Escape Forever

The news that another Cuban musician has decided to cut his ties to the island in order to take a stab at establishing an international career is no longer as eye-opening as it once was. The reason is that there are so many of them. An urgent need for prestige and hard currency has forced the Cuban government to allow more and more of its artists to travel abroad, and to accept the unavoidable risk of losing a significant number of them to the promises of personal and artistic freedom offered by much of the rest of the world. And so with little surprise we learn about yet another Cuban musician who chose to defect this past June 11, and to a list that already includes Paquito D'Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Juan Pablo Torres, Albita Rodriguez, Manolín, Maggie Carles, Israel Kantor, and Annia Linares -- to mention only some of the better-known examples -- we add the most recent entry: Carlos Manuel Pruneda.

At the time of his defection, the 36-year-old Carlos Manuel, as he is professionally known, embodied the vanguard of his country's popular dance scene. For most of the previous four years his dynamic and hard-driving mix of timba, New York salsa, and hip-hop, energetically accentuated onstage by equally eclectic choreographed moves from the members of his band, had filled every club and dance venue on the island to capacity. Two months ago, however, during an engagement in Mexico City, the Cuban singer and composer finally decided to do what he had yearned to do for years.

Prior to his defection Manuel made the best of a career subjected to the usual controls imposed by Cuban authorities on the island's artists, including restricted travel, limited access to international business opportunities, and constant vigilance. Now finally able to offer his music to the global market in total freedom, the singer wishes to find success without losing his homeland audience.

"I want to make music for the whole world," says Manuel confidently from his new home in southwest Miami. He hopes to be able to reach his Cuban audience in the same way that artists like Willy Chirino, Gloria Estefan, and others do -- through their recordings and by virtue of their own success. "My public in Cuba is, and will always be, just as important to me as the rest of the world. They are, after all, the ones who first gave me support and recognition," he says.

Cuban audiences were first introduced to Manuel in 1993, when, as a member of the nueva trova group Mayohuacán, he had a huge hit with Pedro Luis Ferrer's "Carapacho Pa' la Jicotea," a single that received constant airplay on the radio. The following year, heavily influenced by the international salsa movement, he decided to leave Mayohuacán and form his own band. But this early attempt as a leader did not go as well as he had hoped, so in early 1996 he joined pianist Chucho Valdés and Irakere, spending most of that year traveling abroad as a vocalist with the island's premier jazz ensemble.

"With Irakere I traveled to Brazil, Mexico, and many other places," he says. "But when I got to California and the Playboy Jazz Festival, I realized that life in the United States was nothing like what they had taught us in Cuba. I saw that people lived decently, that there was no general abuse, that musicians were working freely to get ahead in their careers, and I realized that eventually I too would have to make my career in that environment." That, however, was 1996. Why, then, did it take so long to finally defect? "Well, in the first place, my father had health problems and I did not feel comfortable with the idea of leaving him at that moment," he reasons. "Secondly, something inside told me that I first needed to triumph in my country before attempting to triumph internationally."

Having made that decision, Manuel left Irakere in 1997. This time it soon became evident that things were on the way up. In less than a year, his new ensemble, now called Carlos Manuel y su Clan, released its first CD, Por la Vena el Gusto; soon thereafter two of its songs, "Agua Fría" and "Tremenda Parejita," became national hits.