Ivette Cepeda

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A teacher by profession, Ivette Cepeda was drawn to singing from a young age, but starting in the 1990s she began her career as a soloist in tourist centers in the Cuban capital.

She is an artist who works in various musical genres such as son, bolero, jazz, bossa nova, song, and fusion between them; with an extensive repertoire that includes music from important composers such as Cole Porter, Gershwin, Vinicius de Moraes, Tom Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Agustín Lara, Rafael Hernández, Joaquín Sabina, Serrat, Miguel Matamoros, Juan Formel, Pablo Milanes, Silvio Rodríguez, Vicente Feliú, Amaury Pérez, Orlando Vistel, Alberto Pujol, Niuska Miniet, Adiane Perera, Fernando Aramis, David Álvarez, Kelvin Ochoa, Raúl Torres, Lino Lores, and others.

Her beginnings as a soloist in 1991 were in the tourist centers Neptuno-Triton (Havana). In 1994 she toured several African countries with the group Raices Cubanas.

From 1994 to 1998 she worked with the quartet "Sello Cubano" by Orlando López "Cachao", and at the inauguration of the Hotels: "Copacabana", with a repertoire of more than 80 Brazilian songs; and "Melia Cohiba", alongside fellow masters Frank Emilio and Tata Güines, commemorating the group "Los Amigos", founded by them in 1950 (seed of the Buena Vista Social Club project).

Between 1995 and 1998 she was part of the Manguare group shows, "A Pleno Son" and "Lo Mejor de Cuba", at the Teatro Carlos Marx, with the orchestra of the Havana Musical Theater, directed by master Eduardo Valdes Rivero.

She joined the cast of the Cuban-Bahamian superproduction "Caribe", directed by artistic directors Luis Hidalgo and Frank Olivera, made especially for the Cristal Palace in Nassau. (1998-2000)

In 2001 she began as a soloist vocalist with the "Havana Jazz Band" Orchestra at the Melia Cohiba and in 2002, she was part of the show "Buenavista Salsa Habana", directed by Frank Olivera, which was presented at the "Deutche" Theater in Munich, Germany.

In 2003 she joined the cast of the Cabaret Parisien show at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba "Habana Show", directed by Rafael Hernández.

In 2005, she toured several cities in Honduras and Ukraine with the show "Habana Mía", directed by Frank Olivera, maintaining a presence on the bill of the Red Room of the Hotel Capri.

During 2006 she worked as a soloist on the "Blue Moon" cruise of the Pullmantur Company through the Baltic and Mediterranean, accompanied by the group "Traje Nuevo", by Carlos Céspedes. That same year she performed in the interpretation contest "Boleros de Oro", obtaining First Place, which later allowed her to join the cast of bolero stars at the Café Concert "Gato Tuerto".

2007.- She performed in the show "Son del Trópico" with which she toured northern Spain.

In November 2008 her first solo concert "Estaciones" was presented at the Theater of the Museum of Fine Arts, under the General Artistic Direction of the renowned filmmaker Lester Hamlet. While in December of that year she performed as a guest at Raúl Paz's concert, at the Teatro Karl Marx.

Owner of a beautiful and well-tuned voice, impeccable diction and phrasing, Ivette Cepeda also possesses charisma—or what they call an angel—that causes people to connect with her, and which has earned her a fan base that follows her on Havana nights to El Sauce, El Gato Tuerto, or El Tocororo. Ivette Cepeda has established herself as the musical phenomenon of the moment, no matter if she didn't graduate in music, started late in the profession, or interprets well-known songs, she re-creates them and makes them her own. I believe that is the spell she casts among those who go to listen to her. That is what constitutes the extraordinary Ivette-Audience rapport, which has made her, without question, the Queen of Havana nights.

In November 2008 her first solo concert "Estaciones" was presented at the Theater of the Museum of Fine Arts, under the General Artistic Direction of the renowned filmmaker Lester Hamlet. While in December of that year she performed as a guest at Raúl Paz's concert, at the Teatro Karl Marx.

In 2009 her artistic commitments have multiplied including presentations in stellar programs on Cuban TV and Radio.

In February 2009, she performed at the Teatro Karl Marx, in the show of the outstanding director Lizt Alfonso "Escenas de Vida", sharing the leading role of soloist vocalist with Ele Valdés, from the Síntesis Group.

From May to June 2009 she toured Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland, with the group Reflexión, performing as a featured artist in the already well-known "Festival Son de Cuba" that takes place in those countries for several years, sharing the stage with other Cuban musicians, such as David Álvarez.

During August she presented her show "Sin tu permiso Sabina" in the Sala Abril of the Teatro Kart Marx. In 2010 she had an intense work program that included the National Tour of the "Estaciones" Concert, the launch of the "Estaciones" album, tours through Europe, Canada, Japan, and Argentina.

Ivette's Confessions

Radiation of energy: No…. I don't notice it. I think it's something that is born from people. For me it's something that people give to me. I don't notice it because even in my personal life I don't think I'm someone with those characteristics. I can be in absolute silence without even listening to a song for a week. I have so much music in my head that I'm processing, that doesn't let me incorporate anything else right now. With that and a thousand pending things I'm in a state of silence; however when I get where people are it's like a metamorphosis."

Singing on cruises: - Let me see…. I worked for two thousand passengers, it's an incredible thing, because every week two thousand people disembark and in those months you meet… imagine, how many people! You work very hard. Despite all the information you can acquire today, you realize that it's insufficient, you realize that, as an artist, you want to spend your life finding out what other people do, and that there is a lot of art in the whole world and life isn't even enough for you to find out about it. Besides the currents that make up the folklore of different countries, there are great waves of music that pass through the same places at the same time. That, as musical appreciation, has made me an advocate of what is called fusion, which is why I think that in the arrangements and things I do, there is always a little bit of jazz, rock, folk, there is a little bit of Celtic, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I think that is the most important thing that contact with music from other parts of the world has left me.

Singing in the blood: - Well yes, I carry it in my blood, because now that I'm a bit more famous in my family (Ivette laughs amusedly), the older people are giving me information about who I am and who my ancestors are. I do know that my grandmother played piano very well and sang beautifully. She was a friend of Luis Carbonell (prestigious and recognized Cuban declaimer and poet, the "colorist of Antillean poetry") throughout her youth, and they studied at the same piano academy. On my father's side, my grandmother was a soprano; she sang in church choirs, but she was a very well-known soprano in Sancti Spíritus. And my father, still today, sings with a tenor voice; my grandfather played trumpet. As for me, the only thing that occurred to me in life, since I was a child, was to sing. I hadn't even started preschool and they chose me to sing… imagine, I was a four-year-old girl who sang songs by Argelia Fragoso or songs that Omara Portuondo sang, or by Adolfo Guzmán. The only thing that made me happy was singing.

Preferred musicians: There are musicians that don't take anything out of you and there are musicians that take your life. Really my school is in the musicians I had the privilege to work with: Cachao, Frank Emilio, Pedro Coto, Lino Lores. That's what happens to me now with the group 'Reflexión' (made up of José Luis Beltrán Díaz, director, composer, arranger, guitar and vocals; William Vicente Rivero Pérez, arranger, bass and vocals; Jorge Luis Lagarza Pérez, piano; Lino Alberto Pedroso Solar, percussion and David Pimienta Vives, drums). Its director, José Luis Beltrán, possesses a particular virtue that lies in the contrast between his restraint and his dedication. He knows how to be part of a group; while he is part of the group you barely perceive what he's doing, but when his moment comes you realize that it's wonderful, just like when he makes an arrangement. A José Luis arrangement is like hearing little pearls falling… like this… (Ivette sways her hands gently). There is another person who is also part of this process and that is Rafael Guedes who was the director of the Mayohuacán group, who is a great musician, a great arranger and composer. He directed the "Estaciones" concert.

Future: I don't think I'll become a singer who decides to sing what's in fashion. I have to sing what I like. I like those singers that are called 'voiceless', and what I would most like to become is a singer who was gradually losing her voice, to see what comes out of inside me. When I like singing the most is when I'm hoarse, which is why, still, I have never entered any academy nor have I given singing lessons. I also don't want to abuse or disappoint the public. I would like to go through the experience, at some point, of the creative process that, I imagine, would be that of Bola de Nieve, when he said "how do I reach people's souls when I no longer have a voice or when my voice is not a conventional voice?". Because for me, his voice, was the one he had and I think it's wonderful, nobody could imitate him, nobody could reach the interpretive level of Bola de Nieve, it's so exceptional that there lies its value. And that's what I would like to be: a singer who always went to that little corner that is in everyone's soul. I wouldn't want to be a boring singer.