Por Jessica Mesa Duarte 
A relatively short time ago, Gabi & Sofi entered the Cuban recording industry with a firm step with the phonogram Semillita azul, nominated for the Cubadisco 2022.
This year he repeats in the Children’s Song section with a proposal that could bring home one of the prizes from the Cuban Record Fair, an experience that excites Sofía and Gabriel, the children who inspired and gave the brand its name.
The Cuban brand of educational toys and children’s articles was included with Somos niños, a record production licensed by Colibrí, «conceived from a dynamic, rhythmic and very contemporary vision, breaking with the traditional schemes of what children’s music is in our country and seeking a new way of looking at it.
“The songs have my lyrics and music and Dustin’s arrangements. The result was wonderful, we are very happy and proud of the final product”, explains Ariel Balmaseda, creator of Gabi & Sofi and president of the non-agricultural cooperative Decorarte.
The album has the collaboration of the Cienfuegos musical theater company Abrakadabra and musical direction by Dustin Polo, while the 9 songs are by Balmaseda and the variety of genres makes the proposal more attractive from the sound and timbre.
“Among the genres that we include there are rock and roll, rock, mixes of jazz, blue and country, mixes of Cuban music, elements of traditional rhythms that have triumphed in the musical history of the world and on all that basis the arrangements were made for that the songs were attractive, dynamic and had a more striking concept so that the little ones would be attracted to them.
“First we thought of recording 10 songs, but we decided to withdraw one because it will start a more comprehensive project. In addition, it is a little more separated from what this album seeks to convey, which is the love for life, for family, friends, children’s dreams and the desire to change the world with positive actions based on the protection of the environment.»
Ariel Balmaseda also affirms that they sought to create suggestive music for children’s audiences so contaminated by other proposals that flood the market and are not related to their age and interests.
“In addition to whether or not we win a prize at Cubadisco, and the fact that Gabriel and Sofía are there, they feel that they are competing in the elite of the Cuban music market, that their interest in doing something well done has paid off, for us as Parents, as a brand and as part of this huge project that is Gabi & Sofi, we are proud, happy and satisfied.
«I don’t know what will come in the future or what the final result will be, but what I do know is that Gabi & Sofi will continue creating music and audiovisual products, because it is the way in which we can transmit our message more clearly, more forcefully. , in order to somehow enrich the audiovisual spectrum that our children in Cuba have today.”
Since 2016, the Gabi & Sofi brand has been dedicated to the production of educational toys and items for children, with the aim of raising the spirit and humanism of the little ones based on non-violence and the formation of values.
With these same conceptions, he delved into musical and audiovisual productions with songs that deal with everyday and current themes, from a child’s vision that calls for adult reflection. (ALH)
Translated by Casterman Medina de Leon