Gina D'Soto: timba in her heart and R&B through her pores

I met Gina D'Soto amidst the buzz of the Jazz Plaza 2023 festival. The 25-year-old Cuban singer, composer and arranger has a tremendous smile complemented by a visual aesthetic that places her somewhere between the Bronx and Latin America. She was born in Havana's El Vedado, grew up in El Cerro and today lives in New York.

She knows that nothing is more genuine than recognizing herself and tries to combine Cuban music with jazz and R&B. Gina defends that national jazz deserves to get out of the cliché of drums and congas that is mostly exported. Delving into the rhythms and resources of Cuban music is the essential mark of her artistic intention.

With his art he has collaborated with NPR LiveAmerican media, which once chose its theme something as the song of the week. He prefers jazz, and among the list of musicians with whom he has shared the stage are: Antonio Sanchez, John Fades, Arturo O'Farrill and Daymé Arocena. He is currently working on his first EP. 

Those who have seen her perform do not imagine her as a shy person. No one would say that she prefers the tranquility of her home or the beach; but she is, beyond the stage. She is a timbera at heart and carries R&B in her skin. She confesses that if she could, she would do "timba cerrá" (closed timba)but it is better to dance with the one that is already made.

We spent a whole day talking in between things to do: she in New York, me in Havana. We talked about everything until I asked her: Why did you study music and not particle physics? In the end there is a lot of mathematics in both.

Gina: Well, if you knew, I like everything related to physics and chemistry. When I was studying music I knew that, in case I didn't make the level pass, I would have liked to study... I don't know... biochemistry or something like that. I've always been interested in everything that has to do with the universe. I watch a lot of NASA documentaries about planets and galaxies.

The first thing I studied was not music. My mother put me in Spanish dance classes, then ballet. I didn't last long because I was cuerponaand a certain aesthetic, a certain physique was needed for the girls. Then I spent a few months in painting classes. In fact, I still paint; that opened the doors to a world that I like, even if it is not my great passion.

Then, when I was seven or eight years old, my mother took me to take the aptitude tests for the Manuel Saumell [Elementary School of Music]. That's when I knew that music was my thing. It was funny, the teachers give you more or less a choice of instruments. They tell you: you have violin, cello and piano. At that age you have long careers. I said no to everything. I would see people carrying a cello, a violin and I said, "No, no way!". I was always very lazy. They told me, "Well, a piano." "The piano you don't have to carry it."—I thought. Now, as an adult, it's always a problem to find a keyboard, move it around and all that, but I started studying piano from the age of eight... until I graduated.

Edu: You started studying piano because you were lazy. How naive! 

Gina: More or less! (Laughter).

Edu: Is it because you are lazy that you don't play any instrument in your shows? I understand that you're not lazy at all...

Gina: No. I don't play in my shows. When I'm singing ideas come to my mind, things that I can sing, that I can change in the melody and so on. I like to interact more with the audience. When I'm at the piano I don't have that same ability. I would like to incorporate one or two songs on piano, alone in my show, to do something different.

The work thing is 24/7. I don't stop and I haven't gotten dark circles under my eyes because I do a lot of routines with eye creams and such. I get up at 7 a.m. and I don't know what time I'll go to bed. I go to bed around one or two in the morning. I don't get many hours of sleep. Life is always very complicated and one always has to be carrying, or touching here, or checking I also work with children teaching them music, at a concert or in the studio itself. For me work is all the time.

Gina D'Soto. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.

Edu: What is a normal day like for you?

Gina: A normal day for me would be to get up super early, do my daily routine, get up early, get up early, get up early, get up early. skin careThen I go to give classes to the kids, I teach them music and Spanish through music, focusing mainly on very nice songs, it's something I love to do. After that I go to the gymI sit down to write music, sometimes I alternate it with recording and going to the check a show that is of interest to me, or to go see a friend. In most cases I go to sing. I almost always have to sing in the evenings. After that, if there's something open like a bar or a jazz club, I go there and come back home around two in the morning and, well, I get ready to sleep and check the next day's schedule. 

Edu: The discipline in your life is remarkable, has it always been like this, and do you think it has simply been necessary to adapt to life in New York?

Gina: Discipline started at a very young age with music school. You have to be very disciplined to be able to be there, to achieve your goals, to learn music, and to be a good musician. Since I was little I have been aware that I have to calculate my schedule, how much of my day I can dedicate to each thing so that I have time to do everything, or at least the most important things of the day. 

It's super necessary for life in New York. This is a city where time flies by. Everything goes by so fast and you have to be super in size and disciplined about things. Everything has to be very calculated, see how long it takes you to get from one place to the other, calculate the traffic, and so on. As for musical discipline, there is everything and everywhere; everyone wants theirs to be heard in order to assert themselves. You have to have tremendous artistic discipline to get your voice noticed among so many people trying to do the same thing.

The gym has also been something that has helped me a lot. To achieve what you want to do with your aesthetic, you have to be very disciplined with what you eat and the calories you consume per day and per week. All of that has also helped me to be a little more methodical with my time. 

Edu: It strikes me that you are so well integrated into life in New York. That makes me wonder: Why did you choose that city among so many places in the U.S.? Why not California, with so much artistic life, or Miami, which is the meeting place par excellence for Cubans in that country?

Gina: New York is such a cosmopolitan city! I was reading the other day that it is the only place in the world where more than 383 languages are spoken. Imagine that. There are so many cultures and incredible things here. If so many musicians come here, so many artists, then what better place than here to absorb a little bit of everything. Not only music, but also museums. There are some of the best museums in the world in this city. I don't know. This place is changing all the time.

I like Miami to spend time, to visit my family, even to give concerts. It is a very nice city, it attracts me. However, it's not a place I like to live. I don't like the lifestyle in Miami, there are not many places for the music I make. It is true that now the scene is opening up a little more for artists with a style similar to mine. Miami has always had a more Latin and urban cultural life, more pop, and it's not something I advocate so much. 

California, on the other hand, is a place I love. In fact, I go there every year, two or three times. I have considered moving there. I really like the lifestyle there, the vibe it has, although everything is a little more technological and I'm bad with technology. I really like the energy, I think for the kind of music I try to bring, it's a very nice place, where doors would open for me. You will soon hear from Gina in California. 

Edu: I notice you, in general, very calm and focused right now. Tell me about the whole process of getting here. Starting from scratch and being a migrant is hard.

Gina D'Soto. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.

Gina: Focused and calm... (laughs). Focused yes, but calm, not so much. I have started from scratch many times. It is always very difficult and it is something you have to do to achieve what you want. When I went to Canada I knew neither English nor French. I went through the process of learning those two languages and a culture, in order to be part of a different community from the one I came from. That was a very nice experience and I think it really pushed me to believe that there were many more possibilities to develop myself. It helped me understand that you can always reinvent yourself.

That's why when I made the decision to move to New York I was able to start from scratch in a city I didn't know either. I already knew English and, well, I knew a little bit more about its culture; although you still had to get the hang of the city because you feel it eats you up. It was very interesting to learn about New York and American culture in general, to learn how to grow up when you come to this country.

The hardest thing has always been to sustain my career. You have to strip yourself of all ego and go out and look for a job. Seeing how much is the monthly rent, the monthly expenses, you have to look for a job that pays enough to be able to support all that. You have to keep climbing and improving your economic and living situation until you get to the point where you are good with yourself.

Emigrating is always hard. You go to a place that is totally unknown and you have to learn everything. Many people get depressed, I have been very depressed. Being alone, without my family and many times not knowing how I was going to do this, is very hard. You always have dreams and aspirations. What you can't do is despair. I have learned to be patient. To walk step by step, to have that attitude of: "well, it didn't happen today, tomorrow it will be".. Above all, faith. Having faith that you are going to achieve what you set out to achieve, what you want... that helps you focus.

One thing I learned recently, maybe five years ago: I write in a planner and plan my day, my month, I write down the aspirations I have for the year. I put down the things I want to accomplish. It may not happen, but it gets me a little bit closer and it helps me a lot to have clear goals.

Edu: I find this very interesting, can you share with me what you have on your agenda for this year?

Gina: (laughs) I have several presentations in Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. I also have several festivals in the United States. I don't have the dates for Canada and Europe yet, but there is a lot of work to do. For this year there will be several videos, music, my first EP and there are many surprises on the way, I know you will like it, but I can't comment yet.

Edu: I am very happy to hear that you are doing so many beautiful things and that your projects are moving forward. To say goodbye, think about this: "If you had the power to change one thing in the world, what would it be and why? 

Gina: One of the things I would like to change would be the amount of non-recyclable plastic we use every day. To me it's alarming, almost everything is plastic. Even tiny things end up under the ground, causing horrible pollution. There are many countries with high levels of pollution because of that. A lot of it ends up in the sea and there the life of that waste is very long. There are many reefs and marine life that have been lost in the process. We carry a cycle of pollution that, in the end, ends up with you. If I had one thing I could change, it would be all that plastic we use on a daily basis. With that, a lot of things would change.