A 95-Year-Old Grandma, Whose Dad Stopped Her From Singing During Her Teenage Years, Gets A Latin Grammy Nomination After Her Grandson Recorded Her Songs

The way we envision our lives panning out is rarely the way it ends up happening

Maryjane

• Published in Interesting
• December 3, 2022

Nowadays, we are urged to follow our aspirations while still young, energetic, and with plenty of time left to correct any mistakes we make along the way. Missing a day means putting those dreams on hold.

Is it truly so, though? The opportunity to catch dreams frequently never expires.

A 95-year-old Cuban-American grandmother who recently began pursuing her ambition of being a professional musician with the aid of her grandson, who published her works online, may be the best new Latin artist of 2022.

Angela Alvarez has been a lifelong fan of music. When she was a young child in Cuba, she studied the piano and guitar.

She began writing songs at the age of 14. She had to keep her aspirations of becoming a professional musician hidden because her father banned it.

She complied because she loved him. She finally got married and had kids.

Family life would not remain tranquil for very long, though. She was forced to make the difficult choice to send her children to the United States on their own as part of the mass exodus of Cubans after the Cuban Revolution came to an end in 1959.

She wanted to travel with them, but she was not allowed to get on the plane. While Angela and her husband stayed, her four children fled the communist dictatorship in 1962 along with 14,000 other unaccompanied Cuban youngsters.

More info: Instagram | Angela Alvarez

A 95-year-old Cuban-American grandmother has just recently started living out her dream of being a professional musician

She learned to play guitar and piano as a young girl in Cuba, writing songs from the age of 14

Her dreams of becoming a professional musician were to be put under lock and key, as her father forbade it

Her four kids joined 14,000 other unaccompanied Cuban children fleeing the communist oppression

Before she made her way to the US, after many long years of separation, she was reunited with her children and underwent a long process of rebuilding her family. They later relocated to Louisiana's Baton Rouge.

Her songs filled their home as her husband, a mechanical engineer, worked in the sugar business. When the time was right, she sang to her nine grandchildren just like she did with her children.

He credited his love for music to have stemmed from his Nana, as the kids call her

The songs captured her joy, her love, as well as her pain and loss upon losing both her husband and only daughter to cancer

Music stayed as an important part of her life, getting her through ups and downs

Carlos José Alvarez, her 42-year-old composer grandson, told TODAY saying that “every chance she had to grab a guitar, she was singing to us.” He even credited his love for music to have originated from his Nana.

One day, he had the thought, "Why not put those songs on tape and preserve them as a family legacy?" So he requested his granny to sing him the songs she had written.

She provided him with some 50 songs she had written over the course of her life, from her early years in Cuba to the present.

Andy Garcia, a Cuban-American actor, was contacted by Carlos and decided to make a documentary about Angela's life

“She represents a generation, perhaps our greatest generation of Cubans"

She was nominated for a Latin Grammy for best new artist—at the age of 95

Music continued to play a significant role in her life, supporting her through highs and lows and recording all the details of her life into a beautiful mosaic of history, as though it were a private journal she shared with the people she cared about most. The songs accurately depicted her love, joy, and grief after losing both her husband and her only daughter to cancer.

When the passion project was finished, they realized they had something truly wonderful that they couldn't keep to themselves. Carlos asked singer and actor Andy Garcia, a Cuban-American, for suggestions on how to best tell her story and he took it up.

All those years later, she was finally able to unlock the box, unleashing her talents for all of us to appreciate

Listen to the first song of the album below

Given that she was nominated for a Latin Grammy for "best new artist" at the age of 95, it is obvious that the songs touched the hearts of hundreds, if not thousands, of listeners. She and Carlos are slated to perform at the ceremony in Las Vegas.

Angela also had trouble believing it. "It was a very big but very beautiful surprise, and I thought afterwards that all my dreams came true. At 95, but that doesn’t matter," she laughed.

People online loved this inspirational story and they had this to say

A Grammy

A recognized singer and song writer

A Grammy would be appropriate

Never stop dreaming

Great story

A beautiful story

I'm happy for her too

Wonderful

Angela is certain that her late husband and father would be quite proud if they could see it for themselves. She discovered her affinity for music all those years ago.

She had her dreams hidden away all those years ago. After all those years, she was able to open the box, allowing us to all admire, enjoy, and learn from her talents.

Maryjane