He is 79 and a half years old, but Dionisio Jesús Valdés Rodríguez, better known as Chucho Valdés (October 9, 1941, Quivicán, Cuba), feels younger than ever and, above all, motivated and energetic to meet all commitments ( and they are not few) that he has in his hands, which even extend until 2022. The pianist, composer and arranger, one of the

most influential figures in modern Afro-Cuban jazz

, has already been on a tour of Spain and France for several weeks, a

tour

that will end at the end of July and that has yet to pass through San Sebastián, Madrid and Motril, before starting another project scheduled for autumn.

He is focused on his own, which is music, although he closely follows the latest

events that occurred in his Cuba

native, a country he left in 2010, when his father, the also legendary jazz musician, who lived in Malaga, fell ill. She wanted to be close to him and moved to the Andalusian city, where she has lived most of the year since then (in addition to Florida). "I am pending and I see that things are being done very badly in Cuba; I do not agree with anything that is happening, but I do not want to continue talking about this issue now, but about my concert," the artist courteously concludes. "On my website (https://www.chucho-valdes.com) I am putting everything I think about the current situation, but if I start talking about it now, then we deviate from promoting my show, which is what that interests me and my audience. It is a very long song and we leave the 'main course', which is the concert ",he assures between contagious laughs.

The conversation takes place on the phone because the musician, somewhat unexpectedly, is in Greece. He has had a piano concert on the island of Rhodes and there he has moved with his wife on a whirlwind trip. On Thursday, July 22, he has to perform at the Heineken Jazzaldia in San Sebastián (all sold out) and on Sunday, July 25, in Madrid, at the Jazz Palacio Real cycle, where he will present his

Jazz Bata

project

.

Don't you get tired? What do you do to stay in shape? Look, I'm going to tell you my formula, and it's the one my grandfather gave me, who died at 105: he married at 80 for the second time and had a ninth child at 89; He always told me that at 80 is the second adolescence and I'm working on it now (laughs). No, seriously, I feel young, very well, stimulated, motivated ... I love music and contact with the public and I have very good health. I'm really not tired; the day that I get tired and think that I am not doing my best in music, it will be the day that I will sit down and dedicate myself to watching television. But I don't think that happens. I don't really see it (laughs). Where would you like to retire? I don't know, but there are many possibilities that it will be in Malaga, because I like the Mediterranean, the diet, I have many friends there and because I love Spain,Like Cuba. He has been on stage for 60 years, he has been awarded with many awards (including 10 Grammys), what remains for him to do and demonstrate? Look, I am telling you very seriously, I have so many things to do. One of them is the one that will be released on November 5. It is a four-part suite called

Creation

. It is a dream that I will finally be able to see fulfilled. Since my adolescence, when I was studying music, I wanted to write a work of this magnitude. It will premiere in Miami and then go on tour in Europe. It is an instrumental and sung musical work, composed, directed and performed by me, that tells the story of how African and Afro-Cuban music entered the Caribbean and the United States and how it has influenced globally. It is very complicated, but it is a tribute to Olodumare, the god of the Yoruba religion. So does this tour end and another start in the fall? Yes, it's my dream. I have all 2022 already fully programmed.

The Madrid performance is in a very emblematic place, in which places have you been most excited to play? It is difficult to say one, because there have been many, but, for example, I have lived very beautiful moments this year in Spain; recently at the Parador de Toledo, where I did a piano-only concert that for me was a beauty for the place and for the audience, which connected a lot with what I was doing. It was one of the

shows

most beautiful of 2021. But I am very excited to perform at the Royal Palace and we have prepared a repertoire of the best we are doing. I am looking forward to the day, he presents his show 'Jazz Bata' Yes. This is a project that I started in 1972 and that got stuck. In 2018 I did the second part and it won a Grammy award and, now, on this tour I have one of the songs from then included in the repertoire, it's called

Son 21

. But there are other themes that take, for example, works by Mozart to the Cuban son and new compositions. I mean, there are things from

Jazz Bata

, songs that have won awards, tributes and new compositions. With

Jazz Bata

I have Africanized Cuban music, that's why I call it Afro-Cuban jazz. Has the project changed a lot since its creation in 1972? A lot, conceptually a lot has also been learned and we have more experience. I also think that if you take advantage of life and continue to improve and learn, everything evolves in your favor. When do you compose? Well, even on the same tours I compose. Things come to me and I write them down ... Then when I get home, I develop them. The

goblin

This one of inspiration appears to me anytime, anywhere. Are you ever going to resume your work with Irakere [your Afro-Cuban jazz rock group]? Every now and then we get together. In 2017 we made a tribute to Irakere with new generations of Cuban musicians and a live album was recorded that was very successful and even won a Grammy. Perhaps in 2023, when the project turns 50, I will dedicate the year to it and we will make a new version of Irakere. Maybe with some of the founding members, in Spain he has a lot of followers. What is the audience like here? They are very receptive and communicate very well with the musicians. My first tour in Spain was in 1981, so I know the public very well. I feel at home. After so many years, are you still nervous going on stage? Always. Then when I sit down, I calm down. But yes,the first contact always makes me nervous. All your children are dedicated to music. Do they ask you for advice? All your children are dedicated to music. Do they ask you for advice? The six form the group Valdés Brothers. I call them the six musketeers, and I am D'Artagnan, who is the one who runs it (laughs). They always consult me ​​about music, but I also learn with them, because being a younger generation, they always have fresh contributions. They are very creative. We are a musical family. Was it easy to study music in Cuba? I started at the age of five and for me it was something natural and I enjoyed it a lot. And I keep studying. I practice every day for six to eight hours. Where do you get the time? Well, the love of music (laughs). How have you lived these months of pandemic and lockdown? Confinement caught me in Florida.I was locked up for more than a year and decided to get the positive out of the situation. And it was when I composed

Creation

and other minor works.

I also dedicated myself to practicing the instrument a lot and giving classes and virtual concerts.

As a good connoisseur of Spain, do you have a favorite corner to get lost in? In Fuengirola (Malaga) there is a restaurant that is my favorite.

It's called Charolais and every time I go I order cod.

In fact, they have a dish now called

Chucho Valdés cod

, which is in my honor.

Data of interest:

Where

: Plaza de la Armería del Palacio Real (Bailén, s / n, Madrid).

When

: Sunday, July 25, at 10 p.m.

How much

: from 35 euros.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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