CubaPLUS Magazine

Created a year ago, Real Maravilloso is a project that has just begun to &take its first steps". However, it has already been very well received by the public, due to the variety of musical genres it performs, especially pieces from the Cuban songbook.

This group has the evocative name of Real Maravilloso, proposed by its sponsor Jean François Fourt, because they promoted a documentary of a similar name that won awards last year in several international festivals: the Cuban American International Film Festival Miami, Short Long World Festival, Corrientes, Argentina and the Caracas International Film Festival, and in honor of the Cuban capital for its 500th anniversary in 2019.

Real Maravilloso emerged, director Yarineidis Llinse Kessell told this magazine, because of proposals they had to do shows in smaller spaces where there was no capacity for the number of musicians in the Havana Provincial Concert Band, and because of the need to have a more diverse repertoire in terms of established codes and standards, genres and format.

Our work", she explained, &promotes the performance of Cuban music genres: son, danzón, chachachá, rumba, bolero, among others, and Latin music: bossa nova, samba, joropo and jazz. In addition, operatic arias, movie soundtracks and pieces of African folklore, mainly from the Kenyan region, with a vocal-instrumental sound".

In the opinion of this young, but experienced director, the aims of the group are to raise the cultural level of the listening public and increase the expectations of the demanding listeners familiar with classical patterns, mixing these two languages to enrich musical culture.

Equally, they hope to build a repertoire rich in genres and traditions that has ethical and aesthetic values, and for the group to perform in various settings, among them theaters, cultural activities of diplomatic representations in Cuba, and other deserving institutions, both inside and outside the largest of the Antilles.

The origin of our musicians reflects their artistic experience within the professional sector, and they enjoy the feeling of exploring musical interests that they had no opportunity to before, at the same time as creating an ensemble and an artistic dialogue be able to demonstrate their technical and performing potential at a high professional level.

For all these reasons, a promising future is in sight for this group, taking into account not only the talent and quality of its members, but also the desire to bring good Cuban music, regardless of genre, to national stages — they will perform every Friday from 8 pm in January at the landmark Hotel Nacional of Cuba —, and abroad, including theaters in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and France.