We spoke with one of the emblematic voices of the genre in Cuba about her presence, once again, at the Salsa Festival in Cuba, which is already around the corner of the Cuban capital, as it will take place in February 19-23.

Haila once again at the Salsa Festival, why always return to this event?

“The most important thing about returning to the Salsa Festival is, number one, as a woman, being able to be a faithful exponent of popular dance music in times of musical toxicity, where we continue to bet on Cuban music. Another important reason is that reunion with the Cuban public. It’s known, positively, that we do not have many places where we can expose ourselves and the Salsa Festival is one of the most important showcases we have to make ourselves known and show the public what we have been doing for a year, because sometimes they do not really know about the things we are doing and Cuban musicians work nonstop, we are always creating, creating, creating, creating. It’s a great opportunity for the public to enjoy the new musical that we bring and be in direct contact with its artists.”

We know that you will have special guests, can you tell us who they are?

“In my concert at the Salsa Festival I am bringing two guests who are already part of my family. My dearest Belén Gal, an Argentinean salsa singer who has lived in Mexico for 14 years and Yan Collazo, a Puerto Rican singer who is very well known in Colombia especially, because he has recorded many times with the Guayacán Orchestra, (1:53) he also sang with the group Niche. I think it will be an explosion of energy and tropical flavor, because we bring a little bit of everything.”

And what about the repertoire?

“Mala cannot be missing in the repertoire. This time, together with Belén, which was one of the songs she chose to record with me a couple of years ago, we made a video clip here in Cuba produced by Charles Cabrera. Jan Collazo and I are going to sing a wonderful medley, dedicated to our beloved maestro Adalberto Álvarez. They will also do songs from their own repertoire accompanied by my orchestra, which is an almost female orchestra…”

This is a detail that you always highlight with great joy…

“I am very happy about that, the truth is, I love working with talented women.”

And you have already performed several times in Cuba with that format. How has the reception been, both from the public and from your fellow musicians?

“In Cuba, well, I'll tell you something, I have a friend who is a fan of my music, he's a great dancer who lives in the Czech Republic and at a concert I had at La Piragua this year, he was like saying “Oh, but Haila has an orchestra of women, I don't know what…” You know how macho men are sometimes, they love to put us down, but it was quite an event for him and he ended up saying how that band sounds! Really, I'm very proud of how that band sounds, even though they always believe that women don't have the strength and it's no less true that sometimes we don't have the same physical strength as men, but we have so much inner strength that all of that comes together and makes it even greater.”

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSi Translation Staff