What started as a game among friends "jamming and taking advantage of a shared chemistry" "as Carcasses recalls", began to gain popularity after an incredible show that moved the audience at Havana's National Theater and garnered a Cubadisco award for its debut album, Goza Pepillo .

Among the highlights of the group's five years was the work they did with the multifaceted Brazilian singer-songwriter Lenine, for whom they said they felt "great affinity" from the first time they heard him sing. "It was a privilege that he agreed to come to Cuba to play with us," the group said.

After appearing on national stages over the past five years and breaking down the aesthetic and cultural barricades that separate certain genres "and audiences", this "traveling group of friends" has cultivated a sound characterized by hybridization, sustained by a group of musicians that churn out rhythms as lucid as they are happy, as if from a Marx Brothers' movie.

"I had worked with several of my colleagues, including Yusa, Telmary Diaz, Francis del Rio, William Vivanco, Julio Padron... Right away, I realized that bringing them together to work on a project was a very tempting idea and towards this end, our first concert in the Pogolotti neighborhood in the municipality of Marianao was a great experience. That was where we started to show that Interactivo is a picturesque project, full of colors and joy," Carcasses told Granma during an interview outside the PM Records studio in Havana.

As Carcasses shares some of his ideas that have been coming to him for some time in his dreams and on his way to his daily practices, his tired body shows signs of satisfaction after returning from Sant Boi de Llobregat, on the outskirts of Barcelona, where he participated in a festival organized by Sergio Ramos, drummer of the Spanish band Ojos de Brujo. While in Spain, the 35-year-old graduate from the National School of Arts (ENA) put his seal on Ojos de Brujo's next CD. The Spanish band performed a memorable concert with Interactivo at Havana's Karl Marx Theater a few years ago.

But Robertico's natural source of inspiration comes from Cuba, "Our songs reflexively deal with the Cuban context, but we also try to make them fun and danceable. We are convinced that reality can be expressed with authenticity and respect," said Carcasses.

"We are about to start recording our second album, Cubanos por el mundo. I think the Cubadisco award helps, but popularity depends on whether the public really knows our music, and that takes time ...those who go to our concerts know they are going to be surprised because our music always has to sound live to wake up people's emotions."

Just a few months ago, Carcasses recorded the CD Women are beautiful with singers Omara Portuondo, Beatriz Marquez, Diana Fuentes, Haydee Milanes and Yusa in this same studio.

Robertico Carcasses' musical background began from his crib, listening to records brought home by his father, showman Bobby Carcasses. "Thanks to him I was exposed to The Beatles, Chick Corea, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Benny More. He has always been a fundamental part of my development as a musician."

Just before Robertico enters the studio, he tells me about plans to organize the Interactivo Festival as a tribute to his father. "(The festival) will last three or four days with a solo concert by each member of the band. If I can get the support of the corresponding institutions, I would like to hold it at the Casa de Cultura de Plaza, because that was where my dad founded the Jazz Plaza Festival."

Then he crosses the bridge into the studio, where he recreates life through watercolors of sound taken from the corners of any working-class Cuban neighborhood because, after all, Interactivo also follows the law of the rumba.

(www.granma.co.cu)