Chucho Valdés, Paquito D’Rivera and Arturo Sandoval meet this Friday in Miami in a single concert to celebrate fifty years since the formation of Irakere, the legendary Cuban jazz orchestra that marked “a before and after in music,” according to what the three said in an interview with EFE.
Although not all the members of the group will be there, the musicians stated that they have prepared a repertoire that will remember a time “of cultural change” in Cuba in their presentation at the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center.
“Irakere marked a before and after, it has been a starting point towards new paths in music, not only in jazz, Afro-Cuban or dance music, but in music in general,” said Valdés. .
The 82-year-old pianist is convinced that “with the passage of time we have seen the great influence that this group had on everything that has been done since.”
The artists are remembered as “nonconformists” who gathered to change musical rules and experiment with new sounds, mixing African and Latin tones with jazz, a word banned by the Castro dictatorship because it was considered to have many connotations related to ” “U.S. imperialism.”
D’Rivera remembers that “there were big problems forming the group” and that government officials “put up all kinds of obstacles” when they knew that, like him, there were many people related to jazz in that group.
“The first thing Chucho warned me was that I couldn’t mention the word ‘jazz’, even though that was what I had done my entire life,” recalls D’Rivera, winner of seven Latin Grammy Awards.
“He told me to play as always, but that they would put African drums on top of it to make it look like something else, so we called it ‘contemporary Cuban music,'” he explained this Thursday during the last rehearsal before the concert.
The jazz player says that he was “locked up for two years by order of the communist authorities” and does not believe that the group was capable of “standing up” to the Government of Fidel Castro at a time when there were more and more dissident voices in Cuba.
“It was impossible” to fight against the Cuban regime, stressed trumpeter Arturo Sandoval.
“That possibility did not exist because they do not allow anyone to impose anything on them or even make you think differently than them,” said the musician, recognized with seven gramophones from the Latin Recording Academy.
The three most iconic members of the group say that they have tried “until the last minute” to bring other members of Irakere who live outside the United States.
“There are some founders who will not be able to be here due to visa problems, but at least three of us are here,” Valdés resigned, although he seemed “satisfied” with the meeting.
For the son of the legendary Bebo Valdés, doing it in Miami takes on great relevance, especially due to the large number of Cuban exiles who grew up listening to Irakere’s music and who had not seen them on stage for more than 40 years.
“The majority of the audience from those stages is here and they are eager to see us and hear those songs, and us to play again,” says the musician.
Valdés is considered a “teacher” for many of the Latin artists who have followed in his musical wake. However, he recognizes that there are things about current music that he “doesn’t like at all” although he is aware that he is “another generation of audiences and musicians.”
“Some lyrics or texts do not seem to me to be positive and they do not say anything. Furthermore, it seems that with a little machine you can do everything and, sometimes, there are songs that seem like plastic,” criticized Valdés, clarifying that he is “very cautious” because of the consequences that their criticisms could have.
Currently “there are many things that do not have quality,” said D’Rivera, clarifying that he does not feel that way because “he is an old man.”
“How is it possible that there are songs that have such popularity if they are things that depress more than anything?” asks the 75-year-old musician, explaining that “some time ago there was commercial and very salable music that had tremendous quality.”
However, the three consider that this Friday’s event should also serve to “demonstrate” the quality of their music at a time in history when practically “technology was not used” to compose or record albums.
Although, at the moment, only a single concert is planned, the three do not rule out doing more shows in other cities soon.
