This weekend marks HBOLatino’s release of Havana Street Party, the Spanish-speaking network’s music special from three-time Grammy-nominated Latin Hip-Hop trio Orishas.
The televised musical event exclusive to HBO Latino pays homage to the musical group’s native Cuba as they return to the island for the first time in a decade. Having a history as recording artists that spans three times as long, the now U.S.-based group has in the lead-up to the special been traveling stateside performing some of their most popular hits from the past 30 years like”Represent,” “A Lo Cubano,” “537 C.U.B.A.,” and “Nací Orishas.”
Orishas at Remezcla, sporting wardrobe by Cubavera.
Earlier this week Orishas and HBO Latino, in collaboration with Latinx media outlet Remezcla, hosted a Havana-themed celebration to usher in the now available music special. Hosted at the media outlet’s offices, guests were treated to hand-rolled cigars, Cuba Libre drinks, traditional Cuban eats, and two DJs spinning tracks while surrounded by colorful lights and plants. Representatives from the band’s sponsor–menswear brand Cubavera–were also present and added to the festive ambiance while sporting guayaberas, traditionally Latin-inspired four pocket embroidered tropical shirts, matching the style of the bandmates and the vibe for the evening.
As part of the evening’s festivities, open mic poetry and a live band took to a small, intimate stage on Remezcla’s ground floor to hype up the standing room only crowd and pay tribute to the trio, who meanwhile were backstage preparing to perform and celebrate their most recent album, Gourmet. The Knockturnal had the opportunity to sit backstage with one third of Orishas, Yotuel Romero, to discuss how fresh off their Grammy nomination they would be sharing the evening not just with fans of their music, but those curious as to their native Cuba.
“I’m excited,” said Romero about the energized crowd waiting to hear them sing. “I’m excited because I never believed that this was going to happen. This group exists because I love Hip Hop, I love Cuba. I love to make music. All that’s happened afterwards, it’s really a blessing.”
The band, who since have done their own tours, been parts of festivals, and even opened for other acts like Metallica, has had the opportunity to connect with all types of audiences both English and Spanish speaking. One of Romero’s fondest memories with Orishas was during a concert they played in Germany. “The first time we performed in Germany, it was small, the second show, too. But for the third show, the Germans had learned Spanish so that they could sing along to our songs. That was amazing.”
Just as their fans have worked to learned Spanish, Romero himself has worked to learn English so that he could not only connect with a wider fanbase but also to rap along to some of the artists that have influenced Orishas’s overall sound. “When I was listening to some of the first Hip Hop bands, I loved it and said ‘I want to learn English,’” he recalled. Q-Tip, RunDMC, and other greats from the beginning of the Hip Hop were part of Orishas’s beginnings and developing sound in the 1990s. “Right now,” said Romero, “I love Kendrick Lamar. I love Drake and Dr. Dre too, Lauryn Hill as well.”
Romero also cited that both Cuba and popular American Hip Hop as well as Rock music, have influenced Orishas’s sound over the years. From those classics to the artists hitting the airwaves post-Internet, he sees it all as culminating in Orishas as a musical group today.
“Cuba is our country. It is our blood. Is my roots. When I started to do Hip Hop I said, ‘Yeah we’re doing Hip Hop, but I didn’t want to lose my identity, because this is the only one I have’…I’m Cuban but it’s like my mother would say, ‘If you go straight, if you don’t look back and remember where you come from, you’ll lose it.’’
“That is the most important–and the first thing I thought about–when I started this, not putting Cuba aside,” he said. Romero feels this HBO special is a great way for Cubans, Latinos, and even non-Spanish speaking fans to connect to his culture.
“Even if you’re not Latino, if you listen to Orishas you can feel there’s Cuba in there, it’s different…also it’s good to show the people my roots and say, ‘Look, this is where I’m from.’ It’s like a passport, it’s me,” said Romero, who after a performance in Miami post-private show at Remezcla, will be enjoying his own Cuba Libre while watching the HBO Latino special with his family.
Yotuel Romero performing at Remezcla.
