Presented the phonogram of Chucho Valdés and Mine Kawakami

June 3, 2019

The sensitivity of Asian culture and the electrifying energy of Afro-Cuban music dialogue in «Mine Kawakami and Chucho Valdés», a recording published by Sony Classical, after being recorded in Spain with these two protagonists.

Kawakami offered a luxury concert in Havana on May 24th, before which Prensa Latina managed to have a conversation with her.

The artist who began playing piano at age three and graduated from the Munich School of Music and Theater in Germany, as well as from the Royal Superior Conservatory of Music in Madrid, Spain, chose for the occasion a recital of pieces of her own authorship and a work by Valdés, Amanecer, because she finds it fascinating. When I heard Chucho's interpretation of it, I was so moved; it seemed to me the most beautiful music I have ever heard in my life, she confessed.

In Cuba, she is by no means unknown since in 2004 she performed a two-piano concert with Valdés himself at the Amadeo Roldán Theater, and in 2018 they decided to do another one at the Real Theater in Madrid that Sony Classical recorded to produce the album named after both performers.

This recording fuses two distinct languages and cultures: the Japanese and the Afro-Cuban, in the form of a dialogue, and is already available on various platforms.

My music would not sound the same now if I had not known Cuba and the music of this country, she stated. More than two decades ago, Kawakami was drawn to the incredible harmony of this island and at first she did not know the reasons, but after working with many musicians and with Chucho himself she understood that what captivates her is the beautiful harmony laden with different roots and, therefore, with many routes.

That essence that comes from all the roots is the most beautiful harmony, maintains the composer also of soundtracks for series and films. The Ignacio Cervantes hall in Havana hosted Kawakami's wonderful concert, in tribute to the 90th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Cuba.

According to the pianist, traditionally in Asia and, in particular in her country, music has been used for centuries as medicine to refine the soul or the spirit, to achieve harmony. The Japanese creator is captivated by the possibility that the listener, when hearing music, feels relaxed and can travel to the past, even to another country, at another time.

Music is like a type of boat that can reach so many places, without counting time, she observed. I would like to make music to help everyone, so that a person can connect with themselves and manage to feel better, Kawakami added, who is known as the pianist of the soul.