Amor crónico: wildly inventive
and fun

Mireya Castañeda

FILM genres have become diffused and so it is understandable that director-actor Jorge Perugorría has decided to add a fictional story to his documentary on the Cuban tour of singer Cucu Diamantes, resident in New York, who was born in Havana’s Párraga neighborhood.

In order to record the concerts that Diamantes gave in Santiago de Cuba, Bayamo, Gibara, Camagüey, Cabaiguan, Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, Matanzas and Havana, the director-scriptwriter logically opted for a road movie.

Amor Cronico, a music documentary with fiction included, resulted in an entertaining comedy in which viewers can enjoy live versions of the numbers comprising Cuculand, Cucu Diamantes’ first solo album.

Cucu Diamantes and Andrés Levin, the film’s producer, created the Yerba Buena group in 2001, a fusion of African and Caribbean rhythms with an urban New York touch, nominated for a Grammy for the song "President Alien" (2003).

Vocalist and the group’s principal songwriter, Diamantes launched her solo career in 2009 with the album Cuculand, of her own songs, produced by Levin and Yotuel from the group Orishas who, as the singer affirmed, "gave it a more personal sound." It was nominated for a Latin Grammy for the song "Es más fuerte".

The Los Angeles Times wrote then,"The captivating Cucu Diamantes [is] the sultry-voiced co-founder of… Yerba Buena… her solo debut, "Cuculand" [is] a melange of salsa, tango, surf guitar, trip-hop and other shimmy-inducing sounds… Diamantes [is a] standout, with her sassily sweet voice sailing over a savory concoction built for hot summer nights."

According to Perugorría, everything began with the Paz sin fronteras (Peace without Borders) concert organized in Havana in September of 2009 by the Colombian singer Juanes, featuring international figures such as Miguel Bosé, Olga Tañón, Danny Rivera, Víctor Manuel, Luis Eduardo Aute, Jovanotti and…Cucu Diamantes, in "a reencounter with her roots, her natural public."

"That prompted the idea of a Cuban tour, and she and Levin asked me for a testimonial and that seemed very interesting to me, with the risks involved in terms of her career. I thought of a movie, as Cucu looks as if she has come out of a film, she lives between fiction and reality, and because the theme of Cuban artists who live outside of the island and return to Cuba and reencounter their culture and their natural public has always interested me."

With respect to the road movie, Perugorría recalled his experience in Guantanamera with Tomás Gutiérrez Alea - Juan Carlos Tabío directing, and Humberto Solás’ Miel para Oshún, as both make a journey through all of Cuba. "Moreover, I wanted to make a tribute to Cuban cinema, to which I have a debt of gratitude."

"I was born in Párraga, my name is Ileana Padrón and I live in New York. I like to be eclectic in my life and my music." This is Cucu Diamantes’ introduction in the movie and in the press conference.

"For me, the film is a very organic project and very emotional, it is very much one of its kind, because it is my tour of Cuba and at the same time we show the treasure which is this island, its roots, Cuban landscapes, the people, the culture."

Diamantes wanted the movie to be premiered in Havana and it was (it is still being screened throughout the island), although it was shown during the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, where it won praise from the critics: "Amor Cronico is like nothing you’ve ever seen before - wildly inventive and fun."

The music, the heart of Amor crónico, had in the concerts the special participation of trumpet player Alexander Abreu, the rumba group Los muñequitos de Matanzas, and Samuel Formell, from Van Van. Diamantes said that there was just one month of rehearsals with the band that appears in the movie. "They are young musicians from the island, not my New York band. "They are exceptional."