On July 23, songwriter, composer, and singer Kumar, will perform at the Tempo Latino Festival in Vic-Fezensac, France. Kumar, born and raised in Havana, Cuba, started his career in 1998. Well known for his hip-hop and rap productions, which are infused with jazz, mambo and other Cuban rhythms, he took part, along with Telmary Días, in the 2004 film Havana Blues (by director Benito Zambrano) with the original “No se vuelve atras’’ [One Doesn’t Go Back]. The song won a Goya award for the best soundtrack of that year. He also joined the group Ojos de Brujo in Spain to record another soundtrack song “Rompe Cadenas” [Chain Breaker]. In October of 2004 the song “Ves” [You See], also featuring Telmary, was nominated for three awards in the Cuban video festival Premios Lucas.
Kumar continued to prosper working on a number of collaborations and successful tours. He traveled to the United States to sing with Audioslave and then back to Europe to tour with X Alfonso. After winning numerous prizes for his performances of hip-hop and rap, he relocated to Barcelona, Spain, where he recorded, Película de Barrio [Neighborhood Film]. The album features the collaboration of many excellent Cuban musicians, the Spanish group Ojos de Brujo, and others. He was recently acclaimed for his highly successful concert in Marseilles, France (at the Babel Med in March 2009). This month’s touring has included performances in Athens, Greece, and Seville and Cádiz, Spain. After his Vic-Fezensac appearance, his next performance will take place on July 27 at Festival Cuba 50 in London.
“Tempo Latino” is a cultural project/music festival that will take place July23-26, 2009. [Also see Tempo Latino: Afro-Latin/Caribbean Music Festival in Vic-Fezensac, France.]
For more information on Kumar, see http://worldwideawards.wordpress.com/havana-cultura-room/ and http://www.tempo-latino.com/. Also, see Kumar’s videoclips at www.myspace.com/kumarmate.
Photo from http://www.cubanmusicawards.com/
