Gerald, Yasel, you guys are from Guantanamo in Cuba. Most westerners only know Guantanamo as the US military base, now used to hold terrorism suspects. What can you tell us about your hometown?
Gerald Thomas Collymore: "Guantanamo is a beautiful city and we really dislike the American presence in the area. The space they are now occupying has great potential to be developed as a touristic destination. The future development of Guantanamo really depends on the departure of the Americans (Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on 45 square miles of land and water at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling (fuelling) station following on the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the south-eastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas US Navy Base, and the only one in a country with which the United States does not have diplomatic relations. The Cuban government opposes the presence of the naval base, claiming that the lease is invalid under international law. The US government claims that the lease is valid, red.)."
Your music is a mix of hip hop, reggae and reggaeton with traditional Cuban music. Cuba is quite isolated from the rest of the world. When and how did these new musical influences start to filter in?
Gerald Thomas Collymore: "We can get certain American radio stations, so it's not so difficult to listen to foreign music. Right now reggaeton is very popular in Cuba, but reggae and ska have already been popular since the seventies. Geographically Jamaica is very near to Cuba (The distance between Jamaica and Cuba is only 445 kilometres, red.)."
Translated to English, Madera Limpia means something like "clean wood". What's the story behind that name?
Yasel Gonzalez Rivera: "When we started out with Madera Limpia, we just used traditional wooden instruments from Guantanamo like the marimbula (A folk musical instrument of the Caribbean Islands - not to be confused with a marimba - the marimbula is usually classified as part of the lamellophone family of musical instruments. With its roots in African instruments, the marimbula originated in the province of Oriente, Cuba in the 19th century and most of the other Caribbean countries have adopted this name or some variant of it: marimba, malimba, manimba, marimbol. The instrument has a number of other names, such as marimbola [Puerto Rico], bass box - also spelled Calimba or calymba - Rumba box, Church & Clap, Jazz Jim [Jamaica], and box lamellophone, red.), canambu (bamboo sticks, red.) and the cajon. We tried to use them in an unconventional way. The cajon we used as a kind of hip hop bass drum."
Orishas is another well-known Cuban band mixing hip hop with Cuban music. Are the comparisons being made justified?
Gerald Thomas Collymore: "There are similarities, but differences as well. We mix hip hop with changui, the typical music from Guantanamo (Style of Cuban music which originated in the early 19th century in the eastern region of Guantanamo Province. It arose in the sugar cane refineries and in the rural communities populated by slaves. Changui combines the structure and elements of Spain cancion and the Spanish guitar with African rhythms and percussion instruments of the Bantu Arara origin and is thought to be the predecessor of son montuno, red.). Changui and kiriba (Kiriba is a style of son that originated in the Baracoa area, which is also where the changui was created. Where the fusion of kiriba and nengon takes place is where changui is invented and where nengon evolved, it evolved into son. Like nengon, the kiriba's identifying feature is the constant alternation of improvisational verses sung by a soloist and a chorus. Generally kiriba is played with tres, bongos, maracas, guiro, and marimbula. Nengon and kiriba are practiced in the mountain regions of Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo, red.) are much older than salsa or even son and with our music we want to make these rhythms known to the world."
There's a whole story linked to the creation of your debut album 'La Corona', no?
Yasel Gonzalez Rivera: "Well, as we already said, we live in Guantanamo, but one day we went to Havana to do audition for a documentary called "Musica Cubana" (German Kral, 2004, red.). That way we got in touch with Alina Teodorescu and she really liked what we were doing and wanted to a documentary about us. That turned out to be "Paraiso" (Alina Teodoresco, 2004) and after the release of that movie she helped us to produce 'La Corona'."
Why did you entitle the album 'La Corona' ("the crown", red.)?
Gerald Thomas Collymore: "The crown symbolises everything your life stands for. It might be nothing to some people, but for you it's all you have, so you're proud of it. You shouldn't judge someone else's crown, because each crown is special in its own way."
Fidel Castro is slowly disappearing from view in Cuba. It's a time of changes for your country now. As young Cubans what would you like to happen in your country?
Gerald Thomas Collymore: "Cuba is definitely changing, but personally I believe this has to happen step by step. A lot of young people would like nothing more than to migrate to the United States, but we are happy in Guantanamo. We want to show the people that you can make a life for yourself in Cuba and that we value our identity. But you don't even need to go as far as the United States; a lot of people also think you have to go to Havana if you want to make it in Cuba, but we are proof that you can just as well do that in Guantanamo."