aWANTEDmag.com, Inc

I meet Cucu Diamantes at The Bowery Hotel in New York, formerly Ileana Padron, in a fast paced thick Cuban accent she speaks, ”Like a female Ricky Ricardo” “Cucu Diamantes. It is a fun name!” Life  is short “Life is fun, Break the rules!”

Breaking the rules runs in the family. Her Chinese Afro-Cuban mother had a rather tumultuous relationship with her French Spanish father when she was very young … “ an act of rebellion” say Cucu. Her grandmother and her aunt subsequently raised her in a very strict household in an African neighborhood. In Cuba She claims was “Like the Bronx!” “My family is like the United Colors of Benetton but in reality.”

When you think of all the Cubans that immigrate and the circumstance as to why they do it I can only imagine that Cucu herself was a handful and her childhood was challenging.

Cucu’s family submitted her name for a scholarship in Spain. That opportunity fell thru but she ultimately left to study Art and Art Restoration in Italy as part of a scholarship agreement with Cuba. Her family insisted that she never return.

This was a young girl who left home alone to go to another country for opportunities. Her family figured out a way of doing it for lack of a better term by “ working the system” rather than putting a young teenager on a boat.

A few years later, Cucu came to America with a boyfriend. Insert a few love affairs that went awry, learning a new language etc. In one of the more original moves I have ever heard of, after losing a job doing compilations at Blue Note records she became a Drag King.

“I needed the money”, she tells me. Cucu performed with two New York Nightlife legends Sophie Lamar and Amanda Lepore. The nightlife and the fun appealed to her and she saw it as an opportunity to develop skills for the stage.

She then co-founded collective Yuerba Buena with her now husband and musical partner Andrea Levin. Cucu surprisingly isn’t a classically trained singer but she still wrote the lyrics and music for the band. The work that she has done on Cuculand she thought was too personal and found the timing was right to commit herself to a personal project.

Written over two years during trips to Tulum and Cozmel, Mexico. “The whole record is about love and is a journey through my emotional life.” It is the contrast of love and rejection.” Despite the fact that she reconciled many of the stories surrounding her former lovers.

Cucu tells me, "it is rare that you live with the love of your life, you never live with that person, the whole package does not complete. We have so many conflicts, Facebook or Twitter, you can never let go. I am like go outside fuck somebody and have fun. Don’t be afraid of getting hurt, and getting hurt you learn."

A self proclaimed “Gypsy with a Cuban Soul, she is  inspired by writers Federico Garcia Lorca and Guillermo Cabrera Infante. The singers Maria Teresa Vera, my personal favorite La Lupe and the least common know Cuban singer Freddy, Mina and contemporary artist Manon.

The song “Show me the Money Papa” Cucu shares, “Don’t punish me because you don’t know how to be happy from “ The song, reaches outside of the obvious connotations. It comes from a pained relationship that that could never be fully realized. “Writing the lyrics was a way letting go of the relationships and fueling my onstage performances.

The album is also an homage to 1920 in its lush artwork evokes the 1920 cabaret and owes it sound to much of that influence as well. This is by no means a throw back album or homage.

The music mixed well with her charismatic stage presence, one I got to witness at a small show The Box. It seems as though Ms. Diamantes was built for the cabaret stage. This is where you see her as a great collaborator rousing an energetic performance with her band.

Clad in only a pair of panties and a diamond bra she sang her  troubles while I am sure the non – Spanish speaking people thought this was a wanton fearless gypsy woman dancing  the night away. They were partially  right she is a fearless gypsy woman, a rule breaker. Cucu is doing it on her terms as woman of the world.

The next album she says, “Will have a lot of English” I want to do what I am passionate it about in a bi-lingual reality! ” Personally I can’t wait until someone writes the book of her life.

CuCuLand is a surprising album that that has an infectious beat that is sensual, angry but upbeat and hopeful and will have you on your feet. If Cuculand is a state of mind then as Cucu’s says. “Break the rules it is the only way to come up with something new. Imagine Iris Chacon was a skinny supermodel mixed in a little Charo with La Lupe and she you still could not describe Cucu Diamantes. You will have to see her yourself.


October 15^th 2009 - Chicago, IL – Rumba

www.myspace.com/cucudiamantes

You can also follow her on Twitter.

Photographer: Robbie Fimmano

Stylist: Nick Nelson

Jacket: Dolce & Gabbana