Lágrima Ríos

Lágrima Ríos was the stage name of Lida Melba Benavídez Tabárez (Durazno, September 26, 1924 – Montevideo, December 25, 2006), a prominent candombe and tango singer of Afro-Uruguayan descent.

Alberto Mastra, her teacher, before integrating her into one of her famous trios, told her:"We are going to change your name, you can pick between Armonía or Lágrima.

This afternoon, in her house on Durazno street, to the South, the tears came as she remembered her mother, with the devotion that only a child raised in a loving home can show.

While growing up, Lágrima would listen to the music that played on the radios of her neighbors while her mother worked as a housemaid, a cook, and as a laundress.

Lágrima later worked as a cook for an ambassador of the United States; through this she became familiar with the blues and other American styles of music that she learned to sing with power and emotion.

[5] Her breakthrough as a singer came in 1956, when she won a singing competition organised by the newspaper La Tribuna Popular and the CX24 radio station.