A Note from the Composer:
I’ve dreamed of the opportunity to compose music that would celebrate my Cuban heritage and serve as a tribute to the sacrifices made by my parents and grandparents’ generation. More than ever, I understand the immense loss that they experienced leaving Cuba and the separation from family that they were forced to endure. I awake each day free to express myself through my music because of their sacrifice and I felt a deep responsibility to honor that. This was a profoundly personal journey for me and I feel fortunate to haveshared it with my brother, the film's editor. A rare and special synergy was created with our director José Enrique Pardo. His undying commitment and vision provided this opportunity and I am forever grateful.
I'd also like to take this moment to introduce you all to my 86 year-old grandmother, "Nana". She has been singing to us since I can remember and has always been a foundation in our family's passion for music. It has been her lifelong dream to record her own music and she had never had the opportunity. Her song Un Canto A Mi Cuba, a lament to her homeland that she had written decades ago, turned out to be the perfect closing piece for the film and this album. Going into the studio with her was one of the great moments of my life. I didn’t fully realize the importance in what we were doing until she started singing into that microphone. Her story and legacy as a courageous and devoted mother to her children will forever live on, and now...so will her voice.
Thanks for listening.
Carlos José Alvarez
A Note from the Director:
At our first meeting Carlos José announced to me that he, “had to write the score for Cubamerican.” For him, it represented the opportunity to push his talent to new heights in order to realize an opus of grand proportions. Now we can all listen to what was his destiny: the creation of a magnificent symphony blending tradition and modernism, imbued with the panoply of emotions that inhabit the experience of Cubamericans in the U.S.A.
José Enrique Pardo
