At Miami’s First GRAMMY Camp, Cimafunk Became The Student & The Teacher

For the first time, Miami was host to GRAMMY Camp, a multi-city program for high school students organized by the GRAMMY Museum. Now in its 21st year, GRAMMY Camp focuses on all aspects of commercial music via several career tracks; each location incorporates a curriculum track tailored to its unique musical heritage.

For guest artist Cimafunk — a GRAMMY-nominated singer from Cuba — it was also his debut at the event. Although he attended as a guest artist, the 41 high school students who participated in the sessions left him with lessons that he now carries with him.

"The students impacted me with their musical culture," Cimafunk tells GRAMMY.com in a phone call from Morocco. "These are kids who are studying music and thinking about the music business, but they know Marvin Gaye, Ohio Players, they’ve listened to Funkadelic. They also carry within them all that mambo essence."

This cultural background is something Cimafunk hadn’t seen in any of his visits to schools, or during student workshops he has conducted nationwide and overseas during his 15-year musical career.

"You don’t find [that knowledge of musical history] everywhere," Cimafunk explains. "I wasn’t finding...those concepts of understanding [historically] what happened, which to a certain extent shaped part of what’s happening now [in music]. Those were the doors that allowed today’s music to be what it is."

Alongside Latin GRAMMY nominees GALE and DARUMAS, Cimafunk shared a week of learning and hands-on work with students from across the U.S. at the Art House Studios — the home of Colombian composer and producer Julio Reyes Copello, a five-time GRAMMY winner.

The Cuban performer worked directly with four students to create a version of Bill Withers’ "Ain't No Sunshine" and led a jam session. In this interaction, Cimafunk collaborated with Naylah Campechano, a vocal performance student from Simpsonville, South Carolina, whose talent he remembers fondly.

"[Naylah] has an incredible soul [in her voice]. Right away, she grabbed the groove of the song and took it where she was. It was incredible," Cimafunk recalls. "There were a couple of specific things about performance that I understand in a certain way, and I shared them with her. It was beautiful to see how they themselves searched for the paths, how they wanted to understand [the music] the way I do."

In addition to this one-on-one session with students, Cimafunk also shared exclusive insights with attendees in a Q&A, ranging from how to control stage nerves to the songwriting process. For the performer, this process helped him refresh his knowledge and remind himself of the root of everything:  "The most important thing is always to make music, and the kids understand that.

"There are already people who, at another point in their artistic career, don’t understand that the thing is to return to that spontaneity, to that magic of creating a song just because — not creating a song thinking about the music industry," Cimafunk reflects. [I told them] you have to worry about making music that you like and that says what you want to say. They understand that immediately, and that’s like a chip that frees them."

Programs like GRAMMY Camp remind the Cuban star of the profound impact of music education on young people. Unlike the participants, Cimafunk didn’t receive formal musical instruction — everything he knows about music and performance was empirical.

His first performances were in the church choir, and the street was his best teacher. Experiences like the Camp, says Cimafunk, allow these future music creators to receive feedback directly from experienced artists.

"The camps are perfect for them to realize what they’re learning and self-correct. Perhaps right now, they realize something they’re repeating is not so important to take to the streets. When it comes to creating and sitting in a studio with three friends and creating a song, what’s needed most is technique, which helps them study more objectively, with more practice," says the singer.

This mentorship dynamic isn’t new to Cimafunk. In his musical beginnings, he received the support and guidance of Cuban stars who helped him navigate his musical path. Among those mentors, he remembers the late singer Juana Bacallao, from whom he learned and came to understand the Afro-Cuban music that is now part of his repertoire.

The star taught him about everything, from "expression, projection, interpretation, and the freedom when getting on stage to do whatever you felt like doing. I also learned a lot from Omara Portuondo, Chucho Valdés, and José Luis Cortés," he recalls.

But these Cuban musicians weren’t the only ones to leave an imprint on his art. Frequent collaborators, such as American singer/songwriter and producer George Clinton, have also left him with teachings that he treasures. "Those people have meant a lot and continue to mean a lot because I’m still studying them and learning from them, and they continue supporting everything I'm doing and all the collective things."

This continuous thirst for knowledge is the advice Cimafunk gives to students he has interacted with in experiences like GRAMMY Camp: "It’s necessary to study and exercise the brain, but you also have to be happy. If you enjoy music and have people around you who are objective, who love and care for you, always ask them to tell you the truth. Maybe you don’t have the talent — keep doing it, but find something to live on too. Study something, something else you like, but always follow your heart."