Daymé Arocena Nominated for Latin Grammy “Song of the Year”
Daymé’s Single “A Fuego Lento,” Featuring Dominican Star Vicente Garcia, Is Nominated For “Song Of The Year” At The Latin GRAMMYs 2024
The Song Is From Daymé’s Latest Album ‘Alkemi‘; Produced By Eduardo Cabra (Calle 13)
Read The NY Times Profile; “How Beyoncé Jolted the Cuban Singer Daymé Arocena Into a Fresh Era”
Afro-Cuban star Daymé Arocena has been nominated for “Song Of The Year” at the Latin GRAMMYs for “A Fuego Lento” featuring Dominican star Vicente Garcia.
Dayme shares that she started writing the song a long time ago but didn’t feel ready to finish it until she found love that made her feel comfortable with her own sensuality. “‘A Fuego Lento’ is another of the many old and unfinished songs hidden in my songbook,” Dayme explains. “It wasn’t until I found a love that made me feel sensual and spiritually full, that I could finish it and, thus, break with the internal and inherited taboos to fully enjoy the joy of being the woman I am, and with all my cracks and scars build my armor.”
“A Fuego Lento” is from Daymé’s latest album ‘Alkemi’ (Brownswood Recordings), her first album since ‘Sonocardiogram‘ in 2019. When Daymé decided to switch gears and record her fourth studio album in Puerto Rico with the multiple Grammy award-winning producer, Eduardo Cabra (Calle 13), she never imagined that she would end up moving there.
“From the moment I stepped foot on the island, I realized that I never wanted to leave,” says the 31-year-old Cuban singer/songwriter with a hearty laugh. “At the time, I had spent three years away from Cuba, living in Canada with my husband. I called and asked him to come over to Puerto Rico, and to please bring all my stuff. It wasn’t a conscious decision on my part. It was simply love at first sight.”
Relying on instinct and intuition is how Daymé has managed her career since she burst on the international scene with ‘Nueva Era,’ her prodigious debut album, in 2015. Now, she has fully reinvented her sound with ‘Alkemi,’ a revolutionary – and transformative – fusion of neo soul singing, Afro-Caribbean beats and slick new millennium pop.
The album is titled ‘Alkemi’ with the Yoruba word for alchemy. “It means the cosmovision of transformation,” she explains. “It is mixing all the elements to achieve an unbeatable result, full of shine and light, like gold springing from the skin.”
From the cosmopolitan smoothness of lead single “Suave y Pegao” – an effortless fusion of jazz, bossa nova and urbano stylings with reggaeton star Rafa Pabön on guest vocals – to the smoldering neo-soul of “A Fuego Lento,” Daymé’s latest album relies on sacred formats of the past but rearranges them in a conscious quest to redraw the very definition of what Latin pop is supposed to sound like.
“It was definitely a team effort,” she reflects from her new home in San Juan. “Flexibility may well be my biggest virtue. I’m always open to every possible suggestion when it comes to making things better. My piano player, Jorge Luis “Yoyi” Lagarza, and I worked on the demos with the rest of my band. Then with Eduardo Cabra’s direction, we enlisted musicians from all over the Caribbean – Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic. Everybody added their energy and coloring.”
It was Daymé’s piano player Jorge Luis “Yoyi” Lagarza who originally suggested she contact Eduardo Cabra known for combining commercial aptitude with a refined sense of craftsmanship. Not only did Cabra accept the singer’s offer, but he also invited her to stay at his home during the five months when they recorded ‘Alkemi‘ in his Puerto Rico studio.
“I had no idea that he was familiar with my music,” she enthuses. “Eduardo has been in the industry for a long time, and he comes from a world that is more global and commercial than mine. He was the ideal candidate for this project, but I initially didn’t know if he would understand the social, psychological, and personal complexities of the message that I wanted to express.”
“Daymé is one of the most talented musicians that I’ve ever worked with,” says Cabra. “Working together was a joy, because she knew exactly the kind of fusion that she was going for: a cross between her Afro-Cuban roots – which clearly are strong on this album – with the more contemporary vein of analogue synths, samples and a bit of electronica. We wanted both worlds to communicate, to be both respectful and disrespectful to the ancestral colors. I feel comfortable with both, and even Calle 13 walked the two paths. This is also the album where Daymé opened up to the Caribbean at large. Her understanding of harmony and her performance skills are out of this world.”
Born in Havana in 1992, Daymé grew up immersed in Afro-Cuban folk, but also listening to cassette tapes of Sade, her father’s favorite singer. She was identified as a prodigious talent at only 8 years old and soon started studying music. After studying at the prestigious Amadeo Roldán conservatory, she became co-founder and band member of the all-female Cuban-Canadian jazz collective Maqueque in 2014. With the collective, she launched several international tours and earned a GRAMMY nomination.
“In Cuba, the emphasis on technique is exacerbated,” Daymé explains. “At the same time, opportunities are scarce on the island. A career in music provides a potential for escape, which is why the competitiveness is off the charts.”