Portraying Celia: The Role Of A Lifetime (Or Two)

Sometimes destiny seems to drop a little hint of goodness you could never imagine coming your way. For Cuban-born Aymée Nuviola and Puerto Rican-born Jeimy Osorio destiny played out to the tune of Celia Cruz.

Aymée Nuviola was a young singer with Pachito Alonso's orchestra when she met the legendary "Queen of Salsa" at a wedding in Mexico. It was a brief encounter that sparked an affinity between the two Afro-Cuban singers who were far from their homeland. Cruz offered up a little career advice and as she was leaving, took off her big, stone earrings and gave them to Nuviola.

Whether Cruz was symbolically passing the torch, or honoring an unspoken (sisterhood), it struck Nuviola. "It was a beautiful moment," she recalls. "She was very kind," contrary to things Nuviola had been told in Cuba. "I felt that