Isaac
Delgado:
In his own way
The Bay Area was treated to the gifted voice of salsero, Issac Delgado of Cuba, this past December. His first tour ever on the West Coast, he released his new CD, 'La Forumla' with the L.A. based company, Ahi-Nama. Each night was sold out and culminted in a joint New Year's Eve concert at the Hyatt in Burlgingame with Jose 'El Canario' Alberto, out from New York with his band. Issac is tireless, givng the crowd the energy and songs they know him for and of course, singing new tunes from his latest CD. Somehow, with a few minutes before going on stage, I caught up with him.
Isaac Delgado: Well, the new CD is the result of a year and a half of work, without having recorded after I stopped working with the RMM label. I wanted to work on a production that was of my own taste, without having a record company tell me what to do or what not to do. Simply, I recorded what I felt like singing, songs that I had put away in a drawer, waiting to get them out. Then, I had the luck of working with a different recording label, with Gonzalo Rubalcaba and with arranger Juan Manuel Ferrutu–who is an excellent musician who’s worked with several musical groups in Cuba. We hadn’t worked together on arrangements; just once, an invitation, but never as a team for musical direction and now we had the fortune of working together. I really enjoyed working with him. His concept is similar to what I had in mind. I also worked with Joaquin Bentacourt, who knows me well and I felt very comfortable in the studio. I worked with musicians that I had had in mind to work with for a while; I think everything helped the recording. Havana provided a great atmosphere to make this recording.
Q:
Do you
see making another recording this year with Ahi-Nama?
I.D.:
Yes, I think so.
I’m happy with the company. They have a great will to work and they’re
a small company but it doesn’t matter. They have their heart set
on my work and this is far more important than having a large company.
I think that maybe I could have done the job with another big company,
but they weren’t going to put the same energy and desire into the
work as this company. So, I think I’m going to try to defend this
CD all year long. Immediately upon finishing recording, one starts thinking
of new songs and new things come to mind, but I don’t want to run
this CD over. I don’t want to kill it. I will be working on this
one all year long. We plan to come back to the United States mid-year–April,
May, June–around that time– and I also have international performances
set in Europe.
I.D.: Now I’m going to MIDEM in Cannes. I’ll be doing a concert over there and releasing the CD there at MIDEM. Then I’m going back to Havana. I have some engagements in Latin America. Thank God there is work.
Q:
Besides
your CD, are there other projects you want to do? With other artists?
I.D.:
Yes, I
have a couple of projects in mind. I want to record other boleros
with Gonzalo Rubalcaba. I want to record some boleros with smaller
formats. I’d also like to record with Danilo Perez. We are trying
to see if we can work on a project together. We saw each other in Havana,
at the [Internatinal Jazz] Festival over there.
We were able to talk a bit and we want to see if we can do a project to
record Cuban and Latin American music, but in a smaller format.
Q:
I speak
for everyone here in the Bay Area with hopes you will return soon.
I.D.:
I hope tonight
is an evening that you all enjoy and that you all like the concert we
are about to do. We always make an effort for people to feel good and
to do the best possible concert.
And feeling good is exactly how everyone looked that night as they danced and listend to the incredible vocals of Issac Delgado and the wonderful musicians in his band.
Check the Events Calendar for his next concert here in the Bay Area.
To view a video clip of Issac in concert, click here.
Interview, photos and video ©2001 by Julia Sewell
Transcription and translation ©2001 by Marcia Y. Barahona
All rights reserved. No reproduction without written permission.