Francis del Río: Cuba defines me

I met him at PM Record recently and without further ado, with his entire spontaneity he agreed to talk with Cubasi about his projects.  

But music was not his first issue: “I’ve just had a baby, it’s my most important project now, he’s called Orun del Río and nicknamed Maceo, and then I am so happy, focused on that”.

After confessing he was a happy father, he commented: “I remain with Interactivo (band), everyone knows it, I’ve just made nine themes very enthusiastic and with much love, really, as if it were a disc of mine for Clave Channel. Recently, I made a job for Eyeife Festival with Suylen Milanés, they are a sort of prayers we use in Ifa, sung on electronic music, they’re sixteen magical prayers.

Also about “Ifa”, the material in which he works with Suylen, he added: “the mere fact of praying them, wherever that vibration reaches, is like blessing that place, I think it is a way of harmonizing any place, based on our African roots and the roots of the world as well, because in the end, life began in Africa.

In his versatility, Francis is not afraid to get involved in any project, as long as it fulfills a truth proven for him: “We are Cubans, whatever the genre we use and our bases are African and we should not forget that at all, if the basis of that is not in a place, we cannot be there either, I, at least, won’t be….”

There are no limits of genres for this creator, it’s just music: “I love music, I think you can name music anyway, but I do that inherently, I cannot stop doing that, I do not know how to stop doing it…

And in such diversity, what is the connecting thread: “Cuba, it seems a short answer, but that’s it".

Translated by Jorge Mesa Benjamin / Cubasi Translation Staff