After a tour of Holguín, which included, besides the concert at the Bariay Cultural Center of the provincial capital, the municipalities of Antilla and Mayarí, Israel Rojas, leader of Buena Fe group, agreed to answer some questions exclusively to Radio Angulo digital.
Is there a formula for Buena Fe to continue in the preference of the youth?
Buena Fe, Holguín
“Buena Fe is not in the preference of all the youth, it is in the preference of that youth that is part of the public that does not have laziness of mind, that likes the songwriter’s song, that likes songs, that is interested in what Pablo [Milanés] said in the song that engages thinking. He said in the song “El breve espacio en que no estás” (The brief space in which you are not here), that is the type of public in which Buena Fe still enjoys a preference and is the type of public that almost always goes to our concerts.
Buena Fe, Holguín
“We are happy that the restless, thinking, educated youth that we still have in Cuba is an important part of the audience. That audience is not only young. There are people of all ages and that is good, we are very grateful, we are very happy to have, to have that audience, and I also think that over the years, with the change of time, the emergence of new sounds has also been a blessing to keep an audience more convinced that they like this kind of music.
Buena Fe, Holguín
“Today there are still people who go to our concerts, but they don’t necessarily like our music, they go as part of a cultural show, and we intend it to be a good quality show for all kinds of audiences, so that people leave pleased.
“It is also no less true that we have been subjected in recent years to some extremely corrosive media campaigns, to sordid criticism, and at other times honorable. For us it is a pleasure to be hated by those who have called for an invasion of Cuba, those who agreed during the pandemic that the U.S. government should apply restrictive measures against our people, we agree to be hated by those who said that vaccines were sugar water as long as those are the people who do not like our work… we do not like to have enemies.
Buena Fe, Holguín
“We are designed to offer a type of music that the majority likes, but we have always understood that this will be impossible. The songwriter and thinker’s song always have to take sides. It’s part of the risks of making this music that is not exactly for fun and dancing. We also try to make it fun and that people can dance and fall in love with it. But its essence is not that, it is to look for, I repeat, that song that sticks more to the type of art that we learned from our parents, let’s say what was the movement of the new trova, the old trova, the aesthetics of the song that says things”.
What are Buena Fe’s projects?
“The main project we have now is to promote the album Morada (Dwelling), which is our most recent disc, and also the albums Sobreviviente (Survivor) and Carnal, which have been meditated in this time in which they have coincided with the algorithms that promote above all artistic and musical trends that are more fun, more fashionable, but I believe that they are aesthetically and ethically poorer.
Buena Fe, Holguín
“So in this time in which Cuban radio and television have also lost their capacity of influence when it comes to impacting people’s tastes and in this time in which those algorithms are not in favor of this type of music, not only our music but this type of art in general. That is to say, every day in Cuba it is more difficult for the youth to have access to the music of the singer-songwriters, of the trova, of the song of thought and in that sense we also receive the onslaught of that change of time.
“The fundamental project is to play, to continue playing concerts, promoting songs that reach the people who need them and discover that what we have done is to make them happy and to be useful. I think that the last three albums have been the most mature of our career, the most musically diverse, the best textually elaborated and have coincided with a time when promotion is difficult, right? Promote then what we are doing, very focused on that.
Buena Fe, Holguín
“We are already preparing the next album, which we intend to be a tribute album to great authors, which I think there is a part of the public, even Buena Fe’s, that does not know those works, and we are also grouping the ideas of what could possibly be Buena Fe’s album with unpublished songs. So we are involved in those two projects, very focused on that and nothing and doing concerts and moving forward”.
Again and again Buena Fe returns to Holguín, is there something special that makes them come back?
Buena Fe, Holguín
“Holguin is one of the most educated audiences in the country, it is a city of Fiesta Ibero-Americana (Ibero-American festivities), of Romerías de Mayo, of a cultural program as diverse as other provinces could not boast. A very educated public, not only in the city but also in its municipalities and, then, it is always very beautiful to come to play here, it always pleases the artist to come to play here; in our case, we have been here for so many years, always come back, see friends who have stayed here, who have made a life here, who are happy here and others who are struggling, like everyone else, and new public that joins the concerts and has a good time, it is very gratifying”.
When an important part of Cuban youth has emigrated or intends to do so, what message would you give today to young people?
Buena Fe, Holguín
“It is no secret that we are going through, among the many crises facing the country today, the migration issue; Not only are people leaving the country, there are also people who, with the appearance of new production forms, are going to try their luck in them, in places where they think they will obviously have better economic results, and there is a decapitalization of important sectors, of key sectors, one notices it in tourism, in service workers, in the banks, that often makes the quality of life a little more difficult because the paperwork is delayed or there are errors, because the people who should be there have emigrated, seeking, of course, a better future for their life, for their family…. . In other words, we are going through a very difficult moment in the history of our country.
“The advice I would say to anyone reading these words is to try to be happy as much as you can in this life you have been given, there are those of us who are happy making music, there are those who are happy healing people, there are those who are happy sowing the land,… be happy.
Buena Fe, Holguín
“And if you believe that you are not going to find happiness here, go and look where you will be happy, and if you believe that only outside you will find happiness, I must tell you that sometimes there are unsuspected sources of happiness here inside. Search, investigate, study, make the best decision and always aim for happiness because without love, without personal fulfillment it is very difficult to truly generate welfare and usefulness to the rest of society. Make life, which is a blink of an eye, worthwhile and make us better for ourselves and for others. That is what I can say, and nothing but a big hug to the people of Holguin. Pa’lante siempre” (Forward always).
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