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“Music promotes the country, attracting tourists and investors therefore we need a cultural policy from governments, economic sectors, entrepreneurs and artists.” The artist also encourages embassies and cultural attachés to provide visas more readily to artists that are promoting festivals in the Caribbean. “We need to promote live performances and take advantage of existing platforms such as international festivals and cultural encounters.” Purer rhythms can more readily secure easier placement on the international market and there is the bias to compete in a market already spending on pure rhythms neglecting the new genres, fusions and syntheses. Xiomara hopes to raise awareness of the need to bring together musicians and artists from across the Caribbean to explore the

path of new musical trends and reaffirms her role as a representative of three generations of Caribbean music.

Her chosen path is not an easy one, “it is super hard to permeate in the genre of jazz, even when fashionable in certain social class jazz, the music I make is largely a component of African roots and has not been received in the media, or club environments or even by jazz lovers.” Holding firmly to a conviction “to do the right thing”, Xiomara embraces the support she receives from some of the best musicians in the country and hopes that her “African brothers” identify with her music. However, she notes that hers is a “difficult situation”, where merengue, bachata and technology flows cannot survive without the possibility of touring in other countries. Performing internationally to often English-speaking communities is not a deterrent to the Dominican artist. “I think the songs are like movies, best in the mother tongue.” Noting that people love the rhythms of music and the sound of different languages, Xiomara does not view language, as an obstacle rather the artist believes that music transcends the language barrier, “since the music itself is a language that communicates.” Influenced by major figures of American Jazz such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, and John Contrain as well as by Brazilian figures including Maria Bethania, Milton Nascimento, toto Haiti, Xiomara decided to make a career in music to carry a message to the people and of course share the joy that singing produces. Deeply rooted in her passion for music, Xiomara will continue to give the gift of music to the world. “I’m writing for other artists as well as recording two new conceptual products, writing my memoirs and promoting my music better via interpreters.” Still she finds time to give back to her community and is forming a music school in an impoverished community, guiding the students in the preservation of the cultural identity in the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean. *

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