Yusa is living proof that not everyone in Cuba is making music like their grandaddy! Yes, of course there are urban echoes of classic trova songs, but it's offshoots like bolero and notably 'filin' that inform this true voice of the 21st century whose songs break down the labels usually imposed on the island's music.
She's is more than one of Cuba’s new talents. She’s broken boundaries in two ways being not only a singer but a composer of most of her music, she’s absorbed the potent heritage of the island with one of the most influential music cultures in the world while creating her own song style. She is also a mean instrumentalist playing guitar and Cuban “tres” (special Cuban guitar), bass and piano.
As the US magazine Global Rhythm has written : “Yusa has arrived as a powerful new voice stocked with a profound knowledge of her musical roots and an innovative re-invention of Cuba”.
Website : www.yusa.co.uk
Myspace : myspace.com/yusaspace
HISTORY
Yusa studied first guitar then the Cuban “tres” guitar at the famous Amadeo Roldán Music Conservatory. A precocious student hanging out and making music with various equally curious friends, everything that reached her ears was quickly and eagerly absorbed, from Bach to Chick Corea, rock to Cuba’s pioneering “Nueva Trova”.
As Straight No Chaser jazz magazine (UK) has said: “Yusa combines raw fire and energy with the reflective subtlety of early Joan Armatrading”.
Growing up an only child first in the Buenavista area, then down by the sea in the new housing complex Alamar, on the outskirts of Havana, the family of her much-loved “Nana”, played a crucial role in her passion for music. By the time she was six Yusa was already playing guitar. When she was ten she began studying classic guitar at the Alejandro García Caturla Elementary School of Music.
Not that everything went smoothly. Yusa turned what could have been the end of a budding career to huge advantage when she switched from guitar (which of course she still plays) to the extraordinary “tres” guitar, the indispensable sound of much Cuban traditional and country music. As she tells it, she failed the first year of her music course at Amadeo Roldán for inadvertently overlooking the tuition rules. In a rage and eager to show her teacher’s just what she could do, she picked up the tres and not only taught herself to play it in a year but worked with such determination and intensity she packed three years tuition into that single year. As result she astounded everyone by becoming the first Cuban musician to graduate from the conservatory as specialist in “tres”…and the first Cuban woman ever to bring the instrument into the popular music-jazz field.
Maybe that is why “Straight No Chaser” described her at her London performance as “looking and sounding like a female Jimi Hendrix…Yusa gave a blistering performance.”
Living by the sea has always been a huge inspiration to her, as well as everyday life in urban Havana. Her music making has been full of experimentation, playing with various eclectic groups of young Cuban musicians like the female quintet Quasi-Jazz and the duo Yusa y Domingo around small intimate locations including Havana’s famous jazz club, “La Zorra y el Cuervo”. Her solo career began in 1999 when Mo Fini, founder of Tumi Music, heard her play and signed her up to make her debut album. Produced by Cuban Pavel and recorded in the Pablo Milanes’ very special Vedado studios, it was immediately obvious that the first album “Yusa” defined the cutting edge. Heralding a new wave of Cuban music, it has been seen to define just what 21st century Cuban music can be a vital mix of exciting musical ideas, oozing with talent; cheeky, witty, ambitious, epitomizing Cuba’s new generation.
As Songlines magazine wrote of the album: “Remarkably accomplished and eclectic music from a Cuban star in the making”.
Following a special appearance at WOMEW 2002, despite this being one of her first appearances in Europe, Yusa was immediately nominated in two categories of the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards, a finalist for both the “Newcomer” and “America” prizes. Back home in Spring 2003 her album won a major new music award at Cubadisco. Yusa then did a debut tour of Europe, playing the UK including Ronnie Scott’s prestigious Soho Jazz Club. That gig was recorded for a live CD and DVDn released by Tumi music in September 2004:
As Robin Denselow of the Guardian wrote then “…Switching from rousing, slinky guitar work to an understated, breathy ballad and then the slick, finger-clicking Latin funk and scat of “Chiquichaca”. For an encore, she sat down at the piano and played solo for the first time, singing another sturdy, thoughtful ballad. She deserved the applause as she walked out through the room in triumph.”
Then, she toured with Susanna Baca and Lila Downs, and most of all with the very talented Brazilian Lenine, with whom she recorded his live album in Paris “Lenine in Cité” in 2005 as a trio, Yusa playing electric bass. She was particularly remarked for her strong energy, virtuosity and charisma.
The critics have acclaimed her second album “Breathe”, where she develops more her multi-linguism by singing in Spanish, English and even French. She wrote most of the lyrics and music of the songs, playing electric bass, guitar, Fender Rhodes.
