Crossing the Atlantic and travelling to America for those who likes music, literature and cinema in particular is always a great journey, no matter if you are going to the United States or to Latin America. Some of the things I was mostly looking for when I went to Cuba for the first time, were the tales of Hernest Hemingway, Graham Greene and to find out more about latin jazz music. Seeing the statue of papa Hemingway sitting at the Floridita in La Havana, waiting for one of his specials while hearing some of the afro-cuban classics was simply amazing!
My time on the island was limited and therefore I had to make choices since I couldn't travel all over the place. I flew to Varadero first that despite all of its shining soulless resorts can offer amazing beaches and relax for those who have to get rid of the jetlag after a twelve hours flight. The next stops afterwards were in order: Cienfuegos, Trinidad, La Havana, Vinales, Matanzas and back to Varadero.
Cuba and its apparent happy rural everyday life were overall quite inspiring and during my stay there I was able to write a bunch of poems and also some of the songs of the album "For the Time Being", in particular "Guanabana Guajira Hat" and "La Revolucíon desde tu Cuerpo".
LOS GUAJIROS Los guajiros se vienen Los guajiros se van con sus exitos tristes todo el dia cantan Son sonidos tan buenos que la gente no sabe si quedarse o irse si pararse o andar Los guajiros son actores y su escena es la calle y su peli es la vida.
ANTES QUE ATAQUEN ELLOS Estamos listos para ataquar para convertirlos para llegar Contaran los muertos y el que no mata se quedará sin techo se quedará sin vestidos y sin almuerzo.
To make it simple, everything started with Habanera. Habanera comes from Contradanse, english country dance music adopeted at the court of France and taken to America, where became important and developed in Mambo and Cha-Cha-Cha. Habanera is famous for its rhythm time signature in 2/4 with the upbeat falling in the middle of the bar.
The concept of Clave is fondamental in latin music and that is a concept that comes from the african diaspora. The clave is made of five beats, which can be divided in either 3/2 or 2/3.
Benny Moré "el barbaro del ritmo" is considered one of the most influencial musician of the once-upon-a-time cuban music scene. Born from a family of african origins, he struggled with the economical issues of his huge family (18 children) and he was sent to work in the fields at a young age. Young Benny loved to sing and in his youth was literally singing to anyone he met on his way. He reached celebrity in a more or less casual way, firstly winning a radio competition and secondly by joining the "trio Matamaros"due to the fact that the main singer was indisposed for the occasion. Moré went touring México and became famous abroad before reaching celebrity in his beloved Cuba and within' the years his celebrity expanded through all the center America while touring with the "Banda Gigante". His alcoholism was the cause of his early despedida but if you talk to many on the island, Benny Moré has never really left and he is still there singing in the streets of Cuba.
Mr. Graham Greene is one of the finest writers England ever had. Born in Hertfordshire in 1904, he was bullied due to his gentle manners during school and suffered depression since his early age when he also experienced a few suicide attempts that luckily did not succeed. In his career as a writer, he became more and more interested in international politics and socialism, was a vivid traveller and was also recruited for three years in the MI6 (foreign intelligence service of the UK). His experience on the island was quite relevant, because of his friendship with Castro (despite he took distance on his authoritarianism) and also because the little help he gave to the revolutionaries by driving a truck that carried basic goods and warm clothes to the militias. He also had friendship with a bunch of other revolutionaries leaders like Daniel Ortega and Omar Torrijos. "Our man in Havana" is a great spy story set in la Havana only two months after the Batista regime was overthrown and it talks about a vacuum salesman recruited by the british Secret Intelligence Service who is sent to Cuba on a mission.