{"id":21259,"date":"2024-04-01T00:00:45","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T04:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/?p=21259"},"modified":"2024-03-31T19:12:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-31T23:12:07","slug":"x-alfonso-en-f-a-c-mas-alla-del-desconcierto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/x-alfonso-en-f-a-c-mas-alla-del-desconcierto\/","title":{"rendered":"X Alfonso at F.A.C., beyond the (dis)concert"},"content":{"rendered":"

X Alfonso warned: \"this will be a unique concert\". Honestly, I didn't give it any importance (what could it be this time), at least I didn't go for the announcement of something special. I wanted to hear it live, without thinking too much about the circumstances in which it would happen. At F.A.C. we found out that Nave 3 would not open until 9:45 p.m. Those of us who arrived in time were gradually piling up, closer and closer to the doors, squeezed together, because waiting in line is something that makes us nervous and desperate. We entered one by one, as calmly as we could conceal, and the room awaited us as welcoming as I had ever seen it.<\/p>\n

In addition to the usual chairs and some sofas on the sides, there was a pile of cushions lying on the small stage, almost on the edge of the small stage, a subtle and unwelcome invitation to avoid formality and feel closer to the audience. It was when I sat down on a cushion that was right in the center, no more than a meter away from the audio equipment and lights, that I began to understand that this was not just another concert. In front were placed the piano (with some keyboard and console for the effects), the basses and guitars that X exchanged so many times during the concert that I lost count, and the drums. But there was much more, everything was prepared to surprise, so that what you could perceive with the naked eye was multiplied by the vibrations and the light.<\/p>\n

For those of us who were able to get in, it was a beautiful night like few others, of singing in chorus things that sometimes it hurts us to say even in a low voice, of recovering a little hope and embracing a shared faith that \"everything will change\". X conceived the presentation to \"offer his soul\", once again, in the form of music, I felt it. Between the nerve and the sweat he sang as if it was the first and the last time; with beautiful arrangements, almost losing his voice and us with him. There is one thing that fascinates me: with his style, his way of projecting, he turns the scream into song, as if there was no other possible way; perhaps it is the strength of the ancestors searching for the light, or that in each note there is inherent a claim of freedom that floods his throat. It was fascinating to see him so closely, with a tremendous humility, opening his eyes, smiling, because he got some fragment wrong; sticking out his tongue when he was about to lose his breath because of the intensity; to see the human being in short, being consistent with his speech, building and giving love.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo taken from F.A.C.'s Instagram profile.<\/p><\/div>\n

When we entered the hall, preceded by the organizers' request for order due to the recording that would be made during the concert, I feared that it would become monotonous and fictitious. However, it flowed absolutely natural, and we shouted, he made mistakes and we got confused, there were improvised moments; nothing further from control and very close to a discharge in the living room of a beloved house. The energy of Pepe Gavilondo and Yaimi K.L. was visible from the first notes, it was not for less, despite the small format, each song felt like a blow in the chest. We went through Inside<\/i>, a Reverse; Portrait of '92 <\/i>It tore us apart, even those of us who have only listened to the stories, without having a measure of what was un-lived in those 90s. We were stuck in Havana Blues<\/i> as if almost twenty years had not passed. Everything seemed real in the midst of our voices chanting Just you and me<\/i>And we had to repeat the ending several times because we still had a little more pain and impotence for not knowing \"how to fight with that sun, with politics and with God\". Singing it together was the closest thing to an answer, to a relief.<\/p>\n

In a moment of \"calm\" X asked who had lost a friend or relative, what a low blow! \"That's not done,\" shouted some. Now I thank him, because we all sit by our side to those people who are not close, with the thought, with the desire, with all the phones, and we sing to them with red and wet eyes that \"friendship is a seed that sprouts anywhere\", fortunately, less and less captive of languages and ideologies. Hopefully, in search of a dream, we will change course again and come closer, in a land that truly belongs to all of us.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo: Danielle Haley<\/p><\/div>\n

I learned much later that the concert was bifurcated into two opposite experiences. I do not want -and I do not believe- that the negative should tarnish so much beauty, not in the memory of those present in Hall 3. However, I think it is fair and enriching to analyze other perspectives, especially so that it can be better in the future. In Hall 4, a screen was installed to broadcast the concert live, with the idea that those who could not enter upstairs could participate in some way. In principle, the intention is good and valid.<\/p>\n

Since I did not live the experience from the outside, I asked for the testimony of some friends. I imagine how disappointing it must have been to go with the desire to see X sing live and end up in front of a screen that after the first twenty minutes began to fail. What upset many people was, in my opinion, that there was no clear communication in the promotions, which were made well in advance and created a lot of expectation, with an artist who has a large audience and does not perform very often. Perhaps with clarifying that the influx would be limited, that the capacity would not exceed an approximate figure, that for those who could not get in there would be the option of the screen in Nave 4, the people who came to the Factory that day just to see X would have planned better.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo taken from F.A.C.'s Instagram profile.<\/p><\/div>\n

Among the comments I heard, I must deny one that said that the concert had been private, for guests and people with VIP cards. It is true that there were two separate entrances, and I don't know how that distribution was handled, but when I entered the hall, -I was one of the first in the general public because I got in line early- there were many empty chairs, in the cushions area there were only four or five people, that is, it is not true that the organizers left a reduced space for \"non-guests\".<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the set design and the intimate nature of the concert perfectly justified the selection of a small space, which was filled to capacity. The doors of the hall were closed, something unaccustomed in F.A.C., because it was necessary to preserve the sound of the recording and to avoid movement that could interfere with the cameras. Not even the main bar was working. It is an artist's right to have the freedom to choose the space and format in which he\/she prefers to perform, and this must be respected.<\/p>\n

The fact is that there was no other way to experience that concert than being present; what happened there could not be projected on a screen. Yasek Manzano's trumpet sounded from the upstairs gallery on the left side, Ernesto Blanco played the guitar from a sofa on the right, Sarah Guti\u00e9rrez's cello overwhelmed us all from a platform at the back, where we least expected it; the sound played at its whim throughout the room and filled everything. How to transmit that sensation in a non-presential way? However, I did not want to overlook the fact that for others the memory is different, and it may be useful to take it into account for new initiatives.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo: Danielle Haley<\/p><\/div>\n

With Sands of solitude <\/i>ended the night to \"start again\". X came even closer, we sang together again, we even went ahead of time and let ourselves be carried away as if the song was more ours than hers. The concert gave us just what we needed to hear: truths \"told with two balls\", love stories, awareness of the present, reflections of a deep soul with the strength to surrender. I don't know if things will ever change, if wherever I am I will feel that I \"belong\", if the rights that no one can take away from us will ever be returned to us; but in spite of everything, I know that I left that ship with much more faith than I entered.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo: Danielle Haley<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those of us who were able to enter, it was a beautiful night like few others, of singing in chorus things that sometimes it hurts us to say even in a low voice, of recovering a little hope and embracing a shared faith that \"everything will change\".<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1605,"featured_media":21265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10106,25],"tags":[10574,551,5562,7867,5060,101],"coauthors":[9673],"class_list":["post-21259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-resenas","tag-conciertos-habana","tag-fabrica-de-arte-cubano","tag-habana-blues","tag-inside","tag-resenas","tag-x-alfonso"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazineampm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/x-portada.jpg?fit=1816%2C830&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1605"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21259"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21269,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21259\/revisions\/21269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21259"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=21259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}