Son Radical's revolution against kitsch: an interview with Juan-Carlos Formell

Born in Havana in 1964 and currently residing in New York, the innovative Cuban singer/songwriter/guitarist/bassist Juan-Carlos Formell--rebellious son of the primordial songo pioneer, grandson of a Havanese philharmonic conductor, and great-grandson of a bandleader from Santiago de Cuba, the island's second largest city--has expanded the definition of Latin music, using progressive rhythms and harmonies that go beyond the commercial parameters of the conservative Latin music establishment.

The following interview was conducted at one of those tiny but deliciously spicy Thai restaurants on the wrong side of Hollywood. As documented below, Juan-Carlos pulls no strings and tells it like it is ...

LUIS TAMARGO: I've noticed that your guitar playing incorporates elements of feeling (or filin) as well as notions of traditional Cuban music ...

JUAN-CARLOS FORMELL: I had been learning to play guitar since I was about six years old. By the time I was eleven, I was playing an uncommon mixture of film and traditional things. My initial instructor was Froilan (Amezaga), Elena Burke's accompanist, who never failed to give me the following advice, at a time when I didn't have any particular sense of style: "Never change the way you play because that's what you're all about. The only thing that matters is that is sounds right."

LT: You have lived in exile since 1993, when you had to swim across the Rio Grande to request political asylum in the U.S.A. What are the main choices available to the musicians in the Cuban Diaspora?

JCF: When a Cuban musician leaves the island, he/she is faced with three main options. There is the path of nostalgia (interpreting standards like Son de la Loma, Lagrimas Negras, etc.) and there is the path of assimilation, of becoming the bass player of the trombone player of whatever for Britney Spears, Madonna, Neil Diamond or any other established U.S. act. This second choice enables you to make a living, but you're not being Cuban, you're not playing Cuban music. Even it you're playing congas, you're only giving a little bit of flavor because you're basically hired to provide the background for (North) American music. The third choice is to let some non-Cuban producer (who doesn't know anything about Cuban music) utilize your voice, instrumental playing, arrangements and/or compositions to artificially construct something for himself calling it "Cuban," as in the case of certain "Cuban rap" acts. The producer elaborates a product that's supposed to be "hip" and "modern," using elements that he regards as "Cuban." In reality the Cuban elements are harnessed like horses to a different carriage, and the carriage belongs to the producer and everyone takes it seriously and raves about how "hip" and "modern" it is ... Instead of following such paths, I've decided to continue to be Cuban, to be myself, and to move forward as if I was living in my own  country. The sad reality is that Cuban musicians leave their country of origin because they're not allowed to be themselves, but they come to another place where they find another kind of repression--the repression of ignorance and chusmeria and the repression of being stuck in the same nostalgic kitsch, and my new album (Son Radical, to be released by Narada on August 15, 2006) is precisely a revolution against kitsch.

LT: In conjunction with bassist Carlitos del Puerto and drummer Jimmy Branly, you have created a rock-con-clave idiom that eludes categorization, as illustrated on the debut of your trio.

JCF: What I try to demonstrate with this recording is that the musical culture of my native land is as profound as the musical culture of my adopted country. The absence of any consistent Cuban percussion is precisely the key to our musical secret. The well-informed listeners will know and understand where the clave and other percussive elements are meant to be located, because the percussion is present in an implicit manner. Son Radical aims to create a clave-based rock-son idiom that utilizes the energy extracted from our Afro-Cuban roots. Our music demonstrates that it is possible to be representatives of a nation that has some dignity, some culture and some history that wasn't fabricated last Thursday ... As long as Fin connected to the roots, I feel capable of penetrating and exploring any musical territories. Fundamented on a pure and simple rock'n'roll trio structure, Son Radical presents a challenge to those Cuban musicians who are afraid to play in a numerically reduced format, in which the trumpets and other instruments are absent. Therefore, our trio recording represents a fearless form of Cuban music, without any prefabrication of premeditation, and open to criticism by Cubans and non-Cubans.

LT: Inspired by the literary legacy of Jose Marti, Nicolas Guillen, etc, Son Radical's first outing is a sort of meditation about the Afro-Hispanic identity in the history of the Western Hemisphere.

JCF: This is why it starts with the track titled Congo E', which identifies where it's coming from. This is about keeping history alive, in a meaningful way. As opposed to being pushed into the prevalent stereotypes designed to market U.S. Latin musicians as gangsters from the barrio, our music contains spiritual and intellectual elements, in addition to its own historical perspective.

LT: The CD's final tune (Divina Luz) is truly amazing, as you join forces in a moving vocal duet with a wonderful guest artist, the young Cuban-Angelina diva known as Alondra B.

JCF: That's right. It is quite difficult to find someone like Alondra B., capable of magnificently combining the last track's dual nature--its spiritual essence and its Caribbean flavor.

LT: Any final comments in relation to Son Radical?

JCF: What remains to be seen is if it is possible to be an artist in this country when you're doing something that's real and not controlled by a clique, something that's not manufactured by a producer or doesn't fit into a category. Is it possible?

JUAN-CARLOS FORMELL'S PARTIAL DISCOGRAPHY:

AS A LEADER: Songs from a Little Blue, House (BMG, 1999) The Streets of Paradise (Narada, 2002) Cemeteries & Desire (Narada, 2005)

WITH SON RADICAL: Son Radical (Narada, 2006)

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