LatAm Musicians to Dedicate CD to Cuban 5

Musicians from Paraguay, Argentina, Chile and Cuba will join their voices and compositions at a CD that will be launched in 2013, in solidarity with the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters unjustly held in the United States since 1998.

In remarks to Prensa Latina, Chilean singer and songwriter Ismael Duran, author of the project, stated that the album includes the participation of renowned artists of the region, such as Vicente Feliu, Andres Ordaz Aguilera (Pepe), Isabel Parra, Leon Gieco and Daniel Viglietti, and bands Manguare (Cuba) and Inti Illimani (Chile).

Singers and composers from Spain, the United States and Canada, as guests, and poems written by Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Rene Gonzalez, will be also included in the CD, the musician noted.

Invited in May to the International Festival Cubadisco 2012, Duran described the work as nice and difficult, while each musician will record the music in the country of origin to later send them to Havana, where the final production will take place, at Havana's Abdala studios.

Although different musical styles, such as hip-hop, will be included, the Latin American traditional music will be prominent in the disc. This gender, according to the trova singer, has achieved to survive the hardships caused by musical market and its commercialization, because "art and cultural roots are still alive thanks to the peoples," he said.

About his work relations with Manguare, a band with which he already recorded the two first tracks of the album, Duran said they dated from his first visit to Cuba some years ago.

I had the opportunity to record a couple of songs with this son band in 2010: "Mi sombrerito cubano" (My Small Cuban Hat) and "Guanabacoa bella" (Beautiful Guanabacoa). The latter awarded as the 2011 Best Latin Song, granted by the John Lennon Foundation in the United States, he noted.

The idea to produce a CD on the occasion of the solidarity with the Cuban antiterrorists emerged on April during the activities carried out in the U.S. city of Washington, as part of the campaign "Five Days for the Cuban Five."

CUBASI.CU