Irakere 50: The jungle conquers Madrid

Under the name of Botanical Nights, the summers in Madrid have become in recent years a sort of musical catwalk, where artists and groups parade, integrating the most valuable and sounding of the world's sound catalog.

This festival, which takes place in the Royal Botanical Garden Alfonso XIII of the Complutense University of Madrid, promotes the enjoyment of music outdoors, in an impeccably welcoming natural environment, where music and vegetation converge for two months. For this eighth edition, it also boasts of having been awarded as the best event of the year by the Academy of Music of Spain.

Bob Dylan, Tony Bennett, Joan Manuel Serrat, Robert Plant, Herbie Hancock, Rubén Blades, are just some of the names that have given prestige to these nights. Cuba, for its part, has been represented with performances by Pablo Milanés, Eliades Ochoa, Orishas, Cimafunk and Alain Pérez, in different editions. 

This year's eclectic lineup announced the presence of Chucho Valdés on July 18, along with a luxury lineup that has gathered to pay tribute to the 50th birthday of the mythical Irakere. The band's name is equivalent to "jungle" in the Yoruba language, and was chosen by the members of the group, most of whom had shared music stands in the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna and for some time had been conceiving a new sound that claimed its own name.

The one at the Botanical Garden in Madrid was to be an important stop in the middle of a tour that began in early July in the Canary Islands and has included successful presentations in Barcelona, Rotterdam, Valencia, among other cities. On this trip, Chucho and his piano have been accompanied by Horacio Hernandez. The blackon drums; José A. Gola on bass; Roberto Jr. Vizcaíno, in charge of percussion along with Julián Valdés, the youngest of Chucho's sons; Eddie de Armas Jr. and Osvaldo Fleites on trumpets; Luis Beltrán and Carlos Averhoff Jr. on saxophones and, behind the mike, Ramón Álvarez. With this line-up, Chucho offered an explosive mixture of experience, youth and virtuosity in all the lines.

But before the show, there was the presentation of the Catalan trumpeter, saxophonist and singer, Andrea Motis who, in the company of Camerata Papageno, brought to the Botanico a refined show, marked by numerous musical references that were integrated through Latin American sounds, jazz and chamber music. Andrea's idyll with legends is recurrent, since in 2019 she shared the stage in this same venue with the great Milton Nascimento.

Then it was time to bow to none other than Irakere's 50, in the midst of a crowd that sensed a historic presentation. It was then that Roberto Jr. Vizcaíno's batá drums announced the thunderous arrival of Juana 1600a timeless classic of the band's repertoire with which they have broken the ice and the hides in many of their presentations. 

The wizard of the keys began to squander vitality from the beginning and the response was not long in the area of the winds, supported by a fast-paced rhythm section. In the middle of the song, Chucho left his place for the first time (not the last) and crossed the stage throwing his aisle to get closer to the impetuous brass. It was a pleasure to see this 82 year old man dancing with such energy with this group of young but extraordinary musicians.

Then came the calm and also the beauty with the first bars of Zanaitha piece that technically is considered an instrumental, although its beautiful melodic line can be sung perfectly well. Anyone who doubts it should ask Carlos Averhoff Jr. and company, who made us vocalize during a good part of the exquisite journey that this work represents, or maybe I'm wrong and it's just an intimate conversation between piano and wind.

The first part of the show was conceived more on the basis of instrumental themes, The improvisations and arrangements of jazz style prevailed, together with elements of classical music, condensed with the Afro-Cuban rhythms of always, unmistakable seal of the house. Thus, Caribbean nods to Mozart appeared, whom the maestro proposed to imagine on a Cuban beach. We already know that this restless creator and arranger has the habit of Cubanizing almost everything and the jazz standard Stella by Starlight is another good example, renamed a few years ago as Estela is going to explodewho received a standing ovation after his masterful performance.

These modifications in the work of Jesús Valdés were again evident in the topic Congadanza which featured, among other pearls, a spectacular tumbadora drum solo, courtesy of Roberto Jr. Vizcaíno and also with vertiginous improvisations by Chucho, who at some intervals included excerpts from The cumbanchero.

Later the track was broken with Iya and what is going to happenRamón Álvarez joined the party, who, using his voice and explosiveness, warmed up the atmosphere. It was evident with this contagious sound why Irakere has been perhaps the greatest precursor of what we know today as timba, in addition to his extraordinary contribution to the world of Latin jazz.

El Botánico sang in unison "you'll see what's going to happen" and it was not little what was already happening, however, the thermometers would mark a few more degrees with the solo of Horacio Hernández, an all-rounder in these matters. Ramón shouted - "auxilio"- and after the closing of the drum The brass was unleashed, accompanied by the final chorus, which stirred even the vegetation of the place.

Then came the main course of the evening, nothing less than a powerful Bacalao con panto the delight of everyone's auditory palate. The way this anthem was performed on stage and how it was received from the dance floor and the bleachers, I think it is already part of the history of this festival. I took the liberty of including in my head (if it was my brain processing all that) the guitar of Carlos Emilio Morales, undoubtedly one of the pillars of Irakere's sound.

I understand that this song was initially conceived as a descarga, to be danced to and enjoyed, but it can also generate an emotion as strong as the very body movement it provokes. In the middle of that party, Chucho launched an additional chorus: "el bacalao sí lleva papa", unanimously accepted by the crowd.

But the rumba did not stop after the prolonged applause at the end of the closing and it was necessary to move the feet even more in the final coda or conga. The Botanico at that point was a carnival and everyone was sweeping, in one way or another, before the irresistible call of the bass drum of Chucho and his comparsa. On behalf of them I can neither speak nor state precisely how long the Cubanizing effect of this jungle spell lasted; I only know that, fortunately for some, that singular condition does not expire in one night. Irakere is there to prove it, 50 years later.