cimafunk he doesn’t stop to think about what his last year in music has been like. I ask him about the meaning of his most recent experiences; she responds with a phrase that skips protocol and sets her own pace to the conversation. “Tremendous, my brother,” says the vocalist via WhatsApp
A little less than six years after his rise to the pinnacle of popularity in Cuba and becoming involved in a sudden theater of emotions, Cimafunk had a 2022 to frame. He was nominated for a Grammy Award with his second album, The food, in the category of best rock or alternative Latin music album; he collaborated with several of his musical heroes and took his Cuban funk halfway around the world.
He had always dreamed of the Grammys, he confesses. And she did it. Today he recapitulates those fresh moments in his memory.
“He was special. Something that I always imagined and wanted finally happened. It was all so fast but at the same time relaxed. Seeing so many artists downloading and hanging around everywhere was super cool,” she says. The crowning glory of that night in Los Angeles was for Cimafunk to listen to Stevie Wonder live. “Incredible, it was the partisan“, he says OnCuba in the purest “Cimafunk style”.
Erick lost his real name along the way, to become that figure that makes the earth vibrate under his feet every time he steps on a stage. His work has been recognized by influential publications such as The New York Times either Rolling Stones, to name two names. However, Cimafunk remains the same, under the stage lights or away from them.
“CiMAFEST is a party full of groove and good vibes. Many lethal artists with super original music and a projection killer; a festival for you rips no mercy”, says the artist about the musical event that is about to begin on April 29 at The Civic Theater in New Orleans.
The “Cima” will have among the guests the Cubans Pedrito Martínez, Brenda Navararrete, La Dame Blanche; American musicians Anjelika “Jelly”, Maurice “Mobetta” Brown, Big Chief Juan, and Haitian singer and guitarist Paul Beaubrun, among others. He hopes it will be a party that strengthens the connections between Cuban and American music; especially the one that is cooked in New Orleans.
The 34-year-old artist is preparing a new album and other collaborative projects with international artists, as well as several concerts in Cuba. But he does not want to advance details of what he assures “will be a surprise”.
For now, keep defending The food, one of his letters of success on international stages after the album Therapy and his main trump card, “I’m leaving”, will sweep Cuba. Cimafunk attributes the success of his second phonogram to the grooves, the texts, the artists who participated. “It’s an album with a lot of content and a lot of flow and Groove.”
The food comprising thirteen songs, it was produced by Jack Splash, a multi-Grammy winner who has worked with musicians including Kendrick Lamar, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Goodie Mob, Valerie June, Tank & the Bangas.
The album not only led him to Grammy nominations, but it has allowed him to confront his expansive sound universe with other artists of international caliber. In addition, he has inserted it into the circuit of major festivals in which not a few artists have asked him about Cuba and his music.
“They almost always ask me about the Buena Vista Social Club; also about the rumba and the funky de Cuba”, recalls Cimafunk, and assures that he is preparing to take new songs out of the oven, made with ingredients that are only obtained in the depths of the Cuban neighborhoods.
That inheritance has allowed him to bring the explosive musical machinery with which he conquered new territories for Cuban music to the brink of combustion.
