3106. The Cuban Five and Silvio Rodriguez

By Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, November 28, 2018


Statue of John Lennon, Havana, Cuba.  

"Today is the birthday of Gerardo Hernández, a man who has been imprisoned for more than ten years, in my opinion, unjustly. To him and his four companions, to whom we Cubans consider our five heroes [The Cuban Five], I want to dedicate this song "... so said Silvio [Rodriguez] on June 4, 2010, before starting to play his song, The Chosen One, Nothing less than at Carnegie Hall in New York. Today November 29 is the birthday of Silvio Rodriguez, great yesterday, today and always. And as the five of us will never forget who we owe so much, we want to give you this photo of Ahmed Velazquez, and with her say 'Congratulations, Maestro.'"

Lyrics to The Chosen One in English:

The Chosen One

Always, when making up a story
one tells of an old man, a child or oneself
but my story is difficult
I am not going to talk about a common man.

I'll make up the story of a being from another world
of an animal from the galaxies
a story related to the course of the milky way
it's a story that is buried
it's about a being from nowhere

He was born from a storm
In the sun of a night
on the penultimate month
traveling from planet to planet
looking for fresh water
maybe looking for life
or maybe looking for death
one never knows
maybe looking for silhouettes
or something similar which is adorable
or at least likeable, desirable, in other words: lovable

He discovered that king Salomon's mines
were found in the heavens
not in the scorching Africa
as people have thought
but stones are cold
And he was more interested in warmth and joys
the jewels did not have a soul
they were just mirrors; shinny colours

So he finally came down to war
Sorry, I meant to Earth*
He learnt our story suddenly**
he felt crushed glass inside his head
and understood that war
was the peace of the future

The most terrible things are learnt at once
and the beautiful ones cost us our lives

Last time I saw him he was going away
amidst smoke and shrapnel
happy and naked
he was killing scoundrels
with his gun from the future

1781. Film Review: Omara: Cuba

By Dariela Aquique, Havana Times, March 24, 2015 

Omara: Cuba, a documentary written and directed by Cuban filmmaker Lester Hamlet, premiered on Cuban television some days ago. The film documents the 70-year artistic career of the “queen of feeling” or Buena Vista Social Club Diva, as the renowned singer Omara Portuondo is known.

Filmmaker Fernando Perez had already made a bio-pic of this talented performer in 1983. Today, Hamlet documents an additional 32 years of work by the 80-plus soloist who continues to perform.

With excellent editing, the documentary recreates different periods with peculiar caricatures that illustrate the situations described by the musician and the comments made by those interviewed, which include Eusebio Leal, Jose Maria Vitier, Pablo Milanes, Chucho Valdes, Tete Caturla, Alberto Alonso and Amaury Perez, to mention only a few.

The daughter of a black baseball player and a white woman shunned by her family, Portuondo claims to have had a happy childhood next to her parents and siblings in a Havana neighborhood. As a child, she already felt possessed by music and couldn’t help but stop and listen to a rumba when she went out to get groceries.

Little did she know that she was destined to become one of the most popular of Cuban singers and a kind of cultural icon of the nation.

At age 17, she started out as a singer for the band Loquibambia, next to pianist Frank Emilio and guitarist Antonio Mendez. In 1950, she joined the dance ensemble at Havana’s Tropicana cabaret and became a member of Las mulatas de fuego, directed by choreographer Alberto Alonso.

She would dance at many theaters before joining Orlando de la Rosa’s quartet, with which she traveled to the United States and Canada.

Omara was part of the all-female orchestra Anacaona and travelled to Haiti as a member of this band. One of the most important periods of her career was doubtless from 1953 to 1967, as a founding member of the vocal quartet Las D’Aida. Directed by Aida Diestro, the quartet was made up by Elena Burke, Moraima Secada and her sister Haydee Portuondo. The best cabarets in Havana saw their most prodigious nights thanks to their unparalleled voices. So did many stages in Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the United States.

At the close of the 60s, she was approached by the Cuban record label Areito, an opportunity she took advantage of to launch her career as an international soloist. She took part in the Cannes Film Festival (France), the Gold Orpheus Festival (Bulgaria), Gold Lira Festival (Bratislava) and Aguas Dulces Festival (Peru), taking the stage in Czechoslovakia, Dresden and Schelager (Germany). She was followed by the journals L’Humanite and L’Unita in France and Italy, respectively.

She was always working in different projects at once. She recorded an album with Julio Gutierrez’ orchestra and Chilean singer Lucho Gatica. She went on a tour with the Cuban percussion band Los Papines. More recently, she has sung next to Brazilian singer Maria Betania and young Cuban musicians Polito Ibañez and David Blanco. She also took part in the “Vida” ballet show directed by Liz Alfonso.

In 1996, she joined the Buena Vista Social Club and was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2001. She finally received a Grammy in 2009 in the category of Best Contemporary Tropical Album for the album Gracias, a collection of solo pieces with traditional melodies, boleros and jazz.

Omara has also had her stints in cinema. She acted in the Cuban films Cecilia (1982) and Baragua (1986), and in Disney’s 49^th film, The Princess and the Frog, directed by John Musker and Ron Clements. Omara did the voice of Mama Odie for the film’s Spanish version. She lent her voice to another animated project in 2011, when she sang in both Spanish and Portuguese for a Cuba-Brazil coproduction, El camino de las gaviotas (“The Path of Seagulls”).

No one has performed better covers of Alberto Vera’s Lo que me queda por vivir (“The Life Ahead of Me”), Silvio Rodriguez’ La era está pariendo un corazón (“The Spirit of the Times is Born”) or Amaury Perez’ Vuela pena (“Fly Away Grief”) than Omara. Her voice has traveled around the world, making her one of the unquestionable greats of the Cuban pantheon.

I believe Lester Hamlet’s homage to be fair and timely and, though I do not enjoy pointing out what I would have liked to see in an artistic product that isn’t mine, I believe the documentary tries to squeeze in too much in too little time.

I feel it needs interviews with people who live abroad, such as Haydee Portuondo. I also reproach the documentary for trying to “Cubanize” Omara, showing us a woman who does not strike any diva poses, doing house chores and walking around the city. It’s not that I doubt the humbleness of the singer, but, as it happens, one of my cousins is her housekeeper.

At any rate, it is a good documentary and I am glad I saw it.

1452. Cuba’s Buena Vista Social Club Sets Farewell Tour

By Associated Press, The Washington Post, June 17, 2014

In this Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 file photo, remaining members of Cubaís Buena Vista Social Club band, Omara Portuondo, 81, front left, Jesus Aguaje Ramos, 63, front right, Luis Manuel Guajiro Mirabal, 80, back left, Eliades Ochoa, 68, back center, and Barbarito Torres, 60 pose for a picture after a press conference at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, Cuba. The Buena Vista Social Club has joined together for a their last worldwide tour under the name ìAdios Tourî. The tour begins in June 2014 in Europe and ends in Havana in late October 2015 with a concert at the Karl Marx theater. (Franklin Reyes, File/Associated Press)

HAVANA — The legendary Cuban musical group Buena Vista Social Club is going on a global farewell tour before disbanding next year after nearly two decades.

Communist Party newspaper Granma reported Tuesday that the tour will kick off next week and travel to the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

The Buena Vista Social Club was formed in 1996 when U.S. musician and director Ry Cooder producer brought together a collection of aging, nearly forgotten Cuban performers.

The resulting album won a Grammy, and the group shot to international fame.

A documentary of the same name was nominated for an Academy Award.

Several of the original members have died over the years, and only a handful remain with the group.