{"id":326902,"date":"2025-08-10T16:35:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T20:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=326902"},"modified":"2025-08-10T16:35:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T20:35:48","slug":"ruly-herrera-jazz-is-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/culture\/music-culture\/ruly-herrera-jazz-is-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruly Herrera: \u201cJazz is my life\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cCome on, gentlemen, I\u2019m leaving. Something\u2019s happening (Algo pasa).\u201d This is the phrase, spoken by Cuban drummer <\/span>Ruly Herrera<\/b><\/a>, that opens the new album by the <\/span>alternative jazz band Real Project<\/b><\/a>. The album represents a new beginning for the group, which is celebrating its 12th anniversary in 2025, with a different composition than the previous album, but faithful to its sound and the vision of its founding leader.<\/span><\/p>\n

Algo Pasa<\/span><\/i>, the new album by Ruly Herrera and Real Project, was released on digital platforms on June 6. It has nine tracks composed by Herrera, where music serves as a pretext to channel personal emotions, celebrate shared values and capture a clear, resonant and stimulating idea: there\u2019s Real Project for a while.<\/span><\/p>\n

The group\u2019s lead drummer is now joined by musicians \u00c1ngel Toirac on piano, Christian Figueredo on trumpet and bassist Osniel Regal. These young and talented performers accompany him in the new phase of the project, following the impressive album <\/span>Mutaci\u00f3n<\/span><\/i>, which Ruly shared with former members Jorge Luis \u201cYoyi\u201d Lagarza and brothers Rafael and Rasiel Aldama.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now Real Project reaches this point in its journey with a mature proposal, one that Ruly Herrera has been patiently pondering since the pandemic. <\/span>Algo Pasa<\/span><\/i> is an album of resistance, from a group that undoubtedly continues to bring meaning and brilliance to the Cuban music scene.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s see if this turns out well here,\u201d the musician tells me on the other end of the video call. \u201cAnyone would think we\u2019re 7,000 kilometers apart: you in Norway and me in Havana,\u201d I quip as a joking icebreaker, since we\u2019re both in the same city. But, faced with the impossibility of arranging a live meeting, we decided to have the conversation this way.<\/span><\/p>\n

From his family home in Havana, Ruly speaks calmly about his new album, everything that motivates him to continue creating, Cuba and its music scene, what he hopes for the future and a present fraught with challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s happening with Real Project on this album?<\/b><\/p>\n

I think Real Project reaffirms itself with it, despite the current circumstances and the fact that I\u2019ve had to watch previous members of the project leave. It\u2019s an album that reinforces the group\u2019s brand, its identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

With <\/span>Algo Pasa<\/span><\/i> we go back to the beginning, when I started Real Project with my album <\/span>Mal Tiempo<\/span><\/i> (Producciones Colibr\u00ed, 2015) \u2014 the band didn\u2019t even exist yet \u2014 and I had absolute control over the production of the material, something that forced me to be attentive to every part of the process.<\/span><\/p>\n

The journey was both beautiful and challenging, because it\u2019s about maintaining the level of a band that\u2019s widely followed on the national scene and which until the previous album featured faces that were hallmarks of the lineup.<\/span><\/p>\n

The faces that people knew \u2014 Yoyi Lagarza, Rafael Aldama, Rasiel Aldama \u2014 became brands that the public identifies with Real Project. So I know that, by not seeing them, fans may wonder what\u2019s new, what it will sound like, if it will be at the usual level. We\u2019ve already played some pieces in several of our recent performances, and I\u2019m very confident about what we\u2019ve done. We\u2019ve emerged stronger from this process and I feel I can continue on the path with anyone who comes to play with me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been working on <\/span>Algo Pasa<\/span><\/i> since the pandemic. When we started preparing the previous album \u2014 <\/span>Mutaci\u00f3n<\/span><\/i> (Bis Music, 2023) \u2014 I was composing, brainstorming ideas, meeting a lot here in the studio and themes kept coming out. Before we knew it, we had 20 themes, of which we chose 10 or 12 to make <\/span>Mutaci\u00f3n<\/span><\/i> and 8 or 9 were saved.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, in the post-pandemic stage, I continued composing; these themes comprise the nine tracks on the album. Several years went by and that allowed me to evolve my vision of what I want to do and what sound I want to champion. I\u2019ve wanted to pay homage to and revive indigenous Cuban rhythms and styles, always giving them the shape, uniqueness and sound of Real Project.<\/span><\/p>\n

I really enjoyed being able to perform a <\/span>guajira<\/span><\/i> \u2014 \u201cUna guajira en la ciudad\u201d \u2014 and also the theme \u201cCaminos\u201d with S\u00edntesis, with North African rhythms. Or \u201cFiesta,\u201d where I fuse Brazilian and Mozambican music.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d never worked with S\u00edntesis before. I\u2019ve been a huge fan of theirs since I was a kid, due to their importance in the history of music. I did work with Eme (Alfonso) before; we\u2019re contemporaries, even though she studied at the Alejandro Garc\u00eda Caturla Conservatory and I studied at the Manuel Saumell Elementary School. We always ran into each other at parties and concerts; we had many friends in common. Since we became professional artists, we\u2019ve had the opportunity to work together several times: she even performed live with Real Project and I played as her drummer, but we\u2019d never collaborated on an album.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCaminos\u201d was originally a completely instrumental song, but when I finished it and started listening to it, I imagined voices and singing with that music in the background. Since the theme has a semi-ancestral, African vibe, I thought, \u201cIf Carlos and S\u00edntesis wanted to collaborate, that would be awesome!\u201d So I mentioned it to Eme and they agreed instantly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGibara-Temazcal-Tulum\u201d is a love story, a piece I wrote for my wife during the pandemic. They are three words that, during our lockdown, we used to say to each other like a spell that calmed us. In Gibara, during a film festival, we met and became friends. The temazcal is an ancestral steam bath ritual we did in Mexico; it was a powerful experience we shared together. Tulum (Yucat\u00e1n) is also a special place for us, where we spent some wonderful moments. So I wanted to pay tribute to all those wonderful moments we had together.<\/span><\/p>\n