← Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist
Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist
Gloria Estefan Reflects on Cuban Roots, Latin Pop Legacy and New Album “Raíces” (May 2025)
01:02:19
From fleeing Cuba as a young girl to becoming the Queen of Latin Pop, Gloria Estefan’s journey to prominence has been defined by resilience. In this sitdown from May 2025, Estefan reflects on her family’s story, her lifelong love with Emilio Estefan, and the global success of hits like “Conga.” She also opens up about returning to the stage after her 1990 bus accident, releasing her first Spanish-language album in 18 years, Raíces, and her new musical, Basura.
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- [00:00]
A
With my job, I can't drink during the week.
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B
Weekends are a different story.
- [00:05]
A
Ugh. After eight hours of this, I have earned my wine. You know what I'm saying?
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B
My family is a lot. It takes me four beers just to hang out with them. Binge drinking isn't all college kids doing keg stands. Oregonians in their 30s and 40s binge drink at close to the same rates as younger people, raising our risk for long term health problems. More@rethinkthedrink.com An OHA Initiative Attention Party people.
- [00:32]
C
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- [01:03]
B
Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along, man. I am so excited to bring you my conversation this week with an honest to goodness music icon, Gloria Estefan. She has sold more than 100 million albums during her 50 years in music. She's won eight Grammy awards, she's in the Songwriters hall of Fame award. I mean, she's got a Presidential Medal of Freedom that she earned in 2015. She's done it all. And for people who maybe weren't around in the 80s and don't fully appreciate what Gloria Estefan and the Miami sound machine her band did with songs like conga 1, 2, 3, the rhythm is gonna get you. They kicked open the door and made Latin music from her native Cuba and Miami, where she spent most of her life, into the mainstream and made it this global phenomenon that it is. And you talk to artists like Japan, JLo, Ricky Martin, Shakira, even someone like Bad Bunny, they draw a straight line back to Gloria Estefan. Taking that wonderful rhythmic music fused with beats and making it international and making it mainstream. She did all that. So she is a huge figure. There's a reason she's known as the queen of Latin pop. She's got a new album out called Raesis, which translates to roots, goes back to her Roots. It is her full first full length Spanish Langu release in 18 years. It takes it all the way back to the soul of Latin music and that sound that kind of launched her career. We talk about it all. I mean, her partnership with her husband Emilio Estefan, who she met in 1975 when she was this precocious teenager with a great voice about to go to the University of Miami, where she did graduate while singing in this band. They were called the Miami Latin Boys at the time, but couldn't keep that name with a female out front. So they became the Miami Sound Machine. And the rest is history. Family story is incredible coming from Cuba. I'll let her tell you all of that. For now, just sit back, relax, and enjoy this conversation right now in her favorite Cuban restaurant in New York City. This is Gloria Estefan on the Sunday Sit down podcast. Gloria, thank you so much for doing this.
- [03:19]
A
It's my pleasure. You know, I'm a big fan. I told you.
- [03:22]
B
Likewise. Likewise. This has been a long time coming for me. I'm so glad to sit with you, especially in a restaurant that you were just telling me is so very special to you, going back many, many years.
- [03:33]
A
Yes, actually. Well, we used to come here before 1990, but when I had an accident in March 20th of 1990, I ended up in New York, where they put me back together at the hospital for joint diseases. And I would not eat. I got down to £85 within a matter of a couple of weeks. And the victor, who, God rest his soul, was here at the time, he would make me a taro root puree, malangita, which is what all Cuban parents feed you or grandparents when you're sick. And he would send chicken and the taro root puree, and it was like home. It really helped. I was able to get a few bites down and little by little got stronger. And we've stayed very close to them through the years. We always come here at some point on every trip.
- [04:22]
B
Maybe that was your little secret to recovery, the puree.
- [04:25]
A
I think so. Malangita, malanga purita.
- [04:28]
B
Well, I have to congratulate you already on your new album because you've got a number one hit right out of the gate.
- [04:34]
A
Thank you.
- [04:35]
B
On three different Billboard charts. How does that feel? You've had a bunch over the years, but here you are again.
- [04:41]
A
It always feels great. You know, you never make music, really. At least we don't make music thinking about charts because that's a big trap or about awards or things like that, but that really tells you that people are loving it. And that's where it really makes a big difference to me. And especially after so many years, because I hadn't recorded an original Spanish album in, like, 18 years, something like that. I've done other things. I did the standards I did the Christmas album with my daughter and grandson. I did Brazil 305 that we won a Latin Grammy for, but it, it was Brazilian take on my hits. So a couple years ago, Emilio comes up to me with this song, raises the title track. And he knew I was working on the musical Basura with my daughter. We've been working three years and I am in workshops as we speak for this here in New York. And he said, I've got this song, I really want you to be the one to sing it. And I go, babe, you know that I'm doing this thing. I can't now switch and write for that. And he goes, do you trust me? I go, absolutely, because will you let me write some things? And you know, if you like it, you can record it. I had fell in love with Races from the moment I heard it. I thought it was something people needed to hear, especially in these times.
- [06:00]
B
For those who don't speak Spanish, races means roots, which is a lot of what this music is. As you said, your first Spanish speaking album in almost two decades. Why did you want to come back with this kind of album?
- [06:13]
A
It's full circle. He didn't even realize. But I told him, babe, it's 50 years I've been doing this. I joined the band in 1975, right out of high school. And he goes, oh my God, I can't believe it's been that long. And the first music I ever sang or listened to was Latin music. Celia Cacho and of course Mitierra was an amazingly successful album for us. I wanted to. To capture Cuba, B.C. music before Castro, because Cuban music is one of the things that has survived that revolution in different ways. So that was a very concept album with old style arrangements and the greats of Latin music playing on the record with me. So we wanted to kind of to do a modern raices. I love singing salsa, I love really rhythmic things. I love finding my way and playing around where my voice can be in different spots because it's so syncopated and gives you so much opportunity to do different things. And then that song talks about the things that are important in life. You know, the people you love, the places you come from, the things that make you who you are both culturally and mostly emotionally. You know, it says, look at the, look at the sky, look at the stars, they never stop shining and they'll light you in your darkest moments. Like trying to focus on the things that we all share that you don't need money to enjoy. And that really enrich us as Human beings. And I thought it was an important message to put out.
- [07:52]
B
I was joking with you that, you know, it's a great album because I was listening to it on repeat and I don't speak Spanish.
- [07:57]
A
I love it. It's a vibe, right? It's a vibe makes you feel something.
- [08:01]
B
That's exactly right. That's what great music can do. And this certainly does it. You mentioned Emilio wrote almost all the songs, right? He did on the album. What is it about your musical partnership that has worked so well, as you said, for 50 years now?
- [08:16]
A
Well, it's funny because him and I could not be more different personality wise. Which works because if we were both like me, we'd be sitting on the couch in our old house playing guitar. And if we were both like him, we'd be dead of heart attacks by now. So it's a nice balance. But in the things that really matter, the priorities, family is first, always. We don't differ on business, politics or music. And both of us, music saved us. He had a band in Cuba, a little band, when he was eight years old, when he and his father went to Spain. When he left Cuba, he was 11, 12 years old. And he told his parents, we need to leave or we're all going to get stuck here. So he ended up going to Spain with his father and they ate in soup kitchens and were sleeping in hostels. And one day he walks by this guy that had an accordion store and he says, if I come in here and like, clean your accordions for you, because that's what he played in Ban in Cuba, will you let me use it, you know, to play? And then he would play at the soup kitchen in these places. People would tip him. When he came to Miami, he did the same thing. He started playing in restaurants for tips with his accordion. On top of working as a male boy at Bacardi and going to school at night, he started building out the band. For me, music was my escape. You know, my dad was very ill. He came from Vietnam with Agent Orange poisoning. And I had started playing. He actually got me started playing when we were stationed in South Carolina, at Fort Jackson, Columbia, and one of his troops was this star of television. When he was a kid in Cuba, his whole family had been a star. And he said, would you give my daughter guitar lessons? Because she sings beautifully. And then I started playing, and music was my escape from every difficult thing. So both of us, music has been a lifeline and it continues to be. He's doing I don't know how many albums at the same time, I like to focus on one thing, but music is just a beautiful part of our lives, and it never stops being that for us.
- [10:29]
B
It seems joyful too, right? It doesn't feel like work or business to you at all when you're working together, it's joyful.
- [10:35]
A
The studio's my favorite place ever. I love the creative side. I kind of had to get used to the performance side because I don't like being the center of attention. Believe it or not, it's not my jam, but I like to do things well. So when I joined the band and I was a frontman, I had to learn to do that. But my favorite thing was the arrangements, being in rehearsals, writing music and creating new sounds and doing things in the studio. And it still is. I still love, Like Reyes'. I creatively came up with the idea for it, I directed it, I produced it, edit it, with my assistant, Heather Beltran, who's my right and left hand, and La Vecina as well. I love that. Creating something that didn't exist before.
- [11:25]
B
Yeah. The videos for the first two singles are beautiful. And they all get at this story of family that you're talking about. And in particular, we see images and videos. But to be able to go back to the place where it all kind of started for you in the United States, that must have been very emotional.
- [11:43]
A
It was very emotional, the second video, Vena, because I wanted it to be at the place where my mother and I first lived when we came here, where we would see signs that said, no children, no pets, no Cubans. And then my mom finds this little brand new apartment complex, two strips facing each other, four and six apartments. And she told the man, like, my mom was, like, strong in her broken English. She asked the guy if he would allow her to fill all the apartments. And the guy, I guess, goes, absolutely and is great. And she invited all her family and friends that their husbands were in Bay of Pigs. So we were all women with small children. We became like a commune. And we lived there for two to three years and lived so many things, both beautiful and difficult. So being there was incredible. And having my family play the little cameo was very special because it's like where I started and then at the end where we built this stage and it's still between those two apartments. The meaning for me was, yes, this is my life now, but those apartments are still there. That experience is still in here. And everything that I went through with my mom and everything we've lived becomes a part of who you are. And for Races. I'm barefoot in the video. I love nature, and it's kind of like life is a journey. And along that journey, all the things that happened, I brought back to life some pictures, nice use of AI because I also wanted it, to bring it to today's world. And when I saw my mom and dad wave to me that I was.
- [13:23]
B
Able to do that, I thought the same thing. I wasn't ready for that. It was a nice still image, and then they come to life. Neither was it.
- [13:29]
A
When that happened, it was very special. And I went to the most deeply rooted place in Miami, Fairchild Gardens. It's been there for over a century and has Cuban trees and American trees, and it's just very symbolic of my life in Miami.
- [13:46]
B
When you go back to a place like that first apartment, and you were just a toddler, right? You were very little, a very little girl, and you think about how scary that must have been in some ways for your mom and how uncertain things were, and you see that it looks almost the way it did when you arrive there. Does that give you a moment of look where we started and look where I am now?
- [14:08]
A
Absolutely. Which was the whole point. Even though the song itself is funny and there's a lot of humor in it, and it's very rhythmic, the story behind it. And the video is very much about, look. I started in singing in Spanish in that very place because my grandma would smuggle my mom's record collection, little by little in boxes of mango baby fruit that she would saddle pilots from Cubana de Aviacion with. And they'd knock on the door and they'd bring it. And I remember my mom playing these records, so I would memorize them and sing them for the ladies there. She would have me perform and perform poems from Jose Marti and all this stuff. So I started singing there. That was the first time I ever sang for other people. And then at the end, I'm on this giant stage with the lighting and the band, and it's. It's. There were a lot of things I was getting flashes through the whole time. Wonderful ones, very difficult ones. I remember we went through Hurricane Dora there, and the following day, a kid in front of us got electrocuted in a puddle because he stepped. His mother tried to grab him, and she got stuck. And then somebody running for a stick, like wood, to pry them apart. Like crazy things that have stuck in my brain, and I kind of relived them when I was there, but mostly beautiful. And to look back and say, wow, you know, only in this country, I think, can you really make your dreams come true like that, you know, unfettered and as long as you put in the work and persevere. But we do what we love, it's never felt like work.
- [15:51]
B
You've done all of those things, put in the work, persevered and do what you love and then some. Absolutely. You mentioned that was the first time you had ever sung in Spanish when you were a little girl. There. This album is. Is a Spanish language album. I noted that when asked, you often say mi tierra is your favorite song or most meaningful anyway. So is there something for you about singing in Spanish that gives it something extra or different or more?
- [16:19]
A
Absolutely. It's my heart language I have. My heart language is Spanish. My brain language is English. Because they wouldn't let me take Spanish in school. I knew too much of it, so I studied French. But in Spanish, it's impossible to be too sweet, too passionate in English you have to be a little more restrained in your emotion for it not to be saccharine, like I've learned through the years. And it. They're both incredibly important to me. Like I wouldn't choose one over the other, but when I'm singing in Spanish, it's, It's. It's my heart, like pouring out. Not that English isn't, but English is more cerebral for me. And it's still fun and it's still wonderful and I still love to write in English. My only song that I wrote completely because I threw some things here and there in Vena. I wrote all the ad libs. I thought it was so funny and then to be able to contribute. But I wrote a song for my grandson that I did not write thinking of this album. I wrote it simply because we had been together in our beach home in Vero beach, him and I, and he left and I missed him so much. And I was inspired. I knew one day I would, because I've written for everybody close to me, a song at least sometimes many more. And I called him on the phone and I played it for him, my beautiful boy. And he loved it. You know, they were crying, my son, my daughter in law and him. And when Emilio came to me with this idea, with the album, and I thought, you know what? I want to do Sasha's song in the vibe of the album, but I have to write it in Spanish. People have to know what I'm singing. And there's two tracks that are included in English that are English versions of Spanish tracks on there.
- [18:03]
B
It's pretty cool. To have a grandma who, when she's thinking about you, writes a hit song that's, you know, that's not bad. That's forever.
- [18:10]
A
He was very happy about it. You know, I wrote my son's song, naive Song. That was on the album. After that accident, I wrote along came you for Emily. And Emilio's got a plethora of songs I've written for him. He's so funny, you know, on this album, he comes in, he goes, okay, I wrote this love song for you. And I go, you're gonna sing it on the album because he's got a beautiful voice, but it's not his bag. And he goes, no, no, you're gonna sing it for me. I go, so you wrote your own love song? I go, babe, that's so you. Not that. I don't mean every word. It's called Como Paso. It's. Oh, my God. He's too.
- [18:50]
B
He wrote himself a love song.
- [18:52]
A
He did.
- [18:52]
B
That's amazing.
- [18:53]
A
And he knew that I was gonna sing it for him, so he wrote it. I actually. Every word I would have written, I have written in other songs.
- [19:01]
B
That is pretty bold, Emilio. Pretty bold. Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Gloria Estefan right after the break.
- [19:12]
C
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- [19:41]
B
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- [20:01]
A
Department of rejected dreams. If you had a dream, rejected IKEA can make it possible.
- [20:05]
B
So I always dreamed of having a.
- [20:06]
A
Man cave, but the wife doesn't like it. What if I called it a woman cave? Okay, so let's not do that, but add some relaxing lighting and a comfy IKEA hofburg ottoman. And now it's a cozy retreat.
- [20:18]
B
Nice. A cozy retreat, man. Cozy retreat, sir.
- [20:22]
A
Okay. Find your big dreams, small dreams, and cozy retreat dreams in store online at ikea, US dream the possibilities.
- [20:32]
B
Welcome back. Now more of my conversation with Gloria Estefan. Thinking about your own roots and you. You touched on this a minute ago, but coming from Havana, two years old, I love that you have the Pan Am ticket still. Right? It was supposed to be a roundtrip ticket. You fully expected to return home and did not.
- [20:50]
A
Absolutely.
- [20:52]
B
You're too young to remember a lot about that time, but can you talk about how that experience and having to basically flee your home country for good, how that has informed the rest of your life and your music, of course.
- [21:05]
A
Absolutely. I also have my dad's ticket from Cuba to Key west on the ferry, because he came ahead of us. He told my mom, I need to get you out of the country. This is going to get really bad. And she didn't want to leave without him. And he says, I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to try to find a job and try to find a place to live. And the poor thing, he got here and he thought that he'd snagged a job for $50 a week. And my mom goes, are you sure? He goes, yeah, they said 15. It was $15 a week parking cars. And then of course, he. He didn't tell my mom because it was very secret, but they were planning the Bay of Pigs thing already and he left. Charnod disappeared, went into training. We ended up, I think it was in Guatemala that they were training. And then he came back the night before they went to Cuba and told her, here's phone number of a doctor in case you need it for Glorita. And you're going to be getting $150 a month from the. A check from the U. S. Government. I can't tell you where I'm going or what I'm going to do. So what I remember from that time my mom and I left Cuba on a Pan Am flight. They only let us take one suitcase. And I remember, I have. Sometimes those memories are more vivid because they're so traumatic. I remember that I fell in the airport and hit my head. And when we got to Miami, I was like crying incessantly. My mom thought I had a concussion. Turns out it was an ear infection. But I remember when a man, like, rifling through my mom's stuff, and then he took out her diploma and ripped it up. She had a PhD in education from Cuba, and he told her, you're not taking your education with you. That was a flash In Cuba, I have a flash. My dad was jailed immediately after the coup, because he was a police officer, and him and his dad, who was a commander, were jailed. And we used to visit him in jail, and they would. You'd have to stand in long lines. They'd strip search and, you know, touch the women. It was my grandma, my mom and I, and Camilo Cienfuego, one of the three architects of the revolution, was the one policing El Principe where my dad was. And I start like any kid. I'm thirsty. I'm thirsty. And he pulls this little metal cup off the wall that was hanging on a nail and puts water in it and gives it to me. And my mom's going, like, no, no, she'll be fine. He goes, oh, this isn't good enough for you. Whatever. And he goes, gives it to me and drink it. And I got the worst infection in my mouth that to this day. They used to treat it with some violet, something I don't. I can't have. Violent. The taste is horrendous. And then in Miami, Adel Quartlito just being dragged from rosary to rosary, church to church, my mom and her ladies speaking well into the night to, like, you know, wee hours of the morning. Sometimes I would be laying on my mom's chest, and I still remember the feeling of hearing her talking to all of them through her, you know, her chest, and the warm feeling it gave me to have my mom right there. I didn't. I didn't even want to be inside in my bed. I wanted to be on her. And I remember knowing that my dad was in jail, but thinking that she didn't know because she was trying to tell me that he was on a farm. So I would keep up the charade. Both of us thought that we were fooling each other, but I knew where my dad was. I was precocious, and I was hearing everything they were talking about. And I remember her being very, very lonely, crying a lot and still trying to make it nice for me. Like, still made a little, like, kindergarten where she taught the kids, and still trying to make life bearable. And I admire her very much for that, because I now know. I mean, she was at that time, she was 29 and had been the princess of her house. And then she's here alone with a kid, no support. So that's, I think, why they clung to each other so much, the women.
- [25:19]
B
And your dad, I mean, his life is like a movie. If you read the story of, you know, Bay of Pigs in prison for a couple years, makes it home, thank God. But then he goes off to Vietnam, joins the army, joins the Army. We talked, shared experience, and my father was there at the same time. Both exposed to Agent Orange, your father becomes ill. And it seems like you, because your mom had to work so hard at a very young age, you kind of became a bit of a caretaker very much and didn't have that teenage experience that most of us think of in America. Is that fair to say?
- [25:57]
A
Very fair to say. I felt really bad for my mom because her hopes were okay. She made it through him being in Bay of Pigs. She made it through the six months of basic training that he went to Fort Benning, Georgia. Then we were very happy in Texas, in San Antonio, my sister was born. We were stationed there. Then in South Carolina, we were super happy. And then Vietnam. And he didn't have to go because he was the sole supporter. And he was American because eventually he became American, but he wasn't gonna send his troops without him. And he was very idealistic man, very moral. And he thought, I need to fight communism wherever it is, and I need to be there for the American army, because we wanna ask them to go back. That was the secret desire of the Cubans that joined the army, the US army, was that from within the ranks. And one of them made it all the way to General, four star general that they would be able to, you know, go back to Cuba and do a second because it was too early. They, Cuba was not ready. They, they were really supporting Fidel at that time. And the fact that they got, you know, left behind because aircraft carriers turned around and left them there and they canceled all the air support. So they were hoping to go back. And then my mom was so hopeful. When he came from Vietnam, she asked him, please, you know, you've given enough for both countries. So he didn't reenlist for a little while, but then he told my mom, I can't. I'm an army, you know, guy. And she said, okay. But she, she had already started noticing some things that weren't right with him. And she said, you need to get a checkup. I'll follow you wherever you go. And that's when they diagnosed the Agent orange, which all the guys on his base, young guys, they came back with those neurological issues. And my poor mom, once again. So I wanted to be strong for her and help her and I would take care of my dad. She had to work during the day and she was going back to school at night to get her teaching credentials because she knew she'd have to step it up because he wasn't on full pension or anything. And then I would be there for my dad. I'm the caretaker of him. My younger sister. By the time I got back from school at 3 o', clock, I was caring for them until my mom got home late at night. So I had to step it up. Yeah, I did very much. And then I got a job. When my dad finally had to go to the hospital because we couldn't care for him sufficiently at home, I got a full time job at the airport as an interpreter because I had studied French and been accepted to, um, studying psych and communications majors and a French minor. And that was thrilling for me. But we would still go every day to the hospital, you know, to help shave and feed my dad and all the guys that were with him on that floor because they were vastly understaffed. And my mom and I would help there too.
- [29:13]
B
I mean, that's a lot for a young teenage girl to take on.
- [29:18]
A
I'm so strong though, you know, I've kind of had my youth backwards, which I really like. I had a really tough time as a kid and as a teenager. And then I married Emilio. And rather than people say, oh, you lock down when you get married. No, for me it was like, right. I blossomed. And he was so, you know, always so motivational and wonderful and saw things in me before I saw them, you know, possibilities. Because I was like, I say I didn't like being the center of attention. It's not like I was shy one on one, but getting on stage was like, whoa, everybody's looking at me.
- [29:55]
B
And the music really took off. So you met, in 75, you met Emilio with the Miami Latin Boys, right?
- [30:03]
A
Yes.
- [30:04]
B
Before it was the Sound Machine. Exactly that. You know, you're 17, 18 years old, you had to be pretty darn talented for an established band to say, we want you to come sing with us. How did that start?
- [30:19]
A
Well, especially since at that time there were no female singers in bands. I mean, bands were boy bands, even in the American market. Like, I remember Carole King being such an icon to me and an idol. I wore out her Tapestry album. And she was kind of the first woman that started doing big shows and concerts. She'd been in the business since she was a teenager, writing the Brill Building here and everything. And he. I first met him at a friend's house that called him to give us pointers on how to get a band together for one night. And there was a knock on the door, was sitting on the floor, door opens, there's a guy, an accordion, and bare legs. I'm going, like, what the. I thought he was naked for a minute because he had on these short shorts that his mother had made him from couch material. Wow. Yeah, that was impressive. He had great legs and I liked looking at his hands while he was playing the accordion. I was on the floor. He gave us a pointer as he left. And then that summer, one of my dad's army buddy's daughter that I grew up with in South Carolina was getting married and my mom, please, you got to come with me to the wedding. I go, mom, I. I have two jobs. At the time, I was getting ready to start as a sophomore in college, cuz I took a test and they gave me 30 credits and I was getting ready for that. I go, mom, please don't do this to me. Like, I. I don't have time. Oh, the guilt. Your dad, he can't go. And. All right, all right. I go. I walk in and the door opens and these twinkle lights, this magical thing in the banquet hall. And then way over on the other side, I see this guy in a tux with his band playing do the Hustle on the accordion, which I found both charismatic and brave because, you know, like Weird Al, like, wait a minute, that guy looks familiar. So as we run into each other in a door, when he goes, I remember you. You're that girl a couple months ago. I go, yeah, I remember you. He goes, why don't you sit in with a band? Because he had heard me sing. Go sitting with a bang. Do a couple songs. And I go, I'm freaking out. Like, what do you know? I go, well, I know Cuban standards that I've played for my grandma on the guitar. Do you know sabourami? He goes, yeah, we play that. Forget the key. It didn't matter. Tumaco, Tumbrate. Do you know that? He goes, yeah. So I go, okay. So I'm standing up there freaking out. My mother's yes thing. Cause I used to play guitar for these people.
- [32:47]
B
This is at the wedding.
- [32:48]
A
At the wedding.
- [32:48]
B
Amazing.
- [32:49]
A
But these people, the whole family, they knew me as. As a kid playing guitar, playing all these songs. And it was the first time I ever played with a band. And I'm. Oh my God. I was going, like, this sounds so incredible. And of course, I got a standing ovation. He didn't know that I knew everybody at that wedding. And that night, he comes up to me at the end and he goes, you know, we don't have really a lead singer. I sing one Song the bass player sings. I think it'd be really cool. Nobody in Miami has girl singers, and I think you'd be great. And I go, listen, I. I appreciate it, but I've got two jobs. I'm going to school full time now in September, and my mom will kill me if I do this. And he goes, oh, but I think you'd be great. I go, thanks, but you know, I can't. And then two weeks later, the phone rings, and my sister. It's that boy from the. From the party. And he says, look, I work full time, too. I promise you it won't, you know, interfere with anything. I won't let it. This. We do this for fun. And, you know, I make extra money, but I do it because I love it. It's. He goes, bring your mom, you know, bring your grandma here. Bring everybody Tuesday to my house for. And when I get there, they're all crammed into an apartment. A nine piece band. The apartment was smaller than this room we're in right now. And in that, they lived in, like a condo complex. And everybody was dancing in the middle of the courtyard. They would do that when he would rehearse because he had no choice, right? And I was up against the wall, like, just looking around, and he told everybody, look, you know, this is Gloria. I'd love for her to join the band. And then my grandma, who was the ultimate stage mother, she tried to get my mom. My mom won a contest in Cuba to be Shirley Temple's double in Hollywood to dub her movies in Spanish.
- [34:41]
B
Wow.
- [34:42]
A
She looked same age, same curls that my grandma would make on her. 51 curls. Every day she would be with her sheet music and clothes that she would make for my mom. And she won the contest. My grandpa said no. So when I started singing, my grandma would make me sing for. She made kind of like an illegal restaurant in her house. And she would have me sing for people. And I would be staring at the floor. I go, grandma, this. You know, she goes, you have a gift, and one day it's going to fall in your lap. And I hope you're smart enough to realize that if you don't do this, you're not going to be happy in your life. So when Emilio calls that we're all at that rehearsal, she. My mom was not happy. And she pulled me to the side and she goes, you remember what I told you? You're gonna be 18. It's your decision. Don't let your mom sway you. Remember what I told you? You. You need to share that gift. So I told my mom, I go, mom, I'm not going to quit school. I want to do this. And I did. And she was not happy about it, but my grandma was thrilled.
- [35:46]
B
The wisdom of a grandmother, right? She was right.
- [35:49]
A
We were super tight.
- [35:50]
B
Yeah.
- [35:50]
A
She was my hero. Yeah. Yeah.
- [35:52]
B
And you did finish school. You graduated, by the way. I don't know if people realize this, except the Sorbonne.
- [35:58]
A
Yes.
- [35:59]
B
Paris. My gosh. Rock star. I was going to say academic rock star.
- [36:03]
A
Also, I loved education. I, I. If I could go back now, I would. I've, you know, thought about it. Could I get my master? Could I, you know, because I love to learn. Every day I learn something, and there's so many ways to learn now. But I had been accepted to both the clinical psych school at, um. There were only 12 chairs at that point. I had realized that I couldn't really divorce myself from the emotional situation with the people we worked with and social work and stuff. And it really made me feel, you know, sad for them because they were kind of stuck in situations, so. And I couldn't handle the lab with the little bunny rabbits and the brains exposed and like it too much. So I thought, you know what? Maybe this isn't for me. I've got enough. We all go looking for self help when we study psychology, and I kind of got it, but then I go, I'm gonna go study international law and diplomacy at the Sorbonne. And I got accepted there, but I had been in the band. And at that point we started, you know, Emilio kind of did his thing and came forward in typical Emilio way, without saying anything. One night we were playing on the 4th of July, 1976, bicentennial. He said, let's get some air. Third floor of this boat that we were playing on, and fireworks are going off. And that day, he had asked me to go with him in the van because it was a kind of iffy area. And on the way there, he says to me, mind you, we'd never dated. Nothing's been going on. He had an older girlfriend, as far as I was concerned. He goes, you know, I bet we'd get along great if we got married. And I go, whoa. Married? I started laughing. And then that night, he said, you know, it's my birthday. I go, really? He goes, yeah, why don't you give me a kiss on the cheek? And I go, no, I'll get you a present. He goes, come on, little kiss on the cheek turns his face. That was his way of telling me, I'm interested in you. And needless to say, there was a chemistry there all along. But we didn't want to go there because of the band. It was so well.
- [38:12]
B
And here we are almost 50 years later. It's working out very well.
- [38:15]
A
Very well. Very well.
- [38:16]
B
Stick around for more of my conversation with Gloria Estefan right after a quick break.
- [38:23]
C
Attention, party people. You're officially invited to the party shop at Michael's where you'll find hundreds of new Items starting at 99 cents with an expanded selection of party wear, balloons with helium included on select styles, decorations and more. Michaels is your one stop shop for celebrating everything from birthdays to bachelorette parties and baby showers to golden anniversaries. Visit Michaels store or michaels.com today to supply your next party with a variety of options.
- [38:51]
B
US Cellular Prepaid makes finding the right wireless plan for you easy. That means you can get what you need at a price you can afford, all while staying connected. Like two lines of unlimited data for just $60 a month and a free device like The Samsung Galaxy A16.5G. US Cellular Prepaid Terms Apply. See uscellular.com for details.
- [39:12]
A
Department of Rejected Dreams. If you had a dream, rejected IKEA can make it possible.
- [39:16]
B
So I always dreamed of having a man cave, but the wife doesn't like it.
- [39:19]
A
Doesn't like it. What if I called it a woman cave? Okay, so let's not do that, but add some relaxing lighting and a comfy IKEA hofburg ottoman. And now it's a cozy retreat.
- [39:28]
B
Nice. A cozy retreat, man. Cozy retreat, sir.
- [39:33]
A
Okay. Find your big dreams, small dreams and cozy retreat dreams in store online at ikea.us dream the possibilities.
- [39:42]
B
Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Gloria Estefan. So you guys had success, really great success as a band in Latin with Latin audiences, it's fair to say, for several years. And then you decide to do an English speaking language which just sort of like explodes and you come out with conga.
- [40:06]
A
Yes.
- [40:07]
B
And it feels like everything changes. What was that moment like for you when not only for you personally, but you could feel people, if you can go down the list of artists who give you credit for sort of pulling Latin music into the mainstream of American culture, what was the moment like?
- [40:27]
A
Well, I wish I could take that credit, but I always, you know, tip of the hat to Carlos Santana, Jose Feliciano, Desi Arnaz, who I used to watch on the I Love Lucy show singing in Spanish. And nobody had a beef with that. Like it was one of the top shows. So I grew up thinking, yeah, this can happen, but it wasn't in my plan. Our first two albums were half in English, half in Spanish. So we made them ourselves. It was a little ahead of the curve. And the hits that became hits were in Spanish. So then when Disco CBS came looking for us, they asked us to. They wanted to sign us in Spanish. But then we said, okay, but we want to keep the right to record in English. We kind of snuck it in the contract and they're going, hey, go ahead, you know, put it in there. We're not going to do it. But we snuck a couple of songs in. I Need a man and Dr. Beat. Emilio and I took Dr. Beat, made a 12 inch of it, took it to the record pool. Somehow it got famous in Europe. And we're in Europe promoting Dr. Beat. When they want more, they want more. We don't have more. We play these old Cuban congas that we used to play. At the end of every gig, they go crazy. I tell my drummer, we've gotta write a song that talks about this rhythm. And we wrote it on the tray table of the plane from Holland to England. So we come back and we tell the record company, this is the song. And they're going to, no, no, that'll never get played. It's. It's too American for the Latins. It's too Latin for the Americans. We want to go with this single because at that point we had talked them into letting us do an English language album because they sold so many records just from Dr. Beat on a Spanish language record. So they go, okay, let's let them do it. They gave us very small budget. Emilio and I put all our life savings into it to make it good enough to compete because you needed to sound top notch, use, you know, great engineer, great studio. And then we did the same thing again. We made a 12 inch of conga, we took it to the record pools and somehow we got it. It took a year to get to the top 10. It was the first song to cross all four formats. Pop, Latin, dance and R and B. And we knew it would work because we would play it in our gigs and people would react like if they were hearing a hit and they'd never heard it before. We literally played it before we recorded it and we knew that it would work. So it was just convincing, you know, radio. And I remember at the time, Jeffrey Shane are this promoter that really believed in us. And he, he said, okay, nobody. The company wasn't behind it, really. We were going despite them. And he said, I have a friend in St. Louis that owes me a favor. I'm gonna call him and tell him to play it just once. And he did. And the phones went crazy. And that's what started the journey of conga. And like anything, you, you know, take some convincing. But Emilio and I, the most motivational word you can tell us is no. It's like lights a fire under our butts.
- [43:33]
B
It's like, feel like a challenge.
- [43:35]
A
Oh, well, we knew, we, we believed it because we knew it, we could see it. We had a multi ethnic audience in Miami, which allowed us to really kind of focus group our music. That's what they would call it now, but it was just. Everybody enjoyed it. They didn't have to understand it. Like you so graciously said that you enjoyed it without knowing what I'm singing, the rhythm is going to get you. It's a real thing. It is. Humanity's first way to communicate was through drums. So percussion and music is just joyous and makes you want to dance. And we had total belief.
- [44:10]
B
And those songs are timeless too. I'm listening to them the last couple of days and first of all, we know them so well that you get the first, you know, first three strokes down on the, on the piano and you go, oh, right, of course, these. And it just lights something that, the energy that you convey through those songs.
- [44:25]
A
They still play it. And it's funny because no matter where I've been, somebody's wedding or a club, somewhere in Europe or in Japan or whatever, that song still comes on because they still play it. They still play it in the clubs, new remixes all the time and everything. But those three horn, you know, and everybody just go. It's like, like they gave them permission to go berserker. I love it.
- [44:50]
B
That's a cool thing, isn't it?
- [44:51]
A
It is. And when my grandson was little, he goes, tutu, I have a surprise for you. And he puts on. He makes me watch the Chipmunk movie with him. And the Chipettes were doing conga and he thought he was gonna surprise me. I mean, clearly I had to give permission, but he was so excited. And you keep seeing it come around. It's been on American Dad. It's been on South Park. It's been on like the snarkiest things that I love. And it's phenomenal. And I always get a kick out of it.
- [45:21]
B
It holds up. It holds up well. So we were talking about the food being brought to you in the hospital as we started here from this wonderful restaurant. You mark March 20, 1990 as a day of rebirth, you say yes. For people who don't know, I think most people know by now your tour bus was in a very serious accident which left you paralyzed for a while.
- [45:46]
A
Till I was put back together and yeah, was rehabbed. Yeah, it was a rebirthday. And I was put back together here in New York on March 22, my mother's birthday. The 20th is Emilio's niece, Lily, who is like his. She was my daughter in training. Cause you know, I think, well, I used to be eight years older than her. Now somehow I'm 10 years old. I don't know how that worked out, but they lived with us when they came from Cuba. Emilio's only brother and his two kids lived with us and Emilio's parents and my son in a four bedroom house in Westchester, Miami. I loved every minute of it. And she was like my first daughter. I took her to school. I, you know, we, I've been there for her. Her mom had passed in Cuba, so I became her surrogate mom. And it was her birthday that day and we were heading to Syracuse for a show. We got, we stopped because it was an accident. Seven miles ahead, it was a freak snowstorm in the Poconos. Truck was jackknife and we stopped and then we got rear ended by a fully loaded 18 wheeler. And I, I think what happened was I was laying on the couch in the front of tour buses. Have like a living room scenario with a little booth to eat, I think folded backwards over the side of the booth because it was the same width of the brake. And two vertebrae were pushed in and exploded. So, yeah, I opened my eyes on the floor of the bus and I, I couldn't stand up. And I knew because I'd gone through that with my dad, I was very clear. But it also gave me hope that I was in intense pain. I knew that if I had severed the cord, I wasn't going to feel anything. So that gave me hope. A nurse that was in two cars back came back and got in the bus and held my head like a, like a brace. She says, you can't move. You can't. I was grabbing my legs, trying to pull them up to relieve the pain, and she said, you can't move. I'm going to sit here. And it took an hour and a half for the ambulance to get to us, but I came here. They put me back together and through very intense rehab for many months, I was able to get back on that stage eventually. And when I did, I mean, I didn't care about getting back on stage. All I wanted to do was walk and be independent. That's all I cared about. And to try to spare my family what I had lived through. And then when I saw my body coming back, I thought, oh, my gosh, what if this was the reason for this accident? I've got an opportunity to show people that you can come back from really difficult situations and depending on how much you put into it and how much effort and perseverance and belief, you can do it. And that's what it became for me then, like. And that tour, I used to see people for two hours after the tour because they would want to come and touch me and talk to me because it was so miraculous. And my sister used to kid, she'd answer the phone. Our lady of the Rugs, may I help you? She wanted to sell, make a little bottle of me and put my pool water in. She goes, I'm sure we can make some money. You know, humor's got. You never lose your sense of humor.
- [49:00]
B
You gotta have a little holy water from Gloria.
- [49:02]
A
Exactly. Yeah.
- [49:03]
B
You were back on stage 10 months later at the American Music Awards. You come out, you get this huge standing ovation. People, frankly, can't believe you're already back. Neither could I let Al standing, let alone performing out there. What was driving you that whole time, those 10 months, to get back on stage?
- [49:20]
A
Well, I wanted to get back to show people that things happen. And also because so many people sent so many letters and cards and prayers. There were people on their knees in the hospital and in the lobby when I was in there, and I wanted to show them that their prayers worked. And by the way, you know, I. I was raised Catholic. Prayer was always a mystery to me. We, you know, you pray, you say the Our Father, Hail Mary, and all this, but it wasn't until I was in that hospital room and there were millions of people praying for me, and I could feel it. I. It was like this energy that I cannot describe to you. I felt like I was plugged into the wall and all of this positive. It felt like just love coming at me. And I would lay there and channel it into my nerves and imagine. Now they call it visualization. I was doing it kind of automatically. And my family would come in and they'd start crying, and I go, I'm going to be okay. I know. I feel it. I'm going to be okay. And they thought I was in denial and all this. So I wanted to prove to them that their efforts, their prayers, made a difference. Now, when Did Clark calls Emilio. My accident was in March. Dick Clark calls Emilio in September. In September, I was still like, I couldn't even put on my underwear by myself. I couldn't lift my leg high enough. I had to wear a brace. They had to flip me over. I couldn't bathe by myself. I couldn't do anything on my own. So Emilio sits and tells me, dick Clark called. He wants you for the American Music Awards in January. I go, what are you insane? You look at me. He goes, I think you could do it. And I go, Emilio Stefan Jr. You turn around right now and you call him back and tell them that there's no way that I can do this. Don't you see? So he tells him that. And what he did tell him was, I can't convince her. If you want to talk her into it, you're going to have to tell her yourself. And Dick Clark got on a plane and flew himself to Miami.
- [51:34]
B
Wow.
- [51:35]
A
And knocked on my door.
- [51:37]
B
Wow.
- [51:38]
A
And he sat with me and he said, you know, I know that right now you think that you can't do this. He goes, but my good friend Connie Francis also made her come back on my show. She thought she couldn't do it. I believe in you. He goes, I think it would be really, really great for you to get back on that stage. And I. You know, I thought about it. He left. I go, let me think about it. But then that's when I thought, maybe this is the whole point of my fame, because I didn't. I didn't care about fame. I just was doing music, which I love, and go, maybe this is a whole point that there could be a bigger, deeper meaning. And there was a much deeper connection with my fans from that moment on, because they knew me as a human. You know, usually you see your. Your icons or whatever in this otherworldly kind of way. And that experience really humanized me. And it was. They can. They could see that I went through some hell and I came out the other end. And they're very much a part of that because they gave me that energy.
- [52:52]
B
Fought your way back, and then had your daughter after that as well.
- [52:56]
A
Yes, they said I probably couldn't have a baby, but there'd been a lot of damage in there. Like, when that happened, organs went where they weren't supposed to. Like, especially fallopian tubes, things that you need for. To have a baby. But, yeah, the third round of shots that we did, I go, we'll do this. And if it doesn't happen, I have my Son. But, yeah, the third time was the charm. And she was born, and she's. She ate her twin. I tell her I had twin levels in there when I was pregnant with her. And then all of a sudden, I thought I lost a baby. And I went back and no, I didn't. And I said, that's why you're so talented. You said, there's no room for anybody else. And you ate your twin alone with all its talent. She's a beast. She's a musical beast.
- [53:44]
B
What a blessing. What a blessing.
- [53:45]
A
Incredible blessing.
- [53:46]
B
Well, it kept you too long. I think we're gonna go sit for one minute, but if you have a couple of minutes.
- [53:51]
A
Of course.
- [53:51]
B
Great. Thank you so much.
- [53:52]
A
Pleasure and honor.
- [53:53]
B
Wonderful.
- [53:54]
A
Thank you.
- [53:54]
B
I could talk to you all day.
- [53:55]
A
Yeah, I could talk to you, too. And by the way, the biggest blessing after having that baby, and I would dream one day to be able to write with her. We're writing this musical together, her and I. Three years.
- [54:07]
B
We've been working on it, and so did I. Read, write. It's targeting. A couple years from now. 27.
- [54:12]
A
No, 26 in. It opens in the Alliance Theater in Atlanta. Oh, 27 comes here. Yeah. It comes to here. And it's about this recycled orchestra from Paraguay.
- [54:24]
B
Yeah.
- [54:24]
A
Talk about inspirational. These kids that live in probably the darkest, you know, situation, they live next to a landfill.
- [54:32]
B
Yeah.
- [54:33]
A
Everybody makes their living from the trash. And they've created this beautiful. Like, they made the school out of it. There's 300 students now. They've flown. They've played for the Pope, for Queen Sophia, with Metallica. Yeah.
- [54:47]
B
That is so cool. I can't wait to see that.
- [54:49]
A
I'm excited.
- [54:50]
B
We'll have you back on when it comes out.
- [54:52]
A
Beautiful.
- [54:52]
B
After that part of our conversation, Gloria and I poured a couple of coffees and enjoyed some pastelitos, a delicious treat from Cuba.
- [55:02]
A
You're having the staple of every Cuban breakfast, cafe con leche. And, you know, it's funny. Salud.
- [55:09]
B
Salud.
- [55:10]
A
But they give it to kids, even. I mean, Cuban kids drink cafe leche. And. And I'm going like, did they not realize that this is. You're caffeinating. You're toddlers. I was thinking the bottle. Little bottle with cafe col in it.
- [55:26]
B
They're training them, that's all.
- [55:27]
A
Oh, my gosh. Yes. Training them.
- [55:28]
B
And yours.
- [55:29]
A
Mine is an espresso. This is just the hard.
- [55:32]
B
You're right.
- [55:32]
A
This. You're going to feel it if. If you're not used to it. It's like, I can't have it past 2 in the afternoon. Is my cut off for this?
- [55:41]
B
Is that.
- [55:41]
A
It's that because. And then you'll be like the shakes. But if you ever need a pick me up, this is.
- [55:47]
B
It'll get you.
- [55:48]
A
Oh, yes.
- [55:49]
B
Just a quick hit. Maybe before we got into a show or something.
- [55:52]
A
Yeah. Oh, we had it. We called it the Voodoo Cafe. When I was on tour, we had a whole setup with umbrellas and the espresso machine.
- [56:01]
B
So this is your go to then? This? Yeah, that's the one.
- [56:04]
A
Absolutely. I'll have it in the morning.
- [56:05]
B
Do you know what we have here?
- [56:06]
A
This is pastelitos. Like I imagine it looks to me like they're guava. Maybe we should.
- [56:11]
B
Should we try?
- [56:12]
A
Yeah, let's cut one open there and I'll tell you what's in it. Oh, it could be guava. It could be. What is it? I'm gonna dig in with my hand.
- [56:22]
B
Yeah.
- [56:23]
A
Sometimes they put guava and cheese.
- [56:28]
B
Oh, my God, that's nice. That's very nice.
- [56:33]
A
The pastry and.
- [56:34]
B
Would this be a breakfast or anytime?
- [56:36]
A
It's got cream cheese.
- [56:37]
B
That's right.
- [56:38]
A
These are anytime. Honestly, dessert, middle of the day.
- [56:42]
B
Oh, that's good.
- [56:43]
A
Breakfast. Wow. Guava is like a go to for us. Absolutely. Oh, wait a minute.
- [56:51]
B
You cook too. I mean, you cook books. I mean, you do it all.
- [56:55]
A
I grew up in the kitchen with my grandma. As I told you jokingly but true. My grandma came from Cuba. She was 57 and she spoke no English. She somehow convinced this Italian lady to rent her a house that was furnished, that abutted Curtis Park. And she said to my grandfather, what are we going to do? How are we going to survive? Like she heard the people playing little League in the park, a little alleyway. And she said to her husband, come with me. They went. She saw there were no concessions. And my grandma, at the age of 12, was her father's sous chef through two presidential administrations in Cuba. She was so good. She had a lot of brothers and sisters, and so she was an incredible chef. And she borrowed a. A little, you know, grocery cart. Borrowed from. She bought and made, bought all these ingredients. She made tamales, croquetas, the pulled pork, Cuban style sandwiches. And she got a cooler and filled it with these Cuban soft drinks called kawi that they were selling in Miami. And she showed up to the ballpark, needless to say, within half an hour there were a lot of Cubans there because Cubans and baseball and their kids would say there. And she sold it out within half an hour. The following weekend, she went with two carts loaded with stuff, sold it out again immediately. And then she told the men, at this point, she knew them by name. What? She goes, you see that house right there, that yard? That's my house. I'm. Why don't you come over there? I'll cool some beer for you guys. She made a club, and she eventually got a pitching machine in the yard for the kids. They would play dominoes. She was carrying five grand a weekend in cash.
- [58:58]
B
Come on.
- [59:00]
A
Come on.
- [59:01]
B
Oh, my gosh.
- [59:02]
A
She was incredible. My grandma. Yeah.
- [59:04]
B
There seems to be a thread in your family of resourcefulness.
- [59:07]
A
Oh, very much so. I would help her make all that food. I was helping her out in the kitchen. A wish. I would have intercepted her hand on the way to the stuff because she never measured anything. She had the recipes in her hand.
- [59:20]
B
Right, right.
- [59:21]
A
But I grew up with that. So that's why we eventually opened a restaurant, Lario's on the beach, which was there for 25 years. And now we still have one at the Cardozo. We have one in Orlando. But food and music go together beautifully. And that was in her honor because she wanted to open a place where she was a four foot six, this Cuban woman that no, you know, the banks weren't gonna give her. She would have made a killing.
- [59:45]
B
Yeah.
- [59:45]
A
And she did it.
- [59:48]
B
She made it in cash. She did it in her own way.
- [59:51]
A
Absolutely.
- [59:52]
B
That's amazing.
- [59:53]
A
She was incredible. And she bought her house eventually.
- [59:56]
B
What a family.
- [59:57]
A
Helped us out.
- [59:58]
B
What a family.
- [59:59]
A
The women in my family were incredible. That's why growing up, I. I didn't think there was anything I couldn't do because the women did it all, you know, it was a great way to see possibilities rather than, oh, God, I can't do this, or. Yeah. And my mom went back, she got her teach. She became the union rep for her public school. She was feisty, my mom. Incredible.
- [60:22]
B
Somehow I don't doubt that.
- [60:24]
A
I ran into one of her students at the airport yesterday. He goes. He was one of the TSA guys, security. And I was going through. And he comes up to me and he goes, your mom was the best teacher I ever had.
- [60:37]
B
No way.
- [60:38]
A
Yeah. And I go, oh, my God, that makes me so happy.
- [60:40]
B
That is so sweet.
- [60:41]
A
I see that as messages from her, you know.
- [60:44]
B
Absolutely.
- [60:44]
A
It's a beautiful thing.
- [60:45]
B
We're sitting here in the theater district. We have to talk about the project you're working to the extent. You can talk about it.
- [60:50]
A
Oh, no, I can talk.
- [60:51]
B
You can talk about it.
- [60:52]
A
I can Talk. We're gonna.
- [60:53]
B
Had success on Broadway already.
- [60:55]
A
That was great.
- [60:55]
B
And you're gonna be back soon.
- [60:57]
A
This is very different. You know, we had what they call a jukebox based on our lives. This. I was invited actually. Over five years ago, Michael Shman, a producer, came to Miami with an instrument made out of trash from this recycled orchestra of Cateira, Paraguay. These. There's a. The landfill harmonic. There's a documentary which I watched before I went to the meeting. And it's how an environmental engineer came into this area next to one of the largest landfills in Paraguay, in Asuncion, where they make their living, everyone there, out of trash. And what happened was they were a lot of soybeans, became very popular, and they kind of gentrification got rid of farmers, and they didn't have anywhere to go if you didn't have money. And they end up making their own homes wherever they could. It didn't always. It wasn't always a landfill. It turned into one slowly because the government started letting people sell their trash to there. So this guy came, tried to help out, and ultimately, to make a long story short, he was a musician. And he started giving music lessons with his violin. He couldn't get all the instruments. They didn't survive the floods, the ash storms, the fires. So they started building the instruments out of trash. And at this point, now they have a school that they made out of the trash. They have 300 students. And this is the story of how they became that recycled orchestra of Cateira, Paraguay. So it's all original songs. My daughter and I have been working for three years on that. Alex Lacamore is our musical supervisor. Michael Greif, our director. Karen Zacharias, our writer. Ken Cerniglia from Hadestown is our dramaturg. And Patricia Delgado, who just did Buena Vista and is nominated for a bunch of things, is our choreographer. It's happening. Yeah.
- [62:53]
B
I mean, for people who don't recognize those names, those are all stars of Broadway. Hamilton Buenovic. Dear Evan Hansen, it's all in there.
- [63:02]
A
And the title was a little controversial, but the creative team was always about it. It's basura, which literally means trash in Spanish. And in no way are we, you know, trying to glorify or anything, but we have to call it what it is. It's about how these kids that live in dire circumstances still made something beautiful from one of the toughest, you know, situations to be in. And it's basura, like the true inspirational story of finding music in unlikely places. And music has now given them hope options. They've traveled. They were just in Miami playing at the University of Miami. They're in a lot of recycling. They teach kids about what to do and make them conscientious about what you throw away. And do we really need so much plastic? And do we need, like, it's really an amazing thing. And at first I was daunting because I go, oh my gosh, 18 new songs at least. But it was such a beautiful thing and we wrote it together. The writer of the book and us, it all came together. It wasn't like she did her thing, then we did our thing. It's been a really beautiful creative journey and I'm very thankful to, to the producers for allowing us to call it what we've wanted to call it all along. And I think people will get it because it's it. Also, you know, sometimes people look at people that they that have less things than that as if they have less worth and that on the contrary, there's worth in every situation, every life, every experience is very, very worthy and, and hope and beauty can come from it. So that's the whole title of the show.
- [64:57]
B
Cheers to that.
- [64:58]
A
Cheers to that.
- [64:59]
B
Starting Cheers starting in Atlanta next year.
- [65:02]
A
And then May 30 at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta and hopefully in one of these theaters.
- [65:07]
B
Oh, it will be. Oh, it will be.
- [65:09]
A
I'm sure hoping.
- [65:10]
B
Thank you, Laura.
- [65:11]
A
Thank you.
- [65:12]
B
Thank you.
- [65:12]
A
Cheers.
- [65:15]
B
My big thanks again to Gloria for a great conversation. She is just a phenomenal human being and so talented. You can stream her latest album Races, and my thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear our conversations with my guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday Today every weekend on NBC to see these interviews with your own two eyes. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit down podcast.
- [65:52]
C
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