Mi Tierra - History

History

The album proved to be another success for Estefan, and has become, arguably, the most successful album of her career. The album is one of the best known Latin albums around the world, in which Estefan demonstrates her musical roots.

"Mi tierra" utilizes Cuban beats and Latin traditional rhythms, and includes ballads, such as the second single, "Con los años que me quedan," which was also recorded in English, as "If We Were Lovers," and later issued on Estefan’s second compilation album, Greatest Hits Vol. II. "If We Were Lovers" was released as a single in the UK, where it reached the Top 40. This song displays a romantic mood, but it also can be heard as a traditional Cuban song, due to its inclusion of slow Cuban rhythms.

Before the release of "If We Were Lovers", the single "Mi Tierra" was released. This single wasn’t a romantic song, but a Latin-rhythm dance song. It reached #1 on the U.S. Latin Chart for six weeks and became a U.S. Top 5 Dance hit, as well as a Top 40 hit in the UK and Australia.

The follow-up single to "Con los años que me quedan" was "Tradición", another dance song which is even more upbeat than the first single, displaying a use of traditional congas and bongos, making it a mixture of Cuban music with African rhythms. This song topped the U.S. dance charts for two weeks.

"Montuno" was released exclusively to the European and British markets, and proved its success when it reached the Number 55 on the UK Charts, while in U.S. it was released as a promotional single, "Mi Buen Amor", which was another number one hit for Estefan on the Latin charts. The last promotional release in the U.S. was "Ayer", which reached the Top 5 on the Latin Tracks chart.

"Mi tierra" made Estefan famous around the world, and has received many awards. It became the first album to sell more than one million copies in Spain, and Estefan received her first Grammy award for it, in the category of "Best Tropical Latin Album". She also won her first World Music Award for "Best-Selling Latin Performer" as well as a Premio Lo Nuestro award for "Tropical Album of the Year", and ended on the Billboard Year-End charts as the "Top 50 Latin Album Artist", "Top 50 Latin Album", "Top Tropical/Salsa Latin Artist" and "Top Tropical/Salsa Latin Album", the last two for two consecutive years. It became the first Spanish-language album to be featured on the Billboard 200 albums chart at a high position, reaching #27. This record was broken by Selena Dreaming of You album in 1995, which reached #1 and Luis Miguel's album Romances album in 1997, which reached #14.

Many artists took part in this project; among them were percussionist Tito Puente, singer Sheila E., guitarist Chamin Correa, Luis Enrique, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and singer Jon Secada. The London Symphony Orchestra also appears on the album, supporting its tracks with stringed instruments. This album has sold more than 5.1 million copies worldwide.