Mezcla 1

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“…people have jazz, have rumba, salsa, they have rock-n-roll, they have son, you know... So it seems logical to have musicians who would also like to play all of that stuff.” --- Pablo Menéndez



	*Mezcla*
	*A Popular Cuban Music Band*


		The Cuban musical scene has become so diverse that it is impossible for Cubans themselves to keep up on everything which is happening. But Cubans are almost universally familiar with the group Mezcla. Perhaps because the band is the project of U.S.-born Pablo Menéndez, who is well known in Cuba, perhaps because during the

		latter 1980s and early 90s this band had a string of big hits, or perhaps, as its name ("Mixture") implies, Mezcla crosses so many musical boundaries in its repertoire. After years of fighting the U.S. State Department, Menéndez was finally able to return home with his band in 1997 and then again in the summer of 1998. Many people attended looking for "salsa," others for political "New Song" music, others perhaps for jazz. What they got was a combination of musical tastes and variety which they had rarely before heard in their lives, played by world-class musicians. Here Pablo Menéndez talks about his life's work, the band Mezcla.




		*How Mezcla came about* *Why musicians are attracted to Mezcla* *How Mezcla became popular in Cuba* *Mezcla's work with Conjunto Folklórico veteran Lázaro Ros and the Cantos recording* *The song "Ikiri Addá"* *Current Mezcla personnel*




		Interview With Pablo Menéndez © 1998 - Louis Head


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	To Contact Mezcla:

	Grupo Mezcla
	Calle 94 #110
	e/ 1ra y 3ra
	Miramar, Municipio Playa
	La Habana, Cuba

	Telephone: 53 7 22 70 34

	Email: mezcla@artsoft.cult.cu

	Website: http://www.mezcla.org