Happy Birthday Olga

Mom would have turned 76 today.  

Happy Mother's Day - 2011

Crandon Park circa 1968

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts." -Washington Irving

Remembering Olga Diaz - 2 Years Later

Rene Touzet and Olga Diaz

She left us two years ago today to be among the angels. If you listen hard enough, you can hear her laugh and sing and playing the piano for us all along with the other Cuban artists that have left us.

Here is a photo of the great Cuban composer and bandleader, Rene Touet, and my mother, Olga Diaz, from what I believe is the late 1960's or early 1970's.

It does not matter how much time passes,  you still miss them once they are gone.

Happy Birthday Olga

Olga Diaz - circa 1962

Today, November 18, 2010,  my mom, Olga Diaz, would have been 74.  It's almost been two years since she left us.  Well at least there's photos of her and recordings of her and her music to keep her memory alive.  The above image is a photo of her from the 1960's which I found and had restored which was taken by my dad on his old medium format camera.  Below, is a you tube video where you can hear her describing a piece by Cuban Composer, Rene Touzet, which she also plays towards the latter part of the video.  So with this, we can all remember her on her birthday ...

Finding Buried Treasure - Mom in Miami circa 1960

Olga Diaz walking along Downtown Miami

It's been nearly a year and a half since my mom passed away and as continue to go through the things that she collected during her lifetime in exile (1958-2008),  I'm still finding buried treasure; namely photos of my mom and dad from their younger days.  First of all, there are very few images of my mom prior to her arrival in the United States.  They were not allowed to bring photos out of Cuba, so there, they remained and probably lost to the ages.  As to the photos of my mom during her 20's as a single woman in Miami and as a newlywed in 1961,  there are also very few pictures that exist.  My dad used a medium format camera back then.  Strangely, some of the pictures, the B&W's are in decent shape.  The color images? Well, a lot of them faded, but some are as vivid as the day they were taken. Must have been the film stock my dad was using back then.  All the negatives were lost long ago, so these prints are all I have.  Even most of the photos of my youth, my early birthday parties, have faded to the point that even restoration cannot bring them back. 

For the last 6 months, I have been putting all these old pictures together, including my first photos on 35mm from the 1970's and beyond, and I have been sending them to Scancafe for scanning and restoration.  I hope to organize the images and have them printed in photo books so my kids will be able to see where they came from and how their grandparents and parents lived in the old days of the 20th century.  It's wild finding these pictures of my mom and my aunt when they were in their early 20's; they looked fantastic.  I just wish there were more photos taken by them, especially of the places they lived and the city as well.  People change and so do their homes and cities.  Miami has changed so much since I was a kid, I only wish I had seriously photographed the city a lot more in the 1970's and 1980's, especially the landmarks that no longer exist. 

The picture posted here is one that has captivated me.   First of all, a large chunk on the lefthand corner had been ripped and gone.  The folks at Scancafe did a great job in restoring this picture for me. I love this picture not only cause it's my mom, but it is simply an amazing image.  First, it shows off old Miami, the old cars, Biscayne Blvd. when it had all the coconut palms. Second it shows my mom, in her early 20's, beautiful, vibrant, ready to take on the world, and of course her amazing smile that has enthralled so many people throughout the years. 

When I finally get to printing that photo book of my mom's life in pictures, I think this one will grace the cover.

So some advice to you all,  get all the photos of you and your family, of your parents and grandparents, and great grand parents, anything you have, and get them scanned and restored. If the pics are in old albums, take them out if you can before the chemicals in the plastics destroy your photos. If you have negatives,  scan them and sleeve the negatives and keep them in special photo boxes to preserve them.

You can then organize the scans using programs such as lightroom and you can then create photo books.  The pictures will be there in a book for everyone to enjoy; the quality will be superior, and you'll have the scans backed up in multiple formats in your archives just in case something happens to the photo book. 

Now back to your regular programming.  

Happy Mother's Day Olga

Didn't get a chance to post yesterday, but I've decided to post now, what the heck. Here's an image of my mom that I located. It has to be from the 1980's or 1990's I would imagine.  My mom loved angels and in this photo, she looked like one.  She has been among them now for almost 2 years.  In her last interview given a few months before she passed, she said the following:

Pero siempre le digo a mi hijo una cosa, cuando tú caminas detrás de ti está Dios, pero detrás de Dios estoy yo, donde quiera que vayas. Ahí estamos las mamitas detrás de los hijos siempre, aunque no estemos presentes.

Her words say it all as far as I'm concerned.  So as I spend my last remaining hours of my most recent trip around the sun,  I know that not far behind, there she'll be watching over me as she did when I began my first trip around the sun.

Seeing Your Folks In A Different Light

© 2010 by Michael A. Pancier

Since my mother died a little over a year ago,  I've been going through all her belongings including all of the photos that she had.   Many of the images were in albums and faded.  I learned of a company called Scancafe which will scan and restore anything you send them, whether it be negatives, prints, slides, or cardboard.  You simply put the pics or negatives in a zip lock and label them,  put everything n a box and send it to them.  They put them online and you only pay for the scans you want (provided it is at least 50% of the total images scanned).  You can learn more about the service on their website.  In any event, I finally got the proofs today available online, and damn the quality is amazing. Photos of my parents honeymoon from 1961 as vibrant as ever.  But what is even more wild is seeing your parents are young people.  In this image below,  my mom was in her mid 20's and my dad in his mid 30's.  They were young, healthy, thin, in love and enjoying themselves.  Seeing them in these photos makes you realize that in addition to being your mom and dad,  they were also regular people who probably thought and did the same or similar things that you did when you were in your 20's and 30's and without children.  It makes you realize that before your mom was "mom",  she was a young attractive woman and your dad before he was "dad" was a handsome young cool looking dude and not the parents we watched age throughout the years leading up to their eventual deaths. But here in this photograph,  their youth is captured and frozen for all time so I and my kids can enjoy. Once again, it is so important to take pictures of your parents, your family, your kids.  Save the images, scan them, for one day the pictures and the memories will be all you will have.  The above image was taken in Buenos Aires Argentina in March of 1960.

In any event, this service has restored some images that were 2x2 and stuck in the garage for over 10 years into very cool images.  Some of my negatives that I kept from the 1980's have been scanned and are sharp and vibrant as well. My goal is to try and scan everything worthwhile in my possession from the pre-digital days, especially my family pics that are fading fast so I can import them into Lightroom, catalog and tag them,  and create coffee table photo books which are archival and which will last for generations, so perhaps my kids can see what their grandparents and parents  looked like when they were young, wild, and free and in the end, seeing their parents as simply human.

Olga Diaz Comes to America

I am really amazed by the Google historic newspaper archive. I was able to find the article published in the old Miami News in June 1958 when my mom, Olga Diaz, came to the United States as a winner in a flag design contest for the Festival of the Americas.  It's interesting reading what was in the news that day.  She ended up staying here (as it was too dangerous to return home) which in turn allowed her to bring everyone out when folks were no longer able to leave Cuba just a few years later.  The byline was the "Cuban Betsy Ross."  I'd love to get an actual copy of her picture here, but as this newspaper has been out of print for years,  I have no idea where to begin. 

If you click on the paper, you can read the articles.  My mom always got a kick seeing herself referred to as the "Latin Beauty" when I showed her a copy of this front page that I made in the 1980's while a college student from the microfilm archives. Remember microfilm?  It would be nice if all these old historic newspapers can be scanned and put online for all of us to see. It's kind of cool having a newspaper article documenting your mother's first trip to the United States.

Memories of My Mother Olga Diaz

Amazing how fast a year passes by. I can't believe it's been a year since I lost my mom. Believe it or not, I'm still organizing and going through her stuff today. I'm lucky that I have her music that I can listen to. Let's me know that she is still with me; as if she never left. Of course as long as we remember and love someone, they will always live on with you within you.

Happy Birthday Olga - First Birthday in Heaven

Today would have been my mom's birthday. This is the first year I celebrate it without her. Many miss her music, and her joyfulness, and her laughter and humor. I do too. But I can't tell you how much I miss talking to her and hearing her words and her motherly advice and wisdom that she gave me until the end.

I know in her way she is there watching over me and her grandchildren along with my dad. When our mothers pass on, I think they become our guardian angels to watch over us and protect us from harm and to help guide us in difficult times.

She is enjoying her first birthday party in Heaven. I'm sure she and her friends will be having a wonderful time with plenty of music and laughter. Some of it will be heard here on Earth. I am hearing it now.

Love you always ...

Your Son Michael

Homenaje Postumo A Olga Diaz - Mayo 30, 2009

All Proceeds to Benefit Regis House

Homenaje Postumo A Olga Diaz - Mayo 30, 2009

My mother Olga Diaz Pancier who left Cuba at age 21, spent over a half century entertaining the people of South Florida, and Latin America with her piano. Before she passed away last December 27, 2008, she had been scheduled to perform a benefit concert for Regis House in Miami, an excellent faith based organization helping children and families with substance abuse and mental health issues, this past February. Her last concert for Regis House in 2008 raised lots of money for the organization. Since my mother was not able to fulfill her 2009 Concert, myself and musical director Roberto Lozano decided to stage a Tribute Concert for my Mother starring a plethora of the finest Cuban Entertainers.

The list of entertainers will each select their favorite works that they enjoyed hearing my mother perform during her career. It's going to be fantastic and all of the proceeds benefit this fine charity.

This concert is one that should not be missed. Rarely will you have such a large lineup of talent in the areas of jazz, classical, and Latin Music on one stage.

I hope to see you there.

Tickets are $ 40, $ 30, and $ 25.

They can be purchased by contacting:

Ester Rodriguez at 305-861-7794 or
Luly Alvarino at 305-551-0109

Olga Diaz - Pianist - 1966

Olga Diaz

8x10 Glossy that my Mom used in the mid 1960's. This photo was taken in 1966 I believe. I even have the original 8x10 Negative.

In Memoriam - Olga Diaz Parlade de Pancier

Tribute to Olga Diaz
One of Cuba’s Great Pianists
1936-2008

Yesterday, on December 27, 2008, the music world lost a great pianist and artist, Olga Diaz. Today, I also lost my mom. For over 65 years, my mom, Olga, has played the piano and entertained so many people from all over the world. I’m not a journalist as I am sure there will be better written articles about her in the next few days. I’ll give you the story from a son’s perspective.

She was born in the Province of Oriente, Cuba in a town called Palma Soriano in 1936. At age 5, she started playing the piano and ultimately earned her degree in Music at the Universidad de Oriente. She studied with Dr. Aurelio de la Vega, and Edmundo Lopez, two of the greats that the island has produced.

In 1958, at age 21, my mom entered a contest for the Festival of the Americas. She designed the winning flag and won $ 1,000.00 and a trip to Miami. In April 1958, she was greeted in the local papers as the “Latin Beauty” when she accepted kudos from the then Mayor of Miami, Robert King High.

Shortly thereafter, things started getting dangerous in her hometown, and her parents told her to stay in Miami until things calmed down in Cuba. Her parents returned, my mom stayed. As history would have it, my mom never returned to see her homeland and place of birth again. The communist revolution took hold and my mom ended up doing what she could to get her siblings, her parents, and other family and friends out of Cuba.

She met my dad, her husband and soul-mate Maurice sometime in 1958 and they married shortly thereafter in 1961. My mom played in various venues during the late 1950’s and 1960’s, in the day that Downtown Miami was a happening town with a nightlife. She has a trio at the Everglades Hotel for many years and later played on Miami Beach at various hotels as well. As the beach started to die down, my mom got her next gig at the Doral Country Club where she played for over 25 years. There she met and befriended folks from all over the world. She also played concerts in various countries including the US, Canada, Mexico and Argentina.

My mom became a US Citizen during the Bicentennial in 1976, and while she spent the majority of her life here in the USA, her heart and soul was Cuban. She would say that she thought and dreamed in Cuban. She played music by serious Cuban composers like Rene Touzet, Cervantes, Lecuona, and afro-cuban Jazz melodies and standards from the great popular composers especially those who lived here in exile.

After I graduated high school and started college, my mom decided to go back to school and she obtained her Masters in Piano at the University of Miami School of Music. Even without a great command of English, she wrote a thesis and got her graduate degree in her fifties.

My mom would play you a Lecuona piece, followed by Duerme Negrito, followed by Chopin, Cole Porter, Bernstein, Piazzola and Gershwin. It was a thrill to see her play Rhapsody in Blue with the Miami Symphony Orchestra many years ago.

My mom was a major talent just as many other exiled artists here are and were. Sadly, the media pays more attention to those who chose to play under fidel than those that chose to play in freedom.

Besides being a great artist, she was a wife to my father for over 30 years, a great mother and a loving grandmother to my two children. And to those that knew her and loved her, she was the greatest friend you could ever have.

My mother, Olga Diaz, now joins the list of great artists from Cuba that have passed away in exile. Some of which I knew well like Rene Touzet and Mario Fernandez Porta, and others. When they were alive, they would always attend my mom’s concerts and she would always play tribute by playing their music.

Perhaps it was a wise Rabbi who said that as long as we keep the memory of our loved ones alive, they will always live on. All those who were touched by music, her wit, and her love will always keep her alive. My mom is now with her soulmate, my dad, and is surely playing the piano in Heaven for him and the for the angels that she loved so much.

Services will be held at Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Funeral Home located at 8200 SW 40 Street on Monday, December 29, 2008 from 6:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. A Mass in her memory will take place at St. Brendan Catholic Church on Tuesday, December 30, 2008 at 10:00 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in her memory to the Dan Marino Foundation, P.O. Box 267640, Weston, FL 33326. (954) 389-4445.