|
 In an exclusive The Insight
interview with Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, the man behind the
Buena Vista Social Club, Jess Moore explores the musical and
political implications of the opening up of Cuba and the
resulting commercial and artistic renaissance for its
musicians in Europe
The first time I heard the name
Juan de Marcos Gonzalez was just a few weeks ago, and to be
honest I drew a bit of a blank. When it was explained that he
was the brainchild behind the Buena Vista Social Club, the
bells started ringing. For that best-selling album followed by
a film and a UK tour, was one of the phenomena of the late 90s
so one might have expected Gonzalez's name to have attained
some of its notoriety. But as I discovered, Gonzalez is more
interested in making music and uncovering new talent than in
his own fame. For the recognition he seeks is purely the
appreciation and success of the music from the land he loves.
And by now he should be very pleased, for this is the man who
broke through the bubble of isolation surrounding Cuba to
bring the music he loves back to the Western World.
For those of you still in the
dark, the Buena Vista Social Club was an incredibly successful
album of traditional Cuban songs and rhythms, recorded by an
unlikely group of elderly Cuban musicians including Reuben
Gonzalez and Ibrahim Ferrer, and produced by Juan de Marcos
Gonzalez himself. There was nothing new about the music. There
was nothing trendy about the musicians. Gonzalez simply aimed
to bring Cuban rhythms and musicians to the international
public eye. The album, released on 'World Circuit' in 1996,
was expected to sell a million copies at best. The most recent
sales figures are ten million worldwide and still growing.
Overwhelming public demand necessitated an international tour,
which was a sell out at every venue. That's the kind of
popularity very few bands can claim. A Wim Wenders documentary
spread the story of Buena Vista further. Now, the 'Buena Vista
phenomenon' has reached all corners of the globe.
Juan de Marcos Gonzalez is a
difficult man to track down. He's an international jet-setter
with a choc-a-bloc schedule. If he's not in the recording
studio, he's with his agent, if he's not with his agent, he's
out of the country or else giving an interview to some miracle
worker who wormed their way into his hectic social calendar.
But perseverance and die-hard determination paid off in the
end and I finally caught up with him in a studio in Havana
taking time off from his current international tour with his
latest band, the Afro Cuban All Stars. "I'm hardly ever
in Cuba now," he mourns. "If you leave your country,
you lose the spirit of your culture. For me, I have to live in
Cuba." It is this adoration of his country, this
compulsion to make music and to celebrate his cultural roots,
that is so evident in Gonzalez's work.
Born in Havana, 1954, his
musical career had the best possible start. His father was a
professional singer, successful at the time when Cuban bands
ruled the international music scene. So Gonzalez grew up
surrounded by traditional Cuban music, an experience he
recognises as fundamental to his development as a musician.
"Because of the Cuban sounds I heard as a kid, the input
of my father and the old guys I knew then, I became a
musician. This helped me decide my future. The rhythms of the
old times and of these traditional styles has become a part of
the music I make." The international acclaim received by
Cuban music at this time was of a much more naive, fun-loving
variety. Gonzalez compares the back stabbing world of today's
commercial market with the honesty of music at this time.
"It was like a party, always a party in my house, with
music and dancing. We had a good time, and that made the
music."
But the success of Cuban music
in the West has a complex and politically-charged history. The
initial popularity of the Cuban 'Son' a specific rhythm,
similar in many ways to salsa, came in the 1940s and 50s with
films like South Pacific. The US film industry had used Cuban
musicians to create early soundtracks, which popularised the
music. Why? Romantics would say that filmmakers were
captivated by the gently, exotic rhythms. Cynics would say it
was cheap labour. Regardless, Gonzalez remembers this as the
period of his father's fame. "Cuban music was at the top
worldwide, top in record sales, top in Hollywood."
However, this cultural and musical exchange broke down with
the Cuban revolution, as Castro rose to power and severed
links into and out of the country. On many levels, but
particularly with regards to youth culture and popular
culture, Cuban society was frozen by a government which denied
communication with the rest of the world. And as Cuba lost
touch with the West, we forgot about Cuba. Once ranking as the
highest-selling music genre worldwide, Cuban 'Son' faded into
obscurity and was lost to American and European markets for
many, many years.
That is, of course, until Juan
de Marcos paired up with the notorious Western guitarist Ry
Cooder and created the mind blowingly successful Buena Vista
Social Club. By reworking established Cuban sounds and songs
with contemporary influences and modern production methods,
Gonzalez has pioneered the recent international revival of
Cuban music. This is something he shrugs off, as though it
were merely a matter of course, "We're back where we
started. Cuban music just stalled when we became cut off.
We've come round again, like a circle, we went down and then
back up to the top." But rather than being angry at this
50 year setback, he is philosophical. "In a sense, Cuban
isolation helped keep certain sounds alive. From 1976, I
played in a band called Sierra Maestra, which recreated the
traditional sounds of Cuban 'Son'. This music suddenly
developed during the early 1990s, as it became strongly
influenced by American music. Sierra Maestra was the platform
for the development of Cuban music, which took off in the West
for a second time with 'Buena Vista' in 1996. It gave me a
chance to meet interesting people and think about what I
wanted to do and with who I wanted to work."
Cooder's input at this time
gave 'Buena Vista Social Club' the initial credibility it
needed in order to approach Western market, and gave Gonzalez
the opportunity to achieve his goals. Theirs was a meeting of
chance as well as minds. Ry Cooder, best known for his work
producing the soundtrack to Paris, Texas, has a self
proclaimed love affair with world music. This led him to
Havana, where he had arranged to meet a group of African
musicians. They didn't show up, so Cooder took himself on a
tour of Havana's bars and clubs, soaking up the music he found
there. Then he met Gonzalez, and the rest, as they say, is
history. Cooder became the vehicle by which Cuban 'Son' could
access the Western world once more.
"Juan de Marcos maintains
that in Cuba there is nothing special about the Buena Vista
Social Club. Havana is awash with musicians of their
calibre," says Will Mc Carthy, promoter for Tumi music.
"We were amazed by the passion for Cuban music, and
Marcos is determined to keep it alive by giving other unsung
Cuban talents the chance to make albums and tour the
world." And that's because Gonzalez has absolute,
unequivocal conviction in the music. He believes that Cuban
sounds are unique, and welcomes all influences and
diversifications, "The mix of cultures that we have is
really excellent," he almost gushes, "different
African tribes and African cultures, and white tribes from
Spain, from France... the mix has created our culture, and
that's why it is so rich." This cultural mix and
attachment to Cuban roots is something Gonzalez is obviously
devoted to. His projects and influences always relate back to
Cuba and the musicians he finds there. Musicians he regards to
be among the best in the world.
Having been ostracised from
outside influence for so long, Cuban sounds have also
intensified. A potential risk in Gonzalez's ventures abroad is
that this essentially traditional, unadulterated music could
fall into the commercial net. International tours and new
opportunities, as well as public responses and tastes, could
affect the music. Eventually, this could undermine the Cuban
sounds and styles it has intended to preserve. I asked
Gonzalez how he feels about the enthusiasm for Cuban music in
the West, how he feels it affects Cuban society and what he
hopes it will achieve. He aims to liberate Cuban musicians by
bringing them to the West and breaking down the barriers
established by Castro. "Music is an international
language, and music involves politics," he says. "We
can bring people together. We can talk to people. And I don't
just mean the words of a song, it's everything. Even just for
Cuban musicians to be able to play in America. Music involves
politics, but this goes beyond parties. We have no party
except our culture and our music, so we let everybody hear. We
are opening doors."
Cuban people remember how
isolated they had been from the world, and this makes the
popularity of their music mean so much more than record sales
or commercial success. "What was happening before,"
Gonzalez continues, "it was a hard time and it was
impossible for Cuban bands to play in America. Now, more than
fifteen bands play all over America and in Europe. That is
special for us, and important for Cuba." And with regards
to the evolution of the music as a response, "Cuban music
has always been open to influences and peoples, that's what
makes it what it is. But we always keep looking back to the
roots of the music, always keep the essence alive."
Gonzalez's latest protégé is
57-year-old Felix Baloy. Produced by himself, Baloy and the
Afro Cuban All Stars released their album Baila Mi Son last
summer on Tumi Music. The album is a collection of traditional
Cuban rhythms, Latin to the core, but more low key than
Brazilian samba. The music is swingy and sexy. Gonzalez is
full of praise for Baloy, whose pure and steady voice
complements the album's intricately woven beats and rhythms.
"Felix is a great singer and a close friend. For Felix, I
created a wonderband, a dream team, and we are going to tour
this album to America and Europe." Gonzalez's confidence
is well founded. As a novice to this kind of music, I am aware
of how technically complicated it is. The myriad of beats,
rhythms and melodies could be overpowering, yet Baila Mi Son
creates the illusion of relaxed simplicity.
Since Buena Vista, Cuban music
has enjoyed greater recognition in the West. A measure of this
is that MCA has recently released Probably the Best Cuban
Album in the World V, and sales are doing fine, thank you very
much. Mainstream music has caught on to these Latin American
sounds, mainly in the form of salsa and merengue, but with
some Cuban influences too. The Ricky Martins and Jennifer
Lopezes of the world do say something about shifting musical
tastes and broader spectrums within commercial pop. Gloria
Estefan is also making a comeback, but with a new focus on
Latin rhythms, collaborating with traditional bands, similar
to those involved in Buena Vista and the Afro Cuban All Stars.
But Gonzalez feels his work is not yet done. Since his
involvement in Sierra Maestra, the Buena Vista Social Club and
the Afro Cuban All Stars, Gonzalez has set up his own
independent productions company Ahora which promotes emerging
talents within Cuba. Plans for the future include what he
calls: Real Contemporary Music. His musical interests now
encompass techno, garage, jungle and rap. "I especially
like rap," he announced. "I want to produce albums
where we rap, but also use flavours that I know well. I don't
like imitators - they produce really bad music. I like pure
things. So we'll put our stamp of creativity on these things.
For example, I like the idea of rapping in Spanish with an
African drum beat. Why not? We'll do these things, and we'll
see what happens." I can't suppress a smile as he says
this, imagining that he must have made similar statements at
the birth of the Buena Vista Social Club.
Gonzalez's confidence and
unpretentious philosophy give him the courage to push musical
boundaries. His music is always honest, a progression of what
he has known, seen, borrowed and reinvented. It's amazing to
think that the music from a country which until five years ago
was entirely divorced from the Western world, can now have
such a huge impact. He takes his troops of older men and
traditional music across America and Europe, evolving as they
play, absorbing what they hear. They're amusingly incongruous
to the international pop scene, and yet have a vast following
which overshadows the likes of The Spice Girls and U2.
"Without looking to the
past, you cannot look to the future," Gonzalez explains,
adamant that he will
have the last word. "My work uses Cuban roots and the
richest cultural sounds to produce contemporary
music, the secrets of Son chords, mixed with a new style. We
are 100 per cent Cuban, but always updating and always
contemporary."
The Afro Cuban All Stars
featuring Felix Baloy will play at the Brighton Corn Exchange,
Feb 4. Tel: 01273 709709
copyright New Insight 2000
|
