Essences, motivations and thoughts of one of the outstanding musicians that integrates the new generation of troubadours in Cuba
Chance played a trick on us. We had agreed to talk at his home, in the Lawton neighborhood, where Rey Montalvo (Matanzas, 1989) enjoys an immense patio and the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. There he guards what I consider a warm and provocative personal discography of him; part of it, among others, are the phonograms homes (2013) y don’t take advantage (2019), both produced at Estudios Ojalá with the participation of Silvio Rodríguez. He had also proposed to “review” some of the precious 25 songs gathered in the book fish postcard (2011), by Ediciones Vigía. But, at the last minute, the place of the meeting had to be changed, we set it at the Cuba Pavilion, “a pleasant setting” and headquarters of the Hermanos Saíz Association, where he is editor of the magazine Critical Zone.
Troubadour, sociologist, writer and host of the television program In hands, Rey Montalvo belongs to the catalog of artists of the National Center for Popular Music. He is a member of the Association of Musicians of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. He has performed on stages in Argentina, Mexico, Chile and China. It is difficult to know in depth the edges of the vast universe that seduces him. When he inquires about the abundance of his creative faculty, he shares intimacies perhaps never before revealed. He returns to his hometown, detailing different creative processes in which the challenge of words and images persists. I discard the unspoken questions in search of answers, I prefer to appeal to his meditations and follow the modulation of the course of the dialogue.
Rey speaks without haste. Through vivid evocations he demonstrates that his poetic passion is not limited to sung verse.
He says: “Matanzas is still present in my memory and in my songs. I retain the calm and energy, the mystique that I have felt in that city. I really need that peace. I’m still a killer. But life takes us to other places and it brought me to the capital. The capitals swallow it all, they also offer greater opportunities. Nostalgia always travels with one. I have friends, experiences, dreams that are already intertwined with Havana. Here are my two children.”
Without taking the guitar out of the case, he undertakes the suggested personal journey. The honesty continues to emanate while she shares the same when expressing: “I have not experienced the syndrome of the blank page. I almost always sit down to write a song. desire is not present as per. It comes from the need to play or the responsibility of studying the instrument. Motivation arises if I’m reading something new. For example, a certain verse from a collection of poems by Nazim Hikmet suggested an idea to me, that’s the one that catches me. I am very chaotic with the creation in music.
“It happens differently to me in literature. In it I assume another sociological organicity. It is impossible to detach myself from myself. I am the son of a musician, Reinaldo Montalvo, and a journalist, Bárbara Vasallo. Everything flows in my novel After returningwas published in digital format by the Argentine publisher getting closer. When conceiving it, the teachings of the writer and teacher Eduardo Heras León at the Onelio Jorge Cardoso Literary Training Center, where I graduated in 2016, were very useful to me.”
Memories and experiences are proverbial motivations in its occurrence.
“Several years ago a troubadour told me: your songs are stories, why don’t you write narrative?
“My themes are those of human beings in society, in conflict. I am aware of what it means to put yourself in the place of the other or the other. I live to ask, to find out why. I think this attitude is sociological and revolutionary.”
He barely pauses and continues: “The troubadours have been the sociologists of the Revolution. In the songs of Silvio, Pablo and Noel there is an intention to subvert the established. Precisely, they offer a sociological vision of the time. Silvio is part of an important nucleus of that representation. You have to listen to him, he always says something interesting. He is like Socrates. When I showed him my songs, he helped me make the first records, he did it not to grant me a privilege, but to share his truth and listen to another’s truth.
Because of “reviewing” some songs while listening to their records, I inquire about other endeavors: Where can we listen to you? And the rest of the troubadours?
“The spaces continue to be insufficient. Ours is a country of many troubadours. The trova would have to become a popular art, but it is not. You must be present in the morning meetings of work and study centers. In contexts of such hustle and bustle, a song or two can save the day.
“I have thought about sharing my songs at the stops, but the conditions are complicated due to the noise, the overcrowding. I am willing to sing wherever they call me. I tried to coordinate the Trova Factory in La Guayabera, in Alamar, but the battle was very difficult. There are many bureaucrats within art.
“After the economic reorganization, the troubadours have done badly. Cultural institutions lack budget. The troubadour depends on the public that is going to see and listen to it, if we are not visible in the media we lose that relationship. The program In hands that I drive together with Marta Campos in the Havana Channel defends that link with the public”.
He looks for the guitar in the careful case and places it next to him.
“It’s not about singing for the sake of singing, but about doing it to express what I want to say and have the freedom to feel like a full artist. My livelihood is in the tours I do outside of Cuba. Here today I cannot live from my work. I keep faith in the human being. It is urgent to continue building a better world. I have no right to complain. I have seen so many things abroad. Outside there is a great level of helplessness and I have not experienced this in my country. The Revolution is bigger than everything. Our people have a huge heart”.
He begins to sing songs from the album spring speech (Bis Music) in which hope, artistic truth, the reasons of a troubadour committed to himself and to the Homeland lead. The words, the ideas, the music, the guitar and he himself continue to dialogue for all times.
CREDITS
Photo. / Leyva Benitez