We came across this really wonderful group of songs and videos by one of our Se Fija! readers. It appeared first about five years ago, and hasn’t received nearly the attention it deserves.
In a short documentary you can find on their own YouTube channel, Creative Producer Alfredo Alvarez Calderon talks about how the idea came out of a Havana jam session with a number of local musicians including “Pucho” Lopez. “Cuban musicians and Cuban music have always been divorced from American rock and roll,” Pucho says in the documentary about the making of the CD. “Overall, the Cuban musician is a classical musician, a jazz musician, or a “sonero,” but never a rocker, and the rockers are segregated.”
Together, these artists decided to change all that, producing a terrific collection of Beatles covers right there in Havana, including “Hello/Goodbye,” “And I Love Her.” “Nowhere Man,“ and this remarkable, cheerful, fresh new version of “Hey Jude.” The video was shot, directed, and edited by Derek Pretto; Rogelio Pretto was the executive producer, and the whole album or individual cuts are available here on Amazon, comes from Panama Music & Screenworks of Coral Gables, Florida.
