Pachito Alonso: successful fusion of inherited and contemporary music

Mireya Castañeda

PACHITO Alonso is a respected name in a country of great musicians, whether these be composers, directors, arrangers or singers. He also has the advantage and handicap of being the son of Pacho Alonso (1928-1982), a singer who occupies a select place in the history of Cuban music.

An advantage because this is a legacy which he has always respected in his own way, since the creation in 1982 of his own group, Pachito Alonso y sus Kini Kini, and a handicap on account of the eternal and human reaction of comparison.

However, Pachito is not a singer, this gift passed on to the next generation, his sons Christian and Rey, the current and highly charismatic Kini Kini vocalists; his imprint lies in the arrangements, compositions and stage elegance.

Conversational, with precise musical and marketing concepts, Pachito Alonso (Havana, 1955) gave an interview to Granma International in celebration of his group’s 30th anniversary.

It is part of my inheritance, but in addition, I am from a generation of Cubans who have followed the example of these great figures, as artists and as people, who have had a major influence at the Cuban and international level. I believe that this pedestal we have as an example is very important for us.

I joined the band at the end of 1978, after having received, right here in UNEAC (the interview took place in the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists gardens), first prize in a music competition. At that time I was in the Los Egresados group, sponsored by the maestro Rafael Somavilla, and I moved into my father’s band. When he died in 1982, I founded my own group. Now, as I am not a singer, it was both more difficult and better for me, because people would have said, ‘But he doesn’t sing like Pacho,’ and now they say that my sons sing like their grandfather.

I see it as an authentically Cuban band. One very important thing is that we are highly identified with our people, we have empathy, popularity, with much respect and dignity. We have our stamp. I’m not a singer but I have my way of writing.

That is due to the demands of places in which we have performed. We have had to create shows, concerts, and dance music is not the same as sitting in a theater. That has led us to make various kinds of music. You have to express what you learned at the National Arts School and in my case, moreover, everything around me from the family point of view.

The same thing that I contributed in my time, energy, youth, freshness. This is not a good time for popular music, but one always has to be out there with the latest demands of the international market, which also lays down guidelines. Because we are known in the world not for what we are currently doing, because we don’t have transnationals distributing our music, but through the legacy of Pacho, Beny Moré, all those greats who have triumphed and whose music is heard worldwide.

You have already completed the announced albums Homenaje a Antonio Machín y a Pacho Alonso, and 30 años con mis tumbao. Why did you bring together those two figures?

Machín wasn’t a very well known singer in Cuba because he emigrated very early in his career, but he is the most important Cuban music figure in Spain. Machín immortalized many songs which were famous in Cuba and others which he created in Spain. It’s a tribute to a great friend of my father. I made an album with quite a modern sound, but respecting the established parameters within which he made his mark. You have to respect what people remember even if you put in something new. On the album, Omara Portuondo has a duo with José Luis Arango, (singer with los Kini Kini), and another with my son. I made a selection of numbers, "Angelito negro" in a Latino flamenco version; "Tres Palabras," "Dos gardenias," "Imágenes," "Tu sabes mucho," "A cualquiera se le muere un tío," There are 11 numbers. It was recorded in Cuba by Colibrí. 30 años con mi tumbao is very much a dance album, on which people can appreciate some numbers that have been in the hit parade and some new ones.

This summer we’re going to do a promotion in Europe and a Mexican tour. I’ll tell you that they have invited me to the Cervantino Festival again, the first time was in 1991. We have a show called Viva Cuba with the Yoldance Company, directed by my daughter Yolena, for which I composed the music, and we’re going to take it to the National Auditorium in Mexico in January, and another, Bésame mucho, which is a musical revue. They have proposed that we take it to Broadway, but that has its difficulties because of the blockade.