The fact that the public sees her and applauds her is her best reward. So confesses Yeny Silvia Dalmau Brindis, a Cuban woman to whom music and dance run “like blood in my veins,” she says. “You leave this world, and you don’t get a piece of paper or a medal. But if you manage to remain in people’s memories because of what you did in your life, that’s the greatest thing”, according to Yeny, who was born in Havana on November 3, 1961. She grew up in a popular neighborhood, La Lisa, in the capital’s Marianao municipality. Her personality fits her zodiac sign - Scorpio, because she practices honesty, she is demanding, she tends to control situations, and she is self-taught. The seasoned vocalist comes from the school of art instructors, but she never dedicated herself to teaching. She said, “I always wanted to sing and dance.” That’s how she opened the way. “I wanted to show my art to the world. That’s why I never had children. When I was almost 40 years old, motherhood became impossible. But I have nephews,” she said.
How do you define yourself? I’m a woman who sings.
During her artistic career of 46 years, she traveled to Spain, Japan, Mexico, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Argentina, and Nicaragua, with several companies. She was the first dancer in the folkloric group Raíces Profundas. Later on, she was in the AfroCuban group Clave y Guaguancó, and the popular groups Cuban Salsa, Cubanaché, Raíces Sonoras, and Las Chicas del Sol.
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She has appeared in the Cuban film, Miel para Oshún (Honey for Oshún) (2001), directed by the late Humberto Solás. But “singing is definitely my thing, although I was a good dancer, since in 1979,” she said. Today, Yeny Silvia is a retired woman. “We dancers have a limited life, just like athletes. I retired from dancing, but I will never retire. That will only happen when I die”, she explained. She stopped dancing 10 years ago. Now, she dedicates herself to singing.
