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When people talk about Latin music legends, two names always rise to the surface, Toña la Negra, the velvet voice of Mexico, and Celia Cruz, the queen of Cuban salsa. Their voices shaped eras, defined genres, and influenced generations across Latin America. But what many fans don’t know is that both women’s musical and cultural lineage ties back to Haiti, a country too often erased from the story of Latin identity even though it was the first independent Latino nation in the Americas.
Before we talk about the women, we must talk about Haiti’s place in the conversation. When people think “Latino,” they often think of Spanish-speaking countries, yet Latin America is more than language. It is a region shaped by colonization, rebellion, and cultural fusion. Haiti declared its independence from France in 1804, becoming not just the first Black republic, but also the first Latin American nation to gain freedom from European rule. The very spirit of “Latinidad,” the blending of African, Indigenous, and European cultures, began in Haiti’s soil before spreading through the Caribbean.
Haitian rhythms, religious chants, and storytelling traditions influenced the entire Caribbean basin. From meringue to rumba, from son to bolero, traces of Haitian drums echo beneath the melodies. Haiti’s exiled people brought not only their courage but their sound, settling in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Mexico, carrying the African polyrhythms that would later become the heartbeat of Latin music.
Born María Antonia del Carmen Peregrino Álvarez in Veracruz, Mexico, Toña la Negra was celebrated as one of the greatest voices of the bolero and canción genre. But few realize that her family was of Haitian descent, part of the Afro-Mexican community that settled in Veracruz in the 19th century. Her nickname, “La Negra,” was both a mark of pride and a reflection of her heritage, a heritage rooted in Haiti’s history of Black resistance.
Her voice carried the weight of that history. Listen closely to her most famous songs, Envidia, Lamento Jarocho, Angelitos Negros, and you’ll hear a soul-stirring mixture of pain and power that feels deeply Haitian. Toña’s music blended African rhythm with Spanish melody, a cultural inheritance that mirrored Haiti’s own fusion of worlds. She embodied the rhythm of the diaspora, elegant, emotional, and unapologetically Black.
In many ways, Toña la Negra’s career was an act of quiet revolution. In a Mexico that often denied its African roots, she stood in front of audiences and sang from the depths of them. Through her, Haiti’s spirit of freedom and defiance found a home in Latin America’s romantic songbook.
Celia Cruz’s name is synonymous with joy, rhythm, and power. The Cuban-born singer became the face of salsa, spreading Afro-Caribbean music to the global stage with her iconic cry, “¡Azúcar!” But beneath the horns and congas, there is another story, one that traces her music back to Haiti’s revolutionary heartbeat.
When Haiti’s revolution succeeded, thousands of freed and fleeing people migrated to eastern Cuba, particularly in Santiago and Guantánamo. They brought vodou chants, Kongo drumming, and Creole language, which merged with local traditions to form what became known as Tumba Francesa, one of the earliest ancestors of Cuban rumba and salsa. Celia Cruz grew up in that soundscape. The rhythms she mastered, the chants she sang, and the Afro-Cuban spirituality that shaped her performances were all touched by Haiti’s diaspora influence.
Celia Cruz’s music celebrated freedom, identity, and survival, values that Haiti represented long before the rest of Latin America followed. In her voice, you could hear the shared Caribbean soul, a mix of resistance, faith, and celebration that transcended colonial borders. Like Toña, Celia carried the story of Haiti without needing to say its name. It lived in her rhythm, her phrasing, her unapologetic Blackness.
Reclaiming Haiti’s place in the Latino narrative
It’s time to rewrite the story. Haiti was not a footnote in Latin history, it was the starting point. Before any other nation in the region claimed independence, Haiti had already proven that freedom and self-definition were possible. The country’s cultural exports, from its revolutionary example to its rhythms, became the unseen foundation of Latin identity.
Toña la Negra and Celia Cruz are two of the clearest reflections of that heritage. They embodied the same duality that defines Haiti, pain and beauty, loss and triumph, African and Latin. Both women were bridges, connecting the music of the enslaved and the oppressed to the glamour of international stages. Their songs carried echoes of the Haitian drum, the defiant chant, and the deep knowledge that art can be both survival and revolution.
So the next time someone says Haiti is not part of Latin America, remember this: Haiti didn’t just join the conversation, it started it. And women like Toña la Negra and Celia Cruz made sure the music never stopped.
Èske ou te konnen? Ayiti se te premye peyi Latino: Rasin ayisyen ki kache dèyè mizik Toña la Negra ak Celia Cruz
Lè moun ap pale de lejand nan mizik Latin, gen de non ki toujou soti an premye, Toña la Negra, vwa kadinal Meksik la, ak Celia Cruz, larenn sosa Kiben an. De fanm sa yo make epòk, defini estil, epi enspire jenerasyon atravè tout Amerik Latin nan. Men sa anpil moun pa konnen, se ke eritaj mizik ak kiltirèl yo gen lyen pwofon ak Ayiti, yon peyi yo souvan efase nan istwa idantite Latin lan, malgre se te premye peyi endepandan nan rejyon an.
Anvan nou pale de fanm yo, nou dwe pale de plas Ayiti nan konvèsasyon sa a. Lè moun tande mo “Latino,” yo souvan panse ak peyi ki pale panyòl, men Amerik Latin pa sèlman kesyon lang. Se yon rejyon ki fèt ak kolonyalis, revolisyon, ak melanj kilti. Ayiti te pran endepandans li nan men Lafrans an 1804, vin premye repiblik nèg nan mond lan, men tou premye nasyon nan Amerik Latin ki te kraze chenn Ewopeyen yo. Vrè sans “Latinidad” la, ki melanje kilti Afriken, Endyen ak Ewopeyen, te kòmanse sou tè Ayiti anvan li gaye nan tout Karayib la.
Rit ayisyen yo, chante relijye, ak tradisyon oral te enfliyanse tout zòn Karayib la. Soti nan meringue rive nan rumba, soti nan son rive nan bolero, ou ka tande tanbou ayisyen an ap bat anba tout melodi sa yo. Lè pèp ayisyen yo te oblije kite peyi a, yo te pote ak yo pa sèlman kouraj, men son, ritm ak konesans yo. Yo te enstale nan Kiba, Pòtoriko, Repiblik Dominikèn, Venezyela ak Meksik, kote yo te pote batman tanbou Afriken ki vin tounen kè mizik Latin lan.
María Antonia del Carmen Peregrino Álvarez, ki pi konnen kòm Toña la Negra, te fèt nan Veracruz, Meksik. Li te youn nan pi gwo entèprèt nan estil bolero ak chanson nan epòk li. Men kèk moun konnen fanmi li te desandan ayisyen, pati nan kominote Afr-Meksiken ki te enstale nan Veracruz pandan 19yèm syèk la. Ti non “La Negra” a se te yon siy fyète, men tou yon rekonesans eritaj li, ki soti nan listwa rezistans pèp nwa ayisyen an.
Vwa li te pote tout pwa listwa sa a. Si ou koute byen chante li yo tankou Envidia, Lamento Jarocho, Angelitos Negros, ou pral tande yon melanj doulè ak fòs ki gen santiman ayisyen ladan l. Mizik Toña la Negra a te marye rit Afriken ak melodi panyòl, yon eritaj ki sanble ak melanj kilti Ayiti menm. Li te senbolize batman kè dyaspora a, yon melanj de elegans, emosyon, ak fyète nwa.
Nan anpil fason, karyè Toña la Negra te yon revolisyon an silans. Nan yon Meksik ki souvan refize aksepte rasin Afriken li yo, li te kanpe devan piblik epi chante ak tout nanm li. Gras ak li, espri libète ak defi ayisyen an te jwenn plas li nan liv mizik Latin lan.
Non Celia Cruz vin tounen senbòl lajwa, ritm ak pouvwa. Chantez Kiben sa a te vin figi prensipal sosa a, pote mizik Afro-Karayib sou sèn entènasyonal ak krikè li “¡Azúcar!”. Men dèyè kòn ak tanbou yo, gen yon lòt istwa, youn ki trase rasin mizik li tounen nan batman kè revolisyon ayisyen an.
Apre viktwa revolisyon ayisyen an, dè milye de moun ki te chape oswa lib te vwayaje pou ale nan pati lès Kiba, sitou nan Santiago ak Guantánamo. Yo te pote chante vodou, bat tanbou Kongo, ak lang Kreyòl, ki te melanje ak tradisyon lokal yo pou kreye sa yo rele Tumba Francesa, youn nan premye fòm mizik ki bay nesans rumba ak sosa kiben. Se nan anbyans sa a Celia Cruz te grandi. Ritm li yo, chante li yo, ak espirityalite Afro-Kiben ki te enspire pèfòmans li yo, tout te gen manyen dyaspora ayisyen an ladan yo.
Mizik Celia Cruz te selebre libète, idantite ak siviv, menm valè sa yo Ayiti te reprezante depi lontan anvan lòt peyi nan rejyon an te swiv. Nan vwa li, ou te ka tande nanm karayibyen an, yon melanj rezistans, lafwa ak selebrasyon ki depase tout fwontyè kolonyal. Menm jan ak Toña, Celia te pote istwa Ayiti a san menm pa bezwen di non li. Li t ap viv nan ritm li, nan entonasyon li, nan fyète nwa li ki te san limit.
Rekonekte Ayiti ak naratif Latino a
Li lè pou reekri istwa a. Ayiti pa t yon pye nòt nan listwa Amerik Latin, li se te pwen depa a. Anvan nenpòt lòt nasyon nan rejyon an te reklame endepandans li, Ayiti te deja pwouve ke libète ak endepandans posib. Eksperyans pèp ayisyen an, soti nan revolisyon rive nan mizik, te vin tounen fondasyon kache idantite Latino a.
Toña la Negra ak Celia Cruz se de pi gwo egzanp ki reflete eritaj sa a. Yo te pote menm doub reyalite ak Ayiti, doulè ak bote, pèt ak viktwa, Afriken ak Latin. De fanm sa yo te pon ant mizik moun ki te esklav ak opprime yo, ak limyè sèn entènasyonal la. Nan chante yo, ou ka tande ekko tanbou ayisyen an, vwa defi pèp la, ak konesans pwofon ke atizay se pa sèlman plezi, men yon zouti pou siviv ak revolte.
Lè pwochen fwa ou tande yon moun di Ayiti pa fè pati Amerik Latin, sonje sa, se pa Ayiti ki rantre nan konvèsasyon an, se li menm ki te kòmanse li. E fanm tankou Toña la Negra ak Celia Cruz asire mizik la pa janm sispann.
