Devotees of Cuban music light candles to our saints and honor them with offerings, fruits, flowers, cigars and rum, giving thanks for the day Alain Pérez came into this world. This little white guy with an extensive black braid and command staff came into the world in the beautiful Cuban city of Trinidad in 1977 and at less than 10 years old he was already singing. This Saturday he will take the stage at the Razzmatazz after his last concert at the Apolo in Barcelona, which filled it to the brim. Alain Pérez's concerts are transmitted by word of mouth, as in the past good news spread like wildfire. The Poblenou hall will once again be full of salseros and gypsies, a community that adores this Cuban who like few others has known how to safeguard the essence of a music that he studies, protects, cultivates and shares to make the public enjoy.
Alain Pérez answers the call from La Vanguardia a couple of days before the concert. He is on tour in Spain with La Orquesta, an impressive band of 12 musicians, guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, drummer, two percussionists, a wind section and two backup singers, who walk to the beat like a perfectly oiled flavor machine. The interview takes place in the afternoon and catches the man from Trinidad in the middle of a celebration in which drums can be heard in the background, forcing the musician to lock himself in a bathroom to better answer the phone. "What we are creating is tremendous," he happily acknowledges.
The musician loves performing in Spain and applauds the knowledge and dedication of the Barcelona public with his proposal. "Few like them are as knowledgeable about what they come to listen to. In Barcelona they are especially grateful and generous with my music," he says on the other end of the phone. The Razzmattazz concert, on the eve of Christmas, will review the artist's greatest hits and will premiere "The Lamp", of which a video clip recorded in the streets of Havana has been published these days with an Alain Pérez who of a passed to the two braids, slippers, and in which, as always, she has a great time.
Music lovers, and especially those of Cuban music, feel much more than respect for Alain Pérez, there is a lot of gratitude. The one from Trinidad has known how to stay outside of fashions, cycles and cyclones, and he has known how to defend and cultivate his Cuban identity and the essence of origins that he has embraced with pleasure since he was little. Theirs was a trip in reverse of the traditional.
Bassist, percussionist, pianist, singer, composer and arranger, he first performed with the greatest such as Paquito de Rivera, Celia Cruz, Isaac Delgado and Los Van Van, before arriving in Spain where he accompanied and learned from stars of the firmament such as Paco de Lucía, Enrique Morente, Diego el Cigala or Miguel Poveda.
After having been nominated for the Latin Grammy on several occasions, Alain Pérez won the award in 2021 for Best Tropical Traditional Music Album for Cha Cha Chá: Homenaje a lo tradicional. “I can't find the words to describe the emotion I felt. It was magical and a blessing. "You feel honored and fulfilled, because you don't take it just as an award for that album, but as recognition for having been there every day for years without losing your enthusiasm, your smile, and your respect for art and music," he said. at the time.
A musician who would like, he confesses, to collaborate in the future with Gilberto Santa Rosa. The increasingly incessant drums of a party that awaits him sound in the background and I am left wanting to tell him a secret. I'm sure he will read it. Gilberto Santa Rosa was the Puerto Rican artist whom the signer went to hear live, specifically crossing the pond when years ago the artist from Puerto Rico did not tour or perform concerts in Europe.
If Alain Pérez's extraterrestrial, with his braid, his cane and that pose of an old man accustomed to music is already monumental, I don't even want to think what the experiment will be when working with Gilberto Santa Rosa, enjoying both on the same stage . The gentleman of salsa alongside whom today he is one of the most complete and recognized Cuban artists on the musical scene.
