Cubanismo

Cubanismo, a product of trumpeter Jesús Alemañy’s wishes to form a band, modernized the rhythms of the traditional Cuban bands of the 50’s, dominated by the wind instruments. This native from Guanabacoa was born in 1962, and began to study music at the age of 13. At 16 he was invited to join Sierra Maestra, with which he shared the stage for over a decade.

In 1992 Alemañy left Cuba for London, where he began searching for his own musical identity. In December 1994 he organized a descarga in Paris as a tribute to the legendary conguero Patato Valdéz. In this project he got together with Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodríguez. There he was heard by Joe Boyd, owner of the Hannibal Records label, was so impressed that he arranged for a repetition of the show with Alemañy in Cuba.

There the two expatriate Cubans were joined by some of the best musicians on the island, such as Irakere Orlando "Maracas" Valle, Miguel "Anga" Diaz and Carlos Alvarez, percussionist "Tata Güines", Carlito Puerto, son of Cuban bassist Carlos del Puerto, and trombonists Louis Alemany and Louis Alemany Jr, Jesus Alemañy’s uncle and cousin respectively.

The record which resulted from these shows, officially released in 1996 and which was originally designed as a tribute to Cuban music became a great success, and therefore Alemañy and the musicians continued working together using the name Cubanismo.

"Melembe" followed the record debut in 1997, "Reencarnación" in 1998, both along with world tours, which confirmed Cubanismo as one of the best export products of Cuba.

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