Flamenco is an emotion, Paco de Lucia used to say and the audience attending the recent tribute concert to him at the National Theatre could feel that through Reynier Mariño and his group.
Mariño is an exceptional guitarist. His mastery of the instrument is even more relevant if we consider that he is a musician born across the Atlantic where this Andalusian genre emerged in the eighteenth century.
Guitarist graduated from the academic conservatories of Cuban art education, this performer has taken classes with major international figures such as Tomatito, Gerando Nunes, Manolo Sanlucar and others, earning recognitions and an interesting international projection.
Since he burst onto the national scene as first guitar of Liszt Alfonso Company, he won great acceptance and popularity despite that flamenco is not exactly one of the favorite genres of Cuban public.
He works and lives in Spain since 2006 although he returns to Havana every year. He performs in various scenarios of the Cuban geography with his group as part of his repeated national tours. “When I spend more than a year without going to Cuba I need oxygen. Cuba is my life and its public is the most special of the universe, “he said.
During the latest presentation with his group, twenty songs were played and the night passed between chords and passion in tribute to the great Paco de Lucia, who died early last year.
According to Mariño, De Lucia was his first reference and was who opened the door to this genre. “I could not help but paying tribute as I had done previously with Federico García Lorca,” the instrumentalist told OnCuba at the dressing rooms of Avellaneda Hall minutes before the concert.
Why did you choose flamenco?
I discovered flamenco when I was sixteen. It was long ago when I played at El Patio restaurant in the Cathedral Square and a Spanish who heard me playing gave me a cassette by Paco de Lucía. I fell in love the genre when listening, and I never wanted to play something else. I have never seen this man again but I am eternally grateful.
Alma Gitana, your phonographic debut, was the first flamenco album that was recorded in Cuba . How do you remember this experience?
I will always be grateful to the EGREM and the Hermanos Saiz Association (AHS by its Spanish acronym) for giving me that opportunity. Then I recorded other albums but that undoubtedly is and will be the most special of my life for what it symbolizes. It represents an immense privilege for me to have been the pioneer in recording a CD of Cuban flamenco in my country.
How much did you consider you win and lose in deciding to go living in Spain?
Sometimes I think I left behind the successful project I had been developing here but every year I return to my beloved country and share with my audience giving my best. I think if I had not gone I would have accomplished many things but I also think that if I were still living here I would not be conducting the enriching tours and presentations I have made in various countries; because marketing and promoting flamenco from Cuba is more complicated than doing it from Spain. But undoubtedly I’m Cuban and I love my people and my country. Currently my immigration status is as an artist living abroad. When I left Cuba I did it with permission granted by Abel Prieto, then Minister of Culture, which allowed me to be overseas without limitation length and I come and go without problems, in exchange for supporting any Cuban cultural action conducted there. In Spain I represent our culture and drink from the roots of flamenco directly.
Which are the usual formats you use in your presentations?
I have several formats. Without exaggeration, I’m the only guitarist in Las Palmas that fills the largest theater, or the one who makes massive concerts in the middle of the beach with the gypsy community. Besides the Canary Islands, I have also played in festivals and tours throughout much of Europe and Africa. Argentina and particularly Uruguay are the countries we attend the most in Latin America, where I feel like in Cuba. There, people see me as one of them. I could say that after the Canary Islands, Montevideo and Cuba, of course, are the places where more public follows me.
How do you remember Paco de Lucía?
