The first part of the name Cimafunk refers to the cimarrón, Cubans of African descent who resisted and escaped enslavement. The second part refers to the music that gives the Afro-Cuban rock star the freedom to innovate with rhythm, groove and party music. Cimafunk, the alter ego of singer, composer and producer Erik Alejandro Iglesias Rodriguez, gives the strong tradition of Latin music a relentless funky spin. George Clinton (Parliament-Funkadelic) collaborated on Cimafunk’s acclaimed album El Alimento (2021), alongside Lupe Fiasco and CeeLo Green. “He’s the one, the next one,” Clinton said of him. Chucho Valdés, legend of Afro-Cuban jazz, describes Cimafunk as having united “two tendencies – Afro-Cuban and African American”. In Cuba itself, Cimafunk is also embraced by millennials who draw hope from the way he honors his African and Latino roots as well as American showmanship.
