Cuban Brothers' Guide to the summer

United Kingdom | | 17 July 2008

When I first heard that the Cuban Brothers used to belong to an ex-Cuban pornography cartel, amongst a dozen other stories of infamous dark Latin street lore, I was a little apprehensive about meeting them.

So, on the steep winding staircases of KOKO's Victorian back cracks in Camden, the ascent to The Cubans dressing room felt like the climb of the flabella in The City of God as I made a final rehearsal in my head of what I was going to ask.

On the way to the top I meet Rob Da Bank dressed as Amy Winehouse, which eased the tension slightly. On arrival at the dressing room the first thing that I saw was Miguel Mantovani and the rest of the crew limbering up in various designs of Y fronts and string vests, a moment, I expect, that will stay with me for some time to come.
 
Miguel Mantovani and Archerio Mantovani joined me on the stairs for a definitive guide to this summers festivals - Cuban style…  
 
VF: So This is The Cuban Brothers guide to the summer festivals. I've seen that you are playing a lot of festivals this year can you tell us which ones you are playing, which are your favourite ones to play and have you played them many times before?
MM: "Si si we are much enjoying the British festivals. It gives us great pleasures to perform on them. Of course Bestival is our festival, it's not senior Robba Di Banco, he is only our pawn - we run the whole show. This year we do Camp Bestival where the young families can come and explore and let themselves go like it was 1982, you know latin beats, rock and roll is no problem."

VF: You say it's no problem for families with young children to attend your festival but what kind of a role model do you think you are to our youth, when you have such a notorious background exploiting yourself and others in the seedy world of entertainment and pornography?
MM: "Let me say now that I have given this away in 1983 this title of a pornographer. I made 180 films, I made for the first time big films like El Pablo 69 and then in 1983 I had my own TV show, the biggest in Havana, and then I gave it up. I came out for one last show in '89 and then I gave it up, this is because this was my past you know then I found my son here on the streets of Havana and we started a band - he was dancing on the streets just like a street urchin and I took him under my wing. It's a not a problem for me, so it's not a problem for anyone else no?"

VF: So this is your son/nephew and you have 10 other people in your band that's a big band do you really need all these people around you? Are they not just an extension of your own ego?
MM: "I think for the live for the big show I think is gunna be 10 da da da [counting on his fingers] 12 parades for a di big band and then of course is da horns, percussion, and Kengo you know my son Kengo? And a Rodrigez he is one of the most flamboyant big acts in my country."

VF: Oh yes I met him in the dressing room he is wearing the same underwear as me. [I pull down my jeans to reveal my Superman Y fronts that I chose to wear that evening, much to the delight of our Cuban friends.]
MM: "Ah very nice nice you are super like us no? [laughs] Maybe you join our show."

VF: Maybe I will, 13 is a much better number than 12. So you dress outrageously where do you get your inspiration for your outfits? What's that on your head?
MM: "This is a gift from an old friend of mine who is no longer with us - Lee Bowery. In the 80's he was a pop artist, dance, latin and when I came to the UK he gave it as gift and, like the fashion, we like to mix it up a little bit - a bit of b-boy and a traditional and contemporary styles - we mix it up and whatever. We’re comfortable with the suits, a famous tailor from back home made them, but he is dead now yes he is dead he was stabbed in the neck for messing around with one of my friends so you know, on stage we like to give them something else other than the music. We like to get down, it's important to have the moves and the sexy dress."


VF: So getting back to the subject this is your guide to the festivals this year what are your favourite festivals and what advice can you give our to our audience?
MM: "Well we are playing all the festivals this year we are playing Glastonbury; we are doing an MTV Culture Show…"

VF: Are you going to dress like that to present the Culture Show?
MM: "It depends you know. Its not all about the clothes, its not about the costumes, - it would be nice if it was. We are going to do other things we are doing a festival in Turkey, in Serbia, Bestival, Wild in The Country, Planet Love, Rockness, The Gumball Rally. We are going to do The Wickerman Festival. [Shouting] Oh, Lord! Oh, Jesus Christ! [Quoting the film The Wickerman as Sergeant Howie sees the wicker man for the first time.] You seen the film? It's one of my favourite films."

VF: Well I am really looking forward to the show tonight, so what have we got in store. What show are you putting on for us?
MM: "Well I think the best thing to do is come down and watch it you know we always do something a little different each time we play. For us the show is a little bit of the spectacular, in Spanish it means the show, and so it means we gunna mix up the hip hop, the funk, the salsa, mix up the dancing a little bit and the funny stuff, and also we try and touch them in a way that they haven't already been touched you know? It's not like we are trying to reinvent any kind of a thing - awww be careful - it's more that we are trying to be cocky and honest with ourselves and at the same time if you can't get on the end of it. How can you get on the end of it? We doing all the festivals, we doing this one with The Sugarhill Gang all the way from New York City, we doing all the festivals this year. We are hosting Ibiza Rocks, I have some friends coming out and a couple of my wives, and all my kids on the island. It's nice but it's crazy, they steal my drums and they ‘Hey!’ make me shouting. They playing all the time on my bongo's the bastards. I love them they're my children, it's nice to be nice but it's even nicer to be known to be nice."

VF: Well you are on stage in a couple of minutes so you better get on with it, I'm really looking forward to seeing the show it was an experience to meet you.

And there they were … gone.

By Phil Brady.