Suyl\u00e9n Milan\u00e9s arrives at the PM Records room dressed in white and holding a small cigar between her fingers. After the usual introductions between journalist and interviewee, she starts letting out smoke all over the place.<\/p>\n
We spoke about Eyeife, the Electronic Music International Festival (with an Afro-Cuban accent) to be held in Havana from September 26 to October 1.<\/p>\n
At the stroke of keyboards, guitars and bat\u00e1 drums, combined with visual arts and dance, F\u00e1brica de Arte Cubano (FAC) and the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) will be the scenario for the performance of Iv\u00e1n Lejardi, Djoy de Cuba, Greench, Wichy del Vedado, David Casas, D\u2019 VazzBrother\u2019s, Dj Reitt, Dj Pauza, and Dj Ryan, among other musicians.<\/p>\n
For the musical fusion, Eyeife has a poster of well-known figures and others from the more underground stage. Yasek Manzano, Rolando Luna, Eduardo Sandoval, Brenda Navarrete, Zule Guerra, Athanay, Mary Paz, Telmary and the Tesis de Menta group are some of the most well-known names on the Cuban scene. From abroad will come The Dirty Playerz (Spain), Alex Raouf (NY, United States), Tuff London (United Kingdom), Bishop (Mexico), among others.<\/p>\n
An heir to the Varadero Festival, where Pablo Milan\u00e9s was able to bring together, as producer and director, artists from more than 15 countries, Eyeife also owes to Proelectr\u00f3nica, organized for several years by Suyl\u00e9n, Alexis de la O and Iliam Su\u00e1rez, says Suyl\u00e9n.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019ve been working for so long in favor of music, people start knowing you and that creates trust because there\u2019s a history and a figure like Pablo Milan\u00e9s behind all this,\u201d says his daughter, in charge of the festival as the executive director of PM Records.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father is the president of this institution created in 1998. What today is a recording company at that time was a foundation. But his aim was always to strengthen Cuban music. All our events have a social profile, and we organize projects for diverse genres. The Proelectr\u00f3nica festival was born from that. I have continued the work begun by my father in that sense,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n
Why have you connected with electronic music instead of the <\/strong>trova?<\/strong><\/p>\n I have an influence, because my father was an initiator of the New Song Movement. But I\u2019m more temperamental and I like more the music that has to do with my personality. I was a member of the Montespuma Group, which was directed by Mario Daly, a great leader of alternative music in Cuba whom I owe a lot of what I know as an artist. There I learned to project my voice as a rock singer, and it was a great influence. But I believe I am more eclectic and I also sing electronic music.<\/p>\n In Cuba that music has been present in the last 15 years, but it was recognized little by little and it started being institutionalized barely three years ago. But I believe that what\u2019s most important is that the DJs are recognized today, they have an enterprise, and the recording companies and official institutions like the Ministry of Culture have institutionalized electronic music.<\/p>\n How has the panorama of electronic music been reshaped on the island?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been \u201cdragging\u201d with me electronic music in Cuba since its beginnings. I always worked, directly or indirectly, with the genre. I organized underground parties and invited DJs. I wasn\u2019t the leader, but I did work with them and I learned a lot about production and started forming part of that world.<\/p>\n Producer Yoana Grass proposed that I do a project with the DJs, to give them a space, and starting then Iliam Su\u00e1rez and Alexis de la Oz (IA) were the initiators of Proelectr\u00f3nica. I was a sort of protector; as an institution I joined forces with them and we achieved an electronic festival that has lasted. It was a push the DJs needed to perform, to promote their work, to make known what they were doing and for the young ones it also served as an opportunity, since there were no spaces for that music.<\/p>\n We spent five years building a scenario for the DJs, creators of their own music, because it\u2019s not the same a DJ that takes Cuban or American music and works on that music. It doesn\u2019t give you an identity, it\u2019s not original. That\u2019s why we created a festival where the DJs could make their music. It was an excellent idea of Iliam in order to avoid imitation. What are we doing imitating others who have nothing to do with us, if we have the talent, if we have artists? That\u2019s why Proelectr\u00f3nica was born; it strengthened the creation of their music.<\/p>\n How does the idea come up of the fusion of electronic music with Afro-Cuban rhythms in a festival?<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019ve already done festivals like Proposiciones, in 2010, in which more than 200 artists from several provinces participated and the best of Cuban music, from salsa, rumba to rock and electronic music, was there. Its slogan was \u201cFor a living planet\u201d and it was marvelous, I believe it was one of the best festivals I have organized. We were able to bring together many artists, from diverse manifestations, and we gave unknown talents visibility. It was a perfect occasion to discover talents and to launch them, for making known what there is in the underground, in contemporary art. I have great faith in this festival because it follows the same line.<\/p>\n What does Eyeife say? <\/strong><\/p>\n That we have to do more, that we have to open up to more projects and manifestations, not just DJs playing their music, but rather battling with artists, merging with the rumba and the Cuban roots. And we\u2019re going to call jazz musicians, the Acosta Danza Company which will be in charge of the opening, we\u2019re going to beat the drums for Eleggu\u00e1. The name Eyeife comes from that, an Afro-Cuban word.<\/p>\n It occurred 10 years ago to my husband, a producer who unfortunately passed away. I wanted to retake the idea, now that the Cuban DJs have reached a certain mature age, to take one more step: that they dare to work, to create over Cuban music. In relation to this I have told the artists that if they need a bat\u00e1 drum, a piano, if they need something from any manifestation, we give it to them. But they have to create, without excuses. They have to build over Cuban music because it is our identity and we have to be part of the international panorama. We can achieve this. Between the electronic music lab and us we have been able to encourage the musicians. It\u2019s incredible that artists like Rolandito Luna have gotten involved.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n The career of Suyl\u00e9n Milan\u00e9s, the legendary Pablo\u2019s oldest daughter, has two decades of national and international tours where she has defended pop rock.<\/p>\n \u201cI like the alternative genres. My sisters are more into ballads, the trova, but I was always more alternative,\u201d comments the interpreter of \u201cLas Caracolas.\u201d<\/p>\n She has not completely given up personal creation, but in recent years she has devoted herself to collective creation.<\/p>\n \u201cI spent five years with Montespuma, afterwards another five singing solo. So I\u2019ve been focused on PM Records for a decade, on everything we can do and on what we will do in the future, with a goal: maintaining culture high, in and outside Cuba; and recovering the roots through dissimilar artistic genres and manifestations. It doesn\u2019t have to be only music, visual arts and dance can also be incorporated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre you religious?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n Yoruba? I ask<\/p>\n \u201cIs it so obvious? I am the daughter of Och\u00fan.\u201d<\/p>\n I ask her what \u201ceyeife\u201d means in the Yoruba religion.<\/p>\n \u201cIt represents positiveness, the absolute \u2018Yes\u2019, the energy we need to give our best version.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Suyl\u00e9n Milan\u00e9s arrives at the PM Records room dressed in white and holding a small cigar between her fingers. After the usual introductions between journalist and interviewee, she starts letting out smoke all over the place. 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