Interactivo | pt

Interactivo

Juan de Marcos's independent DM Ahora! label hits the ground running with this great debut from Interactivo, a collective based around five Cuban artists: Yusa, Telmary Diaz, Francis del Rio, William Vivanco and Roberto Carcassés. Yet Goza Pepillo's melange of progressive-Afro-Latin-funk-rap, full of the flamboyant, good-humoured musicianship we are accustomed to hearing from Cuba's finest, is hardly indie in style. The album has a life-affirming exuberance that only flags at its more eccentric, guitar-centric moments: for example, on the tricksy cover of I Want You (She's So Heavy). Songs such as Vivanco's Cafe ("People leave the island but don't get what they hoped for") are bitter and sweet. Pa'que Enamore (Azucena y Girasoles) and Palabrara are upbeat and melodic. And where some tunes hark back to older Latin-pop gestures, rapper Telmary - deadpan and beguiling - brings us right into the present, as on Quién te Dijo?, where she and Carcasses declaim that "capitalists are walking around, disguised as socialists".
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