Orquesta Failde: "Scoundrels" with Swagger

May 1, 2020

The members of the Orquesta Failde are quite the "rascals" putting into practice that valuable strategy of constantly moving social media, because their director, the magnificent flutist and proud great-great-nephew of the creator of Las Alturas de Simpson, just like the rest of the troops, know very well that those interactive spaces on the internet "are vital for spreading messages and increasing the number of followers, as long as it is done on the basis of sincerity, respect and feedback."

That's what Ethiel Failde tells JR, who has been monitoring the Facebook (FB) page of the young group for some time, aware that to satisfy the eagerness of their 17,000 fans, the experiences of the International Danzonero Miguel Failde Memorial Encounter will always be posted there, or they will see Yerlanis showing off her art at 23 y M while defending Havana, a version by Pedro Pablo Cruz, the composer of Tumbao who has gotten half the world dancing (literally), who has also wanted to record himself so that the other part of the planet sees him playing a pasillo, playing the maracas or a violin, to the rhythm of the very son-like singing of the super-inspired Yurisán Hernández in a song that, so that Cuba is represented as it should be, has been included by Billboard and Judy Cantor-Navas in their playlist for this quarantine, along with other hits by Van Van, Cimafunk and Brenda Navarrete.

Facebook has also been the repository of Almendra, Bonito y sabroso... and even Contigo en la distancia, the homemade video of the orchestra that was uploaded to continue celebrating its eighth anniversary (April 14) in order to make it very clear to their followers that "we miss you! A lot!, but we'll be back, being better human beings, loving music and life more."

The most "surprising" thing in this cybernetic story is that if COVID-19 had not driven artists to perform online concerts "seeking, above all, to transmit a message of encouragement and promote the necessary isolation," Failde would not have launched into carrying out "this experience that also contributes to spreading the creations of the musicians, their channels and profiles on the different social networks, as a necessary alternative to the cancellation of concerts and tours."

"These live concerts through social networks and the internet (a format already known internationally but that in the current circumstance has been incentivized) have been becoming a trend based on the initiative of artists, and that in Cuba was welcomed with much enthusiasm first by David Blanco and maestro Chucho Valdés," explains the producer and arranger of some of the songs from Siempre tu voz, where the legendary Omara Portuondo and the orchestra pay tribute to the Bárbaro del Ritmo and which resulted in the Centennial Prize of Benny Moré at Cubadisco 2019.

"Once we saw the effectiveness of this initiative, we considered a concert from Omara's home, something that she and her family gladly accepted from the first moment. From the beginning we thought about incorporating radio, because we know that in Cuba not all of us have access to the internet, that's why we coordinated immediately with Radio 26 in Matanzas to broadcast, for an hour live, from the station's largest studio.

"It was on March 21 when we did the recital for just over half an hour and it could be followed live not only through our profiles, but also through that of this sublime being that we love. We were also lucky that the team called together by the Cuban Institute of Music (ICM) incorporated themselves with the promise of recording what happened and then placing it on national television in the Estamos contigo space, on Clave channel.

"I'm telling you that the next day (Sunday, March 22) we offered the second concert from my homeland with broadcast on Facebook (this one for an hour), real audio over the internet and the traditional AM and FM frequencies, which allowed us to interact with the audience of the station in Matanzas, all of Cuba and the rest of the world. It was very symbolic, because that second broadcast opened with the danzón Las Alturas de Simpson.

"What we experienced was impressive, because that performance with Omara reached, just on our respective Facebook pages, 158,000 reproductions, with a reach of almost 400,000 people and more than 3,000 comments, to which we add the more than 33,000 views that the rebroadcast achieved, already within the actions coordinated by the ICM and the Ministry of Culture, accompanied by several teams specialized in audiovisual production and streaming.

"Of course, those who enjoyed it on radio and television were not counted, but these numbers speak of an impact, of a good reception, and what is even more important: of the importance of generating musical content from Cuba that can be available to our people, to the world, because all these videos remain available on our profiles, YouTube channels and they are repositioned on these other traditional media from time to time."

—It seems that the recording of these concerts had to be stopped...

—Those that were made were filmed during the first days after the announcement of the disease's arrival in the country, when there was no local transmission. Right now the right thing to do is to stay home and that's why I understand that for several weeks now new concerts have not been recorded, although those that already exist continue to be broadcast, to the good fortune of music lovers.

"We have to see these 'lives' as a format that we can take advantage of beyond the crisis, to fill our networks with our music and our culture. With respect to traditional media, these times need coherent, balanced musical programming, that entertains, provides positive messages and gladdens our people. All the concerts recorded that our TV treasures should be taken advantage of, the audiovisual productions of our record companies, the music videos of such good quality that we have, because music is never too much."