In
the Barrio,
growing up with
legends....
My
father was a
musician, an
excellent
singer. He sang
with several
orchestras that
were very
popular in the
late 40s and the
early 50s. He
sang with
Arsenio
Rodríguez's
conjunto
for a year and a
half. He also
sang with Los
Sultanes del 41.
When he was
starting out, he
sang with La
Orquesta Ideal
and La Orquesta
de Belisario
López. He also
sang with Los
Jóvenes del
Cayo and with La
Sonora Nacional
de Pińon. He
was a singer who
had relative
success in his
day, a real
Cuban-style
artist. From his
influence, and
especially
because I was
raised in a
marginal barrio
right here in
Havana, Pueblo
Nuevo, just 100
meters away from
a historic place
that,
lamentably, has
been demolished,
called the
"Solar de
Africa." It
was on Zanja and
Oquendo streets
in downtown
Havana. In this
place lived
people of the
caliber of Chano
Pozo, Luis
Papín Abreu,
Eliseo Silveira,
the great Cuban
musicians. In my
house we'd have
rumbas,
especially each
September 7.
We're devotees
of the Virgin of
Regla, the
patroness of
Havana. And
there were
parties, on
September 7,
celebrating the
Virgin of Regla.
There'd be a
rumba and
there'd also be
a rumba every
Sunday, and all
my father's
friends came and
from that time
on I loved
music. In 67 or
68, I met Compay
Segundo, who
came to live
next door to me.
From rock 'n'
roll to the
Cuban
"son"...
I
wanted to
play guitar
because I was
very influenced
by the rock and
roll bands of
the day, I liked
rock 'n' roll a
lot. It was the
musical language
that I worked in
during a great
many years of my
life. Through
Compay Segundo I
got my first
guitar and from
then on I was
interested in
guitar. I
started to study
it, I spent four
years at the
Conservatory. A
little later I
left music,
because I was a
bit
undisciplined
and they kicked
me out of the
Conservatory.
After junior
high school I
took up an
engineering
career at the
University. I
didn't think I
was going to
dedicate myself
to music. And
then around 1976
we formed the
Sierra Maestra
group, a band
dedicated to
recreating
traditional
Cuban music.
Before that, I
had played with
most of the rock
bands here in
Havana, during a
time when I was
very
influenced by
that kind of
music and
language, which
was prohibited
in this country.
It was
prohibited. But
you know how it
is for kids and
prohibited
things. We
played rock here
in Cuba. Mostly
we did identical
covers. We'd
copy the
arrangements of
people like King
Crimson, Cream,
Creedence
Clearwater
Revival, Jethro
Tull, Yes,
Spencer Davis,
all that kind of
music. We were a
bit
"hippy"
when we were in
the University
and we decided
to form a group
that would break
all the
established
canons. It was a
pretty
"punk"
thing to do,
getting a group
of young kids to
play
"son".
So I bought a tres, and since
I already knew
the language of
the guitar,
started to study
the tres. And
from then on we
started to play
Cuban music.
From that time
up until last
year I played
with Sierra
Maestra, which
was always my
group.
Afro-Cuban
All Stars...
This whole
project of the
three albums,
Introducing
Rubén
González, The
Buena Vista
Social Club and
The Afro-Cuban
All-Stars, was a
project I'd had
in mind for many
years. I'm a
fervent admirer
of Rubén
González, who I
consider to be
the last, or one
of the last
great Cuban
piano players,
and I always
wanted to make
an album with
him on it.
And
at the same time
I wanted to have
the great stars
of Cuban music,
who,
unfortunately,
have been
marginalized by
the Cuban
recording
industry because
another kind of
music is in
vogue and the
elders are
considered to be
obsolete.
Nevertheless, I
knew that if we
made a record
with these great
artists and had
decent promotion
that we'd sell
well and at the
same time have
an impact on the
Cuban music
scene.
Buena Vista
Social Club...
In 1994, I
was mixing
Sierra Maestra's
Dundunbanza
album in London,
where I have my
work
headquarters,
where the
company that I
work for is
based. In a
conversation I
had with the
director of the
company, Nick
Gold, I told him
about the idea I
had for a record
that would bring
together the
principal
figures of Cuban
music, the
people who made
history
especially
during the 50s,
who were still
alive and in
Cuba. That's
where the idea
of Afro-Cuban
All-Stars came
from. At the
same time, there
was an album
called Talking
Timbuktu that Ry
Cooder had made
with Ali Farka
Touré, an album
that sold a lot,
and Nick Gold
had the idea to
make a new album
with Cooder. So
we had the idea
of making a
fusion album
using the
Eastern Cuban
son, which is
completely
different from
the Havana son.
The Eastern son
has the same
base, the same
defining
elements, but at
the same
time has a
distinct concept
of syncopation.
In this album,
we thought we'd
mix the Eastern
son with Ry
Cooder's
American slide
guitar and a
couple of
African
musicians who'd
play instruments
like the kora,
etc. All this to
make a fusion
album like the
one that Cooder
made with Flaco
Jiménez, where
the distinct
genres would
come together to
make something
new. So that's
how the idea
came about for
this record,
which we didn't
know what it
would be called,
but the final
result was The
Buena Vista
Social Club. I
looked up all
the musicians
and I was the
musical director
of the project.
Introducing
Rubén
González...
At the same
time it so
happened that
everyone fell in
love with Rubén
González, which
I was sure would
happed because
Rubén has a
vital
characteristic
that for me is
of utmost
importance: he
knows how to
define the
limits between
one form of
music and
another. When
you play Cuban
music, you play
Cuban music. In
Cuban music, you
can use the
elements of
jazz, but it's
one thing to use
the elements of
jazz and it's
quite another to
use Cuban
elements in
jazz, like
Gonzalo
Rubalcaba or
Michel Camilo
do. They're two
different
things. And so
everyone fell in
love with Rubén
González and
there was some
money left over,
on one day we
recorded,
without
overdubs, this
album,
Introducing
Rubén
González. It's
true that this
is his first
solo album, in
spite of the
fact that Rubén
is one of the
greatest of
Cuban musicians,
who's played
with everyone
from Arcano y
sus Maravillas,
Arsenio
Rodríguez,
Enrique Jorrín,
all the great
bands, but he'd
never made a
solo album.
That's how we
made the album
with Rubén
González.
And the rest
is history....
That's how
the project came
about. We
recorded it in
about 16 or 17
days, at the
Egrem studios,
and then we did
the mixes. I
mixed Afro-Cuban
All-Stars and
Introducing
Rubén González
in London with
sound engineer
Jerry Boys, who
is excellent,
and The Buena
Vista Social
Club was mixed
by Ry Cooder in
Los Angeles. He
made some
overdubs
there,
because Ry
didn't want to
play [in
Havana]. He was
so amazed by the
talent of these
great musicians
who played on
the album that
he didn't even
know where to
fit himself in.
So he took the
album to Los
Angeles, did the
overdubs with
slide guitar and
a bit of
acoustic guitar
and that's the
way these three
albums came
about which,
thank God, have
sold well and
that serve as a
symbol of the
power of Cuban
music, and which
to a certain
degree have
contributed to
Cuban music
regaining the
status it always
had in Latin
American and
world music.
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