Interview with César Pupy Pedroso by

After driving for seven hours, passing through Moscow, Liverpool, Paris (h) and Mexico (relax, they are all in NY or PA, USA!) we arrived in the town of Ottawa, Canada. Yes, we NY area residents found a solution to our hunger for Timba music – Canada!

Issac Delgado will be in Montreal on July 29th and 30th, and last week (July 11th through the 17th, 2005), every night (yes, every night) Pupy and his great band were performing in Ottawa, during the Bluesfest.

This year the organizers of the festival decided to dedicate a whole stage to Cuban artists. Other stages were dedicated to blues and some World Music.

Saturday afternoon I met with César "Pupy" Pedroso, at the hotel where he was staying, two blocks away from the stage he performed at for the last few nights.

Relaxed, down to earth, Pupy talked about his past experience as the pianist of Los Van Van and his present experience with his own band, Pupy y Los Que Son Son.

Vic: When did you start playing the piano?

Pupy: I started to play the piano when I was 14. I studied at the Amalia Roldan Conservatory in Havana and also took classes with different teachers. About a year after, when I felt I was doing OK, I started playing in a school band from Santa Fé, a beach town close to Havana. All the musicians went to the same school and rehearsed in our spare time. Then I started playing with Facinación, which was very popular in the Marianao region (Havana area). For a while I was a substitute player in different clubs, nightclubs, and I also worked in a place called El Rescate in Neptuno, Havana, where I substituted for my father, who was the pianist with Conjunto Bolero. I played with Orquesta Sensación and with Conjunto Chapottín. I was doing all this while having my job with Facinación and I was still a student. Early in 1966, I joined Orquesta Revé. That was from 1966 until 1968, and in December of 1969 we (together with Juan Carlos Formell) created the band, Los Van Van.

Vic: 36 years ago you formed Los Van Van together with Formell, what was the idea?

Pupy: As I mentioned, we were playing together at Revé but both felt too limited. Formel had some good ideas and we decided to put something together by ourselves.

Vic: You have worked with your own band for the last three years. When did you decide to leave Los Van Van?

Pupy: For a while I was playing with Los Van Van and also worked on my own music. After my second CD, “De La Timba a Pogolotti” I got really good feedback. Then I decided to make a new CD with young, unknown artists. I created some other songs and again the feedback was great and I decided to continue in this direction.

Vic: You played with Los Van Van for 33 years. What do you feel towards the band?

Pupy: En talla (Pupy smiles). Very good, they are great! At the beginning it was tough to leave such an excellent band and start all over again, from zero. But today, after only three years, together with Los Van Van and Charanga Habanera, we are one of the top three bands of Cuba. This is amazing with all the competition that is going on there.
Last year according to Cubadisco, my CD with Qué Cosa Tiene La Vida was the one which was sold the most in the world. These days Mi Timba Cerrada is sold out.
For 33 years I could walk in the street and no one would know me. Today people recognize me in the street, young kids ask for my autograph.

Vic: What is Timba?

Pupy: Timba is not a rhythm, it is a street name for modern Son.

Vic: You mean Songo?

Pupy: Songo was created by Changuito, the drummer of Los Van Van. On top of Changuito’s creation Formell put the rest of the components. Timba does have some Songo in it but they are not the same.

Vic: And what is there between Timba and Salsa?

Pupy: They both come from Son.
Timba is more aggressive, Salsa is softer. The Tumbao (the groove) is more complex in the Timba. It is the same arroz con pollo (rice with chicken). One is with aceitunas (olives) and the other with cerveza (beer), but the bottom line – they are both arroz con pollo.

Vic: What do you think of Salsa?

Pupy: In 1978 I was in Pero and heard a recording of Héctor Lavoe with Willie Colón. They blended Son with Plena and Son Montuno and called it Salsa. It was nice.
I do appreciate the New Yoricans for the Salsa.

Vic: Why?

Pupy: Because through Salsa they kept Son alive. If they hadn’t done it everything would have disappeared.

Vic: You performed a lot, both in Europe and in the USA. Do you see any difference in the way European and Americans respond to your music?

Pupy: With Los Van Van and later with my band we always got great response in Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Spain, Holland and also in the far east in Japan. Maybe because there are less Cubans, less Latin people, they see it as more exotic.
But we also got good response in the USA – In the west coast, Chicago, NY. So, I guess it is the same.

Vic: You mentioned your idea was to create a band with unknown artists. How did you find them? How did you choose them?

Pupy: In Cuba it is very easy. There are so many excellent musicians. You get in touch with one and he already brings in some of his friends. In the band we have musicians from everywhere on the island: Havana, Matanza, Camagüe. Some of them played with Irakere, Issac Delgado, Manolito Simonet, Charanga Habanera, Maraca.

Vic: Sometimes it looks like the best place for a musician to be in, in terms of quality of music, is Cuba. People respect good music, musicians are dedicated to rehearsing regularly. What are your feelings about it?

Pupy: People do work hard to get the quality, that is true, but you need also the authorities to support you.
It is much easier to put a good band together in Cuba than anywhere else and usually you have a guarantee of more work.
These days it is hard to survive only from the music, mainly because tourism is not in such good shape.
The system has changed. Musicians are getting paid from the money they make in concerts, by the government representative in that specific province (Note from Vic: in the old system musicians were paid by the central government and were told where to play by the authorities).
If you are in a top band you will get paid well, but because of the tremendous competition a lot don’t.

Vic: Since 1978 you have created your own music. Can you point a song you like the most?

Pupy: Ahaaaaa. Well…..
“La duda de Belén”, “Se Acabó”, “Seis Semanas”, a new one called “Si la ves”, “Con el destino” that was written after I lost my 11 year old son (he shows a medallion hanging on his neck with the son’s golden picture).

Vic: Which music do you like?

Pupy: Instrumental. But also Gilberto Santa Rosa, Andy Montañez, Victor Manuelle, Oscar D' León. NO merengue.

Vic: And what do you like to do besides music?

Pupy: Search the Internet, movies, crossword puzzles, Play Station.

Vic: You wrote the song “Azúcar” that was recorded by Celia Cruz. Did you write it for her?

Pupy: I recorded this song with Los Van Van and with my band. One of Fania Records producers was looking for original Cuban songs for a project that will be recorded with Andy Montañez. Eddie Santiago, Willie Colón and Celia Cruz. He picked up Azúcar for Celia. The arrangement was done by Papo Lucca.

Vic: What are the present and future projects you work on?

Pupy: After this festival we go back to Cuba. On July 23rd we will be in Italy and from there continue touring Europe. At the same time we already work on the next CD and two movies. One is an Italian production “La Vida es un Carnaval” and the other one is about Celia Cruz.

July 2005