Maps of Music

Mi Tierra (1993)

Where the lyrics of Mi Tierra take you, and where it was really made.

The album that set a Latin chart record was the Spanish-language project Gloria Estefan had wanted to make since the start of her career.

Key places

Recording at Crescent Moon Studios, Miami (1993)

Recording site The Hit Factory Criteria — The album was recorded at Crescent Moon Studios in Miami, Florida. The point is set at city-center level, not at the exact studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Mi Tierra (My Homeland): third studio album by Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan
• Released 22 June 1993 by Epic Records
• Produced by her husband Emilio Estefan
• Spanish-language album that pays homage to her Cuban roots
• Features Cuban genres including boleros, danzón and son
• Sold over five million copies worldwide

Background

• Estefan had wanted to record a Spanish-language album reflecting her Cuban heritage since the start of her career
• Before recording in English, she and her band performed at Latin nightclubs
• Her grandmother taught her old Cuban songs
• Music played an important role in her family: her paternal grandmother was a poet and an uncle played the flute in a salsa band
• Her son Nayib influenced the project, as she wanted him to recognize his Cuban heritage

Recording

• Produced with fellow Miami Sound Machine members Clay Ostwald and Jorge Casas
• Guest musicians include Tito Puente, Arturo Sandoval, Cachao López, Chamin Correa and Paquito D'Rivera
• Additional performers include Sheila E. and the London Symphony Orchestra
• Recorded at Crescent Moon Studios in Miami, Florida
• Celia Cruz was invited to perform but could not because of her touring schedule

Cover

• Estefan appears in a black-and-white photo taken at a Havana nightclub before the Cuban Revolution

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García in Havana, Cuba, on September 1, 1957; her family fled to Miami in 1959 after the Cuban Revolution.
• Began as lead singer of the Miami Latin Boys in 1975, renamed Miami Sound Machine when she and her cousin Mercedes Navarro joined.
• Studied psychology at the University of Miami, graduating in 1979.

Career

• Miami Sound Machine's 1985 single "Conga" became her signature song; the 1987 album Let It Loose included the Hot 100 No. 1 "Anything for You".
• Went solo in 1989 with Cuts Both Ways, which produced the Hot 100 No. 1 "Don't Wanna Lose You".
• Suffered a spinal fracture in a tour bus crash near Scranton, Pennsylvania, in March 1990, then recovered fully and returned with Into the Light (1991), whose "Coming Out of the Dark" reached No. 1 on the Hot 100.
• Mi Tierra (1993), her first Spanish-language album, won the Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album; she later won it again for Abriendo Puertas (1995) and won Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album for Alma Caribeña (2000).
• Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 and a Kennedy Center Honors in 2017.
• Her Broadway jukebox musical On Your Feet! (2015) is based on her life with husband Emilio Estefan.

Members

• Emilio Estefan, her husband and longtime producer, co-created much of her catalog.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Jose F. Promis of AllMusic: four stars out of five, calling it one of Estefan's most satisfying albums
• Achy Obejas of the Chicago Tribune: four out of four stars, praising the album for dropping the brash sound of contemporary salsa and crediting Emilio Estefan's production
• Anne Hurley of Entertainment Weekly: said the album whirls listeners through traditional Cuban rhythms and applauded the guest musicians
• Parry Gettelman of the Orlando Sentinel: four out of five stars, praising the album as uncompromising and rooted in Cuban tradition, and noting that the London Symphony Orchestra strings replaced the synths
• John Lannert of the Sun-Sentinel: called it Estefan's Latin unplugged album and her most satisfying effort to date

Reappraisal

• Billboard in 2015: listed it among the Essential Latin Albums of the Past 50 Years, describing the son songs as a transport to a magical 1950s island

Records

• Billboard 200 (US): peaked at number 27
• First number-one album on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, which was established at its release
• Spent 58 weeks at number one on the Top Latin Albums chart
• Spent 91 weeks at number one on the Billboard Tropical Albums chart
• Best-selling Latin album of 1994 in the United States
• US certification: 16 times platinum by Latin standards, for 1.6 million shipments
• Spain: number one, certified 10 times platinum for one million shipments
• Europe: number 9 in the Netherlands, number 25 in Switzerland, number 11 in the UK, number 59 in Germany
• Certified gold in Switzerland

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Celia Cruz was invited to perform on the album but could not do so because of her touring schedule.
• Mi Tierra was the 60th-best-selling album of the 1990s.
• At the 36th Grammy Awards it was named Best Tropical Latin Album.
• At the first Billboard Latin Music Awards, Estefan was Female Artist of the Year and the album won Album of the Year in the tropical-salsa category.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact