We share with the readers of Cubadebate the special program for the centenary of Haydee Santamaría:

In 2022:
Friday October 21 || 5:00 pm. || Casa de las Américas: Inauguration of the exhibition The Fabric of Memory. Tribute to Haydee Santamaría, with works from the Haydee Santamaría Art of Our America Collection.
Tuesday October 25 || 3:00 pm. || Che Guevara Room: Presentation of the 2023 calendar “Haydee Santamaría one hundred years after her birth”. A co-edition of Ocean Sur and Casa de las Américas.
Friday, November 25 || 5:00 pm. || José Antonio Echeverría Library; Inauguration of the bibliographic and documentary exhibition “Centenario de Haydee Santamaría”.
Thursday, December 15 || 3:00 pm. || Che Guevara Room: Presentation of the book Hay de defend la vida, a compilation of texts by Haydee Santamaría, which Casa de las Américas publishes in co-edition with Ocean Sur and a special issue of Casa de las Américas magazine dedicated to its founder.
Thursday, December 15 || 5:00 pm. || Che Guevara Room: “Songs for Haydee”. Concert by the Ensemble Vocal Luna, under the direction of the teacher Maribel Nodarse.
Friday December 16 || 2:00 p.m. || Cinema 23 and 12: Special function of the Cuban Cinematheque with Icaic materials dedicated to Haydee Santamaría or that include her presence.
Friday December 30 || Broadcast on Cuban television: Screening of the documentary “Nuestra Haydee”, a production of the Casa de las Américas, directed by Esther Barroso.

In 2023:
Sunday January 15 || 5:00 pm. || Avellaneda Hall of the National Theater of Cuba: Special function of the National Ballet of Cuba dedicated to the centenary of Haydee Santamaría.
Friday January 20 || 7:00 p.m. || Che Guevara Hall: Concert by José María Vitier dedicated to Haydee Santamaría.
Thursday, January 26 || 7:00 p.m. || Che Guevara Hall: Concert by Amaury Pérez dedicated to Haydee Santamaría, as part of the activities of the 2023 Casa de las Américas Literary Prize.
From February 20 to 24 || Manuel Galich Room: Dedicated to honoring the memory of Haydee Santamaría, the International Colloquium “Politics and Politics in the History and Culture of Latin American and Caribbean Women” will be held as part of the Casa de las Américas Women’s Studies Program.
Wednesday, March 8 || 3:00 pm. || Manuel Galich Room: Women and women’s struggles from the Casa de las Américas. A panel in homage to Haydee Santamaría.
Friday April 28 || Che Guevara Room: Celebration of the 64th anniversary of the Casa de las Américas.

The artist will interpret works belonging to the repertoire of the outstanding musician, who was her teacher at the Camerata de Flutes. The ears of the audience will be filled with songs such as “Alejandría”, “Ave María” and “Un Bolero”, the latter with the special accompaniment of flutist Lázaro Cortés, son of the honoree.

The concert, musically directed by pianist José Portilllo, will be the setting for the release of “Amor y Vicio”, the latest single by Anabel Perdomo, composed in collaboration with Cuban musician Alfredo Balbán.

“I want to show my music to the public, but what excites me the most is dedicating this show to my former teacher, José Luis Cortés,” says the flutist.

Anabel Perdomo graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the Higher Institute of Art, in 2015. Since then she has joined different groups, such as Kontrast ‘, Charanga de Oro or Mulata Son. Currently, she is part of the artistic catalog of the National Music Center as a solo vocalist and instrumentalist, in addition to being the creator, host and main musician of the CulturAndo program.

The album “Ancestro Sinfónico”, by the Cubans X Alfonso, Eme Alfonso and the Síntesis group, is part of this list of candidates for the Latin Recording Academy awards, in its 2022 edition.

The disc competes for the gramophone in the section of Best folk album, which includes productions signed by Paulina Aguirre, Eva Ayllón, Pedro Aznar, Susana Baca, Natalia Lafourcade and Sandra Mihanovich.

Among the list of candidates also stand out from Cuba the phonograms “It will be that it’s over”, by Alexander Abreu and Havana D’Primera, “Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Aymée Nuviola Live in Marciac”, created by both artists and “Gran Combo pa’rato” , of the Ignacio Piñeiro National Septet.

Below is the list of nominees in some of the General Categories.

Record of the year
“For my girls” – Christina Aguilera, Becky G, Nicki Nicole with Nathy Peluso
“Sand Castles” – Pablo Alborán
“Wrap” – Anitta
“Pa’lla voy” – Marc Anthony
“Pretty eyes” – Bad Bunny & Bomba Estéreo
“Pegao” – Camilo
“Touch You” – Jorge Drexler & C. Tangana
“Provence” – Karol G
“It’s worth it” – Juan Luis Guerra “La Fama” – Rosalía with The Weeknd
“I congratulate you” – Shakira & Rauw Alejandro
“Little old ball” – Carlos Vives & Camilo
Album of the year
Aguilera – Christina Aguilera
Here I go – Marc Anthony
A summer without you – Bad Bunny
Leave – Stereo Bomb
Ink and time – Jorge Drexler
We are no longer the same – Elsa and Elmar
Traveler – Fonseca
Motomami (Digital Album) – Rosalía
Sanz – Alejandro Sanz
Dharma – Sebastian Yatra
Song of the Year
“Sometimes good and sometimes bad” – Pedro Capo, Ignacio Cibrián, Ricky Martín, Pablo Preciado, Julio Ramírez, Mauricio Rengifo & Andrés Torres, composers (Ricky Martin with Reik)
“Water” – Rauw Alejandro, Emmanuel Anene, David Alberto Macias, Nile Rodgers, Juan Salinas, Oscar Salinas & Daddy Yankee, songwriters (Daddy Yankee, Rauw Alejandro & Nile Rodgers)
“Something is better” – Mon Laferte, composer (Mon Laferte)
“Baloncito viejo” – Camilo, Jorge Luis Chacín, Andrés Leal, Martín Velilla & Carlos Vives, composers (Carlos Vives & Camilo)
“Kisses on the forehead” – Fonseca & Julio Reyes Copello, composers (Fonseca)
“Finding Me” – Carla Morrison, Juan Alejandro Jiménez Pérez & Mario Demian Jiménez Pérez, composers (Carla Morrison)
“Hentai” – Larry Gold, Noah Goldstein, Chad Hugo, David Rodríguez, Rosalía, Jacob Sherman, Michael Uzowuru, Pilar Vila Tobella, Dylan Wiggins & Pharrell Williams, songwriters (Rosalía)
“Indigo” – Édgar Barrera & Camilo, composers (Camilo & Evaluna Montaner)
“For my girls” – Christina Aguilera, Jorge Luis Chacín, Kat Dahlia, Becky G, Yoel Henríquez, Yasmil Marrufo, Nicki Nicole & Nathy Peluso, songwriters (Christina Aguilera, Nicki Nicole, Becky G with Nathy Peluso)
“Provenza” – Kevyn Mauricio Cruz Moreno, Carolina Giraldo Navarro & Ovy On The Drums, composers (Karol G)
“Red Heels” – Juan Jo, Manuel Lara, Manuel Lorente, Pablo & Sebastián Yatra, composers (Sebastián Yatra)
“Tocarte” – Jorge Drexler, Pablo Drexler, Víctor Martínez & C. Tangana, composers (Jorge Drexler & C. Tangana)
Best New Artist
Angela Alvarez

sofia fields

Candy and Paul

Clarissa

Silvana Estrada

Pol Granch

Nabalez

tiara

Voucher

Yahritza and His Essence

Nicole Zignago

(With information from Latin Grammy)

By: Ciro Bianchi Ross

The year is 1932 and Agustín Lara begins a frantic race towards fame. He makes his first international tour on that date. In Paris he snatches the French and one of his compositions, Farolito, becomes a fashionable tune there.

It is around that time that he makes his first trip to the Cuban capital, in the company of Pedro Vargas and Ana María Fernández. He returns in May 1939 and then makes a profession of love for Cuba. He declares: “I was returning from France… Havana opened its arms to me… and I was not ungrateful, there are that Sueño guajiro and those Coplas that were born in the immense Yumurí prairie”. He is here again in 1952. At La Bodeguita del Medio he meets Sindo Garay and at the Montmartre cabaret he plays the piano and leads a violin orchestra. He performs outdoors at the Saratoga hotel. Researcher Radamés Giro affirms: “His interest in Cuban music is reflected in La cumbancha -tribute to Cuban percussion recorded by the Trio Matamoros, Antonio Machín and the Caney quartet-, Noche criolla and the danzonete Pobre de mi”.

a rising star
It is in the visit of 1939 when he is struck by a girl who had revealed herself as the Rising Star of the CMQ-Radio Circuit, and who at that time was doing a little of everything at said station: she sang, declaimed, took turns speaking. She is called Xiomara Fernández; she is 21 years old and is as beautiful as she is shy. Gaspar Pumarejo, who would be the pioneer of television in Cuba, presents them. They haven’t exchanged more than a few words when Lara expresses her desire to write a song for her to release. Xiomara doesn’t know what to answer, she is speechless. She feels small before a composer like the one she has in front of her, but, finally, with many doubts, she agrees. Lara writes for her When you looked at me, which Xiomara premieres at the Gran Teatro de La Habana –today, Alicia Alonso- accompanied on the piano by the composer himself. He will sing it later in Matanzas and in Pinar del Rio.

“All the glory was mine / when you looked at me, / all the glory was mine / when you looked at me, / the day was without light, / everything was without light / and my life began / when you looked at me… ”.

Xiomara Fernández would remember many years later that she was always fascinated by Agustín; he was very fine and delicate, she said. Every day she sent a bouquet of flowers to the CMQ. She was afraid that such kindness would draw her attention and she would arouse suspicion among her classmates and she let him know. He then began to send you a single flower every day with a card that read “Thinking of you”.

They met several times in one of the bars of the Sevilla hotel. Lara told her about taking her to Mexico for work plans, and she specified that she could go in the company of a relative. Xiomara was not interested in the trip. Lara then went deep and proposed to her. She rejected it.

She continued Xiomara an ascending career and did not take long to start a courtship with José Antonio Alonso, the disputed host of the Supreme Court, the man of a thousand brides, as the press of the time called him. The wedding was quite an event. They got married on December 1, 1940, in the Great Theater of Havana, with the room full of radio listeners and people from the show business. Hundreds of admirers waited outside to see and acclaim the couple, including a pilot who landed his plane on the Paseo del Prado, in front of the theater building, to release pigeons and deliver a bouquet of flowers to the bride.

Lara’s music remains in the repertoire of Cuban singers of all times, inside and outside the Island.

The album Only once from Cuba to Lara collects the interpretations of great voices that sing it Cuban style. Pablo Milanés performs Noche de ronda, and Omara Portuondo, Only once, while the Aragón orchestra performs Lamento jorocho, and Francisco Céspedes vocalizes Travel Gift, at the express request of one of the composer’s ex-wives. Also on the plate are Van Van, Miriam Ramos, Kelvis Ochoa, Carlos Varela, Santiago Feliú and David Torrens, among others.

“Lara has been part of his lives, some grew up with him and everyone has adopted him as if he were Cuban,” said the Mexican producer of that album.

At the time, the interpretations made separately by Arráncame la vida, Orlando Contreras and Abelardo Barroso, who sang better as he got older, were highly celebrated. Memorable are those of Pecado, by Blanca Rosa Gil and the one made by Barbarito Diez de Palmeras. They like El organillero, by the Aragón orchestra, Rival, by the América orchestra, and Amor de mis amores, by Elena Burke. The interpretation that Roberto Sánchez and the Gloria Matancera orchestra made of Santa, the melody that Lara preferred among the more than 700 that she created, is kept alive in the memory.

He said of himself: “I’m ridiculously cheesy, and I love it. Because mine is a sincerity that others shy away from… ridiculously.”

Agustín Lara Aguirre y Pino, “El Flaco de Oro”, has his monument on Avenida del Puerto, on the shore of Havana Bay. A bronze statue, the work of the Yucatecan sculptor Humberto Peraza, which evokes the presence of the composer among us. The image highlights the extreme thinness of the artist who wears a jacket and tie. His left hand rests on his right arm while his right hand is raised to his face to hint at the presence of a cigarette that he will bring to his lips.

And it is that the author of the operetta The Golden Bird and of so much music for the cinema, incessant smoker in life, now smokes in eternity.

The CD consists of 13 tracks with a wide-ranging panorama of sounds, and, for many, remains largely unknown, while the DVD unfortunately includes only five tracks from the album. Thus, only a part of the album could be promoted, the part featuring the biggest hit, without a doubt, “Me dicen Cuba,” by Alexander Abreu and Habana D’ Primera, with a videoclip directed by Pablo Massip, who would assume several productions within the project.

The album’s creators, however, sought musical balance, and included other important works that deserved – and deserve – better diffusion, beyond a video clip, which does not detract from the importance of the project or a specific track, a factor that must be considered when thinking about a harmonious communion of so much collective effort and talent. Among these jewels that Motivos… also contains, and are still little known, is the song Dicha grande, composed by Juan Formell and Israel Rojas, and performed by Los Van Van, inspired by what Martí wrote when he landed in Cuba at Playita de Cajobabo: “We arrive at a pebble beach, the little beach at the foot of Cajobabo, I stay in the boat as the last to get out. I jump. Great delight.”

Within the arcane and capricious aspects of the story, is that this is perhaps the only direct reference by Formell to a quote of Marti’s, in a song dedicated precisely to the Maestro. To add emphasis, or as a public declaration and commitment to his admiration of Martí, it is Formell who performs this song to assume, with his greatness and talent, the historic challenge of leaving us his voice in what he perhaps imagined would be his last collaborative production and recording. He died in May 2014, the same year the album was released.

In Dicha grande (Great delight), Martí is reinterpreted with a beautiful text that begins: “I have before me my land, my people, my childhood, my truth, my pains, my roots, my reason, my essences: the entire Cuba of my loves.” The text continues with the complicity of the band’s particular musical language, without renouncing the well-known Van Van cadence, thanks to the arrangement conceived by Formell, who also invited guitarist Dairon Lobaina, from Buena Fe (who unfortunately also passed away shortly thereafter). The sonority achieved pleased Juan, who had previously shared a similar experience with Elmer Ferrer in several of the band’s collaborations.

It would be worthwhile to revisit the album, and make it more visible, and to disseminate the other songs included, especially this one by Los Van Van, a precious gift left by the great Formell honoring Martí and moreover, producing an audiovisual to accompany the track would perhaps be valuable as well, a genuine tribute of profound human and musical relevance.

(Taken from Granma)

A tribute to artists and Cuban music of the 1980s and 90s, is what the popular Cuban singer, trumpet player and composer Alexander Abreu, leader of the group Havana D’Primera, offers in his most recent production.

Será que se acabó should be released before the end of 2020.

“It’s the most attractive way of rescuing Cuban music and showing it to our youth, adding ‘spoonfuls’ of what’s current and honoring the composers who had ideas for songs that were the greatest,” Abreu said.

The disc is a co-production from Abdala Productions studios and the Catalan music company Páfata, featuring hits by Los Van Van, Elio Revé y su Charangón, La Charanga Habanera and NG La Banda, among other groups that distinguish popular dance music in Cuba.

Alexander Abreu and Havana D’Primera presented their latest in an online appearance October 13, broadcast on Cuban television’s Clave channel and the group’s platforms.

“The world needs happiness, that’s why I try to convey love in every lyric I write,” the artist wrote on his Facebook page, along with the poster of the online event that will arrive under the title Al mal tiempo, buena música (In bad weather, good music), as “a gift for my people, in Cuba and around the world.”

(Taken from Granma)

Of the five phonograms competing, three feature groups from the island and two are from Cuba’s Egrem studios, but all are connected to the cultural resources that have made Cuba one of the most fertile territories in the continent’s musical tradition.

‘Este es nuestro changüí,’ recorded at Egrem’s Siboney Studios in Santiago de Cuba, founded 40 years ago on the initiative of Comandante de la Revolución and composer Juan Almeida Bosque, honors one of the primary genres of the son family, featuring the work of one of its strongest proponents, the Changüí Guantanamero.

The successful updating of our traditions is presented in another album from Egrem, ‘Faílde con tumbao,’ by the Faílde orchestra, from Matanzas, which presents innovative dance arrangements and the setting to music by Pedro Pablo Cruz of the famous sonnet by Carilda Oliver Labra, ‘Me desordeno,’ performed by Omara Portuondo.

Puntilla Records, based in the United States, is distributing the most recent production from the Aragon, on the occasions of the band’s 80th anniversary, Icono, recorded in Manolito Simonet’s Havana studio, including anthological pieces from their repertoire and new contributions from the group’s director Rafaelito Lay and Aquella chica, by Lazaro Dagoberto Gonzalez.

The remaining albums all feature a Cuban presence: ‘Soy puro teatro,’ by Venezuelan Mariaca Semprún, is a tribute to the strong artistic personality of La Lupe; and ‘Pa’lante,’ by Cuban-American flutist Ernesto Fernández, incorporates the collaborations of his well-known colleague Orlando Valle (Maraca) – with a solo in ‘El bodeguero’ – and his brother Yumurí, as well as percussionist Pedrito Martínez, who has enjoyed a remarkable career in New York.

Our irrepressible Omara Portuondo is one of the five finalists in the Best Contemporary Tropical Fusion Album, with ‘Mariposas,’ licensed by Bis Music, in which she performs the creations of the prolific Cuban composer Jessee Suárez. Also competing are Colombians Carlos Vives and El Caribefunk, in addition to Dominicans Riccie Oriach and Prince Royce.

Not to be overlooked is the nomination of Canadian musician of Cuban origin, Alex Cuba, in the category of Best Singer-songwriter Album, for ‘Sublime.’

(Taken from Granma)

The history of music in Cuba has been profoundly marked by mestizaje since the nationality’s very conception, in close communion with the war against Spanish colonialism. The birth of nationalist, pro-independence sentiment was anti-colonialist, and anti-racist by implication and in principle. Is it possible to label as racist a Revolution that had as its political foundation the abolition of slavery? Recognizing the symbiosis of Cuban culture with emancipatory ideals, even before 1868, is perhaps the most important cultural development that shaped the thinking of great Cubans, with the obvious reference being José Martí, who continues to serve as an obligatory beacon in this sense.

Now, if we begin to mention the names of those who laid the foundations of our music, we will note that there is no place for racism, and much less for splitting apart the solid marriage of diverse musical expressions, from a current point of view, as is attempted practically every day.

Two names from before the 20th century stand out in terms of academic musical performance and composition: White and Brindis de Salas, but when we consider the more popular plane, others must be added, including Pepe Sánchez, Miguel Faílde and the avalanche represented by Sindo, Matamoros, Siro and all those who illuminated the nascent 20th century.

Not to be overlooked are Anacaona, María Teresa Vera, Guillermina Aramburu, Celia Cruz, Enriqueta Almanza, Isolina Carrillo, Ángel Díaz, the “feeling” movement, Aida Diestro and his Quartet, Beny Moré, Compay Segundo, Lorenzo, Reynaldo and Caridad Hierrezuelo, Joseíto Fernández and many more, providing clear evidence of the marked amalgam that is Cuban music.

With the victory of 1959, we must add to this vast chromatic scope, the opening of doors to what was missing in almost all cases: access to studies and social recognition. With the young Revolution, came the organization and development of other realities that led to the full enjoyment of sectors that had faced discrimination, not only based on skin color, but on the depths of pockets, as well. How can the process begun in 1959 be considered racist, when it made possible that children of longshoremen, managers, and doctors were all seated in the same classroom?

The creation of art schools is the best example of anti-racism our music has experienced. If there were racism in the Revolution, the Cuban Modern Music Orchestra, in 1967, would not have included Paquito D´Rivera, Oscar Valdés, or Chucho Valdés, and possibly, Irakere would never have emerged. Or perhaps Pedrito Calvo, Mayito el Flaco, Pedrito Fajardo or Mayito Rivera would have been excluded from the Van Van, based on the color of their skin. It is clearly ridiculous to imagine racism as a policy or directive in our music. A quick review of the broad scope of Cuba’s current musical panorama provides enough evidence to understand that asserting this is simply running blindly behind those who have made a deal with the devil.

(Source: Granma)

In this way, Multi-award winning Cuban violinist William Roblejo has used so-called “challenges” that abound today on social media as a pretext for young musicians to take advantage of isolation and devote more time to study.

“Playing every day is fundamental,” says Roblejo, who has participated in Emilio Vega’s “Izar Banderas” and “Solo el Amor Nos Salva” (Only Love Saves Us), with Alain Pérez, songs composed in the heat of the new coronavirus pandemic.

On his Facebook page, the director of his own trio has called on several instrumentalists to establish “an exchange, an interaction” to keep musicians connected. The proposal is for each one is to upload a home video, “playing a solo of a reference piece in the jazz world, thus highlighting another form of study during times such as these.

The musician began the invitation by playing a fragment of “Barbizon Blues” by Didier Lockwood, in which, once again, he shows his talent, both playing a score and improvising, which has allowed him to develop a personal style within the Cuban music scene. He succeeds in placing the violin beyond the conventional context of concert music, taking it to popular and contemporary music.

Although the event was initially conceived for violinists, violists, cellists and double-bass players have gradually joined in, while each video is viewed and shared hundreds of times. Surprised by the evident power of the call, Roblejo enjoys how musicians all over Cuba and in other countries respond to his “challenge.

“Everyone is very good, talented. There are students, colleagues, friends,” he noted, “This is a way to get feedback.”

Perhaps the source of the young composer’s initiative lies in his pedagogical background, which is impossible to separate from his musical work, as well as the well-known differences between academic and popular music. Roblejo has headed the Strings Department at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory for more than ten years. “Everything one does in order to inspire and add to the knowledge of students could be said to be part of the teaching. Whenever I can, I try to give them the necessary tools for their learning. This moment we are living will pass, and when it is over, we must try to be better people and better musicians.”

(Source: Granma)

The Ministry of Culture in coordination with Cuban radio and television will support the internet streaming of performances by musicians from their homes and concerts in cultural centers that have been shared on different digital platforms – including Omara Portuondo with the Failde Orchestra and the Septeto Santiaguero – in a noteworthy effort as the country continues the battle to prevent and control Covid-19.

The Ministry’s digital platforms, based in Havana, are linked with Santiago de Cuba, to broadcast encouraging messages from musicians in the eastern part of the country, as well.

This effort, a commendable expression of solidarity, is made possible thanks to the collaboration of La Rueda Producciones, Lia Videos, and i4 Films, among many participating in the project.

Several Cuban musicians have also joined the worldwide initiative (#quedateencasa) to offer their music from home via Facebook and Instagram Live, in an initiative called “Tunturuntu pa’ tu casa,” the first totally online music festival organized in Cuba, with David Blanco as one of its main promoters.

Other popular performers shared their music on social media , in a gesture of solidarity with fans staying home, including M Alfonso, Kamankola, William Vivanco, Eduardo Sandoval, Chucho Valdés, Idania Valdés, Jan Cruz, Patricio Amaro, Ensemble Interactivo, Toques del Río, and Michel Herrera, among others.

The Orquesta Faílde is presenting concerts broadcast live from Radio 26 studios in their hometown of Matanzas, to make music available to those with little access to the internet. Their performances are also shared on the station’s website and Facebook page.

(Source: Granma)