{"id":249836,"date":"2022-03-01T15:44:55","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T20:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=249836"},"modified":"2022-03-01T15:44:55","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T20:44:55","slug":"ariel-cumba-i-was-one-of-the-first-in-cuba-to-go-out-dressed-as-a-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/culture\/ariel-cumba-i-was-one-of-the-first-in-cuba-to-go-out-dressed-as-a-woman\/","title":{"rendered":"Ariel Cumb\u00e1: \u201cI was one of the first in Cuba to go out dressed as a woman\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ariel Cumb\u00e1 has lived in Valencia for almost two decades and in the city of Berlanga has made an irrepressible career! Which goes from acting in a famous cabaret to ballet and singing classes, tours, presentations, etc. He briefly updates me on his projects, some stalled by COVID-19:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m preparing a tour of Mexico and Latin America with a show that will be re-released in March here in Spain, \u2018Mujeres,\u2019 a kind of musical where I play various characters. With the singer Lucrecia there will be a \u2018remix\u2019 of the song \u2018La Mamma\u2019 that I published a few years ago and I\u2019m working hard on an album that stopped due to the pandemic: <\/span>El boulevard de los boleros<\/span><\/i>, a compilation of almost forgotten pieces and other more current ones by Cuban composers. Soon two dance singles by Odry Dj will be released and I have a film project in Barcelona with the director Juanfer Fern\u00e1ndez. There\u2019s more, but I can\u2019t tell you about it,\u201d he tells me between laughs. What now translates into successes and applause has behind it a story of overcoming and resistance that could well be taken to the pages of a book. I don\u2019t rule out it happening at any time.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat we gays of my time experienced is beyond belief\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The first time I spoke with Ariel Cumb\u00e1 was at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba \u2014 on the occasion of the premiere of the film <\/span>F\u00e1tima<\/span><\/i> or <\/span>El Parque de la Fraternidad<\/span><\/i> by Jorge Perugorr\u00eda. For the soundtrack of the film he performed \u201cVieja luna\u201d by Orlando de la Rosa. That was his reunion with Cuba after 25 years of absence.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was born in a home of musicians, there undoubtedly his influences. His father Oney Cumb\u00e1 Escollies, composer and arranger, triumphed in the La Corte Suprema del Arte radio program back in 1937. He was a famous guitarist between the 1950s and 1960s accompanying great divas such as La Lupe, Elena Burke, Moraima Secada, Ela Calvo…<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy father didn\u2019t want any of us to be musicians, despite having a whole family full of artists. He didn\u2019t let me study piano because he said it was for sissies. Now I\u2019m a sissy and I\u2019m not a pianist. They wanted me to be a doctor, but I don\u2019t like blood. Later, over the years and my work, they realized that I was never wrong,\u201d he recalls.<\/span><\/p>\n

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His professional training began at the Guillermo Tom\u00e1s Conservatory of Music in Guanabacoa where he studied singing, theory, sol-fa and piano. He continued to better himself at the Cuban National Ballet School where he specialized in classical ballet, contemporary dance and Afro-Cuban Folklore. With all this knowledge he performed on different stages of Cuban theaters and cabarets until he was admitted as a dancer and solo singer of the famous Tropicana Cabaret.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a lot for them to recognize me, to respect my personal life. It was not easy at all. What we gays of my time experienced is beyond belief and most of us had to leave because of that. However, leaving Cuba for good was never in my mind, much less being separated from my mother. Getting away from my family was the hardest part,\u201d he maintains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Away from the island and after several of the events that surrounded him, Ariel Cumb\u00e1 decided at risk to take up his career again where cross-dressing plays an essential role. \u201cOver time it became a real way to say what I feel. I have always said that I am an artist who transforms into whatever he wants. It has nothing to do with my intimate life. There are those who think that to be a transvestite you must necessarily be gay, a mistake. As far as I know, I was one of the first in Cuba to go out dressed as a woman and the first time I acted like that, people applauded me for about fifteen minutes, it was amazing. Now, how to do it without offending women? That is precisely why I am such a perfectionist when it comes to walking, talking… What you can never do is ridicule a woman, in no way. Assuming you are a character, not a grotesque caricature.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You told me that you got to know Celia Cruz back in 1991?<\/b><\/p>\n

Son, wonderful things have happened to me in my career and that was one of them! I met her in Barcelona at one of her concerts and, all of a sudden, I found myself in front of La Reina. I was speechless. She asked me if I was related to Cumb\u00e1 \u2014 referring to my father \u2014 and she got very excited. In 2000 I participated with Lucrecia in a concert where she performed and she remembered me: \u201cCumbasito,\u201d she told me, and we talked about my father again, she told me stories\u2026. A tender, wonderful and honest woman, really.<\/span><\/p>\n

For ethnologist, writer and poet Miguel Barnet, \u201cAriel Cumb\u00e1 is an extraordinary performer with a deep, metallic voice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

You move in many musical genres.\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve even sung opera arias, but when I sing a bolero I transform. There appear the Elenas and all those stars. That was what I learned at home; can you see how education has an influence?<\/span><\/p>\n