Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
New York, Jul 10.- Cuban music today in the United States has a public that follows and respects it, said Manolito Simonet, founder and director of one of the most popular orchestras on the island.
Known in the artistic environment as Manolito Simonet y su Trabuco, the group, born in Havana in 1993, is touring different American cities.
For us it is a privilege that turning 30 we can celebrate not only in Cuba, but also having performed first in Peru, a country always close to the orchestra's discography, and now here, he said in an exclusive interview with Prensa Latina in New York, one of the scales.
Simonet thanked the audience for the reception at each of the presentations and this reunion because they had not come to the United States four years ago.
That is why on this 12-concert tour they decided to take a "tour through the entire discography," he said.
We also give the public the possibility to choose what they want to hear and I think it has been formidable because, because it allowed us to remember songs that, for example, we hadn't played in 20 years, he confessed.
People accepted it, they have assimilated it, because Trabuco's discography has had very good significance in America in general and here in the United States above all, Simonet affirmed.
For the self-taught composer, arranger and pianist, although Cuban music may not have the support of multinationals, it is present everywhere and continues to be the preference of many in the world.
He anticipated that after this tour "there will be some concerts in Cuba, we plan to go to Colombia and return to the United States at the end of the year and then travel to Europe."
His purpose is to continue exporting Cuban music to the world, especially to those who like Trabuco and he referred to the talent of new additions to the group, "so we are going to continue working for another 30 years."
When asked about his native Camagüey (province in the central east of Cuba), Simonet said that it is there where his family and friends are, "from the spiritual point of view it is the place where I always go to recharge the battery."
But it is there where the source of his musical influences is, because "I think it is a mixture of the Camagüeyan trova that is a little different from that of other provinces," he stressed.
He also highlighted having received the “influence of people who at the time when I was inclined towards music were very popular in Cuba such as the Rumbahavana ensemble, the Aragón orchestra; later Los Van Van and Adlaberto Álvarez, a very close reference”.
My work is a mixture of what the group was at that time and the jazz band, of the brass band, when I entered the Maravilla de Florida and in the end the Trabuco is that, he emphasized.
Manolito y su Trabuco's concert in New York took place in one of the most legendary places in the city, SOB's (short for Sounds of Brazil), a space located in the heart of Manhattan, founded by Larry Gold in 1982 with the purpose of to spread Afro-Latin music.
Belén's wedding, And Still Not, I Leave You Free, Going out with you, El Águila, Locos por mi Habana and You told me lies, were some of the songs performed, chanted and danced almost entirely by the attendees.
The heat that New York feels these days in July was joined by that other one of those who accompanied Trabuco in the SOB's.
They have already been to Miami, Virginia and Connecticut. Also in Atlanta and ahead they have commitments in Los Angeles and San Francisco (California) and in Seattle (Washington).
Daniel Donayre, general producer of the group's current tour, previously told this reporter: "Manolito celebrating 30 years of artistic career in the United States, I think it's a blessing."
This is not Trabuco's first performance at SOB's, a stage with a reputation earned as stars such as Tito Puente, Marc Anthony and Eddie Palmieri have played here.
He has even been recognized by the Aragón Orchestra, Los Papines, Isac Delgado, the Ignacio Piñeiro National Septet and Los Van Van.
(Text and photo: PL)
