Not even in a thousand years of conquering “the Big Apple”, does he lose the essence and expressiveness of this island. From the greeting, the talented Dayramir González sounds authentically and proudly Cuban: “Hello, hello, hello, good morning, good morning from Havana, Cuba, our Havana, my Havana and everyone's. Very happy to be here again at the fortieth edition of the Jazz Plaza Festival.”

On this occasion, Dayramir came with the motivation to present his V.I.D.A. project. in the country he considers his home:

“It’s a wonderful project, very ambitious, which is like a closing of the first album by Dayramir and Habana Entrance that I recorded here in Havana, after having won the Cubadisco and having done the Jojazz, so it was a project where I wanted to say the four pillars that define me: Life is truth, independence, diversity and love.

“Truth because I have completed forty years of life and twenty-five years of artistic career, I started in Havana when I was sixteen, very very young, playing with Oscar Valdé and that truth of feeling that after the pandemic one had to reinvent oneself, do many things, a lot of lives within oneself to reinvent oneself and that I have already seen the world, my heart has been broken, I have been reborn, I am a man reborn from many points of view and that is my own truth, where I say this is who I am, this is my piano, here I am, this is my truth. Nobody tells their story better than yourself, so it’s your own truth.

“Independence literally means having freedom of expression, freedom of movement to live, to feel. Diversity because I am black, I am Cuban, I also have Spanish, I live in New York, I come to Havana, I have my two beautiful children, that is the diversity of colors of life. And the love for friends, the love for our country, that country that we do not want to let go of, which is humanity.”

Among the musicians who accompanied him on this occasion was the American trumpeter Giventon Gelis, whom Dayramir met in New York, “playing with Wynton Marsalis at the Lincoln Center, where 2,500 people applauded him and it was an incredible experience to see a man with such strength play an instrument that was a direct connection from his mind.”

The collaboration between both artists began in 2021 when they presented themselves with their bands to an important jazz competition in Washington and shared the prize, something unprecedented in that contest. Now, they bring together passion and sound in Havana, in another demonstration that music does not understand languages or geopolitics, it’s always a bridge and an embrace.

“It has been a great pleasure to be here, we’ve been preparing for almost two years to come and we are happy,” said Giventon Gelis about his participation in the Jazz Plaza Festival.

Other guests such as the Cuban Pedrito Martínez and the Greek Aggeliki Psoni also joined the stage of the National Museum of Fine Arts Theater to share in the name of good music and life.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff