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• 02 / 26 / 2009

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“It will be two concerts in Dublin, which we will offer as part of the help to develop this work,” declared Valdés to the press, when he referred to the Una Corda project, promoted by Cuban authorities and Irish citizens since 2007 to repair and tune pianos in an old workshop in Havana.

The award winning musician accompanied last Thursday the Irish Foreign Minister, Michael Martin –in his visit to Cuba- in a tour around the workshop that belongs to the Ministry for Culture.

Una Corda is “a good example that the social and cultural relationships” between the two countries “may develop,” said Martin, while Valdés valued it as a huge contribution “to the development of Cuban culture and music.”

The piano player highlighted that in the concerts scheduled for next July 27 and 28 in Dublin, he will present Akokan Iré (open heart in the Yoruba language), the band that made its debut a week ago in a jazz festival in Havana and which has “a different rhythmic combination” he hopes “the public will like.”

“I presented it in the 2009 Jazz Plaza Festival and it is being widely accepted,” added Valdés, whose band is made up by a quartet; his sister the vocalist María Caridad Valdés and three more Cuban musicians in the metals.

Chucho highlighted that “making donations to repair pianos is a beautiful idea”, and he also pointed out that one of the purposes of the Irish is to contribute to the education of Cuban tuners and mechanics in this instrument. “This is very important,” he pointed out.

(AFP)