International Salsa Magazine

Meet Liz Castillo in our report for this May 2021 edition

 

In the Caribbean there is a group of islands that attract many tourists all year round for its warm beaches, music, history and / or culture, one of the most visited is the beautiful island of Cuba, where tropical tourism is excellent for tourists. , one of the provinces that stands out for being a land of beautiful landscapes and hospitable people who preserve their traditions is Pinar del Rio which is located in the westernmost part of Cuba, it highlights its extraordinary natural charms such as its caves and Pinar del Rio parks, its beaches are bathed by two waters “the Atlantic and the Caribbean” which you can see with the naked eye when you go there and having this great diversity and beauty, you can explore the seabed as there is great tourism ecological and practicing water sports, it also has green gardens, the mogotes of Viñales and its guano houses where tobacco leaves are dried, there is an impressive Mural of Prehistory, a huge cave painting g burned on the surface of a mogote where its tropical and exuberant colors allow it to be distinguished from afar.

This time we have the Cuban singer Marielys Castillo Prietos also known by the stage name Liz Castillo, who was born in this beautiful city Pinar del Rio, Cuba on September 20, 1985, tells us with affection the place where she was born and is the perfect description that we mentioned at the beginning of this article; currently she lives in Havana to better develop her musical career.

In 2000, he began his musical career where he joined the movement of amateur artists of “Casa de Cultura”, a place that belongs to the network of cultural institutions that make up the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cuba. where there is concerted cultural development between the community and state entities, aimed at the preservation, transmission and promotion of artistic and cultural samples of the community, there were workshops where visual arts, dance, music are taught … was able to present singing songs for both children and adults; which obtained several prizes in the diverse Contests.

During these 5 years he dedicated himself to recording his album called “Cosas Contigo” with full authorship, his songs have a great variety of musical genres such as Bachata, Salsa, Vallenato, among others in order to have a great musical enrichment and in turn achieve a greater reach to your audience.

Cosa Contigo - Liz Prieto
Cover of Marielys Castillo Prietos – Cosa Contigo

In 2004, she graduated from Elementary Level in Singing Specialty, and jointly received Popular Singing classes in Havana with her teacher Robertina Morales Silva, who is someone very important to her since she mentions that she owes her musical career to him. because during his beginnings, he was born with the concern and doubt of being a musician and she was the one who showed him his path and what is correct or not; When he received his classes with her, he discovered and obtained the answers to his concerns in his musical career, even today they keep in contact supporting her.

She begins to work on the composition of the songs of her authorship, where until today she has more than 25 works registered in the National Copyright Center, performed by recognized Orchestras and Soloists and by herself.

The emotion and inspiration to create his songs is “Love”, the most sincere and most sincere feeling there is, it is also inspired by its derivatives such as heartbreak, life and lived experiences; This is one of the ways that you express what you feel, what you like and what you don’t like and what you want to send to your audience.

A year later (2005), he joined the Ebano y Marfil group and the Ireme Group. On this same date the Polyphonic Choir of Pinar del Río was integrated, these were the first groups with which I worked instead of working as a soloist, it was a new world where he does not deny that for those who start in group music and with experience it is scary because they do not know if they will measure up or not (their own insecurities), if your desire to move forward and progress is stronger it will be appeased by gaining experience and more security, as happened to her, who is a person characterized by a person who never backs down and moves on, to catch up and strive to defend himself for which he has fought, since she herself knew what would happen by studying it, thought and assumed in his future, making this a wonderful and great experience.

Live- Liz Castillo
Photo of Marielys Castillo Prietos and her musical group

What better happiness and personal reward than listening to your musical themes on the street and expanding to radio stations and the internet, this is the best happiness that a musician has.

After 4 years he retired from the musical group to go to Havana (2009) to train more as an artist for a year at the Mariana de Gonitch Singing Academy, directed by Maestro Hugo Ósle, a very prestigious teacher from Havana, he is known As the director of the group that bears the name of the famous internationally renowned Russian singer and pedagogue, who preferred to live in Cuba and was in charge of preparing young talents, there Liz Castillo had her lyrical and popular singing classes and above all they took you to to do shows and concerts in all the theaters of Havana either as a soloist or in a group, thus cultivating in his career and to have a more accurate criterion in a few words he was covering a wide repertoire and varied musical genres from Folklor A; upon graduating he continued working and always asking his teacher Robertina Morales Silva for support.

She mentions that during the COVID-19 pandemic, she did not see the bad things but the positive things, it has been for her during that difficult year, very prosperous in her career since she has been able to get 2 singles that were previously in process or paused, 2 salsa songs ʺCanción sin Rostroʺ which is currently coming out these days with its video clip and soon ʺWhere our Love is bornʺ … the pandemic has paralyzed many things but we must take advantage of this time at home and she did it promoting herself and obtaining a greater reach through the internet platform using social networks.

“For live music to be heard by the public, that they like it and identify with it and to achieve at this time is through communications especially the internet and social networks”

“Canción sin Rostro” is a musical theme that aired recently, it tells us that during its creation it was not called that, but “De que vale”, because that change arose, it was a theme related to an unrequited love and at the end of the song was a happier ending instead of the sadness it had at the beginning, it is like for example seeing the dark side of life comes at the end to see the light, the most beautiful part of life.

Liz Castillo - Cosas Contigo
Musical themes by Liz Castillo

To the new talent that is currently emerging, Liz Castillo mentions that currently many people want to be a fast and famous artist, but the truth is… “the person who is going to be an artist is because they have it in their soul, mind and it is written in Life will go on and overcome its obstacles, no matter how difficult … the artist is born with that quality, those who are not will not be able to continue even with all the support in the world “…” the artist’s work is not for himself, but for others, respecting his audience with respect to his lyrics, a clear message without many complicated words ”

If you want to know more about her, listen to her songs or contact her:

Spotify

  • https://open.spotify.com/artist/0FMLrFYvhu14ITV7ecMHpx?si=9_e5Ru99QBqn_kWvZ3U7EA

Pleylist

  • https://open.spotify.com/artist/0FMLrFYvhu14ITV7ecMHpx?si=9uUH-GunTUKJ3R2DvPsibg

 

Home

Latest posts by Karina Bernales (see all)