{"id":100782,"date":"2017-08-26T06:00:46","date_gmt":"2017-08-26T10:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oncubamagazine.com\/?p=100782"},"modified":"2018-10-02T21:38:42","modified_gmt":"2018-10-03T01:38:42","slug":"the-u-s-danced-pretty-with-the-septeto-santiaguero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/culture\/the-u-s-danced-pretty-with-the-septeto-santiaguero\/","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. \u201cdanced pretty\u201d with the Septeto Santiaguero"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cA dreamed of tour,\u201d says Fernando Dewar, director of the Septeto Santiaguero, when I asked him about the artistic tour that his group concluded just a few days ago through the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very intense because we toured the country from coast to coast in three weeks,\u201d Dewar said to <\/span>OnCuba<\/b><\/span>, \u201cand at the same time it was very important because we played in many big cities and this allowed us to enter with the right foot in the U.S. market.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The principal goal of the tour, organized by the Freshen Up Arts Company, was the promotion of <\/span>Ra\u00edz<\/i><\/span>, the Septeto\u2019s most recent record. The album, recorded in Cuba by EGREM and licensed for its circulation in the United States by Los Canarios Music, had an official release in New York\u2019s Joe\u2019s Pub after the one in Havana three weeks before.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the Iron Babel, the \u201cSantiaguero\u201d musicians performed in Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and San Francisco, among other cities. They gave a total of 17 concerts in 15 cities, on closed stages as well as in open-air ones. They all had a common denominator: the public couldn\u2019t resist \u201cmoving their feet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very happy because of the way the people assimilated our repertoire in the United States, because of how they danced to our themes, because we don\u2019t do pure traditional music, in the style of Compay Segundo and the Buena Vista Social Club, but rather with more contemporary elements, more directed at the dance part,\u201d the director of the Septeto commented.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Dewar, the renovation that their music proposes \u201crespects the essential part of the son\u201d and that favors its reception. Important newspapers like <\/span>The Washington Post<\/b><\/span> and the <\/span>Los Angeles Times<\/b><\/span> did not overlook their musical proposal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe make an effort for our mixtures and incorporations to always respect the musical essence of the son,\u201d he says to <\/span>OnCuba<\/b><\/span>, \u201cthat they have a foundation based on the aesthetic point of view for the people to assimilate them well. We are very careful in that sense and I believe that greatly helped the reception of our music in the United States. The people danced pretty.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The tour\u2019s repertoire reflected the genre variety of <\/span>Ra\u00edz<\/i><\/span>, which in turn is the one defended by the Septeto Santiaguero: bolero, son, chang\u00fc\u00ed, danz\u00f3n. \u201cBut the strong point was always the dance son,\u201d he explains, \u201cand the public responded very well, they got up to dance although many were not Latinos; that encourages us a lot. Seeing those plazas full of people, lifting their hands, was phenomenal. In the last concert, in San Francisco, the public got up right from the second theme. It was a very moving closing act, ideal for what happened in the tour.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dewar especially highlights the reception that themes like \u201cLa meneadora\u201d and \u201cLa fiesta no es para feos\u201d got. \u201cThey are anthological but we have given them a fresh, contemporary sound, and many people believe they are recent compositions. And there\u2019s the case of \u2018La rumba est\u00e1 buena,\u201d which is the union of a completely traditional chang\u00fc\u00ed and another more current, \u2018Chang\u00fc\u00ed clave,\u2019 by Elio Rev\u00e9. People liked this theme so much during the tour that we had to include it in the repertoire and we started using it to close the concerts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, during the U.S. tour Fernando Dewar and his boys not only interpreted themes from the record <\/span>Ra\u00edz<\/i><\/span>. They also had to please dancers with themes from their previous album, <\/span>No quiero llanto, Tributo a Los Compadres<\/i><\/span>, winner of a Latin Grammy Award, which they shared with Dominican Jos\u00e9 Alberto \u201cEl Canario.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are themes from that record that are already a must in the concerts,\u201d the also tres player of the group confirmed. \u201cThey are very dear to us and will always be part of our repertoire.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Fernando
Fernando Dewar during the tour of the United States. Photo: Courtesy of the Septeto Santiaguero.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SEPTETO SANTIAGUERO FOR QUITE A LONG TIME<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Septeto Santiaguero is not a classical septet. In fact, it actually is no longer even a septet after the incorporation of an eighth musician. But that doesn\u2019t deduct value from its name or its music. On the contrary, it consolidates a sound that many compare with that of a band.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are heirs of the Melodias de ayer group, which logically had more instruments, and that inheritance remained for us,\u201d says Dewar. \u201cWe always felt that in the percussion set we couldn\u2019t get all the sound we wanted, that ideal combination with the bass, with the strumming of the guitar, with the \u2018tumbao\u2019 of the tres, and by incorporating a conga drum player the sound becomes stronger, more round. In the end this favors the dancers, because they follow the rhythm, and by strengthening the percussion the rhythmic part is favored and the group\u2019s sound is consolidated.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Another important element for the Septeto is its stage projection. It is far from being a stiff, timid and impassive group on stage. \u201cTo make others\u2019 feet move,\u201d says Dewar, \u201cit\u2019s difficult to not move ours.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S. tour was a test of fire. Their gestures, like their music, were key to summon the dancers who frequently didn\u2019t speak Spanish.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe public appreciated it a lot,\u201d affirms the group\u2019s director. \u201cThat the singers move on stage, that they seek the participation of the public, that they encourage the people and make them get to their feet, move their hands and dance, this is always well received. However, we keep in mind that what is most important is the theme as such, the text, the well-played music, and only afterwards does that interaction in the concerts come about. The fundamental part is that the people hear the proposal, assimilates it and enjoys it, as we believe happened now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n