Published for Opera House Events 2001

How old where you when you first started at Sierra Maestra?

I was 15 years old. I first played with them for 15 years and I left when I was 30 in 1992. same but you know the way the people dance and play today is completely different. It's speeding up and we dance more freely, more stylish. That's why the idea came to me to play to frame or to lay out most of the rhythms or the most important rhythms representing popular Cuban music and culture.

What where your ambitions when you first began?

My decision to leave the band was to start my career as a soloist and I had the opportunity to meet my first wife in London and meet our producer Mr Joe Boyd and the record company. He came with the proposition to make the first recording for iCubanismo! and start my own project with this idea to make a series of recordings of traditional Cuban music mixing with the way we feel the music today as musicians. We were playing the music that way conceived 50, 60, 70 years ago but obviously we weren't expected to play the same way, the same feeling, speed, maybe the soul was the most important rhythms representing popular Cuban music and culture.

But you wouldn't call it Latin jazz?

I wouldn't call it Latin jazz, obviously there is influence of Latin jazz in our music because it is something that we've been growing up since 1972, 73, that is the year that the band TRAKERE was created, all the people from my generation that was studying music had that band as an Icon and obviously that was a major influence, a major change in the course and history and development of Cuban music.

At the time when you went over to London in the beginning of the 90s, it was a very difficult time here in Cuba and the musicians were here and you were over there. How did you coordinate between both groups?

Well that was in the middle of what they call the special period, when things started to get very difficult, specially for musicians I remember. But fortunately I was very busy at the time, during those three years since 1989 to 1991 or 1992. I was playing with Sierra Maestra at the time and with NG La Banda, Adalberto... but at the same time I was teaching during the day and it was hard for me to make that decision but we are very happy. I came back in 1995 and had the opportunity to put this music together and it was something magic and the environment that we created in the decision was magic, something special, it was a great decision to come back to Havana.

If we go back to the revolution, what was the effect of that for the music as a whole in Cuba?

 I was born in 1962 after the revolution. Thanks to the possibility to go to the music college and have the music training and general education for free issomething that I don't know how I'm going to pay that back, it's something that I always mention because it's the truth, it's the reality and you know we had the instruments, the books, teachers, information, everything, creating the conditions...just put the talent that every individual has as a human being and create the musician. It's easy to say but it's difficult to be struggling against scarcity... and things that can make your career easy professionally. I'm talking about information, books that you can show your students, tapes...so you need to teach all this and the history...and a cultural label and to create good musicians and despite all the difficulties we have very talented and a good level of musicians so with all these difficulties we have a great generation of musicians, a very talented and competitive generation of Cuban musicians today.

That was a very positive side of the revolution. What is the negative side of the revolution or the results of it?

Maybe today the fact that during all this time we have been struggling to help the people that were directing the culture in general. Maybe the policy wasn't the right one in terms that we should get more information about what was going on around the world more...universal. To create an artist with the possibility to know about the folk and the roots of the music around the world and that would make the Cuban music more strong because you can take those elements from other places and add into your music and that is what is happening now, that is what they call world music, you take it then mix in rap or R&B or even music that comes from Western Africa, Mali, Senegal, Mozambique...

Had there not been a blockade, an embargo, do you think that the music in Cuba now, which would have been richer as you've explained, however would have different priorities which would have changed the quality perhaps...

Obviously the selection of the Cuban music or the isle of Cuba and the trying to jeopardize or stop the development of the country in all senses, in all terms, it's something that ..but now you can see that thank God, you can see how popular Cuban culture is, how hip hop popular Cuban music is, a lot of people come to this country, despite being such a small island you know...such a strong culture such a strong music. Music that has being influential for the music of a lot of places in the whole world... and I don't understand why we have to wait to the end of the century to be recognised and obviously people heard about salsa, about tropical music and about Latin music in general but people don't know that the roots have come from this island, this island of Cuba. A mix of a very strong cultures, that is the result of the mixing of the Spanish and the West African culture and the result is the Cuban which is very strong.

Could you tell me about your musicians, your music?

Well as I said before, you know we're trying to lay out all these rhythms and all these styles, obviously adding some modern elements that make the difference, when you compare with the music that was made some 50 or 60 years ago. You can hear the difference in the way we treat the brass section harmonically, the rhythm section is more up to date but we respect the elements of every style of popular Cuban music. It is a bit of a mix, there is influence of Latin jazz in our music, you know all this. What makes the difference for iCubanismo! to other bands? I think that the initial idea was to put together a group of musicians with the aptitude to play any style of music, musicians with experience, to make it possible on CDs and tapes and live and obviously to create this ambience and this familiarity despite difference of age or background of styles. We've been travelling around the world and visiting Australia for the first time, and many places, where we never thought that this music was going to be recognised like Israel, Greece, Hong Kong, Taipei. Now the possibility to go to Australia, and we hope to have a good time there to show the people our music and to show that big community what Cuban music is about.

Like Juan de Marcos 's Buena Vista Social Club you've had incredible success around the world, you've toured around the world and everyone knows you...yet I've been in Cuba here for two weeks and when I ask people...about Juan de Marcos or about you, you are not all that known here, yet all the younger bands are, can you explain this to me?

I think that it's a policy by the people that have the control here, basically that was a wrong policy ...rejecting the roots of the Cuban music. People were focusing on the most contemporary way to play Cuban music, ignoring the traditional country, and I think that is wrong because this is the music that represents our country, we are talking about the music that has made Cuban music most popular around the world, mambo, cha-cha-cha, son montuno, danzon. I'm not saying that you should deny the development of Cuban music, of new ways of playing music. Obviously there is a new generation of people that has been playing this contemporary and popular Cuban music but you cannot forget about the roots because that is where everything is starting, that is what it's all about so you have elements that were created that are still there that people identify, that make people dance, there is no way that without this we'd besuccessful outside Cuba. People recognise our music, the talent of the musicians, and people enjoy and people understand better the music that we create than something that its more contemporary. I'm not saying that we are denying ...obviously we are getting closer to the most contemporary way of playing the music and obviously we add some elements because these are the days we live in today...Now after the success of these Cuban artists, people are more interested in promoting Cuban music I'm not saying that it's late but you get committed to tours we organise six months in advance...so it's difficult to be part of the festival here ...

Would you say that it is a lack of promotional skills that these younger generation bands have and that they are not facing that reality?

Well exactly, because I heard people in the States and in America too talking about timba so I don't understand… maybe record labels are not interested.

Could you please define what is timba?

Timba is the most contemporary way to play music, the Cuban music. The kind of mixing of everything, including pop, disco, hip hop, R&B, and rap music. But it is a phenomenon, it is something you can see people dance here mixing... but Cuban music mixing classic religion etc. a more free way. It is a conception coming from the 70s when Irakere changed the roots and rules and added this more avant garde style, taking jazz and pop elements...development in Van Van, NG La Banda, Issac Delgado, Paulito, etc. I believe that the word timba is from the Yoruba African language. So I believe that it is something that is related to our African tradition in our music, so I think it is a movement called timba nobody can deny that ...all this music has been created from the roots.

Your own musicians come from Irakere..

Right now l've got one or two members from the band that had the opportunity to play with rakere in the last ten years or so. We 've got a group of musicians that have played with the most popular Cuban bands like Trakere, Van Van, NG La Banda, and also Rolo Martinez, one of the founding members of the Conjunto Felix Chapotin, Klimax, and Emilio del Monte was one of the members of Pancho Alonso...you know people with experience, all these musicians...

How many CDs do you have so far?

We've got 4 CDs. The first one was iCubanismo!, the second Malembe, the third was Reincarnation and the fourth is a collaboration that we made in New Orleans last December; we went to the studio to develop this wonderful idea that came from our producer Joe Boyd to go to New Orleans to put together two different prints, the Cubanismo and the jack of all stars, so we mixed the popular Cuban music from the two places and the result is the Mardi Grass Mambo Cubanismo,

New Orleans. know that there is a big Latin community there and that people admire Cuban music. And we are going to take the opportunity to bring the Cuban music and we are looking forward to this... we've being everywhere in the world and Australia is going to be one more.

What projects do you have for the future and what do you think it is going to be like in Australia?

Well it's going to be great in Australia as it has been everywhere in the world. I think that people expected Cubanismo before, that's what I heard but we were committed to other places...we are very happy and pleased to have this opportunity to go to Australia – we

What goes on from there, in the way of projects?

From there...last year in January we started in Hong Kong, this year we start in Taipei, Australia and Malaysia. You know increasingly we go to the Far East. We've also been to Israel and Lebanon too, you know maybe this is going to be part of Cubanismo's tours in the Far East.