The new album from Cuban singer-songwriter Gerard Alfonso is a tribute to the 75th anniversary of Cuba's acceptance into UNESCO and the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.

Its premier took place in a hall of the National Museum of Fine Arts, in an intimate meeting, without the media and critics. The initiative was sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Havana.

The album features 15 songs containing a multitude of genres, such as rumba and guaguancó, and choral songs of an arará matrix, passing through afro, funk, reggae and songo.

"It is an album of entertainment and reflection that covers, from the musical point of view, many edges of Afro-descendant origin, although it is not a folk album," explained the renowned Cuban artist in an interview with the blog La Habana en clave de Sol.

The creator of the iconic song "Sábanas blancas," also said that the project was conceived more than a decade ago and gathered themes that "seemed to him recurrent to ethnography, raciality and other aspects..." including some that he had composed in the 80s and at other times.

Musical production was led by the Cuban label Egrem, and the arrangements for La ruta del Esclavo were in the hands of one of the most important Cuban musicians, maestro Joaquín Betancourt.

The director of the mixing group was Pablo Menéndez, who contributed the sound of the electric guitar to 14 of the songs. Daysi Bravo and her group Obba Aré Anlé, and saxophonist Janio Abreu also contributed among others.

With more than 30 years in music, Gerardo Alfonso has accumulated numerous nominations and national awards in the recording industry.

He has composed soundtracks for local television programs as well as for the island's film industry.