Daymé Arocena and iLe Release Stripped-Down “Por Ti” Collaboration

Afro-Cuban soul sensation Daymé Arocena has teamed up with Puerto Rican star iLe to release a raw, intimate version of Arocena’s track, “Por Ti.” The release is accompanied by an official live session video.

This new single follows Arocena’s recent Latin Grammy nomination for “Song of the Year” with “A Fuego Lento,” a track featuring Dominican artist Vicente García.

Both “A Fuego Lento” and “Por Ti” are featured on Arocena’s latest album, Alkemi (Brownswood Recordings), her first full-length release since Sonocardiogram in 2019. While recording Alkemi in Puerto Rico with Grammy-winning producer Eduardo Cabra (of Calle 13), Arocena found a new creative path that ultimately led her to make Puerto Rico her home.

“From the moment I set foot on the island, I realized I didn’t want to leave,” the 31-year-old Cuban singer-songwriter says with a hearty laugh. “At that point, I had spent three years outside of Cuba, living in Canada with my husband. I called and asked him to come to Puerto Rico and to please bring all my stuff. It wasn’t a conscious decision on my part. It was just love at first sight.”

Relying on her instinct and intuition is how Daymé has handled her career since she burst onto the international scene with Nueva Era, her prodigious debut album, in 2015. Now, she has completely reinvented her sound with Alkemi, a revolutionary and transformative fusion of neo soul, Afro-Caribbean rhythms and new millennium pop.

The album is titled “Alkemi” from the Yoruba word for alchemy. “It means the worldview of transformation,” she explains. “It’s mixing all the elements to achieve an unmatched result, full of shine and light, like gold that springs from the skin.”

Born in Havana in 1992, Daymé grew up immersed in Afro-Cuban folk music, but also listening to cassettes of Sade, her father’s favorite singer. She was identified as a prodigious talent at age 8 and soon began studying music.

After studying at the prestigious Amadeo Roldán conservatory, she became co-founder and band member of the Cuban-Canadian jazz collective Maqueque in 2014. With the collective, she launched several international tours and earned a GRAMMY nomination.

“In Cuba, the emphasis on technique is exaggerated,” Daymé explains. “At the same time, opportunities are scarce on the island. A career in music provides a potential for escape, so the competitiveness is impressive.”

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“Sometimes I like to strip my songs down to their essence,” shares Daymé. “It’s a kind of exercise where I publicly open the door to my soul. Doing so with iLe was a blessing. She’s already an expert at these practices.”

“Daymé is a very talented artist, and I was so happy and grateful when she invited me to collaborate on her song,” says iLe. “Since we already knew each other, working together was very comfortable and fun, so it was a pleasure to sing this song together.”