HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 19 (ACN) Pianists Ray Lema (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Laurent de Wilde (France) are two of the foreign artists who enhance the prestige of the 2022 Jazz Plaza International Festival, to be held until Sunday Jan. 23 in Havana and Santiago de Cuba.
Both musicians will offer a concert today at Teatro Nacional de Cuba’s Avellaneda Hall, where they will perform pieces from Wheels, their recent second album, and other themes from their first joint project.
“When we were rehearsing to come to Jazz Plaza, we said that it would probably be our hardest one, because if there is a country that understands our work very well, that is Cuba,” the 75-year-old Congolese musician told reporters, whereas the Frenchman, a cultural reference in his country, said he felt very proud to be in Cuba and spend time with so many musicians.
Lema, who is also a composer and multi-instrumentalist, confessed to having experienced different cultures, such as the African and the European, but remarked that Cuba is to him like a great school.
“Participating in the concert with the National Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Brazilian maestro Joao Mauricio Galindo and Cuban Enrique Pérez Mesa, involved a great preparation, but it was a great experience, and I hope to hear the impression of the public, which is my greatest pleasure,” he underscored.
As part of his visit to Havana, Lema gave the lecture “Musics of Central Africa” at the Museum of Africa in Havana’s Old Section.
Meanwhile, Laurent De Wilde performed on Tuesday at the Tito Junco Hall of the Bertolt Brecht Cultural Center along with two great Cuban musicians, Pablo Menendez and his band Mezcla and Emilio Vega and his band Paso al Frente.
