UPCLOSE & PERSONAL WITH DAVID CALZADO

By Venus Vega & Marcelo Lecours

On October 19th, 2000 one of the greatest Timba bands to ever come out of Cuba, La Charanga Habanera, started off their world tour at the Cristal Nightclub in MiamiBeach, FL. My fiancé Venus and I were lucky enough to be part of that exciting event. When it was all over, we both agreed that it was an experience that neither of us would soon forget. Here's how it went down.

Venus and I arrived at the club at approximately 6:00pm and waited for the event's promoter, Hugo Cancio, to show up. While we waited in the empty club she and I went over the questions we were going to ask Calzado. Meanwhile, you could feel the action starting to stir as the roadies were setting up all the equipment and doing the sound check and the protesters stood outside the club yelling at anyone who walked in or out of the building. Protesters? Yes... and plenty of them! They were mostly older men and women. Members of the Cuban exile community who were protesting the fact that La Charanga Habanera were playing in Miami. Without getting to deep into the reasons of their protests, they were demonstrating because they felt that the money made by the band that evening was going to go straight into the pocket of the communist dictator Fidel Castro.

At approximately 10:00pm Hugo Cancio walked into the nightclub accompanied by David Calzado. It was the moment we had been waiting for! We were so excited. Finally, after meeting with Hugo and allowing sufficient time for Calzado to make his rounds and say hello to the other people who were waiting for him in the club, Venus and I were escorted into a small storage room in the upper part of the club. Inside, waiting for us, was David Calzado.

He was an extremely nice guy and he made us feel very welcome. He answered all of our questions and never made us feel rushed. In fact, in the middle of our interview the caterers walked into the room with big containers full of food followed by a few of the band members who were very eager to come in and grab a bite to eat. He looked at them sharply like a father looks at one of his children and told them to wait outside...he was busy. I assured him that I could wait until he and the others ate something. I knew they had just flown into town and must have been very hungry. But he wouldn't hear of it. He insisted on letting me continue with the interview. He was a really, really nice guy!

Marcelo: A while back you changed all the members of the band, and for a while Charanga Habanera was kind of quiet. However, with the release of this new CD, "El Charanguero Mayor" La Charanga is back in the limelight. Have you found that it was harder to achieve success the second time around?

Calzado: Well, you have to understand, that given the current situation in Cuba, people on the outside are usually a bit behind on the news. However, the truth is we were only out of the scene for approximately two months. We came back on to the scene around the end of September and by January, when they conducted the polls for the most popular band of the year, we came out on top. In just four short months, we beat out the second place winner, Issac Delgado, by 15,000 votes. Now this doesn't mean that I think we are the best, it simply means that the people chose us as the best...as the most popular band on the island. Personally, I don't think that it's possible to have a "best artist" or "best band". The fact is that there are just so many greats that who can really decide among them?

Marcelo: Did you meet all the members of the new Charanga Habanera at the same time and decide they would be "the ones" or did you select them one by one?

Calzado: Actually, they had their own band when I met them. They were called "Los Chicos de la Salsa". I had seen them perform a few times before and instantly recognized their talent. However, being a typical "kid's band", they were very disorganized. They needed a leader that could mold their talent and maximize their full potential. I picked the best ones and brought them into my world. They are all under 30 years old with the exception of Carmelo the trumpet player from the original line up and myself...I'm 42 although I look 20!

Venus: How much time does the band spend rehearsing and fine tuning the routine?

Calzado: When we're in Cuba we practice Monday through Friday, from 2:00pm to 8:00pm. We rehearse in a pretty bad neighborhood known as "El Fanguito". It's not really that it's a bad neighborhood because of the people. Quite the contrary, the people there are exceptional. It's just a very poor neighborhood or as we say, "en candela". We like practicing there because there's always people on the streets hanging around and they always come to hear us play. That's why we have been so successful. You can't ask for better critics than those guys. That's how we know what songs will work and which ones won't. If they don't move to the music, we know the rest of the island won't either.

Marcelo: With the widespread success that the Buena Vista Social Club has had throughout the United States, many Americans only know this side of Cuban music. Many of them think that this is basically the only music Cuba has to offer. How do you think La Charanga Habanera can show the people of the U.S. what Cuba is really listening to?

Calzado: I'll be perfectly frank with you Marcelo. We won't really ever be able to show them until we find our own Ry Cooder. Without the money necessary to properly market our music on a global basis it's impossible. I think that what Buena Vista Social Club is doing is fantastic, in fact, one of my band members was part of that recording. He is only 16 years old! They invited him to go on a world tour with them and he declined because he preferred to be a member of La Charanga Habanera. Not because we're better, it's just that what we're doing is of his generation...his time. But I am very happy for the Buena Vista Social Club because they are the roots of everything that we are doing today and will be doing tomorrow. They are the fathers of our music and our culture. I just hope that I get discovered before I'm 90 years old like Compay Segundo!

Marcelo: Cuba has given us so many forms of beautiful music. It's given us the Rumba, the Son, the Charanga, the Cha cha cha and now Timba. Timba is such a complex genre with such rich rhythm and diverse melodies that it's really hard to imagine there being anything more than this. Do you think that Cuban music has peaked now with the birth of Timba? Is this as good as it can possibly get?

Calzado: Look here brother, the peak of Cuban music does not exist. It's like with the evolution of Rock. The Rock bands today don't sound like the Beatles, yet they carry a little of the Beatles in them. It's the same with Cuban music, it keeps evolving and changing into new forms, yet you can't honestly say that one form is better than the other because they come from the same seed.

Venus: What do you envision as the future of Cuban music? What comes next?

Calzado: Well, in Cuba right now there are four main acts. There were many more before but now it's basically Los Van Van, Paulito FG, Issac Delgado and us. The reason that most of the other great groups like NG La Banda have begun to fade out is because they have remained static. They have been playing the same salsa for so long that it has become saturated. For now it doesn't really seem like any other group is really going to stick out. However, that won't be for long. There will always be new groups and the birth of one will bring with it the death of another. That's just the way it is and really the only way it should be. I wouldn't want it any other way. But I've been very fortunate because I have enjoyed the success of my music for the past 11 years...that's not easy.

Venus: I was in Cuba during the Festival de la Juventud and witnessed the incident which allegedly caused the suspension of la Charanga Habanera for 6 months. Were you all really suspended for that long?

Calzado: Well, we were suspended for 6 months but we only served 3 months. It started out as a sad time for us but than later became one of the highlights of my career because the people demanded our return. They just couldn't live without us! You're from Cuba so you know how it is, the people always crave whatever is prohibited.

Marcelo: Being a Cuban from the island and now finding yourself here among the "other" Cubans, the ones from la Yuma (the U.S.), what goes through your mind. How do you feel about it?

Calzado: Well, to be totally honest, I feel really touched. I am not blind. I know what the situation is and I know the mixed emotions many people feel. I saw the people outside protesting when I drove up tonight. Then to come in here and see so many people that have made the choice to come and share this night with us despite the tensions and despite the dangers or criticism they might face...I am really moved.

Marcelo: If you could have the chance to talk to those people outside who are protesting the fact that you are here tonight, what would you say to them?

Calzado: I would tell them the same thing I would like to tell the people that came tonight to hear me perform. I love you all. After all, the fact remains that we are still Cubans. We all love Cuba so why shouldn't we love each other. Besides, they are barking up the wrong tree. I'm not a politician...I am an artist. If I were French or Chinese it wouldn't make a difference. I am just an artist who wants to make music, nothing more nothing less. •