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Santiago de Cuba (1946). Guitarist and singer, 'holy man' of Cuban popular music and survivor of Buena Vista Social Club. These days tour Belgium, Germany, England ... And on February 28 he will play in Madrid.

How's madrid? Is it located in the city at this point or is it still a little lost, letting go? Of course I am located, I've been spending seasons in Madrid for a long time. If I even have a house on Siena street, Argentina corner, I don't know where Siena street is, through Quintana, through the Plaza de Toros. Every year I spend a time here and another time in Havana. The days of the concert, during the previous hours, are you restless? And after the concert, are you going to party that night? I'm not partying. I have not been for a long time. If the weather is nice, I go to the park in front of the house and I am with the old men in the neighborhood chatting. I guess the challenge is that the concerts don't all look too much. In this concert there will be some surprises, not so accustomed things. There will be a duet with Pablo Milanés, an Argentine singer will appear, some flamenco, we will play a version of María Cristina wants to govern me taking her to our land. .. Was there music at his parents' house? Did anyone play or there were record players? My father was a very good performer of the three. My mother also played well. Music was a thing they shared with friends, a way of making social life. And who realized that you had a good hand and a good ear? For me that I was born playing, that as a child I already put my first notes With six years I played my first guaracha, by imitation of what I heard from my father and his friends. It didn't turn out as well as they did, but I did it. His father was a peasant, a peasant. What did he grow? Of everything that was given: malangas, yucas, bananas ... Do you keep a campito? Any place to plant some tomatoes for pleasure or whatever? My father died and we sold the land where he cultivated. I am exclusively a musician, but at the same time, I am still the same Guajiro enredón. A Cuban friend told me that rock'n'roll arrived in Cuba before the Revolution and that it was very successful but that the regime forbade it or almost. I think that before it had begun to pass and then the Revolution completely removed it. The bad happened and the good remained, as happened with the sauce, with the bolero, with the changüí and now with the reggaeton. You must have played rock in adolescence. Did these fashions touch him or leave him indifferent? I listened to them, they interested me and I kept the good and left the bad. There are always two or three artists that are interesting that are worthwhile. We have 10 years of supposed thaw in Cuba. What note does it put to reality compared to expectations? The world knows more about Cuba than I do. I'm just a musician. How many members of 'Buena Vista Social Club' are left alive? I have to think about it: Omara is alive; Manuel 'Guajiro' Mirabal is alive, it's me ... And I think it's done. That of the classics. Of the people who once went through 'Buena Vista Social Club' you may find more survivors.

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