VIVA LA MUSICA
The lilting Latin sound of the Afro-Cuban All Stars conjures up the style, sophistication and swaying soul of Havana’s golden age – when the Buena Vista Social Club was in full swing and musicians were king.
Meet the Afro-Cuban All Stars.
Twenty years ago, a music documentary made by German filmmaker, Wim Wenders, told the story of a bunch of elderly, (mostly) retired, world-class Cuban musicians who had been brought together in a rundown Havana recording studio to re-create the memorable sound of pre-revolutionary, 1950s Havana.
The movie was Buena Vista Social Club, and its charm and musical chops captivated moviegoers around the world. Three albums were released to coincide with the film, and for these musos – many of them in their 70s and 80s – a second career was born, touring the world as Buena Vista Social Club.
The man credited with bringing Buena Vista Social Club into being was local bandleader Juan de Marcos González – who combined his own band, the Afro-Cuban All Stars, with a number of virtually forgotten musical legends, like singer Ibrahim Ferrer and piano player Rubén González, to create the super-group that played in the film and on the albums.
The son of an old-style Cuban musician himself, Juan was more interested in rock music growing up than the traditional chachachà, bolero or salsa Cuba is better known for. “I loved bands like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. My friends and I made a band, we sang in English and we’d play covers, but we liked making new arrangements and playing them in a different way,” he remarks. After studying engineering, Juan became a lecturer at Havana University, but continued to play music in the city’s bars and clubs at night. By the age of 24, he’d formed Sierra Maestra, a group that aimed to revive the traditional son cubano, or Cuban sound, the island nation was once famous for.
They became the number-one band in Cuba, and toured Australia twice to great acclaim – performing at WOMADelaide in 1994. By the time music producers Ry Cooder and Nick Gold and filmmaker Wim Wenders arrived in Cuba in 1996 seeking to fan the flame of traditional Cuban music, Juan had formed a new band christened the Afro-Cuban All Stars – to which he added piano, congas and a trumpet section, giving the ensemble an even bigger sound.
Since then, Juan says, there have been “eight generations” of the AfroCuban All Stars. Today, the band is a 14-piece outfit, with musicians aged from 23 to 45. “To earn more money,” says Juan, “it would be better to have a smaller band, but this is not what I want. I want [our band] to represent all of the music of Cuba, and for that, we need this many musicians.”
At 65, Juan – who plays the traditional tres guitar and shares the singing duties with acclaimed Cuban singer Emilio Suarez – is now the elder statesman, and the equivalent of those musicians he looked up to in his early playing days. “People who come to our gigs get a little piece of Cuba, of our culture,” he says. “Music is so important in Cuba, it’s like food. Our goal is that people who hear us play are happier than before, because the most important thing in life is to be happy.”
Despite his own passion, Juan tried to dissuade his two daughters, Glicy and Laura, from becoming musicians “because it’s so difficult to live”. Both college students in the US, they also perform with the band – Laura on clarinet, and Glicy on vibraphone and keyboards, alongside Juan’s wife Gliceria on Afro-Cuban percussion.
The appetite for traditional Cuban music worldwide has only increased in the 20 years since the Buena Vista Social Club was born, and this year, Juan and his band will do a 32-date tour of Europe, Australia and the US.
“I have eaten kangaroo. I loved it but it’s a little strong for me now,” Juan says of his upcoming visit Down Under. “At my age it’s not so healthy. I would like to keep playing and live to 95.”
• The Afro-Cuban All Stars play Australia March 21 to 30.