The festival Havana World Music (HWM) It returns after two years of forced pandemic recess with three days of music, renowned authors and the desire to become a “reference for Latin America,” its artistic director, singer-songwriter Eme (M) Alfonso, assures Efe in an interview.
“It is a festival of colors, diversities and a meeting of cultures, also to learn, which has required complex preparation in a slower and more uncertain scenario, with the fear that it cannot be done”, says the young artist about the difficulties due to COVID-19.
But, for her, “the last thing that is lost is the faith and optimism of those of us who work at the festival, which is a joy, a party” and values the “symbolism” of this moment, in which “there is a different scenario whom we leave in 2020”.
Supported by her team of producers —made up mostly of women accustomed to “facing life with great force”— M has resumed the musical project that she has led for seven years.
For this edition, it has convened a poster of Cuban and foreign musicians who will perform at the usual venue of the festival, the Club 500 José Antonio Echeverría, and the Fábrica de Arte Cubano (FAC). However, the presentations initially scheduled for this Thursday will be rescheduleds, due to the conditions weatherthe organizers recently pointed out.
“I am very curious about the moment of the meeting of the artists and the Cuban public. It is the return of the people to the artists and of the artists to the public after more than two years”, confesses Eme.
The comeback poster
Eme Alfonso highlights the diversity of its guests, one of the hallmarks of the HWM, along with the search for international music with a seal of “quality”, although it is not always the best known.
For this occasion, the program includes Havana Meets Kingston, a project conceived between Australia, Jamaica and Cuba, devised by Jake Savona, an Australian producer of reggae which has brought together musicians from the three countries.
Other guests are the Brazilian singer-songwriter Rommel, author of the album karawara, with which he pays homage to the indigenous peoples of the world; and the Colombian guitarist Mateo, based in Canada and considered an outstanding artistic figure of the Latin New Wave.
Also from Canada will be musician Waahli, one of the main members of the independent multicultural hip-hop group Nomadic Massive; and the Haitian Wesli, who will show his music influenced by rhythms such as soul and jazz and texts that transmit messages of hope, truth and peace.
They are joined by a group of Cuban musicians such as the avant-garde jazz band Real Project and the proposal of Nube Roja, a young group that mixes elaborate arrangements and lyrics.
The icing on the cake for the representatives of the island will be the iconic singer-songwriter Carlos Varela and the composer, performer and visual artist X Alfonso, brother of Ene and promoter of the FAC multicultural project, to whom the organizers have commissioned the closing concert next Saturday 28 , which will include songs from his next album, Inside.
A festival in perspective
“We want to reach an international audience, evolve as a sustainable festival and for the festival to become a benchmark for Latin America,” says its manager.
Location is key, according to Eme: “Havana is a cultural capital. For many artists in the world it is the place where every musician wants to come to give a concert”.
“Our idea is to expand both the programming and the public and contribute to the local economy and for the event to generate income for the community and for everyone,” he says.
She perceives that now “there is a lot of fury with the return of live music”, once the worst of the pandemic seems to be behind us.
“We have to embrace that desire for the next two or three years to be face-to-face and once this one is over we will be generating (initiatives) for the next festival,” he argues.
The singer-songwriter, born into a family of artists, says she is already brainstorming ideas for next year’s HWM as she prepares for a tour that will take her to Spain, Belgium, Sweden and Portugal in July and August.
The festival will coincide with the release of the album Ancestors Symphonica tribute devised by his brother X for his parents, Carlos Alfonso and Ele Valdés, founders of the prestigious fusion music group Síntesis, with a 45-year career.
Eme affirms that her family “is a team” from which she has received a particular inheritance: “the organization, perseverance and voice” from her mother Ele, the “creativity and ability to dream up projects” comes from her father. From her brother X from her, “the risk”.
