Pop rock and alternative music production in Cuba. A conversation with Christopher Simpson.

Christopher Simpson is a musician, violinist, singer and music producer. He has been violinist and arranger for groups such as Mezcla, Moncada and Ray Fernández. He has toured Europe, holds a Cubadisco award, and has produced artists such as Jotabarrioz. He is also the director of Elevación, an alternative pop rock fusion group. One afternoon we sat down to talk about his experience in music production and pop rock, and this is what came out.

-What does it mean to be a music producer in Cuba?

-Well, nowadays, the person who sits behind the machines and makes the arrangements, is a recording technician, a microphonist, recorder, editor, mixer, and makes the master of a song, is given the name of "music producer"; but in reality each of these aspects has, or should have, an individual specialist who takes care of each function. I say "should" because in Cuba, in order to save time and money -especially money-, many times only one person is the one who assumes all those roles, and that's my case. This has its bad part and its good part too. 

-Has it always been like this?

-No, it used to be different, we depended exclusively on the record labels, which had their own studios and another concept of recording and making music. But for several years now, the home studios have made the process of assembling any musical work a more intimate creative process, with less external pressure. 

-It's something in keeping with the times, I imagine.

-Yes, it's not just here, in the world there are more and more creative artists who in turn are the ones who produce their own music, with a laptop, an audio interface and a microphone. And that gives them more freedom and more coherence between the initial idea and the final product, which we know can even be two opposite things. Now, when you produce someone else you can, on the one hand, be [the] one who simply advises the artist or, on the other hand, have total control of the product.

-I imagine even to the point of influencing the lyrics of the songs. 

-Of course, I'll give you the example of a top artist: Bruno Mars. One of the producers who has worked with him is Mark Ronson, and he is listed as co-author on many of his songs. Although that also depends on the contract they have made, the copyright, the percentages...; there is already a part there that is more business and lawyers, than artistic. Anyway, where I was going, the producer is, in my opinion, the guy who channels the vision of an artist, either at the timbre level, or the artistic discourse, he is the one who brings it all together, and there are many ways to do it.

Photo by: Peter Koren

-Is it better to produce from scratch or already when there is a previous product?

-I must say that it depends, starting from the fact that one never really produces from scratch, there is always a previous work, even if it is in its infancy. What is certain is that the works take a turn, generally positive, when there is a production criterion, and it can vary from producer to producer. There are producers who arrive when the band already exists, and has a repertoire and a live show, but has nothing recorded. In that case, the producer could make decisions so that the band has some distinctive stamp, I mean in the case of a generic pop or rock band. That they have a classic format of two electric guitars, bass, drumThen the producer could say: "okay, that's great, but this song asks for a bagpipe", introducing an ethnic element that could be interesting and distinctive in the group, or at least in that song; you broke with the puritanism and the internal ego of the band to take them to another level, even find their niche. 

-Is an artist or a group limited by its format, and does the format in turn pigeonhole it into a genre?

-Well, there are several issues that touch me personally. We could talk about The Beatles, which was a group that was made up of, again, two guitars, bass and drumThe classic format of rock bands. They began to create music in a coherent way with that format; and from a certain moment, they decided that they were not going to play live anymore, because the music they wanted to make could not be defended live in an optimal way. Those were different times, and the technology did not exist to play sequenced and sound convincingly, as in the records. Many times live they had to play with other musicians, "anonymous beatles" hidden behind the curtain, so that they would not break with their iconic quartet image. Maybe that's why they got tired and preferred to stay away from the stage and entered that experimental stage.

Curiously enough, many of these avant-garde groups made, let's say, "light" music in their beginnings.

-Y covers... The Beatles' early albums had a lot of covers; not only them, Elvis made a lot of them too. It's just that some groups switched from there to making their own material. And starting out making "light music" and then revealing your true potential once you have a solid fan base, seems like a good strategy to me. 

-There are two concepts: the solo artist and the band.

-They are two different conceptions. A group has a central axis, but other ideas come together because it has an identity, which is formed by the artistic connections of its members. So, going back to your previous question, yes, the format does condition; the format and the ego of each member. It is the strength and weakness of a band. An example of this was the group Queen, where besides Freddie Mercury, also Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor wrote songs, were active in the arrangements and made decisions according to each one's vision, even though Freddie was the one who came up with a brainstorm and threw up everything, as the genius he was. Even so, it was not surprising that Freddie at some point in his life would record solo albums, try other musicians, another timbre, another search; many musicians have done it: Sting, Lennon, Phil Collins.

-Tell me about your Elevation project.

-Elevación is a family through which many beautiful people have passed. We arose from the need to create and perform songs, where all the musicians contribute their grain of sand. Elevación's recordings rely heavily on the imprint of each member. We were founded in 2017, although it was not called Elevation yet, it was the same formation. From 2017 to 2018 Dúo Iris was working with us, and from 2018 Daniela Valdés joined us, at the beginning as keyboardist. During the pandemic a trumpet player left me and I had to reformulate: Daniela went on to play clarinet, and we had a saxophone playing motifs and a clarinet playing counter motifs in a rock song. It's difficult, because it's not about superimposing one thing over another, but about bringing the same instruments into a zone where there is coherence with the concept. Innovation has always interested me.

-You have always worked on the performative part.

-Yes, of course, we hope that the audience that comes to see us, beyond consuming our music, will take away a visual impression. I have tried to make our shows have that dynamic: we paint [our faces], we play different instruments, we play with the music.

-What is the latest thing you are working on in terms of production?

-I recently completed a single that will soon be on the street, which is called I want more. Within the pop spectrum it has a peculiarity: it uses a lute, [which] gives it an interesting timbre because it is an instrument that comes from peasant music. It's not the first time I use a lute out of its context, I also used it in the song No fear of being shipwreckedin the middle of a pandemic. There have been many cases in which very particular instruments have been taken out of their habitat. Matador Speaksby El Taiger, did it with the Cuban tres. But in those cases the instrument is introduced doing what it conventionally does, I am trying to make the lute not sound like a lute, but to take advantage of its timbre to do something different, without ceasing to be pop.

I have always thought that Cuban pop rock has a lot to do with the music that was made during the so-called Prodigious Decade.

-Of course, Fórmula V and Los Pasteles Verdes... many groups from here imitated that sonority, and in those early years Cuban pop sounded exactly like that, because that music was widely consumed, as "the other" was limited. In the 90s there were many important groups, I will only mention Monte y Espuma and Paisaje con Río, where the vocalists were women, it is important to say that. If we go to the 2000s at that time pop rock was in its splendor.

-I'm thinking right now of Hard Currency, David Blanco, Good Faith....

-Polito Ibáñez after making the music of Double Set was in a great moment. David Torrens pulled out some hits. Habana Abierta was heard everywhere. And David Blanco made a very interesting alternative fusion with Caribbean rhythms. A curious thing happened with Buena Fe, they inserted themselves in a strategic moment where groups like Moneda Dura, Warapo, Partes Privadas were already playing, and they did so well that even many of Carlos Varela's musicians migrated to Buena Fe. They did a very good marketing job, with José Manuel's production, Ahmed Medina's guitars. In short, even now it is very common to see several groups with the same musicians, that in the end consolidates a type of sonority, it gives a fidelity to the product that ends up laying the foundations of the genre. From that sound aesthetics, Cuban pop rock is created, which is all that I mentioned before, mixed with Maná, Carlos Santana, Juanes... the Caribbean style, there was a dialogue with what was happening in Latin America. And there were also some ballads that were still very fashionable. It was the new trova song taken to other levels, de-parasitized, generic and ready for a wide audience.

-What about pop rock now?

-Something happens, that a great number of potential consumers come from rock and are purists; and right now they have not found a sufficiently genuine proposal that satisfies their taste at all. Many of the consolidated bands of the golden age left the scene, some because of migration, and others because they adopted other more fashionable genres; we cannot forget that the musician has to keep on eating. Much of the public that consumed that music also migrated. The connection with the people was lost. And the new ones that emerged never really hit the nail on the head. The public is exhausted [from] waiting for that new group, and what they have are groups of covers that do not take the risk of making an original proposal (not all of them, within this spectrum there are excellent groups). In short, even if the proposal is good, it has already lost credibility. I think the last attempt was Sweet Lizzy Project, and recently Cimafunk (closer to urban), but neither of them is here regularly. A pop rock aesthetic that evokes only the foreign, and without tying me to my context, still says nothing to the Cuban public.

-You have worked with many artists, Jotabarrioz, Ray Fernández, Ron con Cola, Kelvis Ochoa, Polito Ibáñez... and recently your musical production of Annie Garcés' new album, Look for mewon the Cubadisco award. Tell me how was the conception.

-The album with Annie was a long process, it started in October 2020 and finished in March [2021]. It was recorded in Pepe Ordaz's studio and had quite a few setbacks, especially in post-production, where it underwent many changes. Almost two years of changes. It was also on pause, because a children's album came out before, the one by The Mini Cat PartyBut all this was necessary, as Annie has matured a lot, and it was a good decision to release it now, when she is in a good moment of her career. The album Look for mewith which we won a Cubadisco award, has many songs by Annie, and also by other composers, and it sounds with a nineties aesthetic.

Photo by: Peter Koren

Why do many albums by singer-songwriters or trova artists, when produced with arrangements that do not start from the guitar, sound so 20th century?

—(Laughs) That's a very curious question, and it's something that I've come up against quite a bit. I think it's a question of paradigms; many of the producers (those who are left in Cuba) who are dedicated to producing albums with that concept, had their time of splendor in the 80-90s; that is, they reached their artistic maturity in those decades, where they were in their 20-30 years, they were young. And the music listened to at that time had that sonority. Look at the sound of the drums on Air Supply's records, with that reverb which may sound cool right now, [but] at the time it was cool. We are trapped in time on the one hand, and on the other hand we don't have ten physical drums to test the sound of each one, you have to correct that process digitally. There is a very Cuban sound, you listen to a record made here and you say "Ño, this is Creole!

—Coach voice, for or against?

-Totally in favor, he is one more producer, he should be a more valued figure.

-Do you think that the albums that win an award like the Cubadisco are given the publicity they should?

-It's complicated, winning an award is always honorable, it's a recognition of your work and it's appreciated. Now, the albums that are presented to Cubadisco, and even those that are awarded, often do so regardless of the popularity they may have. The awards always go to records with a long trajectory, which is a great discouragement for incipient artists who present good works. The awards are given to albums recognized by Cuban critics, biased in a handful of specialists who reach a consensus in a jury. What is most taken into account is the heritage character of the phonogram, which is undoubtedly important, but the super objective of a record is to be heard, and that does not happen many times, because in Cuba there is a pseudo-industry. Records are made that never reach anywhere, there is no infrastructure for a dissemination according to these times, where a physical record is worth practically nothing, everything is streaming. 

-There are very few pop records competing in Cubadisco, right?

-Yes, very few "conventional pop" records, because for me everything is pop. Not even the specialists are clear about the limits between one genre and another. Cuban music has had such a big decline that if they were to make awards for the music that was playing, they would be urban music awards, that's our pop. Besides the fact that urban music is much richer [than] it is presented, it is seen only as reggaeton. Musicologically, it is not well defined; the cast has nothing to do with reggaeton, neither at a conceptual level, nor in the rhythmic cells. 

-Cuban urban music has a tremendous variety.

-Urban music is a world. From the most danceable urban to the hardcore. There are cast songs that you can't even dance to, they have an overload of information that doesn't even let you throw an aisle, just surrender to the chaos, it is comparable to the black metal (some will criticize me for saying this). There is also the more timbera urban part, where Los 4, La Charanga Habanera... There is even a parody genre, which is where Bebeshito comes in, taking well-known songs and adding humorous sexual lyrics to them. The duo of Charly and Johayron is more romantic, and in fact they won the Cubadisco with an [album] in that aesthetic. Very well deserved, I think it is a good album. Besides, it is interesting that within the genre they do urban ballads.

-Why pop, being a genre that is mainstream worldwide, is it considered alternative music in Cuba?

-It's a very crazy phenomenon, but it's true that pop artists are considered alternative, and I think it's partly due to the few media outlets that give it a place. There are programs like live rope (whose slogan is "keep your alternative impulse" precisely) who do a great job in promoting pop, we have to recognize that, but many artists from other genres that are not pop are presented. And if in the same program you see a DJ, a troubadour and a band from metalcoreThe pop picket line goes unnoticed, or is inevitably lumped into the same bag. Also Fábrica de Arte Cubano has contributed to the image of the most alternative pop; this is not necessarily a bad thing. It is a multifaceted space where I have had the joy of being several times, and it is much appreciated, because it shows that there is still a large audience eager to hear live bands with original music. Also, going back to the "glass", video clips, which give so much visibility to the movement, are becoming more and more expensive. There are far fewer audiovisual proposals where pop takes center stage other than soap operas. I myself did the music for So far and yet so close.

-What should be taken into account when making the music for a soap opera? 

-It is important to know, at least in broad strokes, the story, the characters, the tone it will have, and the dramatic moments supported by music or effects that will be used. I am very satisfied with the result that I had in So far and yet so closethe truth. All the music of the novel is collected in Intermezzo which would be the second part of the triple album I have with Elevation.

Photo by: Carlos Ernesto Varona

-Do you think television could play a more important role in the diffusion of pop?

-And the radio as well, they are two media that are already tired, outdated, and many times it is not the fault of those who work there, who are very professional; they are external and economic causes. Now, having said that, it is important to resort to the media, but they cannot be everything, we must achieve a certain communicational autonomy. influencersThat's the way things are going. The other thing is that in a part of the population there is a great dissatisfaction with everything that smells "officialist", to the point that if you go out in live rope or in 23 and Malready raises suspicions. We are in a strange period, television can be very good, or poison for one's image. It depends on the point of view. I always choose to go, because you have to make yourself known somehow, and there are still excellent programs with a large audience. There is a lot of conspiracy theory, when most of us just want to work.

-It is a custom in Cuba to create songs for the Olympics. Apart from the official ones, we always have the need to have one of our own, and on this occasion you had that task. How do you produce a song with such a specific objective?

-Making a commissioned song is not the same as making a spontaneous one or "by muse", it has to fulfill a function. In the case of the Olympics, the objective is to motivate the athletes of your country to win medals and promote self-improvement, so I wanted to give it a bit of an epic tone, with drums and chorus to give it that swing of a victorious hymn, that victory will be achieved through physical and mental effort, passion and sacrifice.

-The song The Champion of the duo Kímiko y Yordy (saving the differences), do you think it became an anthem because of that? (laughs).

-Of course, in the area of migration; but that song would have been good for the Olympics as well (laughs), he has all the codes: "let's go for it", "I can do it". It's there, he says it clearly: "I'm a champion", it's like the We Are the Champions by Queen. Things are not black and white, and if the songs are concerned with going beyond saying "I have a pile of jevas because I have money and a car", that's appreciated. But in any case, you take what works and discard what doesn't; the music producer, especially in this century, must have as many tools as possible.

Photo by: Yosvanys Fornaris

After two hours of conversation in which he received several calls from artists scheduling new sessions, and some pending, we concluded the meeting, and I am left with a reflection.

 There is no doubt that independent production in Cuba is gaining incredible strength, and there are more and more school musicians who choose to join this world, even if they learn it outside the academy. Cuban art schools should take music production into account, not as an elective within the curriculum, but as a complementary subject to be applied from the most elementary level of the student. In the years we live in, technology facilitates the development of art every day, and a musician who does not know how to record, edit and mix his own work, has far fewer tools than one who does. Not only because of the visibility, but also because it is a useful way of survival when money is not generated from live performances. That's why it's not a bad thing to get out of the bubble of the academy more often.