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A virtuoso of music, an explorer of percussion, a great representative of Cuban music, that is Abraham Mansfaroll. His most recent project led him to collaborate with the Ecuadorian singer and bassist Helena Recalde on her album ‘Karishina’. To the rhythm of loudspeakers, claps and a devilish rhythm of the feet, the artist recounts his musical journey from Cuba to Paris.
Born in Guantánamo and with musical studies on the island, where he won many awards, Mansfaroll recalls that those years were not easy: “Education was very rigorous because I had to do all the classical part, study the xylophone, the timpani, and then “In parallel, the Cuban percussion, the batá and the drums of the French tumba. A lot of demand, but in the end the result is great.”
Escala’s guest in Paris is the creator of ‘PI A PA’. When asked to define that rhythm, his hands go into action to mark the rhythm: “There are three sounds, it was created in 1997 in Havana, when we did a performance for the American trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.” Installed in France, Abraham Mansfaroll worked with an Indian percussionist, one who plays African percussion, and another from Brazilian music to prolong this practice.
The Cuban artist defines himself as “a curious musician, who is always creating surprises” venturing into unknown musical paths that have led him to the French capital: “Paris is a cosmopolitan city, there is space for everything and I told myself what I was going to do here cuban music. It is a utopia”.
In his long and prolific output, Abraham Mansfaroll paid homage to the great trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. He has also shared adventures with countless artists such as Chucho Valdés, another great of Cuban music. “When I was talking to Chucho Valdés, Chucho told me ‘we owe everything to Dizzy; in the 40s he helped Cuban musicians and in the 60s and 70s he helped Irakere’ (founded by Valdés himself)”, recalls Mansfaroll.
He has also shared the stage with the trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf, the French singer Charles Aznavour, Papa Wemba and, as a finishing touch, the Faez sisters from Casa de la Trova, from Santiago de Cuba. 2022 has also been a prolific year with the album ‘Karishina’. His percussions accompany the Ecuadorian singer and bassist Helena Recalde.
“Music allows you to contact all kinds of culture. Thanks to music I have known the world, I feel blessed to have music as a way of connecting with people”.
When we ask ‘Manfa’, as his friends know the Cuban percussionist, if he has ever thought of returning to Cuba without hesitation, he answers “of course yes. I would like to realize two big dreams, the first is to record an album in Cuba; the second, to take a trip through Cuba through rhythm, share with the world and tell them Cuba is Buena Vista, Chucho Valdés, Frank Hernández, the French Tomb, Polo Montañez. Present painters, dancers through rhythm. That people say, ah!, Cuba is not only rum, cigars and sun. Things people don’t know.”
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