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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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