Israel Rojas claims that the album, which will premiere on Tuesday, opens a new creative cycle. Author: Enrique Gonzalez Diaz
A record that focuses on the desire to accompany and care for another as much or more than we are protected in what we can call “home” or “home”. That’s for sure Housingthe new album that the popular band Buena Fe is bringing to digital platforms this Tuesday, which “opens a new creative cycle for the musical group.”
he confesses to rebellious youth Israel Rojas, director of this group, who managed to remain in the favor of Cubans and many friends from other parts of the world, because Buena Fe grows up in the challenge of “picturing” life in all its dimensions in songs, rather than they have abandoned their spirit of questioning, belonging, desire to do for the nation and humanity.
“And also the disks survivor And carnal I consider them two sides of the same coin, since they are works of introspection, internal search and anthropocentric reflections, I can say that Housing it has an extroverted, empathetic and supportive nature,” says the famous musician, adding that this is a record born after two years of imprisonment, “when many of us rediscovered the importance of small “everyday worlds” that protect us and must definitely return to physical communication, in addition to social networks.
-IN Housing You have also worked with many young people… Why does Buena Fe like to join them?
“Yoel and I have always imagined Buena Fe as a workshop for collective creativity. And young people are always distinguished by freshness, novelty, impulse and audacity to most of the tasks they undertake. While we don’t take on music production unless we’re clear about the specific goals, concepts, and time it needs to take place, we love adding young musicians, designers, and sound engineers who take on challenges in a different, revolutionary, and perfect path.project.
“This album features young arrangers such as Thiago Felipe, Daniel Torres Corona, Eduardo Corcho Torres, as well as the pianist and teacher Ernesto Oliva and the still very young – although already famous – Vicente Alejandro Trigo. All together with the band’s regulars Ernesto Cisneros Chino and Yoel Martinez himself, joined this time by drummer Maykel Perez Leyva. The collaboration of Aryan Rodriguez Alvarez as a recording assistant was very helpful and important. The boys from the Boyeros Band were also there, with Daya in front. Young graphic designers Gurley Cruanhas Pérez and Emilio Ferras Almaguer under the direction of our team member Gabriel Davalos.
“I hope that those who worked with us in their youth always had a positive idea of how to approach a career (music or any other) with seriousness, perseverance, perseverance, respect from all points of view, without losing a good mood and understanding that fun and rigor are incompatible.
How would you rate the work done to achieve Housing? What difficulties did they have to face?
“It was the most difficult record we’ve ever made. Against the backdrop of a pandemic, no more and no less. Recording studios are the perfect place to transmit any influenza illness, no matter how subtle. Then we became independent artists again, which means that we do not have financial support from any record label.
“It was a risky and under-investment in the midst of an inflationary spiral. But the most difficult thing happened in the social sphere. The pandemic has exacerbated a kind of “post-truth” infodemic that has gained notoriety thanks to social media algorithms owned by business conglomerates with little or no social responsibility. Cuba does not avoid what is happening on the planet.
“The type of song that we cultivate has been out of fashion for a long time. Poems are read less. The cultural industry needs quick and easy hits. And art that makes you think, that puts ideas into circulation, that runs the risk of challenging what is “politically correct” within the norms of “real socialism” or mainstream liberalism, will always be ridiculed or vehemently attacked. The idea, after all, is to achieve an artist obedient to “official thought”, but big capital and big corporations.
“We have never been interested in making art that makes people worse. Let it make us vile among ourselves. Music that causes resentment, hatred, antipathy. So it was a very hostile period for us, but especially for our families. The great problem was that not one ounce of all this poison should enter the house or the soul. We intend to continue to strive for the growth and conscientiousness of people. I hope we succeeded.”
-Subject Coffee was the first advance Housingwhich features arrangements, recording and guitars by Yoel, one of the band’s founding members…
“This is a song written by Andres Suarez and me. It was presented last November on digital platforms with a wonderful arrangement by Yoel and a very good video by Leandro de la Rosa. The song never ceases to amaze us and give us wonderful experiences. It becomes necessary at concerts. I have to thank Egrem, our distributor in the country and our artistic company, who helped to popularize this song among the Cuban public.
– Having already a dozen records, how would you describe this new production in your creative life and in the life of the band?
— This production was a challenge from all points of view. But this is already a very expensive record for me. Success or not, that’s 14 songs loaded up the mountain. Each of them left wounds and scars. The Cuba that we are so proud of in our first ten albums is no more. There is one more thing. And it will have to be told and sung out of love at a time when hatred is growing in the great markets of the word.
– Given the realities in which we live, we can say that it is not enough to have a good package of songs, because there are maneuvers so that such music is not heard …
It’s never enough to have a pack of songs. Polo Montañez said it over 20 years ago: “How many poets fill their drawers with interesting things that are true.” The best thing to do is to concentrate on doing well what is under his control: music, sound recording and audiovisual art that take advantage of the digital age, concerts with the highest possible quality and absolute respect for the audience. Everything else is inaccessible to the artist.
“And with regard to Cuba, there is a culture war that whoever does not want to see is because they are either blind or on the side of the aggressor. Just as the American press itself once in 2014 exposed USAID’s subversive maneuvers against Cuba using young Cuban urban artists. Just as it is already known (by itself) today that the “Havana Syndrome” was a lie on which to justify the dismantling of the rapprochement between Washington and Havana under the Trump administration. Likewise, one day the truth about how the trophy and kill system in the media will be revealed. I hope I live to see it.”
– New record, other projects, Buena Fe does not stop … why are there unwilling?
“I am happy that I have the friends and enemies I deserve. So much has been written about me, I have been hunted so much by words, they have so clouded me that there are people who sincerely believe that I was born in a golden cradle or that I enjoy privileges. They tried to make me toxic in the artistic environment. In some cases and with some people they succeeded. But my son and daughters know the truth. My sisters, my nephews. My dad died proud of me and my mom is still proud of me. Any claims, with her… (Laughter).
I have no other power than to feel free. Free to accept the hug of a child or the insult of someone who needs to speak out. I’m not hiding from myself and I’m not afraid to be who I am. I walk around Cuba and beyond knowing that I did no harm. This was enough for me. Nothing that happened, for better or worse, stopped me from writing songs. It’s that on my 50th birthday (which is this Tuesday) I’ve proven that I’m doing productively well or less badly. And all this is due to—or despite—my political ideology, my imperfections, or my bad days.
What are you looking for in your songs?
— Buena Fe strives to create music that creates an atmosphere of peace, constructive reflection, love and harmony. Buena fe is committed to ensuring that our music helps those who listen to it to be happy, wherever they are and without any conditions. Buena Fe is a group of friends who have different views, and despite this, they built something where there was nothing. Buena Fe does not have all the answers or solutions to the problems of this country or the world; but he believes that through song he can contribute to making this world and this country a better place.
Source: Juventud Rebelde