Santiago de Cuba: Benilde.

I met Benilde while lost in these streets (until this point I thought I had everything down...this experience humbled me greatly). Looking dazed and confused, Benilde and his girlfriend had to approach me twice before I gave in, and they took my map and asked me where I needed to go. 

By now we're conversing (my broken Spanish helping me a lot here). When I told him that I am from the UK he was quick to mention that he's been to Edinburgh on tour and he loved the UK and has a photographer friend based out there. By now I discovered that Benilde is a trumpeter and tours with his band, mainly in Cuba, and where opportunities allow, outside of the island. While walking we realise that I was staying near his home and he noticed my camera around my neck. He invited me over to capture the city from his point of view. 

From being lost to laughing with his mum as she showed me pictures of him from when he was a child, drinking tea and learning more about rumba/son Cubano, that evening took its own turn, and I was just participating in what was one of the most random yet entertaining encounters of my whole trip.

Men of Santiago de Cuba: The King of Bakosó

I came across Ozkaro on the big screen last summer at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, in a film called Bakosó - a documentary telling the story of the rise of this new genre of music that blends Cuban sounds with the modern afrobeats that we hear today. I fell in love. With the concept, the storytelling of the African and Afro-Cuban narratives and especially, with the soundtrack that Ozkaro and his team created.

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't go to Santiago de Cuba with the hope of meeting Ozkaro. I wanted to give him the biggest props for his involvement in this wave of music seldom heard outside of Cuba. We met and talked and I hope to share with you what we talked about at some point: music, politics and the contrast between music you hear in SDC compared to what we hear/what is popularised in the West . I am yearning to go back to continue the conversation we had, but for now I'm so happy that your music is taking off and talent being recognized, alongside all the other artists in the documentary. I can only fangirl from afar now (no shame).