The daughter of Cuban folk music singers, Albita Rodriguez, known throughout the world simply as Albita, was immersed in music ever since infancy.

“As I’ve said in my songs,” said Albita, who will perform in downtown Los Angeles this Saturday as part of the Grand Performances concerts, “my mother gave me milk and fed me with son. There was no moment of discovery for me, it was just normal to grow up between maracas, guiros, and guitars.”

Observing her family and other musicians, Albita learned the skills necessary to develop a talent that became professional work while still in her teenage years and that eventually took her outside of her native Cuba to tour the world with her music.

Since her first album in 1988, Albita has produced a dozen more, including this year’s release, “Mis Tacones,” which she described as “a feminine album, about the strength of the woman and of the grace, happiness and intelligence of the female.”

As she had for previous work, Albita reached to her own experiences for the development of “Mis Tacones.” Her forceful voice delights in the song by the same title, which translates into “My high heels,” as well as “Soy una mujer,” and a duet collaboration with well-known Puerto Rican Salsa singer Gilberto Santa Rosa entitled “El Caballero y la Doncella.” The Miami based newspaper El Nuevo Herald called the album danceable from beginning to end. To that Albita added, “If someone is depressed, this is the best album to have handy. It will lighten up the soul and the waist.”

The 47-year-old, who has lived in the United States for the last 16 years, has performed in Los Angeles several times before. The concert at Grand Avenue this weekend is the only one scheduled this time around. After her visit to LA, Albita will perform in New York, Mexico and Italy.

The two Grammy award winner and recipient of several other Grammy and Emmy nominations has an extensive list of accomplishments to show for her career. However, she considers her most important triumph to be the ability to “continue to live by the music and for the music.”

When asked what sets her music apart from that of other exponents of the Cuban sound in the United States, she said, “I think the authentic Cuban popular music is deep-seated in my work while at the same time I constantly endeavor to fuse into it new sound. It is important to know where one comes from to be able to figure out where one is going.”