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• 03 / 23 / 2010

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David Alvarez and his group Juego de Manos have conquered all generations of Cubans for 16 years. What at the beginning was an experiment among five instrument players, says Alvarez, later assumed an East musical sonority: going back to the son origins.

Juego de Manos began in Guantanamo the national tour “Estoy pega’o”, with a concert in the square Pedro A. Pérez celebrating the 15 years of the group.

The meeting with Guantanamo audience was, for the musician, a reencounter: “when I created Juego de Manos in 1994, the first province I visited was Guantanamo; for 21 days we played in different municipalities. Those were special moments and very important for my professional career”, he remembered.

Starting in Guantanamo, is related with such outstanding moment for Juego de Manos as well. The name emsamble, he says, “is a philosophy of life and music that belongs to the chorus of one of the songs I composed in the 80’s. Lets play hands with the life, let’s play hands with the death, then time passes, then we forget, and one day death will hunt us.

Alter a decade of absence in Guantanamo, his concert, at 10 pm of Tuesday night, was almost an expected event for the city inhabitants, whom apparently did not hear of the visit of the popular interpreter, composer, arranger and director of this group. Few people came to the Pedro A Perez square.

The place was not the most appropriate for such presentation. The performance should have taken place in a better location, like the Music House La Guantanamera that fits for the group’s format. According to David, the way his music sounds is not, for young people mainly.

 “The purpose of Juego de Manos is to rescue Cuban traditional rhythms. Although many teenagers like it, the group’s aim is to get to adults, specially the generation that inherited such legacy form their parents, the youth of the 50’s. They miss those times and claim for them.

Nevertheless, David Alvarez and his boys delivered a two hours concert and interpreted several popular themes present in his discography and others that are in production. The few people present, applauded and danced with the son and guarachas of Juego de Manos.

By: Eyder La O TOLEDANO  

Source: Venceremos