MIAMI, United States. – Santiago musician Emilio Ibáñez has become one of the most passionate defenders of Cuban music in Madrid, Spainwhere he resides and performs regularly.
In a recent interview with Cuba Diarythe musician spoke about his work, his love for his Cuban roots and his opinion on the island’s regime.
For the man from Santiago, defending Cuban music is a question of identity. “First, being as simple as possible, because it is very good and what is very good must be defended,” he said.
He also suggested that his love for Cuban music intensified when he emigrated: “When you go away, you get a different perspective on things. I was always a fan of pop, flamenco, rock. I still am. But when you emigrate, that longing begins that makes you investigate more, because in order to defend your roots you have to know them.”
Ibáñez studied at the Esteban Salas Conservatory in Santiago de Cubawhere he specialized in saxophone, despite his predilection for singing and guitar. His career began at the Teatro Guiñol in Santiago de Cuba, and he later moved to Quito, Ecuador, after an invitation to work there.
Despite living outside of Cuba, he frequently returns to the Island to visit his family and, when he has the opportunity, he sings for Cubans living in the largest of the Antilles.
“If I introduced myself before, when I lived there, and I said practically the same thing I say now (…), how can I not introduce myself now? I am a musician. There are people who are against the dictatorship who will listen to me when I go to Cuba. We have to learn to live with our opinions. The truth is there, but how do you make someone understand if you distance yourself? What I can’t do is to make them understand it.” [es] playing in a place where I know I am committing myself to a dictatorship that is destroying my country.”
The need to denounce the situation in Cuba is a recurring theme for the musician, as he admitted: “I think that, beyond quarrels, first we have to be honest. And second, Cuba has a reality that is too entrenched and if we don’t say things, many people don’t find out and remain asleep.”
He also acknowledged that some artists prefer not to get involved politically, a position he considered too comfortable: “There are those who think that because they are artists, they do not get involved. That is respectable, but it is too comfortable a position to be a human being.”
The musician from Santiago, who for now will continue to bring the traditional rhythms of the island to Madrid, concluded: “Defending Cuban music is defending who I am.”
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