Nueva Era

At just 22 years old, Daymé - a singer, arranger composer, and choir director is already a veteran presence in Cuban music, and is fast gaining international profile. She says she has sung all her life and recalls her four-year old self performing on every block in her neighborhood. She has been performing semi-professionally since the age of eight, and became lead singer with the big band Los Primos at 14. She has performed with Winton Marsalis, and was invited by the Canadian saxophonist Jane Bunnet to perform in Canada. Daymé first came to the attention of François Renié, Communications Director at Cuban rum maker Havana Club and founder of the Havana Cultura platform. He recalls "Gilles and I met Dayme for the first time on Gilles' first trip to Cuba, improvising a rumba session at a friend's place. She started to sing and we were amazed. She was just a teenager". Considered to young to appear on the early Havana Cultura recordings, she nonetheless stayed on Gilles' radar on his subsequent trips to Cuba. Gilles recalls "I was knocked out at her professionalism and people connection. She is so many things - a serious artist who knows exactly what she wants musically.