I caught up with the amazing vocalist Mayito Rivera “El Poeta De La Rumba” on the afternoon before his explosive performance at Roccapulco in San Francisco in early November. Mayito Rivera, former lead vocalist of Juan Formell Y Los Van Van was with the group for over 20 years. He is currently preparing new music to be recorded in the first part of 2023 which includes a song featuring his new rhythm Mayombe that he introduced in an earlier recording. This interview aired on my KPFA program “Con Sabor” on December 17th. (Photo-Mayito Rivera (right) with Luis Medina)
LM. How did you get the nickname “El Poeta De La Rumba”?
MR That line “El Poeta De La Rumba” comes from the song that I sang every day for many years “Soy Todo”. The title actually comes from the poem written by Eloy Machado, “El Poeta De La Rumba”. I took that title and decided when I went solo to go by the name “Mayito Rivera El Poeta De La Rumba”. Apart from the lyrics, I put my creative touch on the improvisations (soneos) that made the song a huge hit for Cuban music. All the fans and friends would call me “Mayito…El Poeta De La Rumba” so I felt that I had the right to take the name since I was the one who sang the song, gave the song it’s melody, it’s purpose and brought it to the world with my voice and heart. All the soneos after the lyrics are my musical creation. I’m part of the reason that the song was a huge success. It’s the music and the words. I realized that I could be a composer with practice. I was the singer for two of the greatest composers in Cuban music, Juan Formell and Cesar “Pupy” Pedroso. They wrote for me and I interpreted their songs. It was up to me to express their feelings. I have over 300 songs and they all have poetry. I develop those songs so they all have poetry when I sing them. The work that a singer contributes to a song comes after the lyrics. The improvisations (soneos) are from my imagination. That’s how a singer contributes to the success of a song.
LM: You’re not just a singer but a sonero as well. In your opinion, what is a sonero?
MR: The singer-sonero has many qualities. First of all, one is the way he carries himself. It’s a way of life. You can be a sonero but not a singer. A bongocero who sings can be a sonero. I’m talking about the singers now. The singer-sonero has a special mentality, a god given capacity to express himself naturally and distinct from others. It’s a gift from God. There are other elements in his personality…a different type of creativity, he has a great voice, a timbre, a melody, a language, a feeling, always in tune, a natural quality that separates him from others, The singer of Son by the Grace of God accepts that position. The singer of Son gets the final work from the composer or director then adds his elements and text to bring it to life. The singer has flavor, melody, knowledge, timbre of voice, quality, feeling, grace, charisma, the roots, style, the elements, folklore, a master of the drum. But he always knows the clave, the movement of the son, he has the tumbao inside….ok? There are 15 elements in one singer. The only ones that know are the singers and the soneros.
LM How did you make the connection with Juan Formell?
MR: By the divine grace of God. The connection between Juan Formell and myself was something special that God put in my path. Juan Formell discovered me in a jam session because he had the capacity and the intelligence to listen and recognize me. I was a bassist and they (Los Van Van) opened up the jam session to let others sing. I felt like singing in the jam session so I left my bass and joined them singing. I wasn’t going to ask but I felt in the mood to sing because I love singing. I don’t even remember what I sang but it was one of the great Van Van songs. I took the microphone from the great Pedro Calvo and started singing this song. Everyone was surprised but I made an impact I hardly remember any of it. It’s all about the impact that people felt. Juan Formell felt the impact in his heart about me. It’s all about the impact. The next day Formell calls me and asks me if I want to be a singer. I said No I’m a bass player at first. He said no no no, you’re a singer. You need to sing. He gave me his number but I didn’t call him. I didn’t believe that anything would happen. After a month passed, I head a knock in my door. I opened the door and it was Juan Formell. He said come with me. I didn’t go after Juan Formell. I was the person who was sought by the maestro. These are personal stories that I want to write a book about. I’m a singer that started his career with Juan Formell.
LM: You have an interesting career. You released your first solo recording “Tribute To Chappotin” and was collaborating with other artists while you were singing with Los Van Van. You have a wide range of collaborations with diverse artists. You’re not an artist that can be put solely in one genre or put in a box. You’re known for your many collaborations from singing with Los Soneros De Verdad to working with popular artists such as Maykel Blanco. Do you seek these opportunities to collaborate with others or do artists come to you to collaborate?
MR: They come and they keep coming. I’m fortunate that artists come to me that want to collaborate with me. I have over 300 songs that I’ve recorded in my career between Los Van Van and other artists since 1993 when I started with Los Van Van. Different songs. Different artists. I’m going on 30 years of songs. What is important is that I was collaborating with other artists while I was still with Los Van Van. I was with them for 22 years. I’m a singer that is always invited to sing with other artists. I’m very lucky not many singers can say that. It’s all because of my base…it’s all from your base: I have have the musical background but I also studied with the masters of percussion. I first started singing rumba and Yoruba with Justo Peyadito and Gregorio Hernandez “El Goyo” at the National School of Music and the ISA (Institute Superior Of The Arts). I was part of the quartet Obayalu that they created. We would tour performing the whole repertoire of folklore…Rumba, Yoruba. I learned a lot. I would sing and play batas and congas at the same time. I was really into the world of folklore. We would give classes and I would go to Saturday rumbas where I would sing and play. . I learned a lot the feeling of the rumba and folklore before I started singing popular music. It really helped me a lot.
LM: Regarding compositions, what inspires you to write compositions?
MR: I have different ways of finding inspiration. I try to find something new to write what no one has written or said before. That’s the first thing that pops in my mind that’s why It’s difficult. It’s not something that I do frequently. Because I’m not a composer that is easily convinced. I wrote a Son for my birthplace, Piñar Del Rio called “Rio Seco”, a son montuno that everyone liked a lot that I recorded. That was confirmed to me I gave a copy of that song to the maestro Cesar “Pupy” Pedroso. He went to my house and I burned a copy of the master and gave it to him. He left my house, played the cd in his jeep and called me excited and moved by the music. He said some very flattering things to me regarding the song. That was proof to me that the composition was really good. Pupy was always an important reference point in regards to songs.
It was in Japan when I wrote Negrito Bailador. It was in Japan where the song was born while we were there to film “Los Hijos De Cuba”. The film “Los Hijos De Cuba” was made by Wim Wenders about a concert in Japan. It’s on You Tube if you want to check it out. The producer wanted me to write an arrangement for Negrito Bailador. Pupy was the director of the big band. During a meeting, the producer asked me to bring the song. I promised to bring the arrangement of the song the following day. I didn’t have the entire song written out yet. I wrote the arrangement of the song in one night!
Mayito sings the horn parts the beginning notes of the song Negrito Bailador to me then says I wrote that in one night and the next day I brought the arrangement to rehearsal by Noon as promised. I wrote a composition that had everything laid out: 1st trumpet, 2nd trumpet, Trombone, Piano, Bass and so on. Pupy was smiling and everybody was laughing. Those were the days of now we’re going to hear how your song sounds. I didn’t know how the song was going to sound. I had to prove that the song was ready. Everyone was laughing. I had Feliciano (Arango) on bass, Samuel (Formell) on drums, Roberto Carcasses on piano, Roberto Viscaino on congas, On brass, I have Julito Padron, Alexander Abreu, David, Juan Carlos on trombone. On background vocals, I have Tirso Duarte, Bahia,, Luis Frank, El Nene and myself. That’s when the song was born. Nobody knew! I didn’t know at first how important that moment was! That it was a huge song. Later, it was nominated for a grammy. That was the first song that I wrote for that record that was nominated for a grammy. That was quite an accomplishment for a humble singer of Los Van Van. It was important.
That’s when I saw that the song was nominated for a Grammy not a Latin Grammy. I wrote all the songs and four arrangements on that recording. It’s hard to describe it. My music is personal…they’re my ideas and my concepts. That’s why I take my time, I’m slow! That’s why I don’t have that pressure because I’m confident in my music. I’ve proven myself. That music has a sentimental and important value. It’s not a boast! I’ve sang for Pupy…I was the singer for Juan Formell That’s what I gave them but it won’t written in the history books nor will it be on the liner notes but we, the singers…I’ll say that Roberton, Lele, Yenny…. we did 50 percent of the work because we bring that song to life. That comes out of our feelings and our ability. It’s not recognized as important, that’s where the problems start…either you have to leave the band or they kick you out of the band or they replace you…we’re nothing for the directors, composers and the leaders of the orchestra. That isn’t fair! You’re always going to have a problem because now the whole world knows it. I broke the mold. It was I who taught the world a lesson about the Cuban singers. When I left Los Van Van, people were talking. They were asking “Why did Mayito leave Van Van?” My motive was a secret….an emotional secret. I wanted to be free to sing and to express myself.
You can access and listen to the interview for two weeks until Saturday, December 31st at www.kpfa.org/archives for Con Sabor under the date 12/17/22 at 9 pm.
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