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Pedrito Martinez connected with Panama
26June
Articles

Pedrito Martinez connected with Panama

In the key of jazz, son, timba, folk and Afro-Cuban rhythms, the group of Pedrito Martinez satisfied a public hungry for dance at the closing of the Panama Jazz Festival concerts at the Ateneo of the City of Knowledge in Panama.

The Cuban musician, based in New York, was amazed and grateful to the reception and delivered a welcoming Panamanian audience. "The best audience we've ever had." I front of the stage, dozens of people tirelessly danced songs such as Luna and Buscando guayaba, the latter by the Panamanian singer Ruben Blades.

The Cuban percussionist is admired by musicians of the caliber of Paul Simon, Eric Clapton and others who have gone to see him play in the restaurant-club Guantanamera, New York.

What does it mean to you to have been nominated for the Grammy?

It is the gateway to a new and better beginning. It took us by surprise. We began a little late the process of sending the album to the Grammy, but it seems that the Academy liked it, and it was worth it. It was an interesting product that was made with love, and special guests who are there are people of high level. We are very pleased with the nomination, everyone is: fans and family. As artists, unquestionably it puts us on another level.

Tell us about the new member in the band. How did you find him?

Edgar Pantoja is a great pianist and composer of Santiago de Cuba, and we did not find him: he was always there. In fact, when the pianist could not play, he was one of the alternates we used. He has always been connected to the group, and is a great musician.

Do you participate in the creation of the concepts of the music videos that the group records?

No, I do not.  Most of the videos are made by others. They are people who come to see us, record them and upload them to the Internet.

What’s the relation in playing in rumba and jazz groups? To what do you owe your devotion to the genre if in the nineties you played rumba in Key West?

I did not listen to jazz in Cuba as a result of the situation that existed that it was not allowed to listen to American music. When I came in '98, the situation had changed, and the first opportunity to work with a group of jazz was a saxophonist named Jean Monnet, who was the person who got me out of Cuba with a group also formed by Eladio Duran, great Cuban pianist Pancho Quinto, a well known drummer on the island. Then the first experience with jazz was with her when I was still in Cuba, coincidentally on a project she had with Cuban musicians for a tour of Canada and the United States. With Monnet we did much jazz, but I began to play it in American groups in New York.

Cuban rumba and jazz have something in common. The rumba is a lot of improvisation of singer with the dancer, and in jazz there is also a lot of improvisation. It was not difficult to identify myself with jazz, because I come from playing folk music and in it there is so much improvisation in jazz.

What did it mean to you that Ariadna Trujillo, your previous pianist, suddenly left the band?

Ariadna decided to start her own project. She had many ideas and many things she had written. We sat down and agreed it was time she made her solo career. She brought to group countless of spectacular ideas, and her presence in the group was very strong. But there are stages. I did so one day, and can happen at any given time with Alvaro if any record company offers her an X project.

You've changed a lot as a pianist, but you keep the same rhythm.

Yes, definitely we keep the same essence, the same sound, the same rumba.

What does the Master Tata Guines mean to you?

Tata was, is and always will be one of the great drummers of Cuba. He was a mentor to me. I spent three years playing with Tata in Cuba before coming to the United States, and he taught me a lot. I tuned the congas to Tata at concerts before starting to play, to practice a little bit, because I did not have congas in Cuba. He called me "Chiquito": "Hey, Chiquito." To me he is a genius, and I learned a lot from him.

What is your role model in the world of percussion?

There are many drummers that I love, and I have learned from all: Changuito José Luis Quintana, Giovanni Hidalgo, Tata Guines -Arístides Soto, Tato Valdes, Ramon Santamaria, Armando Peraza, Ray Barreto 'I love it-, Orestes Vilató ... They are so many.

Many say you are the Chano Pozo today. What does this mean to you?

It is a huge responsibility. It fills me with joy and love that people put me at that level. I feel I am continuing a mission that they started years ago. I'm trying to do the best I can. If someone got me there, I'm glad, and I will try to honor it.

Is it possible you do a job with the master Ruben Blades?

That work already began. Ruben will be singing with us on Sunday and will be the producer of the next album, which supposedly will be recorded in April. And I really hope that this collaboration will open the doors of Latin America, because unfortunately we have visited it a little. Panama is the second Latin American country where we are. The first was Colombia, which we have visited twice.

How you identify your music?

The question of the century. I always wonder how I would describe my music. I come to play folk music. I came to the US and fifty percent of the musical knowledge I have learned it there. All of us have a lot of influence from various cultures. New York is a city where, if you want to learn to play jazz, jazz musicians are the best. If you want to learn to play pop, and the best pop groups are there. If you want to learn to play Brazilian music, you also find them there.