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SINGAPORE : Well-known for its heady mix of pulsating salsa and rhumba music, four-time Grammy nominated group the Afro-Cuban All Stars will be performing at the Esplanade Concert Hall as part of the Singapore Sun Festival this weekend.
Helping to raise the profile of Cuban music for the past three decades is band leader Juan de Marcos Gonzalez. Chatting with Primetime Morning, he likens their concerts to that of a “Cuban party” and hopes that people are going to “enjoy, dance and free themselves”.
Gonzalez's life long mission is to show the wealth, vitality and diversity of Cuban music to the world which he called “unique and special due to its combination of race and cultures”.
There is more to Cuban music than just being associated with singers like Gloria Estefan as Gonzalez would attest. Comprising of a variety of music styles, Cuban music has changed over the past decade.
Keeping up with the changes, Gonzalez says that the band now incorporates elements of contemporary and international music such as contemporary jazz and a little hip hop.
“Cuban music is evolving all the time but the basis is the same which is the African and Spanish roots of the Cuban culture.”
On what audiences can expect, Gonzalez said, “This time, we’re going to perform a repertoire of traditional Cuban music, we have a line-up of 13 musicians on stage. I also wrote five songs specially for this concert.”
Besides adding new elements of music, Gonzalez also believes in having younger people in the band.
“We used to have a lot of old guys, I decided to bring [in] younger guys because this is the only way to preserve the culture. We have to preserve the culture, it’s very important. Cuba is one of the unique countries of the world where the culture is really preserved. And in order to keep this status, we have to bring in young people.”
Addressing the political issue in American where Cuban-American relations are not the smoothest, Gonzalez spoke strongly against former US president George W Bush and has faith that President Obama is going to change things for the Cuban community.
“I believe Mr Obama is going to open again the doors of America for Cuba, for the Cuban culture and the Cuban music and I hope also that relationships between the countries are going to be better. He has different kind of policy, he’s allowing the Cuban-Americans to go to Cuba, and right now, he’s going to also allow the Americans to go to Cuba and everything’s going to be better. And for the culture, it’s going to be huge. It’s going to be great.”
Catch the Afro-Cuban All Stars at October 11 at the Esplanade Concert Hall.
- CNA/nc
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