{"id":227916,"date":"2020-09-23T08:29:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T12:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=227916"},"modified":"2020-09-23T08:29:05","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T12:29:05","slug":"harold-lopez-nussa-told-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/culture\/music-culture\/harold-lopez-nussa-told-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Harold L\u00f3pez-Nussa told you"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nine years ago, on a night in December drinking a cup of coffee made by Maria Fernanda, we talked at length about his career and his album <\/span>Canciones<\/span><\/i>, which I fell in love with and was the door to a friendship\u2015admiration that only increases in the face of the virtue and risk of Harold L\u00f3pez-Nussa in each new installment of his career.<\/span><\/p>\n

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His most recent album <\/span>Te lo dije<\/span><\/i> took me back to <\/span>Canciones<\/span><\/i>, to that very Cuban way that Harold has of telling us about music from simplicity\u2014not simpleness\u2014, the humility of breaking molds and the clarity of understanding that music doesn\u2019t know of lots.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith <\/span>Te lo dije<\/span><\/i>, I try to make fun of myself and play with that belief that Cubans have that we know everything and that we are number one in everything. It is a game with our Cubanness and that innocent arrogance that I like so much,\u201d he tells me in a conversation through social networks, since nothing and no one can escape COVID-19 and its impacts. And, of course, music and its industry are no exception.<\/span><\/p>\n

An album that was released at the least expected moment, in a context marked by a pandemic that has changed everyone\u2019s life and has accelerated the digital way in which we consume content. But, I want to believe, that it is also a time when we need, more than anything, those little reasons to smile and feel that there are still things that make sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe album should have been released much earlier. Because of the pandemic it was not possible. But we thought we couldn\u2019t keep waiting to do it. It has been a totally different challenge from the way I usually work. We have had to adapt. I have felt a lot of support from the label, from the different agencies, from all the people who have accompanied me in recent years. Not few. I am lucky to have a team of friends, who I trust and who believe in what I do. That makes everything easier.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Te lo dije<\/span><\/i> is a happy album, and although I could try to find more elaborate adjectives that some musicologist or critic would adore, I don\u2019t need them, because it came with its own credentials loaded with mozambique or reggaeton, masterfully dressed under the halo of jazz and that blessed range of possibilities allow to those who create.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted it to be an album with a sound perhaps a little more pop, different from the previous one. Here the sound is perhaps more present, with less atmosphere, the music too. And, of course, there is always room for improvisation, which is the magic of jazz,\u201d says Harold who, as in many other battles, was accompanied by his brother Ruy Adri\u00e1n L\u00f3pez-Nussa (drums), Julio C\u00e9sar Gonz\u00e1lez (bass) and Maykel Gonz\u00e1lez (trumpet).<\/span><\/p>\n

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From left to right: Maykel Gonz\u00e1lez (trumpet), Julio C\u00e9sar Gonz\u00e1lez (bass), Ruy L\u00f3pez-Nussa (drums) and Harold L\u00f3pez-Nussa (piano). Photo: Courtesy of HLN.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As to top it off, that trio of musicians was not enough for him as the foundation of his album. He also had to give us 4 special collaborations, because of how diverse and daring of Harold\u2019s pieces which I have listened to during so many years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jazz with reggaeton? Yes, sir. Musicality? Guaranteed. Tributes? You can count on that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI gave myself many treats with this album. Kelvis Ochoa and his Cubanness, Cimafunk and his impressive projection. Randy Malcom and my crazy idea of \u200b\u200bfusing reggaeton with jazz to take risks and get out of the comfort zone. French accordionist Vincent Peirani, in a deluxe version of Michel Legrand\u2019s \u2018Windmills of Your Mind.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who have followed the career of Harold L\u00f3pez-Nussa have felt in each album a new universe, like a biography told from the piano keys or a story of many through music.<\/span><\/p>\n

This time, with <\/span>Te lo dije<\/span><\/i>, the Cuban pianist and his quartet wanted to bring jazz closer to the people, with a sound perhaps more pop or far from the standards of Latin or Cuban jazz to which we are used.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEach album reflects what you are experiencing at that moment, the influences you have in your personal and professional life. It was a way of getting closer to my daughters\u2015who sing on the album\u2015and my family because the life of musicians who tour a lot demands being separated from loved ones. And it has touched me a lot. But also with <\/span>Te lo dije<\/span><\/i>, as with <\/span>Canciones<\/span><\/i>, I wanted to have a little fun with the music and try to make it for all kinds of audiences, not only for jazz consumers, but with a broader listening palette.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When reviewing the album from top to bottom like someone who reads something very good and can\u2019t put it down, beyond the variety and the risk of the sound, you find connections to common stories, to moments of lives, of successes, of needs, but above all, of joy and hopes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEach song has its own story. \u2018Habana sin s\u00e1banas\u2019 is a portrait of what I understand is Havana, the one that I live, the one that I walk, the one that we Habaneros live, Havana in the open; \u2018Sobre el atelier\u2019 is a song dedicated to my grandfather Leonel, which I composed over what used to be his atelier; \u2018Un d\u00eda de noviembre,\u2019 a piece by Leo Brouwer, which I love very much and which I did in a habanera son; and so on with each piece. The songs that are lucky enough to have a video clip are accompanied by that visual image that conditions your feeling; but those that don\u2019t give you the freedom to imagine what you want and each one can create their own story according to what the music inspires, which in the end I think is the most beautiful thing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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From reggaeton to \u2018El Buey Cansao\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

Harold already surprised us a few months ago with his \u201cJazzton\u201d together with the singer of the duo Gente de Zona Randy Malcom, with whom he has had a long relationship since the days when they were music students.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, to top it off, he\u2019s giving a tribute to maestro Juan Formell and that unforgettable song like \u201cEl Buey Cansao,\u201d by Los Van Van, this time joining forces with Cimafunk in a video clip directed by the Nocturnal team.<\/span><\/p>\n