Sue Miller takes a poignant look back at the life of Omara Portuonda as she re-unites all her favourite musical influences from around the world. Brazilian, French and Caribbean flavours inform her Cuban style as she collaborates with great international musicians such as Trilok Gurtu and Avishai Cohen celebrating 60 years of singing.

If Bessie Smith is the Empress of the Blues then Omara Portuondo is the Empress of Feeling as she sings with such sincerity, clarity and musicianship. Her version of 'Vuela Pena' is heart wrenching and many of the tracks on this album are songs of experience, of the pain and the pleasure of life.

In fact Omara was at the forefront of the Cuban Feeling movement in the 1950s which combined traditional Cuban cancion with North American 'crooner' influences and her opening track 'Yo vi' pays homage to Martinique-born French crooner Henri Salvador, who recorded this number 'J'ai Vu' on his hit record 'Chambre avec Vue' when he was eighty-three. Her duet with Pablo Milanés of 'Amame como soy' is for me one of the stand-out tracks and her sensual playfulness on this track reminds me of Juliette Greco's 'Deshabillez-moi'. The French Chanson tradition was heavily influenced by Brazilian music and we have this flavour here too, with an elegant cool version of 'O que será' with Chico Buarque. The vocal duet on 'Cachita' she sings with her granddaughter Rossío is a reminder that the tradition of Cuban popular song will pass on through to the next generation. Indeed Omara Potuondo has contributed so much to Cuban popular music over her sixty years of professional music making, from Cabaret to Feeling and Cuban Son to international collaborations, that she is truly one of Cuba's finest musicians - Gracias Omara!