The Cuban musical group ‘‘Juego de manos’’ celebrates its 20th Anniversary on this month of February, so on the occasion of its commemoration and for knowing more about his work I talked to David Álvarez.

-David, the year in which you and your group succeeded has just gone:

‘‘Yes, 2013 was a profitable year from the musical point of view. In my particular case, I was able to record some CDs by getting all that music which sometimes we do not have time to play’’.

‘‘It’s also been a long time that Juego de manos didn’t record anything- since 2001 exactly- so, the recording of the last CD was taken up again in 2013, which some of the themes were promoted during last year, but they weren’t compiled as such’’.

‘‘I was also pleased to make the album along with the work of Luis Marquetti, a beautiful production that came out with the Bis Music label, and so I could record a CD by means of my trova music, where I collected my creations on this genre since year 89 until our days.’’

-Are you referring to Clandestino?

‘‘Yes, that’s right. Here I compiled some songs that I composed when I was working along with Pedro Luis Ferrer; I think that there is too much influence of his music on this production, and I had the pleasure of sharing with excellent guests such as The Piti, a very good pianist, and Dairon Ortega on the guitars. Tumi Music of England took the House and all the themes that are included in it are mine, except that one of Eduardo Sosa’’.

-How many professions? Interpreter, composer, producer…

‘‘I also play the piano, the percussion and the guitar. I am also a conductor; and production is one of my passions’’.

‘‘Every CD you are called to record as a producer takes time when carrying out a research. As you go deeper into the music to be played, you realize that people get to know you better for playing popular dancing music or the Traditional Caribbean dance, and it is very cool when you play different kind of music’’.

‘‘On this sense, I am finishing a double album with Lynn Milanés, coming out with La Ceiba label, from Historian Eusebio Leal, and which is being recorded on P.M Record. It has nice orchestra arrangements and includes works of Sindo Garay. It presents 20 themes and it is the only one that shows this record label this year. I also recorded the CD of Eduardo Sosa, his last production to come out with Colibrí label’’.

‘‘This is what I do most during the year: producing CDs." That musical world fascinates me, and I missed the number of those in which I have worked. I have also produced about eight albums of mine along with Ariel Barreiros, ‘‘Aceituna sin hueso’’, Leyanis López, Manolito Simonet ‘‘Ellas y ellos cantan boleros’’, and many others’’.

-To continue talking about your discography. What do you tell me about ‘‘Somos Cuba’’:

‘‘Somos Cuba’’ is our last production, which includes themes such as ‘‘Quema madera’’, by Leonel ‘‘El guajiro’’ (The peasant), and ‘‘El horroroso’’ by Pedro Luis Ferrer. It is a hard disk of ‘‘Juego de manos’’, which includes the music of maestro Emilio Morales who plays one of the themes, and also that of Alejandro Falcón and Lino Lores among other important artists’’.

-Its 20th Anniversary is approaching, so I propose you to look back in time. Has ‘‘Juego de manos’’ changed since its debut?

‘‘In terms of members, we are now 13 musicians. The group is bigger, which includes three trumpets, two trombones, a flute, so I am using alto, tenor, and baritone. Now, this is a conducting format. Actually, ‘‘Juego de manos’’ was created as a project, so one day I show up with five of my musicians, during a day we do a genre, and on the other day we do another. This year I perform with two or three musicians and Rolando Luna in the piano’’.

-David, is the headscarf part of your identity on the stage?

‘‘When I played along with Pedro Luis Ferrer, the representative was Alina Brouwer, the daughter of Leo Brouwer, and in one of our concerts, she told me – You must change your image - and then they gave me an overall and she put her headscarf on my head: I liked it and I started to use it , and when ‘‘Juego de manos’’ became popular by means of the song ‘El perrito’’ I made the video with the headscarf on my head and thus I stayed’’.

-Do you feel nostalgia for the start of the group?

‘‘I always miss old times, but I try to just enjoy the present. I still remember that many did not like the name, because it is supposed that name presents music but in this case music had to sell the name.’’ (Laughs)

-However, this name remains as ‘‘Juego de manos’’ and it is now 20 years of being created. How are you going to celebrate it?

‘‘By having a big party at the night club El Sauce, where the launching of the last CD ‘‘Somos Cuba’’ and the celebration of its 20th Anniversary will take place at the end of this month. A mini recital will also take place in which two or three songs from the new album will be promoted and the rest are going to be surprises along with collaborations with various musicians that we are going to take into account’’.

-In which other places are you going to perform?

‘‘So far, we are going to perform on Fridays at the Café Cantante Mi Habana, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 o’ clock, and from February 12th to 17th we are going to perform in Las Tunas, a Cuban eastern province, at the Festival of La Guaracha’’. (By Lizandra Amat Consuegra)