'' (1951) * '' The Night Is Ours'' (1952)


See also

*
Afro-Mexicans Afro-Mexicans (), also known as Black Mexicans (), are Mexicans of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. As a single population, Afro-Mexicans include individuals descended from both free and enslaved Africans who arrived to Mexi ...


References

;Bibliography *


External links

*
Toña la Negra
at
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Toña la Negra
in performance on Archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Negra, Tona La 1912 births 1982 deaths Mexican film actresses Singers from Veracruz Actresses from Veracruz Mexican people of Haitian descent 20th-century Mexican actresses RCA Victor artists 20th-century Mexican women singers Women in Latin music