“The best thing” that could have happened to the emblematic Cuban duo Gente de Zona has been “to take Cuban music as Celia Cruz took it around the world”, in addition to defending their ideals and being “ambassadors of tropical music”, as they stated in an interview with EFE in Madrid prior to their tour of Spain.
“Since we came out of anonymity, the best thing that could have happened to us was to take our Cuban music around the world, as Celia Cruz did, and to defend our ideals,” confessed Randy Malcom, one of the two founders of the musical duo, to the knowing smile of his artistic partner, Alexander Delgado.
Gente de Zona will start their “biggest tour so far in Spain” on June 25, when they celebrate their 25th anniversary in the industry.
In this “Spain 2026 Tour”, the duo will perform in different Spanish cities, such as Madrid, Granada (south), Barcelona (northeast) or Valencia (east) until August 8, when it will culminate in Matalascañas (southwest).
Gente de Zona compares itself with Celia Cruz? The Latin trend
Malcom stressed that, for them, it is “very great” to have been able to take their culture around the world, because for Cuba “it has always been a little difficult to export their music”.
“In Cuba there are no multinational record companies and we have always been vetoed by the United States, which has one of the largest industries,” said the artist.
The singer later added that he thinks that Gente de Zona was part of opening “this new process that there is with Cuban music in the whole world”.
Delgado reviewed, from his own experience, the evolution of how Latin music is perceived in other continents, specifically in Europe, since his beginnings in music in 2000.
“I think Latinos have taken a huge place in music and in many aspects, but I think years ago it wasn’t seen that way,” he said.
“When we started in the industry, it was practically the time when Latinos were starting to make music and people from other continents were starting to get interested,” he recalled.
Twenty-five years ago, when they first arrived in Spain or Italy, Delgado said, urban music “was not heard much, nor were there so many Puerto Rican reggaeton groups to be heard”.
Now, with the popularity of urban music in Europe, Delgado believes that “it has been a big step forward for Latin music.
Malcom then celebrated the fact that his shows are attended by Latinos proud of their culture, something often unexpected for them: “It feels great every time we go to a country where we thought there would be no Cubans to see how people sing our songs and how they wave the Cuban flags in the air”.
Its tropical seal, intact
“The essence of Gente de Zona has marked us as a Cuban group that has left a legacy in the industry,” said Malcom, who highlighted the “identity” they have always had, “the hardest thing to find when you are starting out in music”.
In spite of this, he affirmed that the “normal” thing to do with the trends that are emerging in music is to “evolve”, although for them it is “essential” to leave their “tropical stamp” in all the songs they make.
Delgado joined this idea and announced a collaboration that they will premiere on their tour with the Dominican nationalized Spanish singer Juan Magán, who had great recognition in Latin America and performed collaborations with Don Omar or Cali y el Dandee, among others.
“The Gente de Zona-Juan Magán formula is repeated again with a song of the summer,” Delgado celebrated.
However, both want people to enjoy their repertoire and their “great songs”, such as Bailando (2014) and La Gozadera (2015), reported Agencia EFE.
Find out more at ‘QueOnnda.com’.
