I was born into a very musical family. My grandfather played trumpet and my father was the greatest exponent jazz has ever had in Cuba. My toys as a child were musical instruments, predominantly percussion. I still have the claves my grandfather taught me with when I was barely two years old.... At 8 my father took me to my first "official" drum lesson, and although I never went back, because all I wanted was to play like Ringo Starr and the teacher was far too strict about rudiments and more serious things, I never abandoned my passion for the drums, and at 13 I enrolled on my own at the notorious National School for Art Instructors in Havana, where the students were generally those who had been kicked out of the capital's conservatories for failing subjects that had nothing to do with music, and where I met and shared a classroom with many of the great musicians of Cuba today. Precisely because I wasn't interested in anything but music, I was expelled a year after enrolling, having studied the four years of the percussion program in one..... I'd walk into the percussion classroom at 8 in the morning and leave at 8 at night, every day. There I had the good fortune to meet and study with the teacher who is perhaps the person who has most influenced my career, not only as a percussionist but as a musician in general, Mr. Santiago Reiter.... he was precisely the one who suggested I start my life as a professional after my expulsion from the school..... I remember his words as if it were today.... "You're ready, go play out on the street," and so it was. After playing in a couple of underground rock bands in Havana, I got the first call to go on tour all over the island..... I don't know whether the pages of this magazine would be enough to tell everything that has happened since.... To this day it hasn't stopped!!!
The second generation of Pearl's Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez signature cowbells has very "feminine" names. Are they named after anyone in particular? Why did you choose these names for each of them? What are their acoustic or tonal peculiarities?
My bells are my "goddesses." They are music, and yes, they are very feminine! That's why I chose 5 women's names that contained the word Bell: Bellita, Clabell, Chabella, Isabell and Maribell, my five goddess bells!! For this second generation we decided to widen the interval between the two lowest ones, change the color and finish, and add a new mounting system created by the innovative genius of all Pearl percussion, the Dutchman Jon Vander Meulen, with whom I've worked for more than 25 years.
Tell us a bit more about your band, Italuba. What projects do you have in mind for the near future?
Italuba is surely the personal project of mine to which I've devoted the most time and energy, even if we haven't been very active in the last two or three years because I've found myself immersed in many projects in which I haven't been the leader..... (I've always been faithful to the idea that you learn a lot of music by playing works by different composers.) By the end of this year we plan to release the first of two records we've been working on
for the last two years. It's a compilation of ten tunes from our first two records arranged for big band format, on which we've invited great soloists from today's music world such as Roy Hargrove, Kenny Garrett, Robin Eubanks, David Sánchez, Papo Vázquez, René Luis Toledo, Isaac Delgado, Haila Mompié, Diego "El Cigala," Concha Buika, The Afro-Caribbean Jazz Orchestra led by Arturo O'Farrill, the Parco Della Musica Jazz Orchestra of the Auditorium in Rome led by Maurizio Giammarco, and my two favorite percussionists, the masters Giovanni Hidalgo and Marc Quiñones. We also plan to publish this record in an "instructional" format in the style of minus-one, meaning that all the scores and the audio would be available for individual study of each of the instruments.
I know there are two projects with Italuba, one of which could be considered educational. What are your intentions?
The second Italuba record to be released is our "new" record, on which we've decided to invite many of the percussionists who have marked my life. Alex Acuña, Giovanni Hidalgo, Richie Flores, Karl Perazzo, Raul Rekow, Marc Quiñones, Piraña, etc..... are some of those whom we've already had the pleasure of hearing adorn our music.... I've always been an insatiable fan of percussion and percussionists, and their influence on the way I play the drums is immense, so I couldn't wait to thank them for their contributions to music in general. From the beginning of the recording of this record at Javier Limón's studio in Madrid I felt there was a lot of room in the tunes for percussion.
You're on tour right now with the great Zucchero. What do you feel doing this kind of work that you don't get working with your own band?
Being on tour with Zucchero is for me like throwing a party for body and soul. Every concert is a mega party where you travel musically through pop, Cuban music and R & B. There's a big difference between playing in clubs or small concert halls, as generally happens with jazz, and playing in stadiums or sports arenas, as in this case. The energy is very different, and surely in the latter you have many more chances to interact energetically with the audience. Besides, for me there's truly only one kind of music, and it's the music I believe is good, no matter the genre. There's very good pop just as there's very good jazz, and there's also very bad pop and very bad jazz... Playing what the music calls for, and playing it well, is my greatest dream, and I enjoy it enormously, for example, playing a very simple ballad with Zu, a song that maybe doesn't technically require much effort, but does require very good taste.... In this project of his called La Sesión Cubana there are two drummers, his fantastic, legendary drummer Adriano Molinari and me, plus three percussionists, Joaquín Núñez Hidalgo, Jorgito Núñez and Karel Escalona from the famous Cuban orchestra of the world-famous Tropicana cabaret.... It's truly a "percussive assault" with horns, guitars and singers... it's all of Zucchero's hits arranged a little "Cuban style." And living almost three years in Rome marked my life forever, which is why my soul is also partying.
Do you have any superstition or quirk before going out to play?
Surely there's nothing better than good vibes with your bandmates....and if it comes with a little sip of Cuban rum, even better! When I was very young I used to walk out on stage without warming up, but in recent years, I feel I need a bit of exercise to "loosen up" the machinery!
Which artists influenced you in arriving at your very personal style?
My influences have been so many... The pages of this magazine surely wouldn't be enough to mention all the drummers I've imitated and who I still like and find interesting.... from Ringo, Charlie Watts, Mark Farner, Frank Beard, Ian Paice, Cozy Powell, John Bonham, Carl Palmer, Bill Bruford, Billy Cobham, Lenny White, Peter Erskine, Buddy Rich, Steve Gadd, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Gerry Brown, Walfredo Reyes Sr., Jr., Alex Acuña, Omar Hakim, Paco Sery, Karim Ziad, Changuito, Enrique Pla, Robby Ameen, Simon Phillips, Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colaiuta, Chad Wackerman, Tony Royster Jr., Tony Williams, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Elvin Jones.... just to name a few.... I'm truly a great lover of the art of drumming and I devour every publication about it, listen to every record I can and watch every video that falls into my hands.... but if there's a common denominator among all these artists, it's that they all put our instrument at the service of making music... of music, which is my God.
Which artist would you like to play with that you haven't played with yet?
There are many I'd like to play with, and probably the best composers are the pianists or other harmonic instrumentalists, but besides coming from a "rumbero" people where the drum is god, I've been fortunate to know the power and sound of multiple drum kits, and I find it so phenomenal that now I dream of playing with other drummers.... I can't wait to start a project with maestro Alex Acuña, for example....
What are the components of your dream drum kit?
The ideal components of my dream kit vary a lot depending on the musical "dream" I'm involved in... By playing many different styles of music you also learn about the ideal sound for each type of music, and so you don't show up at a jazz recording with a 22-inch bass drum, for example, which is better suited to fusion, rock or Cuban music, and so on. There's a great variety of drums and sounds to give rhythm to all the music in this world, each one in total harmony with the style.... For this Zucchero tour, for example, I'm using a Pearl Reference Series with a 22 x 18 inch bass drum, a 14 x 6 1/2 snare, 10 x 8 and 12 x 10 rack toms, 14 x 14 and 16 x 16 floor toms, and a 10 x 4 piccolo snare. Also the cymbals of my dreams, my Signature Series made by Istanbul Mehmet... a 22-inch Medium Ride, 19, 18 and 15 Crashes, 14 and 12 Chinas, 13 and 12 Hi-hats, and a 9 Splash with rivets, and three electronic pads made by Mark Drums for sounds like handclaps, shakers and special effects.... And right now, this is the drum kit of my dreams!
What do you consider indispensable on a drum kit? cumquis aut atatis moluptatur?
Well, surely a good drummer.... It's an instrument you can make a lot of noise on very easily, but when you see someone making music... it's fascinating!
Do you think it's very hard to reach your instrumental level and position as a player in the "music market"?
Reaching the highest possible technical and musical level is essential in order to develop in the modern world, and not only in music. We musicians start from the basis of doing what fascinates us, or "chasing" our passion, and in that case we'll never see studying as an effort, and that gives us an advantage. But the time we have is one, and it is now. You can't put things off until tomorrow. Studying is now, tomorrow and always, and once prepared, go chasing the mountain. It's true that certain types of music have their home bases, and the closer we are to them, the closer we'll be to the music that interests us.
What musical genre would you classify yourself in?
I'd love to hear the answer to this question from the mouths of the many and varied musicians I've had the joy of sharing music with... It's very hard to give an opinion of yourself... But I'm very sure that I've gone to meet with all of them with great sincerity and as prepared as possible, which in our world is a synonym for respect....
Over all these years, you've been able to take part in many projects. Which has been your favorite, the one that has motivated you most?
Many of the projects I've taken part in have been favorites, my projects as a leader, etc., but..... right now..... there's one I can't wait to start taking around the world. It's a new group named VOLCAN, which brings together my two biggest idols, the Cuban pianist and multi-instrumentalist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and the Puerto Rican multi-percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo... the other two members are the young super bassist Armando Gola and yours truly. We recorded the album in January, and on August 30 the tour begins in Puerto Rico and Colombia, with Europe in the fall.
How would you encourage young people to keep developing in the fields of percussion and drums?
. The only real weapons young people have today to study and improve themselves are, I think, heart, passion and desire... It's no less true that there are many more people interested in the subject than ever, and that access to information, lessons, videos and music is within everyone's reach. Today it's truly very easy, through the internet, to learn about other cultures, about instruments almost unknown until yesterday, about rhythms from remote places; it's very easy to watch and imitate all your idols..... but only love and perseverance will guide the destined, so if you've realized you can't go a single day of your life without picking up a pair of sticks and a drum, maybe it's time to close this magazine and go practice. A big hug, and I wish you all the best.
