Galería de Bienvenidos

As every September 8, Santiago de Cuba, most Caribbean of all cities, hosts one of the most important religious events in the Island: The Pilgrimage of the Virgen de la Caridad delCobre (Our Lady of Charity). We traveled to this city to speak to Father Catasus, appointed by the city´s Archiepiscopate to preside this passionate pilgrimage; as always warm and kindhearted he agrees to this interview:

Cuba has a rare communion with cocktails. On coming to the tropics, refusal to enjoy a refreshing drink made of ice and rum as its main ingredients, is not likely. Who knows…that might be the reason why nowadays there are so many bars in Havana and other parts of Cuba, a “must stop” for visitors. Opening their doors at different schedules day and night they offer the most enigmatic cocktails in their beverages´ listings.  

At the end of the sixties decade of the past century I attended possibly, the last staging at the  Martí Theater: “Santa Camila de la Habana Vieja” where Camila, main character, addresses all the rituals and saints of the Afro Cuban religion in order to rescue the love of Ñico, whom she believed had lost.

The deep baritone voice creates the appropriate nestling environment for contralto voices, while a lyric soprano shapes the contours and mezzo voices contrast with soft, mellow sounds.  All the voices follow the easy but firm movement of those hands; then the melody comes alive and awakens in one unique human sound, encompassing the marvel created by the chorus.        

Antonio Joseph Alegre, a Franciscan Friar, with great effort walked that cross up the Bayado Hill, intending it as a safekeeping symbol that would protect dwellers from epidemics, witchcraft and natural catastrophes. May 3, 1790 marked the catholic faith inhabitants’ pilgrimage date in the Holguin Province. It began at the Parochial Church of “San Isidro” going all the way up to the top of la Loma (the hill).

The “Septeto Santiaguero”, a traditional music group founded in 1995 in the Santiago de Cuba province, today represents a milestone in Cuban musical history, for with only 22 years of artistic life it has accomplished four nominations to the Latin Grammys.

“Better watch them from afar. Their customs, dances and songs are of a wild community, distant from everything pertaining to civilization”. Thus were the thoughts of the “La Cornisa” plantation owner, who accompanied by his wife watched the slaves in their free day celebrating with their liturgical songs. But they could not stop the sound of the drums, the rhythm, the cadence, the heat coming from their feet that, restless at the beginning, ended by disobeying reason. Then, their bodies were invaded by unexplainable movements, pouring their energies, until they found a new spirit. It was the spirit of a new feeling, from which roots a stem started to sprout and which young branches would end up hastily shaping the robust tree, the tree of Cuban musical culture, that, which despite having a source of peninsular tunes and renaissance beats, one day also found its dawn in the sounds of the drums.