The Latin Institute of Music (ILM) celebrates its 101st anniversary in defense of Latin American culture and does so with a phonogram dedicated to the great Alicia Alonso, the first CD produced together with the Recording and Musical Editions Company (EGREM).
Daniel Martin, president of the ILM, commented from Mexico, exclusively with the Cuban News Agency, on the celebration of the 101st anniversary of said institution, and on “Alicia”, the tribute album to the Prima Ballerina Assoluta.
Through the ILM, he pointed out, so many Cubans have passed throughout history, such as Ernesto Lecuona, and today, others such as Edesio Alejandro, Leo Brower, Los Van Van, to cite a few examples.
“We have two stars of the century, who are Cuban: Alicia Alonso and Benny Moré, and we are really building more and more bridges between the two nations in order to defend the same goals, whether it is the declaration of Bolero as Intangible Heritage of Humanity, like so many other things that we will have to be defending together as an Ibero-American and Latin American vision,” he said.
“Although the pandemic changed the design that we had planned for the celebration of this centenary, we have been able to reinvent everything, we started with the Network of Musical Reference Cities of Ibero-America, which the first was Santiago de Cuba, received it last year, and the second will be this year in Mexico, which we still cannot reveal, and from there, we will have that network of cultural and academic exchange for the approval of all our peoples”, he continued.
He indicated that “the character of Tito Reacciona has arrived with great, great force in Latin America with his series, his books, which are already in Braille and audiobook format, and really, I would say that to close this celebration with a flourish, we have the news of the release of “Alicia”, which is the Centenary album of the Prima Ballerina Assoluta Alicia Alonso”.
“Alicia” is the first phonogram co-produced by ILM with EGREM, and Martín thanked the company for its trust in being able to produce this collection of 12 songs featuring glories of our Cuban culture such as Chucho Valdés, Beatriz Márquez, and intellectuals such as Miguel Barnet. and Eliseo Diego.
From the ILM, Frank Fernández, Edesio Alejandro, Jorge Saade (Ecuador), and honorary members such as Cristian Alejandro and Jerónimo Sada (Mexico) join the phonogram.
“It really was an arduous task, because there was a lot of material and above all to achieve, from sound design and mastering, that everything that had been recorded in the 80s and 90s had the same universe, that they were in time and space harmonically in the same collection of 12 songs”, he detailed.
“I hope that this, which is already arriving at Cubadisco and will soon be presented, will be well received by critics and the public alike,” said the ILM president.
He shared that the way forward for the Institute is to continue “developing our hard work of cultural and academic exchange throughout Ibero-America with the forthcoming publication of new agreements, audiovisual, musical and editorial productions, where Cuba has and will always have a first-rate place.” , won by the centuries of art that guarantee it”.
“Cuba and Mexico are increasingly united, and for me it is an honor to continue serving our entire Cuban culture from here,” he said.
