• Submitted by: manso
• Arts and Culture
• 09 / 13 / 2010

---

Cuban musician and composer Chucho Valdés recognized the "wealth" of Spanish music and said his dream is "to playing with Paco de Lucía", shortly before a concert with saxophonist Archie Sheep at the Festival de La Villette, Paris.
 
Valdés noted in an interview with EFE he has not ruled out returning to collaborate with musicians in his new work “Chucho's Steps”.

In this new album, Valdés and the “Afro Cuban Messengers” have gone beyond musical boundaries and have "broken already-set structures" and "developed new rhythmic concepts".
 
The Cuban artist, who acknowledged he was "very pleased" with the acceptance by the critics and the public, said his previous band, Irakere, considered by some to be the most complete musical band in the history of Cuban music in the 20th century, has set “very high standards”.
 
"Irakere is a group that goes beyond history," he said, while he said he was "proud" of the influence he has on younger generation.

However, it is a completed stage now. It is now the time of the “Afro Cuban Messengers”, with which he intends to continue changing the direction and sense of music, he said.
 
For Valdés, "music is everything". According to him, "there is nothing without music, is the representation of cultures."
 
The Cuban went even further: "music is the ultimate universal language. It is not Esperanto as previously thought. It reaches everywhere and has no limits,” he said.

Although he declined to discuss the situation in his country, Valdés, who is a FAO Goodwill Ambassador (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), said he follows policy “from afar” and he “respects” it, but without any interference in his path, the music.
 
Regarding his future, he said he will continue to work with his new band and prepare a new album, to be recorded after the American tour’s end, within one and half year.

Source: EFE and Cubasi Translation Staff