{"id":328610,"date":"2025-09-19T10:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T14:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=328610"},"modified":"2025-09-19T03:12:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T07:12:07","slug":"alain-perez-grateful-from-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/culture\/alain-perez-grateful-from-the-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Alain P\u00e9rez: grateful from the heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alain P\u00e9rez is one of the most powerful energies in Cuban popular dance music today. For a decade, he has been developing his solo career leading his orchestra and although that marked his breakthrough for most of the Cuban public, his career was already long and well-established.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ever since he was a student, many noticed the birth of a star. Irakere, Isaac Delgado\u2019s orchestra and the group of the great Spanish guitarist Paco de Luc\u00eda are among the most distinguished he has been part of on a journey that began on the island and then continued in Spain.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Musical production has been another field in which he has reaped many rewards: from Celia Cruz, Omara Portuondo, Isaac Delgado to <\/span>Concha Buika<\/span><\/b><\/a> have placed albums and songs in his hands, before and after embarking on a solo career that brought him back home.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From here, he has conquered his island and much of the world, won a Grammy and become an essential name in Cuban music today, admired by his peers, an example for new generations and loved by the public.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After five years away from doing so, he released a new album on May 30th.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Bingo<\/span><\/i> is a song of joy, of hope, of Cuban music. I was filled with ideas, of hope, of continuing to be on stage, of continuing to look play for my audience, my people, with my orchestra, with my musicians, with everyone who always embraces my music. That\u2019s <\/span>Bingo<\/span><\/i>. The bell of music inside me rings again for you,\u201d is how Alain defines this new production, which, while it\u2019s been playing on platforms for more than three months, the artist has also decided to present live in a very special way.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to present the album live on September 27 at the Karl Marx Theater. For the first time, I\u2019m going to perform at the Karl Marx solo. I\u2019m expectant and excited because the market and job opportunities in Havana are much scarcer and limited these days, but going to the theater means going to play for the people, and that\u2019s what I want: to play for my people,\u201d he tells us.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The concert will also feature his usual hits, but the artist assures us that those who attend \u201care going to hear a work whose idea was born 100% on the island, with the full excitement of making it here for you.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bingo<\/span><\/i> was recorded between Spain, Miami and Cuba and is possibly the Alain P\u00e9rez album that, to date, brings together the largest number of collaborations with important names in international salsa: Gilberto Santa Rosa, Tito Nieves, Luis Enrique and Issac Delgado. This is where we begin a conversation about many paths.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why so many big names for this album specifically?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some people ask me, \u201cWhy did you waste all your bullets?\u201d But they gave me the cue, and this was the moment. I hadn\u2019t recorded in five years; a long time has passed since <\/span>El Cuento de la buena pipa.<\/span><\/i>\u202f The pandemic was one of the reasons that kept us from being able to record, work and maintain the rhythm and work dynamic we had. So I took advantage of it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With Gilberto, for example, it was already a given and a desire for both of us to do something together, especially when he repeatedly told me we had to sing and I got excited and said, \u201cGilberto\u2019s asking me for a song,\u201d imagine that.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Luis Enrique is my brother; we have so many things in common; and Tito Nieves and I had met at two festivals, at Salsa al Parque in Bogot\u00e1, Colombia, and in Madrid, at Noches del Bot\u00e1nico. That night was the first time we played together, and he told me, \u201cHey, whenever you want we can do something.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Isaac Delgado, of course, is always close, and I had already sung on his album. The song \u201cBingo\u201d is really a tribute to the sound of Isaac\u2019s orchestra, to our sound, the Palacio de la Salsa. It\u2019s a direct nod to that 1990s timba and who better than Isaac to champion that song?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Everything happened that way, flowing through the energy of the brothers, of these artists who have collaborated with me, so no bullet is a blessing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n