“Doña Nina” even pawned a “little fan” to buy the notebooks of Peña Suazo

Many Dominicans knew “Dona Nina” through meringue her son, José Virgilio Peña Suazo. Her sweetness and selflessness as a mother has been the discourse she has embraced ever since she had the opportunity to sing her first song, in 1994, 28 years ago when she founded La Banda Gorda.

José Virgilio celebrated this week with the presentation of his new production “La Número 19” and it is no wonder that he evoked the memories of his mother, Sonia Alejandrina Suazo, who died in 2014 and who had an important role in choosing until then the subjects of the productions of his three youngest sons.

“Donna Nina’s opinion has always been vital. When I was recording the merengue “Subido en el palo” I had to do it a few times because she told me the beat was too fast and it sounded better in the middle of it. My mom danced with me before it was recorded, and when she told me it could be recorded, then I did,” the artist recalls when speaking to LISTÍN DIARIO during the release of his new album.

+ good memories

That his mother is not physically present and that she can no longer dance with him, because Suazo has not betrayed him at all. She knows that he was a good son, that he loved her to the core, and that while he was alive he glorified her with affection and all that was necessary so that she might lack nothing.

He has hundreds of good memories of Donna Nina, “Because she was a good mother,” she says sweetly. She remembers that when she was in third grade, her mother pawned the only fan in the house, which she uses to relieve the burning sensation of allergies she experienced.

“My mom didn’t have the money to buy my notebooks, He was about to enter the third grade, and without thinking twice, he pawned the only little fan who had to calm down when the allergy attacked him,” he said.

Then he added, “I’ve always got my mum involved in everything I do, if I’m going to buy a car she suggests color to you.”

Peña Suazo always had an excuse to call his mother because it was a way to stay attentive to her and united wherever he was. “I called her sometimes and told her: Mom, I dreamed of a mare, and she told me that I play 45, the horse is 4 and the man is 5,” he recalls at the time, laughing out loud.

+ in Chavon

In 1997 Peña Soazo dared to hold a concert at the Altos de Chavon Amphitheater in La Romana. Recalling the event, he said it was crazy that he wouldn’t dare do it if he had good care.

“At the time, when the money was worth it, I had to put my money into the concert nearly a million pesos, but it was worth the risk,” he told reporters.

+ From the new album
Peña Suazo has released his new music production “LaNúmero19”, a new merengue album featuring 15 songs.

The album he presented is a work that takes him to his merengue roots where the instruments were recorded in such a way that they sound as if they were playing live.

He explained that three songs well known by his followers have already been played on this new album: “I’m Not In It”, “The Engines Turned On” and “Let’s Go”.

He was recently awarded a gold record certified by the RIAA in the United States, as well as his song “Que no se acabe el mambo” that was part of the soundtrack to the Academy Award-winning movie “La Gran Belleza Italiana”.