HAVANA, Cuba.- Top Cuban singer-songwriter Sara Gonzalez died in this capital on Wednesday afternoon.

Gonzalez was born on July 13, 1949, from a tobacco grower and a seamstress, and after several incursions into music she joined the Cuban Film Institute’s Experimental Sound Group, directed by Leo Brouwer, in 1972.

In that period, she met Silvio Rodriguez and Pablo Milanes, who, along with Noel Nicola, founded the New Song Movement, of which she was the most representative female voice, according to the singer-songwriter’s Web site.

Sara Gonzalez shared the stage with artists like Joan Manuel Serrat, Chico Buarque,
Mercedes Sosa, Soledad Bravo, Daniel Viglietti, Pete Seeger, Roy Brown, Pedro Guerra, Beth Carvalho, Liuba Maria Hevia, Anabell Lopez, Marta Campos, Augusto Blanca and Heidi Igualada, among others.

Her interpretive talent took her to music festivals and other events in several countries, particularly in Latin America, where she performed in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Brazil.

The author of dozens of albums, the unforgettable singer dedicated her first CD to Cuba’s National Hero Jose Marti, interpreting his Simple Verses. Throughout her fruitful artistic career, she was given several prizes and awards, like the Felix Varela Order in First Degree.

Her corpse will be cremated, and the funeral service will take place on Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Cuban Music Institute, the National television Newscast reported.