All the artists in the project come from different music scenes. How was the experience, your point of view, of the process, giving the project your personal character and working with the personal characteristics of each artist?

I think that’s the most beautiful thing about working on a project with different artists, each come with their own characteristics. People have their own nature, their own vision and the music becomes a mirror of that. And it’s very interesting to capture in music what defines you – as an artist and as a person. But at the same time you have to be able to mix it with the visions and ways of being of the other artists in the project. I think it’s something magical, it’s very beautiful, later when you see the result, you know that you were able to be yourself and be a part of that collaborative process at the same time. I think this project is admirable in this regard and that’s exactly why I’m very happy with our result.

What have you learned from working with the musicians from Germany that you would like to integrate into your future work?

I think there are a lot of things we can learn from the German musicians, and that includes the order, the ability to listen, to understand, to understand what you want or what each artist wants, the discipline. And creatively, they are people that I think are a little bit calmer and I think they have a little bit more concentration, more thought process when it comes to creating and that’s admirable. Sometimes we Cubans are more impulsive when it comes to creating something and they have that feeling too, but they have this ability to be a little more calm and peaceful when it comes to making a song.

In this project, many languages come together, German, English, Spanish, but the only common means of communication is music. Looking at it from that point of view, how was the communication within the team?

I think the communication has been great. It’s also funny in a way because I had never worked with German artists or people from Germany in general, and then we also had Ani, the producer of the project, acting as a translator. But in general, it was very funny. Sometimes I tried to speak German or English, or they tried to speak Spanish, but in general, we had good communication because the music was in the center, which is the universal language. There were many times where we didn’t even need to speak the same language because we wanted the same thing, and that’s the beauty of this kind of project. And with all the work, all the quality, you also learn for yourself and it makes you grow as a person, and that’s great. The communication within the team was one of the most beautiful things we had.

What was the biggest challenge in working via the web/internet/cell phones?

About the Internet, dude! That means a pretty big challenge for us. Only now Cuba is opening up to the internet, we were always a bit behind with that. We had to send tracks or mixes to Germany all the time, I had never done anything like that before. I never had to use the Internet to work on a musical project, and it’s always a bit difficult. But well, we had the support of all the people involved, first of all from our producer Ani. The working process is certainly useful for our future projects. It’s an honor to have learned that with this project and that makes it even more special.

What would you say to the audience about what they can expect from the Dimelo Rapeando project? 

This is a magical project that comes from the hearts of people who are far from each other, but who came together to create music, to make something together that the audience can hear and somehow identify with. Each person has their own way of thinking, of course, and each person will know if they liked the project or not, that’s up to each person. What we hope is that the audience knows that the music comes from our heart, that we put a lot of effort and a lot of hope into it. A project full of music, full of energy, full of messages, teachings, humor, and all the good that can exist in the world. This project has all that and we hope that the audience can enjoy it because that’s what we made it for and that’s the most important thing. 

What are the disadvantages and advantages of online collaboration for you?

Here in Cuba it’s always a hassle to work with the internet because Cuba is newbie in it, it’s like a child as far as working with the internet is concerned. Sometimes everything is quite difficult for us to deal with it, from the connection problems to the difficulties for us. There are many things we don’t know yet. For example, look at this, an interview about the Internet, this is something I never imagined when I was younger. And it’s always very difficult, but at the same time, it’s worth it because you always learn something new and that makes us better for our own projects. We know the world today works largely with the internet and that’s a good thing. It’s just difficult to do something new, especially in a country that has development problems in this area. But it is good to learn new things that will help us in our projects and in our lives in the future.

And how was it in terms of joint musical work?

If you all would have come here … I mean, the energy might have been a little different. It’s not the same from a distance as when you’re with a person, when you’re working side by side. Sometimes it’s a little warmer when you’re with the person. When you’re far away it can be a little more complicated, but at the same time, it’s interesting because this kind of format can be used with many artists, and especially for us living in Cuba, who sometimes don’t have the opportunity to travel around the world. Maybe at some point we want to record with a certain artist, because of his style, because of his instrument, because of the kind of music we want to make, and this project. The project showed me how we can collaborate with artists all over the world for our future plans and albums.

We were also lucky to be able to communicate a lot with each other despite the language barriers, I was able to talk to Andy Hunter on the phone, Ani helped me translate some things with Kerim. Rasiel also communicated with them, El Individuo with Leila as well. Then we started following each other on Instagram and interacting there in different ways. I’m a trombonist, and, as I just meantioned, I talked to Andy when he was working on the tracks. I’m a trombonist, but I was working as a producer here on the project and that went really well. It surprised me that we didn’t even have to say much to each other, we already had the same ideas in our heads and every time we talked the work got warmer and warmer and I think you can hear in the result.

You were able to communicate with Andy in Spanish as well, right?

Yes, Andy speaks Spanish, very well even. For me he is a real master, he is an idol and it is great that he speaks Spanish. Because I speak English, but not much. So to be able to talk to him in Spanish has meant a lot for me and for the work, but the exchange was also great for me as a trombonist.

Because of the pandemic, we can only draw attention to our work through the Internet, on social media. How are your experiences with social media before the pandemic and now during, to promote your music, your projects. Was it difficult for you to deal with?

Well, I think it’s a bit difficult because, like I said, I’m practically new at it and I’m still learning. But it’s very interesting how social media works, for better and worse because it’s an area that we can’t totally control, I think we can work… (disconnect).

I mean social media can bring us many good things, working through it is very interesting, and it is interesting to learn how the algorithms of different platforms like Instagram work. But it is a new world for many of the Cuban artists, not just me, who are just now learning to work with social media, and it’s also a little scary because it’s an area that we can’t completely control and it’s a little unpredictable, at least for me who doesn’t really know what it’s like. Before, yes, you could put up posters or make flyers or word of mouth, just if you went to a concert where you met a lot of friends and told them about upcoming concerts, they made sure to spread the word. And that gave us more confidence to a certain extent. With social media, you don’t know what the outcome will be, you just have hope that it will be good. Then you add the difficulties, of everything that’s happening here, and everything that social media represents for Cuba, because it’s uncharted territory, but it’s interesting and we’re trying to keep learning about it, opening up to the world a little bit.

I had social media before the pandemic, but for example my Instagram profile is still young. It was never seen as a way to advertise things. Even though I work with a lot of artists from Cuba, I never promoted through social media “I’m going to play with person X that day.” Now I’m just getting into that world and I’m starting to schedule all the things I want to do with social media, and it’s complicated, but I’m trying to schedule things well and try to use that to my advantage without losing power over what I can do in it.  It has its good sides, knowing how the algorithms of social media work and how it can open us to the world therefore it is very important. The artists of El Espacio, myself included, have opened up a little bit to the world through this, people from different countries have started to follow us, especially from Latin America, in my case. And also Rafa has a lot of followers from the United States. That’s the good thing about social media, it gives you the opportunity to get your product out there, to spread your art to the whole world. But it also requires a bit of talent and knowledge of how it works, but it has helped us a lot, you can’t deny that, and we hope it will continue to help us.

Did you have to adapt your work during this time of the pandemic and what changed?

Well, it was a pretty radical change. Before, apart from the different artists I collaborate with, we had constant rehearsals and concerts. And in the case of Studio El Espacio, Rasiel and I worked together very often, we used to go to El Espacio every day, at least four times a week. Every week we made music together and sometimes this music was used for this project, sometimes we just saved it, but it was a constant creation. 

Now everything works over the internet, with the different stages that the pandemic has brought, it was suddenly completely different. We can’t go to the studio all the time anymore, in fact, we almost didn’t go at all for security reasons. And now it’s kind of like, if I have an idea, I forward it to Raffa and Rasiel, they decide what to change, Rasiel plays something on the track or changes something or vice versa. When Rasiel sends something, Rafa and I decide what else could be changed. So, we keep working, but it’s not the same, it’s already a radical change. In the collaboration with other artists, it’s similar when we have a recording or something. They send us the scores and the music over the internet and we practice our parts by ourselves. It’s different than when there’s a joint rehearsal and you can talk about how something could sound better or not. Now you have to rely more on yourself. But that also has its good side, because you have to say that there is something positive to everything. You grow more when working alone when you have to have all the ideas inside you. Still, you miss the human warmth, I always prefer to work with my friends.

Anything else you’d like to say, about the project, or about a topic we haven’t touched on here yet? And what else can we expect from you musically this year?

I think we can expect many more good and interesting things for the future – in terms of all the work, in terms of the results of the project, in terms of the friendships, and in terms of the good things that we have all received from this project and during this time. Above all, as people, I think the project will change us and I hope that many, like me, will learn from it all. And I hope that professionally we can expect many good things moving forward. I hope that we can work together with all of you on many more projects and keep the friendships going. Also, you can look forward to more collaborations between Rafa and Rasiel and I, and I hope that we will keep getting better and you can expect more from our art.