Cuban jazz player Paquito D’Rivera, who will be the main guest of the Pan American Charity Gala against child hunger in Latin America this Saturday in Miami, defended this Thursday using art to improve the lives of those who have less, especially children.
“You have to use art to improve the lives of those who have less than us. There are people who are starving and children who cannot go to school, that is a reality in Latin America,” said the 14-time Grammy Award winner. and Latin Grammy.
D’Rivera will be the special guest of the musical gala, organized by the Alianza América Viva, which will benefit a dozen charitable groups in Latin America.
The Cuban musician described the musical event as “a journey through all the music of the new world,” which includes rhythms and dances from Cuba, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and even Argentine tango.
The show “América Viva” will be an audiovisual experience with 25 artists on stage, more than four video screens and more than 300 pieces of costumes and accessories, in which music, from flamenco to Afro-Cuban rhythms and Latin jazz, will be the common thread.
“It’s a Pan-American vision of the art of music and dance,” D’Rivera said.
He assured that it goes beyond Latin America because “there is a bit of American Jazz as well . “
He even said smiling that in his presentation he put “a tribute to Mozart, who had little of a Venezuelan” , but is his favorite composer.
“It’s an adage that he wrote and I fixed it to a New Orleans jazz form … to give the event a completely different spin,” he explained.
D’Rivera praised the “Cuban-Venezuelan” musician César Orozco, who, he said, wrote all the music for the show, which is made up of 20 pieces that will be presented this Saturday at the gala, which will take place at the New World theater. from Miami Beach.
The saxophonist said he was proud and grateful for his participation in the gala to raise funds to reduce child malnutrition in Latin America.
Ángela María Tafur, founder of Gift to Colombia, one of the twelve participating foundations, said that the event, in addition to being a charity, is an alliance of the “mestizo feeling” with organizations that help, among others, Venezuela, Ecuador and even Hispanics in Miami .
Tafur thanked D’Rivera for having “believed” in an event to show Hispanic solidarity and the union of various organizations.
D’Rivera regretted that Latin America has “specialized in disasters” and called to “take care of children and feed them physically and mentally . “
The jazz player, who said that he will soon be at a concert in Colombia and then go on tour to Spain and some American cities, shared the message of the gala to “help the children of the American continent to get out of poverty . “
Alexandra Stelling, director of Friends of the Children of Venezuela and coordinator of the gala, explained that the show is a show of cultural union that reflects Latin America in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month in the US and that also seeks to benefit children region of.