Dr. Zoraida Santiago (born May 25, 1952) is a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and singer of Puerto Rican folkloric themes.

Early years

Santiago (birth name:Zoraida Santiago Buitrago ) was born in

Santurce, Puerto Rico Santurce (, from the Basque '' Santurtzi'' which means Saint George) is a barrio or district in the municipality of San Juan. Its population in 2020 was 69,469. It is also the biggest and most populated of all the barrios in the capital city wi ...

to Domingo Santiago and Zayda Buitrago. She was raised and educated in Santurce and at a very young age became interest in musical instruments. Her parents had her take

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

lessons as a child. She also took lessons about musical composition and harmony. Santiago is a self-taught

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ist. After graduating from high school, Santiago moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where she pursued her university studies in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

Musical career

In 1978, she met fellow Puerto Rican singer Roy Brown. Santiago joined Brown's musical group, ''Aires Bucaneros'', and participated in the recordings of ''Aires Bucaneros'' (1979) and ''Casi Alba'' (1980). Both albums contain compositions by Santiago. These are "Prisa Loca" (Crazy Rush), "De la Tierra en que Naci" (From the land I was born) and "Canciones para

Vieques Vieques (; ), officially Isla de Vieques, is an island and municipality of Puerto Rico, in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques is part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, ...

" (Songs for Vieques). Santiago went on tour with the group to various countries.music of Puerto Rico
/ref> In 1982, Santiago returned to Puerto Rico and made her "first" solo recording, "Tiene que ser la Luna" (It must be the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

). During that decade she also participated in and produced some local theatrical productions. Among these were ''Las Bohemias'', ''Mujeres Sin Hombres'' (Women without Men), ''Matutina'' and ''Tres Momentos'' (Three moments). She traveled to Mexico and the United States with the theatrical group. Santiago composed, interpreted and recorded the music for the

movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

made for T.V. ''

Luisa Capetillo Luisa Capetillo (October 28, 1879 – April 10, 1922) was one of Puerto Rico's most famous labor leaders. She was an anarchist writer, activist, labor organizer who fought for workers' rights, women's rights, free love, and human emancipation. ...

, Pasión de justicia'' (Luisa Capetillo, Passion for Justice), directed by Sonia Fritz. In 1985, she held a concert titled ''Antillanas'' at the

Sylvia Rexach Sylvia Regina Rexach González (January 22, 1922 – October 20, 1961), was a Puerto Rican comedy scriptwriter, poet, singer and composer of boleros. Early years Rexach was born and raised in Santurce, Puerto Rico. Her parents were Julio E. ...

theater in San Juan. In 1994, Santiago recorded ''Canciones Sublevadas'', which included various of her compositions plus some

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

s of

Julia de Burgos Julia de Burgos García (February 17, 1914 – July 6, 1953) was a Puerto Rican poet. As an advocate of Puerto Rican independence, she served as Secretary General of the Daughters of Freedom, the women's branch of the Puerto Rican National ...

to which she added music.PR Daily Sun
/ref> In 2002, Santiago and Roy Brown recorded ''Bohemia'', which included

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 has ...

s from different composers, such as Pedro Flores – "Bajo la Palma" (Under the Palm Tree) – and Rafael Hernández – "Silencio" (Silence). Their album was nominated for a Tu Musica Award for best bolero recording of the year.

Later years

Santiago earned her Doctorate Degree in Anthropology and is a professor of Social Sciences in the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

. She also belongs to a group of singers who operate an

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

radiotrova. She has a program called ''Magia de la Cancion'' (Song's Magic). In April 2004, Santiago released her latest album "''Del Sueño al Hecho''" (From Dreams to Reality). In early 2008, Santiago's ''Conciones Por Todas Partes'' won in The 7th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Latin Song.Independent Music Awards - 7th Annual Winners
In May 2010, Santiago together with

Danny Rivera Danny Rivera (born 27 February 1945) is a singer and songwriter born in San Juan whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is well known in Puerto Rico for his political activism. In 2008, Rivera acquired Dominican Republic citizenship. After 12 y ...

, Silverio Pérez, Carlos Esteban Fonseca, Tito Auger and the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra provided the students who were on strike at the University of Puerto Rico with cultural and musical performances.

Early years

Musical career

Later years

Note

See also

References

External links