Meet ADRIANA LORD | Vocal Artist and Creative

We had the good fortune of connecting with ADRIANA LORD and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi ADRIANA, we’d love to start by asking you about lessons learned. Is there a lesson you can share with us?
The main teaching my career has gifted me with seems to be really obvious, but here you go: the realization that the longer you do something, the better you get at it and in doing so, you become a different person, hopefully better too.

You start to develop an extra sense, to master your craft, to understand and integrate the knowledge you have from your experience and this feedback other areas of your life, relations and personality.

Then you realize that the goal is not to be “good or better” at something, is to understand that a career is a transformational process that it will lead you to meeting a totally different you, and I find this fascinating.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a multidisciplinary artist who has performed from an early age.

At 3 years old while at was at nursery I was put together with the 5 years old children for a reason I cannot recall. I wasn’t particularly tall or strong. I assumed at the time that I probably misbehaved. I remember no one played with me and I sat at the playground, chewing leaves and playing with rocks, All the children looked so much older and I felt really lonely.

After lunch a girl called Ania recited a poem called “The Spanish Dancer” and I was mesmerized by her and also looking at the reaction of teachers and children.
We were told to stay very quiet, but there was a moment where Ania would stamp her feet against the floor like a flamenco dancer and everyone else was not only allowed, but encouraged to make as much noise as possible by stamping their feet against the floor.

I loved every second of it. I think I wanted to be listened to and to make people to cause as much noise and disruption as possible but not be scolded, but to feel good about it. I somehow learned the poem and that weekend I surprised my auntie by reciting it in front of an audience at a theatre we went to for a children’s event. That was the biggest theatre in Cuba, so I used to say that I have already given the “performance of my life”.

From that day on I started learning poems, singing and acting. My family really liked to teach me and my brother poems and songs, especially my aunties who also used to take care of us when my parents had to work or travel. My auntie Silvia worked at a cinema and my aunt Yoyi used to take us to the theatre every Sunday morning, we I spent lots of time at the cinema and the theatre. So, today I am a singer, songwriter, writer and theatre performer.

But, first I had to navigate other waters. I also to spent long hours at the hospital as my mum was an intensive care nurse and my dad was a cardiologist. I wanted to be a doctor and I genuinely I loved Math’s, biology and sciences in general.

So, I became a doctor. but I went to night music school to learn classical singing, while studying medicine. At university I performed in theatre plays, choruses and music groups and after graduating I was sent to the army to work as a doctor as part of compulsory social service. I had to stop performing as life in the army was really demanding but looking back it was an interesting experience.

After I was released from the army I knew the Ministry of Health probably wanted to send me abroad to work, but I managed to stay in Cuba. It was difficult to stop practicing, but I wanted to pursue a career in arts without interruptions.

I finished music school and I kept working with different mainstream and underground arts projects. I played and recorded with renowned artists such as with William Vivanco and Robert Aaron in front of thousands, which was both exciting and nerve-wracking, but it helped me to be the confident performer I am today.

While I was doing this I joined Spontaneous Theatre of Havana, directed by Carlos Borbon. With them I performed at the first official LGBTQ Pride event in Cuba which received an UNESCO award for their work spreading awareness and educating about people living with HIV/AIDS against AIDS, homophobia and transphobia.

I was always afraid to be called to work as a doctor at a place I didn’t wanted, but I managed to fly under the radar for a few years. It was actually funny that people that studied medicine with me thought I was working for the government’s intelligence as the Ministry of Health never “chased me” to go back to practice medicine at a time where no one could go off grid. Doctors had to wait for years to be released of their duties to be able to work in a different ministry or field or to be able to travel out of the country. I think I would have tried to practice both medicine and the arts, but the army kind of put me off working for strict government institutions.

There is a tradition in my family of healing people, long before my parents became health professionals. I am a healer but also an artist. Art gives me freedom no matter how difficult the material conditions in Cuba or abroad.

I moved to the UK after a few years of a cultural exchange with an English band I recorded with in Cuba and I have made a career in the UK by singing in Spanish and by making Afro Caribbean and Afro Latin culture visible. It was not easy at the beginning but I persisted.

I have performed in Cuba, UK, Brasil and other countries in TV, radio, online. I have done voiceover for films, commercials. I have done session recordings, albums, I have Dj and featured short films. I have played in jazz clubs like Ronnie Scott’s and festivals like Love Supreme Jazz, Nuit Blanche, Amiens and Carnaval du Recife in Brasil.

Still improvisational theatre and communitarian arts will always have a place in my heart as I believe arts should be available to everyone, regardless their social status. I perform with different theatre groups in the UK like Brighton People’s Theatre and I am a co-founder of groups created by people from the global majority like Banyan Tree Theatre Group, all Black female and London Luna Playback Theatre, created by Latin American artists.

My most recent collaborations were with poet and activist Akila Richards, performing at Brighton Festival, focusing on rest as activism and resistance has allowed me to combine both healing and music. It definitely is a milestone in my artistic career that has taken me through very interesting paths.

I also would like to highlight “Delirio” by LOKEBA, an album of original Afro-Cuban music coming out in September in collaboration with songwriters Richard Kensington and Matt Baker and finally, my first publication in the UK, the poem “Girls’ Song” which describes the way a Black little girl is challenged by race, death, the meaning of life and loss.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

If I am in Brighton, UK, I would take them to the sea, Brighton Seafront. Devil’s Dyke for a walk, Brighton Museum, the Lanes.

For food Murasaki a Japanese restaurant in Dyke Road and Abyssinia, an Ethiopian restaurant near London Road. They are both tiny, but nice. For a drink I might take them to a small local pub with a good history behind, like The Actors pub and theatre (used to be called the Marlborough)

If I could imagine that my friend will visit me in Havana, I could take them to La Fabrica de Arte Cubano a place where art, music and theatre interwoven. It is the perfect night out.
In Havana you have a range of cinemas and theatres to choose from and of course music clubs like La Zorra y El Cuervo or Casa de La Musica.
For dinner I would take them to La Guarida. Now, I know it is a famous restaurant, but it has a special place in my heart. One because of its delicious food and two, because it is the place where the Oscar nominated film “Strawberry and Chocolate” was filmed. It is at Diego’s flat, (one of the protagonists of the movie) and preserves most of the props and decoration from the film.
We would probably will be swimming in a any beach in Havana: Santa Maria del Mar and end the night at El Malecon, seating on the wall facing the sea and listening to live music provided by random ambulant musicians.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My family and friends, especially my mum Nery Romero, my dad and my brother Ernesto Lord. Their wisdom and their love made me who I am today. Akila Richards, a poet and activist who has inspired me and given me invaluable advice. My friends from Mosaic Equalities Family Group and Banyan Three Theatre Group Lola, Donna, Dionne, Dulani, Rachana, Althea but especially Nyawa Bottomley and Wafa Paton.

Amy Zamarripa , Alinah Azadeah, Naluwembe Binaisa from Writing Our Legacy which have supported me in developing my writing, Also educator Peddy Elohor and poet and creative Josephine Hall.

I am also lucky enough to count with two multitalented musicians that have worked with me since I arrived to the UK : Eddie Myer from New Generation Jazz and multi-instrumentalist Luke Rattenbury. Also the artists Damarys Farres and Rikki Thomas Martinez from Mas y Mas.

I would not have been able to do anything I do today if they wouldn’t have been there for me and my daughter when I needed friends and collaborators in a country I only knew a few people.

Website: www.adrianalord.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adrianalord/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adriana.lord.7

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itvK-JinPgA

Other: New music : https://lokeba.bandcamp.com/releases Women in the Creative Industry by Brighton Dome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI0ngtELnWE

Image Credits
Deborah Jaffe, Jade Hylton, Paul Jackson, Mark Williams, Eduardo Florez