Vannia Borges
Biography Vannia Borges
Vannia Borges
is a singer of superb vocal qualities. This mulattress is passionate, sensitive and genuinely Cuban. She has a powerful voice, great singing histrionics and charisma that win her the public’s admiration.
Her name is, in fact Vania Borges-Hernandez, but in show business she is simply Vania. Many could think that her name comes from some famous model or another female celebrity. Actually, that is utterly far from the truth, because her mother named her after the main character of “Uncle Vania”, the well-known theater play written by Ukrainian Anton Chekov in 1897.
Vania was lead singer of the famous band “Bamboleo”, led by Lazarito Valdes, but started her career as a soloist over one decade ago.
Her rich and melodic timbre has turned her into one of the most outstanding Cuban female singers in the last few years. She has also succeeded overseas, through collaboration with other artists, bands or singing in solitary. Vania has taken her art to the five continents, where she has shared stages and recordings with famous international stars.
Vania Borges was born and grew up in a musical family, which largely influenced her to follow this career. Her father was oboist of the Santa Clara Symphonic Orchestra and her mother, although no professional, sang very well. Her cousin Laura was the fourth voice of “Gema Cuatro” quartet.
Vania followed her father’s footsteps and after graduating, she made her social service in Matanzas. There, she combined her job as music professor with playing alternate second oboe in the Symphonic Orchestra of that city.
Vania was also oboist in the National Band of Concerts. She sang in the ICRT (Cuban Radio and Television Institute) Choir and her life changed completely when she joined quartet “Dacapo.” Under master Alina Torres’ guidance, she began to sing in this female group and things worked out so fine that the brand-new vocalist ended up going to Paris.
“Dacapo’s” acid test in the City of Light became a grand debut, because it won for the first time for Cuba and Latin America the great prize of the contest, sponsored by Radio France International.
After her successful debut as a vocalist, Vania made tours of Japan and Mexico, until “Dacapo” broke up and opened up the doors to a new stage in her career.
After quartet “Dacapo” broke up, Vania Borges joined Pachito Alonso’s Orchestra, until Haila Mompie invited her to join “Bamboleo.” She (Vania) stayed almost 10 years in the band led by Lazarito Valdes. In that time, she took advantage of the innovative experiences of one of the pioneering “Timba” bands. “Bamboleo” taught her to perform before large crowds and she learned a lot next to excellent musicians. As part of that band, Vania achieved popularity as a singer not only in Cuba, but in other countries as well.
During this stage, Vania alternated her work in “Bamboleo” with singing in “Buena Vista Social Club” and “Charanga All Stars.” She also received many proposals of collaboration with other artists until it became too complicated to honor so many commitments. Furthermore, she wanted to find out whether she could achieve the same success as a soloist than what she had accomplished with “Bamboleo.” Thus, she definitively took her chances with a career in solitary, an experience that began in 2002 and has remained successful this far.
Vania’s voice was light mezzo-soprano, but maternity changed her tessitura to contralto, which she has maintained in her more than 10 years as a soloist. In that time, the singer has performed in different scenarios and recorded with famous musicians, including Colombian Shakira. They sang together a track for the record “Rhythms of the world”, a fund-raiser for the victims of the tsunami that ravaged Asia a few years ago.
Vania has won the Popularity Prize in “Adolfo Guzman” contest and in 2009, she won the California Song Festival, two very significant awards in her career as a soloist.
She also participated in the CD “Cuba sings to Serrat”, where she sang “Toco madera”, a piece arranged by Emilio Vega. He was also in charge of producing her first record in solitary, with 12 tracks whose lyrics and music were written by Spaniard Alejandro Sanz. Vania commented on the success of this record: “I think my record is a good example of how creative versions can be made, albeit with an essentially Cuban style.”
Vania now has a brand-new record in solitary. EGREM record house produced the latest Vania Borges’ CD , titled “Tengo Pega-Pega.” Dancing music prevails in this phonogram, where the expressiveness and quality of one of the most representative female voices in our contemporary musical panorama thrive.
“Tengo Pega-Pega” has 10 excellent tracks, written by renowned composers like the duet Piloto and Vera, Raul Torres, Giraldo Piloto, Ricardo Amaray and Jorge Diaz.
German Velazco and Manolito Simonet were the producers and the latter contributed a couple of his songs to the new phonogram.
Vania, star of Cuban popular music, would have had liked to be born in the times of Johann Sebastian Bach… although she is also fascinated by Baroque style, black American music, jukebox boleros and Benny More, Moraima Secada and Gino Vanelli’s songs.
Vania loves dancing popular music and hopes to promote her latest record in a national tour, a few concerts and some video-clips. For the time being, she will continue displaying her excellent vocal qualities, those that secure the public’s admiration every single day.
