Photo: Dayme Arocena | instagram
Text: Fede Gayardo
Cuban singer Daymé Arocena will arrive in Madrid to present ‘Alkemi’, her latest album released in February of this year and produced by Eduardo Cabra, former member of Calle 13.
Daymé will perform in the Spanish capital this Sunday, June 23, at 8:30 pm, in the Sala Villanos to, as she herself has said on her social networks, create ties and “reconnect with the tribe.”
As a special guest at his concert will be his countryman Joao del Monte, about whom he has commented that “as crazy as it may seem, despite having been born in the same land bathed by the same sea, Madrid will be the city in which Joao and I meet.” We will give the first of the many hugs that I hope we have left to give each other. “This is the Alkemi world.”
The album, the Cuban artist’s fifth studio album, was released on February 23, 2024, fusing neo-soul singing, Afro-Caribbean rhythms and modern pop to achieve a style that Daymé has been defending as her personal hallmark.
For this musical reinvention, Arocena has invited other artists who have contributed a mix that ranges from jazz to urban styles and that challenge the conventions of Latin pop.
Thus you can hear the Dominican Vicente García as a special guest on “A Fuego Lento” or the Puerto Rican Rafa Pabön on the song “Suave y Pegao”.
Nominated for the Grammy for best jazz album, as part of the band Maqueque, Daymé has positioned herself on the music scene as one of the most authentic Cuban singers and composers of recent times.
With ‘Alkemi’, the artist sends a message of change from a personal perspective and also reflects that musical evolution that in recent years has led her to travel, since and “thanks” to emigration, along paths of success and transformation.
And ‘Alkemi’ – a Yoruba translation of alchemy – is precisely that, a combination of magical elements, a perfect mix of disciplines that, thanks to her voice, takes listeners into a wonderful and unmatched musical world: The world of Daymé .
