April Outlook: Cuba
April passed like a whirlwind through our lives. It was a vertiginous month marked by the reopening of Fábrica de Arte Cubano, with its concerts, jam-session, exhibitions, dance workshops, master class; the granting of the 2022 Grammy Awards to Cubans Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Chucho Valdés and Alex Cuba; the nominations for the next Cubadisco Awards; and the sudden departure of three prominent artists from the Cuban music scene: the troubadour Lázaro García, the DJ and promoter of electronic sounds Ernesto Jorge Hidalgo (.aka DJ Tiko), and the flutist and leader of the group NG La Banda, José Luis Cortes (El Tosco).
To all this is added the launch of the book Celia in Cuba (1925-1962), by the Cuban musicographer Rosa Marquetti Torres, in which the vital and professional circumstances are carefully revealed, as well as the initial trajectory that prepared the subsequent stardom of this immense artist who became an icon of the Latin in United States and the world. highly recommended reading.
Meanwhile, musical releases were not far behind:
Cuban-Swiss violinist and singer Yilian Cañizares premiered her EP this April resilience which is itself its own statement:. The strings are important in this material and, together with sensitive lyrics, African touches and Western melodies, describe the feeling of loss that the artist was going through at the time of composing these songs. Incantation, the first single, is a collaboration with Michael League that deserves several listens.
The voices of Leoni Torres and Lenier come together in Poison, a little sauce with the sonero plucking of the Cuban tres, and a fresh and sensual text, whose harmony, developed in mambos and tumbaos, is reminiscent of many themes of Cuban timba and salsa. If your mouth smells of danger, you are listening to the right song.
The 3 Musketeers is the first track from a self-titled DVD, produced by Bis Music and created by Ruy Adrián López-Nussa, Harold López-Nussa, William Roblejo and Dayron Ortiz. Together, from a jazz environment, they bring back Cuban sounds close to the rumba with the guaguancó key and the offbeat blocks. The development of the melodic-harmonic motifs is accompanied by improvised sequences that work with sound elements from rock, new jazz, from latin and I sing
Early morning it's a single that is perceived differently in all your listeners. It is also a totally innovative success of its creators, the American singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Xenia Rubinos and the Cuban El Individuo. The latter, a rapper who has a beautiful poetry that navigates scenes manipulated by electronic sounds, and that is perfectly complemented by her voice, hopeful, subtle, closely attached to R&B and experimental jazz.
A new version of pam pam pam appears with this video lyrics animated by the Orquesta Aragón with Oscar D'León, released on digital platforms by Puntilla Music. Two chairs of Caribbean music that, through the sounds of the charanga, enhance choruses full of flavor to get the dancer's feet moving. Surely you will be attracted by their choirs, their guides, their daring and funny lyrics, because with these musicians and "with this rhythm, you have to take your hat off".
The new generation of Cuban music has an unmissable talent, that's why Boomerang is among our recommendations today with look at it look at it. The theme has beautiful lyrics, a melody with many nuances indebted to Cuban trova, and harmonized choirs that take your breath away. Its protagonists are a new alternative band that makes Cuban music with R&B, funk, jazz, pop rock and experimental electronics. Sergio Ochoa on vocals, along with Frank Fonte on bass, and Simón Ibáñez on piano, seek new paths for alternative song on the Island. Arnerys Toledano Font and Amed de la Paz appear in the choirs, while in the guitar prints its stamp Daniel Saúl.
They are purely Cuban and traditional lives in the smug, one of the most popular topics For my three (2022, Egrem/Soundwear Productions), the phonogram of the tresera Yarima Blanco together with the ensemble Son Latino. Many intertextual quotations are heard in this track that drinks from the musical sap of one of the star genres of Cuban music. The sonera rhythmic codes are reinforced and the “Aragón-style” choirs, with their picaresque guides and their improvisations with the tres, invite you to dance.
Camila Cabello has Latin blood to eat and to wear, and she always uses it in favor of her music, which enriches it even more. That's why Don't Go Yet, One of his most recent songs tastes like that multicultural ajiaco that he incorporates into cumbia, samba and Caribbean music. Listen to it amplified and enjoy the positive energy it transmits in company.
Three women of pure claw join in Lavender & Red Roses. The Ibeyi and Jorja Smith develop in this single a story from Greek mythology that, according to them, personifies destiny. "Lavender & Red Roses is a song about the feeling we all experience when we love someone who is troublesome. It can be a partner, a brother, a father, a friend.. The audiovisual that accompanies this single It is directed by Lucrecia Taormina and set in the age of myth. The song will also be included in spell 31, the upcoming Ibeyi album.
Voyager is the second track from the self-titled album by pianist Iván Cantaloupe Lewis. His video, just released this month on digital platforms, was directed by Joseph Ros, one of the most sought-after filmmakers with the longest track record on the Island. Through the sound of that latin melodic and sensitive jazz, a story starring Melón himself, set in the style vintage, traveling through many imaginary universes of his creative mind.
May: what's to come
Cubadisco, the most relevant event of Cuban music, celebrates its 25th edition beginning this month. Soon we will have news of the award-winning albums in the contest. Later, the Havana World Music festival will heat up the Club 500, from El Vedado in Havana, from 26 to 28, with a poster that brings artists from the patio and other revelations from abroad.
ARGENTINA | BOLIVIA | BRAZIL | COLOMBIA | CUBA | SPAIN| MEXICO | PERU
