Last month, one of the biggest supergroups in the world played a free show in Toronto as part of the Luminato festival. AfroCubism is the project that was supposed to be recorded 14 years ago in Cuba, instead of Buena Vista Social Club. The BVSC album was hurriedly organized when two AfroCubism musicians from Mali didn't get their Cuban visas. Then, after the massive success of BVSC, the original AfroCubism project was shelved for more than a decade. Finally in 2010, the original plan was resurrected, a few more musicians were added to the mix and AfroCubism was officially born.
Prior to the Luminato show, I interviewed Eliades Ochoa, the guitarist and singer who famously sports the black cowboy hat with Buena Vista Social Club. He is gregarious and fun-loving, and appeared to be loving his time in Canada. Here's an excerpt from our conversation.
Q: How does it feel to play with all the amazing musicians in AfroCubism every night?
A: This project was supposed to happen before BVSC. It was meant to be. I’m very happy how everything is working and coming together. Just like BVSC was very big, this is something very big as well.
Q: If AfroCubism happened 14 years ago, would it have blown up in the same way BVSC did?
A: I believe that everything has its moment and time and BVSC came in a time when it was supposed to come, and it just happened. AfroCubism has its time now. BVSC was a project that became so big that it’s known worldwide. For me, AfroCubism is going down the same road as BVSC.
Watch Eliades Ochoa in studio with the rest of AfroCubism.
Q: Were you concerned when it looked like the original plan wasn’t going to happen?
A: For whatever reason, the Africans didn’t come – lost passport or missing visa … Juan De Marcos put everyone together in BVSC and it became big. Nobody, not even the five stars of BVSC – Compay, Ibrahim, Rubén, Ry Cooder, and Eliades – imagined or realized how big it was going to be. Later it became so big it travelled the world many times, in many ways. Nobody could imagine that we were going to be in a baseball game in the ninth inning with the bases loaded and we’d hit a homerun.
Q: Both you and Toumani Diabaté are used to being bandleaders. How do you decide who leads AfroCubism?
A: They have me as their leader [smiles]. I think there are many leaders in the group because a lot of the people that play, play with their heart, and everyone contributes to this project. It’s done with a lot of love and respect and ingredients that make it unique.
Q: How do you deal with the challenges, like the language issue and having so many huge stars in the band?
A: I want to say something that I’ve said many times before. This project has been like a school for both the Africans and the Cubans because we have all learned and communicated through the universal language of music.
Q: Will there be another album from AfroCubism?
If it is in my hands, I would do another and I would also do a Buena Vista Social Club 2013, if I was in charge.
This interview was edited and condensed from the original.
Related:
Q&A: Toumani Diabaté, kora legend and heart of AfroCubism
AfroCubism Explained (on CBC Radio 1)