Danay Suarez is a self taught Cuban singer who combines the music of her homeland with hip-hop, reggae and world music who last week made her first live appearance in Los Angeles at Los Globos Night Clun in Silver Lake.
Although Danay Suarez began as a soloist and improviser, she soon began to compose her own music. In 2003, she participated as a soloist in the show Espectáculo Rapeando, in the Covarrubias Hall of the National Theatre in Cuba, sharing the stage with renowned hip hop groups such as Kumar, Obsesión, Los Krudas and others.
As her career has steadily grown, Danay has been able to take her music around the world participating in concerts and festivals in Panama, Mexico, Germany and Spain and other European cities like Paris, London, Manchester and Leeds. Diana also took part in the Peace Without Borders concert in 2009 with the likes of Miguel Bose, Juanes, Silvio Rodriguez, Los Van Van and Olga Tañon amongst other international stars and just recently she just played at the Rock Al Parque in Colombia.
Prior to her presentation at Los Globos last week, we had the chance to chat with Danay Suarez and here is a recap of our conversation:
Al Borde – For those who are not familiar with you, tell us about your beginnings in music since I understand you are the only one in your family who has gotten into music.
Danay Suarez- I began to sing when I was a little girl. My father used to take me to school on the back of a bicycle and I would hear all these music on people’s radios as we were riding and soon I began to identify the instruments of traditional Cuban music. Later I went to a regular school to study information technology and during school breaks I found that there was this rap movement in Cuba and I got drawn into it by the personality and freedom of expression that these guys were using.
Growing up singing and listening to traditional music, how was the adjustment to hip-hop?
I actually found it hard to adjust being that I learned the traditional way of singing and some people think that rapping is easy and is just about rhyming words, but in Cuba, the rappers took it very seriously and with a lot of respect, the rhymes had to say something meaningful and very simply, if your message was not strong and had no values, it would be very hard to fit in.
Besides hip-hop, you have also been able to combine all different type of different styles into your music, how did that come about?
Having had a classical and traditional musical upbringing and after recording my own music within the hip-hop world, I found that my singing was very versatile and I could adapt to all types of music and I can adapt to rock, jazz, reggae and other traditional Latin sounds.
Playing to a very receptive and excited crowd at Los Globos, Danay Suarez mesmerized the audience with her musical versatility and charisma.
Although at the beginning, Danay seemed a little shy, by the third song, she came into her own and began swaying back and forth with the music which was very much alive as she and her band often improvised with the rhythms and other changes in the middle of the songs.
For the traditional hip-hop fan, this show may not have met their expectations as there was no DJ or turntables, it was all live and the sounds changed between traditional Cuban sounds, to reggae, electronic jazz, traditional jazz and full blown rock & roll, while Danay’s voice and stage performance, like a musical chameleon, changed with ease among the different musical styles.
Danay Suarez Photos at Club Los Globos
