Giraldo Piloto: the hands of Klimax

Giraldo Piloto and Klimax hold rehearsals at the Cinema Miramar. I stoppted by a few times to see if I could catch them but they were usually playing somewhere. Finally, on my last day in Havana, I caught up with them. Piloto, timbalero, band leader, arranger and composer, was very open to an interview. I sat briefly as they finished their rehearsal and then we began.

Q: Tell me a little bit about your history and your years with Klimax.
Giraldo Piloto: Klimax was founded the year 1995. We started rehearsing on the 6th of January 1995. It was a reunion of musicians from the most important bands from Cuba. We had a project in mind where we would "disrespect" the musical direction that bands from here usually follow. For instance, popular music, as most music of the world, has to follow and respectcertain patterns so that the CDs sell a lot so that people come in throngs to the dances. As a result, many times the musician cannot give his all, he can't express what he really feels in a concert; or an arranger cannot write what he is really thinking about when he writes his arrangements. Same thing with the composers. We thought that, as a consequence, the music lost a bit of its quality, all those elements that are essential for any musician, such as good harmonies or good lyrics, lyrics that are more elaborated, such as arrangements which include elements from jazz or some other universal music, Brazilian music for example, and we also wanted to recover some elements from Cuban music that were not in much use anymore, such as tha batá drums, or the chá, because hardly any Cuban band plays cha cha chá anymore, or even play boleros, etcetera. We performed our first concert on April 17th 1995, and three months later we were already playing in the most importants jazz festivals in Europe, such as the Nice Jazz Festival or the Vienna Jazz Festival. After that we recorded our first CD, entitled "Mira si te gusta". It got a very good reaction from the press, especially in Europe because our record label is in Spain and therefore we have more exposure in the European countries. Our performance got rave reviews in every country we went to. People left our concerts very satisfied with our performance and thanks to this the next year, 1997, we were invited to other great festivals in Denmark, Italy, and Belgium. We have recorded a second CD entitled "Juego de manos" and now we already have thought out a third one, which we will be recording between March and April of the current year.

Q: Are you going to record it here?
GP: We will record it in Spain, as we did before with Eurotropical. And we are happy. We have also started some touring in South America. We have been in Brazil and Colombia and it went great. We've run into people that are in love with our music, that follow what we do and, for instance in Colombia, even though our records have not been distributed there, when we did a concert people knew the songs. The singers would let go of the microphone and we were amazed to realize that the audience could sing the lyrics of every song. It's beautiful because it shows that our original idea of doing an elaborated music of high quality was not in vain, and this is the reason that Klimax keeps going forward.

Q: When does this year's tour start and where are you going?
GP: This year our tour starts in Germany. We have some dates there in March and then we'll go to Spain to record. After that we return to Germany for a tour in the seven largest cities with a project called "Cuban Night". Then we will go to Scandinavia for a couple of weeks. There are a lot of people in love with our music there as well. Then we will perform at several important festivals all over Europe during the summer, and we also have some important dates in Spain, France, and Italy.

Q: And you must expect to go to the USA, yes?
GP: Yes, it would be great for us to break into the US market, but up to now we haven't found the person or the institution that will take us there. I think it will happen at some point and we will be happy to take our music to the US because we have a lot of friends there. That is to say, there are many Americans who come here, to Cuba, looking for Klimax's music. Some of our friends are playing a bit of our work in the US, and love our music and identify themselves with it, for instance our good friend Juanito. There is a great buzz in Arizona, New Jersey, California, everywhere in the US people want to learn from us. And when they come here, they fall in love with us, they ask us to teach classes, but sometimes we don't have time. It's not that we don't want to do it, but we simply don't have enough time for a lot of classes, but whenever we can, we will do it with pleasure.

Q: Do you work a lot in Cuba?
GP: There is a lot of work in Cuba but we don't agree with the current system of payment. Therefore, we are very choosy about the places we play in and we prefer to rehearse in peace, here in the theater, rather than to play just for pleasure. I feel this is more intelligent: to create good music, to prepare yourself well for whenever you get a good offer, than to play just for the sake of playing anywhere.

Q: Do you write all of Klimax's music?
GP: No, there are several people. Klimax is a team formed by Yusef Díaz, the keyboard player, Roberto Riverón, the bass player, Andrés Carrillo, the piano player, whom everybody calls "Huicho" and sometimes I even forget his real name, and myself. The four of us arrange and compose, we are a team, and each time we finish an arrangement we submit it to everybody's consideration in the band, anybody can give an opinion, an advise, and we accept it. It's a family, Klimax is a big family and a team.

Q: Are there any projects you would like to do?
GP: We we would like to record a Latin jazz CD because our record label has a different market and we cannot include jazz in their CDs. It would be too different from the rest of the music we are proposing. That's why we would like to record a Latin jazz CD in the future because that's another line of the band that has defined us in every stage we have performed. It would be good. It would open you many doors. Thank you very much for your time.

I thanked Piloto for his time. Gracious, talented and energetic, Piloto and Kilmax are a great dance band and have produced some grand shows all over Cuba as well as abroad. Maybe we will be lucky and hear them here in the Bay Area soon. Their CDs are available - make sure and check them out!

Listen to a sound byte from 'Juego de Manos'

Interview and photos ©2000 by Julia Sewell
Transcription and translation ©2000 by Isidra Menkos
All rights reserved. No reproduction without written permission.

  Giraldo Piloto: the hands of Klimax

Giraldo Piloto and Klimax hold rehearsals at the Cinema Miramar. I stoppted by a few times to see if I could catch them but they were usually playing somewhere. Finally, on my last day in Havana, I caught up with them. Piloto, timbalero, band leader, arranger and composer, was very open to an interview. I sat briefly as they finished their rehearsal and then we began.

Q: Tell me a little bit about your history and your years with Klimax.
Giraldo Piloto: Klimax was founded the year 1995. We started rehearsing on the 6th of January 1995. It was a reunion of musicians from the most important bands from Cuba. We had a project in mind where we would "disrespect" the musical direction that bands from here usually follow. For instance, popular music, as most music of the world, has to follow and respectcertain patterns so that the CDs sell a lot so that people come in throngs to the dances. As a result, many times the musician cannot give his all, he can't express what he really feels in a concert; or an arranger cannot write what he is really thinking about when he writes his arrangements. Same thing with the composers. We thought that, as a consequence, the music lost a bit of its quality, all those elements that are essential for any musician, such as good harmonies or good lyrics, lyrics that are more elaborated, such as arrangements which include elements from jazz or some other universal music, Brazilian music for example, and we also wanted to recover some elements from Cuban music that were not in much use anymore, such as tha batá drums, or the chá, because hardly any Cuban band plays cha cha chá anymore, or even play boleros, etcetera. We performed our first concert on April 17th 1995, and three months later we were already playing in the most importants jazz festivals in Europe, such as the Nice Jazz Festival or the Vienna Jazz Festival. After that we recorded our first CD, entitled "Mira si te gusta". It got a very good reaction from the press, especially in Europe because our record label is in Spain and therefore we have more exposure in the European countries. Our performance got rave reviews in every country we went to. People left our concerts very satisfied with our performance and thanks to this the next year, 1997, we were invited to other great festivals in Denmark, Italy, and Belgium. We have recorded a second CD entitled "Juego de manos" and now we already have thought out a third one, which we will be recording between March and April of the current year.

Q: Are you going to record it here?
GP: We will record it in Spain, as we did before with Eurotropical. And we are happy. We have also started some touring in South America. We have been in Brazil and Colombia and it went great. We've run into people that are in love with our music, that follow what we do and, for instance in Colombia, even though our records have not been distributed there, when we did a concert people knew the songs. The singers would let go of the microphone and we were amazed to realize that the audience could sing the lyrics of every song. It's beautiful because it shows that our original idea of doing an elaborated music of high quality was not in vain, and this is the reason that Klimax keeps going forward.

Q: When does this year's tour start and where are you going?
GP: This year our tour starts in Germany. We have some dates there in March and then we'll go to Spain to record. After that we return to Germany for a tour in the seven largest cities with a project called "Cuban Night". Then we will go to Scandinavia for a couple of weeks. There are a lot of people in love with our music there as well. Then we will perform at several important festivals all over Europe during the summer, and we also have some important dates in Spain, France, and Italy.

Q: And you must expect to go to the USA, yes?
GP: Yes, it would be great for us to break into the US market, but up to now we haven't found the person or the institution that will take us there. I think it will happen at some point and we will be happy to take our music to the US because we have a lot of friends there. That is to say, there are many Americans who come here, to Cuba, looking for Klimax's music. Some of our friends are playing a bit of our work in the US, and love our music and identify themselves with it, for instance our good friend Juanito. There is a great buzz in Arizona, New Jersey, California, everywhere in the US people want to learn from us. And when they come here, they fall in love with us, they ask us to teach classes, but sometimes we don't have time. It's not that we don't want to do it, but we simply don't have enough time for a lot of classes, but whenever we can, we will do it with pleasure.

Q: Do you work a lot in Cuba?
GP: There is a lot of work in Cuba but we don't agree with the current system of payment. Therefore, we are very choosy about the places we play in and we prefer to rehearse in peace, here in the theater, rather than to play just for pleasure. I feel this is more intelligent: to create good music, to prepare yourself well for whenever you get a good offer, than to play just for the sake of playing anywhere.

Q: Do you write all of Klimax's music?
GP: No, there are several people. Klimax is a team formed by Yusef Díaz, the keyboard player, Roberto Riverón, the bass player, Andrés Carrillo, the piano player, whom everybody calls "Huicho" and sometimes I even forget his real name, and myself. The four of us arrange and compose, we are a team, and each time we finish an arrangement we submit it to everybody's consideration in the band, anybody can give an opinion, an advise, and we accept it. It's a family, Klimax is a big family and a team.

Q: Are there any projects you would like to do?
GP: We we would like to record a Latin jazz CD because our record label has a different market and we cannot include jazz in their CDs. It would be too different from the rest of the music we are proposing. That's why we would like to record a Latin jazz CD in the future because that's another line of the band that has defined us in every stage we have performed. It would be good. It would open you many doors. Thank you very much for your time.

I thanked Piloto for his time. Gracious, talented and energetic, Piloto and Kilmax are a great dance band and have produced some grand shows all over Cuba as well as abroad. Maybe we will be lucky and hear them here in the Bay Area soon. Their CDs are available - make sure and check them out!

Listen to a sound byte from 'Juego de Manos'

Interview and photos ©2000 by Julia Sewell
Transcription and translation ©2000 by Isidra Menkos
All rights reserved. No reproduction without written permission.