Hanine, its full name is Hanine Y Son Cubano , is a musical company created in 1999 in order to link two musical cultures, the Cuban music and the Arabic music. The ambitious project came from the Lebanese-Greek artist Michel Elefteriades, a visionary in his soul but also an avant-garde producer: he is, indeed, the director of the well-known Elef Records Label.
The birth of the idea for such project came by chance, in a café in La Havana. The artist was surrounded by sounds coming from Afro-Cuban culture, and found him singing at the same time, an oriental melody, the classic of Arabic music, “Ya Habibi Ta’ala” of the famous diva Asmahan. The idea of merging both musical styles in the same formation came then, to finally reach the success we know nowadays.
Following the example of Roma, Hanine Y Son Cubano was not built in a day. Indeed, Michel Elefteriades needed to years to put in place his project. First of all the important matter was to find musicians very skilful for his project. In that perspective, he selected seven among the best Cuban musicians of their generation to participate in the project, with the legendary singer Marcello Linares, who unfortunately died in 2000, two days before the launch of the first concert to honour the concept of our visionary artist.
He restarted again auditions and after meeting a hundred of women singers, it’s Hanine Abou Chakra who finally was selected for the role. Young singer of Arabic music, of Lebanese origin, she gave her name to the company which became Hanine Y son Cubano. The project had a big success from the beginning: the Arab-Cuban music born with this band and at the same time its legend.
Michel Elefteriades, who was at the origin of the project, counts more than 120 compositions at his assets, for projects of every horizon and for artists of all cultures. Producer and arranger, Hanine Y Son Cubano is among his best successes and as an incontestable label of a visionary and avant-garde mind.