Juan Formell took the stage in Las Vegas, not to mark with his bass the rhythm of Van Van, but to pick up the second prize for his excellent career he has received this year: first was the WOMEX World Music in the Cardiff Fair, and now a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, recognition that the Master enjoys more, because it cost him a lot…
“We have had to sacrifice a lot, is not something that fell on our lap because Cuba has been blocked in the major markets, because the disk is an important cultural weapon,” the founder and director of the so-called Salsa Train, an orchestra whose longevity made late George Smith defined it as ” the Rolling Stones of Salsa”, told reporters.
Formell dedicated this award to all Van Van people, from the founding members to today’s musicians and those who are to come, but especially to Cuba. “It’s a lot of emotion, this is a big recognition for the career of a musician who also reaches all Cuban musicians and the rest of my fellow citizens anywhere in the world where they are,” the father of songo said.
The man who started making history in the Revé orchestra with shangüí-shake received this new award with other major Latin American artists, such as Venezuelan Oscar D’Leon, Colombia’s folklorist Toto La Momposina, Brazilian Robert Menescal, Argentinean Palito Ortega, the Puerto Rican jazz musician Eddie Palmieri, and Spanish rocker Miguel Rios.
Oscar D ‘León, the Pharaoh of Salsa, stole the show in the press conference with his iconic mustache and optimism: “In the face of any problem in life I try to deal with it with joy,” said the singer bequeathed to Cubans for his memorable phrase “dame cable”, to mingle with the public dancing when he performed in Cuba 30 years ago.
Meanwhile La Mamposina, who served this year in Santiago de Cuba during the Feast of Fire, said she represents “all voices of the peoples of the world. Those people gave me permission to receive this award and so I give it to everyone. “
Shortly before traveling to the U.S. to receive the award, Formell spoke with press in Havana, and besides denying that Son is gone from Cuba, said all recognition to Cuban musicians taste better because their productions are marginalized of major world circuits of marketing, by a very real blockade, for too long.
