This one's from Mary. TK
Our airport hotel has free internet so you'll have to "suffer through" two last
Our airport hotel has free internet so you'll have to "suffer through" two last
emails. Toni will give you the activites for our last day. I'll tell you about
our last evening. As we've mentioned, one of our group is a pianist from New
Orleans, Tom McDermott, who loves Cuban and Brazilian music (my kind of guy!)
and was soaking up everything he could about the Cuban rhythms. Oscar, one our
Cuban guides in Santiago (Toni will explain more about him), arranged for Tom to
do a free concert for the different Santiago groups we've been visiting this
week. For a venue, he secured the birthplace of one of Cuban's national poets
(sorry, forgot to get the name), which is now a museum. Like most Cuban and
Latin American houses, this was built around an internal courtyard and that's
where the piano was. The house was 19th century and Tom specializes in
traditional New Orleans jazz and before, so a perfect setting. Tom choose
Spanish, Cuban, and New Orleans composers/ songwriters (eg.g.Domino, Jelly Roll
Morton),and did them in roughly chronological order, introducing each song in
Spanish first then English. It was a wonderful mini-overview of what we've been
hearing (minus the drums). Our dance instructors, Willian and Belkis,
and several of their students, i.e. our dance partner-teachers attended, along
with some other musicians. Tom's concert was wonderful and folks in Prescott may
get to see him in June when we comes through town. But the big surprise was that
Oscar had also arranged for the members of a Santiago saxaphone quartet to come
and they did several songs after Tom's set, including one habenero (dance tune)
that they convinced Tom to improvise with them on piano. For me, this
mini-concert, and particularly this improvised collaboration, sums up the
musical relationships between Cuban and American music. The influence has been
back and forth for centuries and I just know that once Cuban and American
musicians/dancers/artists have freer access to each other, there will be amazing
results. So fitting that our last music demonstrated this perfectly.
We all (including Ariana, Ocsar, & Raul) returned to our favorite palador for
our last dinner. Again, a fitting end. Our travel yesterday back to Miami was
basically uneventful, customs-wise, and we leave soon for the flight to Phoenix.
It's been a fantastic experience and I'm glad we've had the opportunities to
share as we go. Toni's photos will follow eventually. And for those who want to
hear the variety of CDs we've acquired, I'll figure out a way to circulate them
or have a listening party! Hasta luego. MT
our last evening. As we've mentioned, one of our group is a pianist from New
Orleans, Tom McDermott, who loves Cuban and Brazilian music (my kind of guy!)
and was soaking up everything he could about the Cuban rhythms. Oscar, one our
Cuban guides in Santiago (Toni will explain more about him), arranged for Tom to
do a free concert for the different Santiago groups we've been visiting this
week. For a venue, he secured the birthplace of one of Cuban's national poets
(sorry, forgot to get the name), which is now a museum. Like most Cuban and
Latin American houses, this was built around an internal courtyard and that's
where the piano was. The house was 19th century and Tom specializes in
traditional New Orleans jazz and before, so a perfect setting. Tom choose
Spanish, Cuban, and New Orleans composers/ songwriters (eg.g.Domino, Jelly Roll
Morton),and did them in roughly chronological order, introducing each song in
Spanish first then English. It was a wonderful mini-overview of what we've been
hearing (minus the drums). Our dance instructors, Willian and Belkis,
and several of their students, i.e. our dance partner-teachers attended, along
with some other musicians. Tom's concert was wonderful and folks in Prescott may
get to see him in June when we comes through town. But the big surprise was that
Oscar had also arranged for the members of a Santiago saxaphone quartet to come
and they did several songs after Tom's set, including one habenero (dance tune)
that they convinced Tom to improvise with them on piano. For me, this
mini-concert, and particularly this improvised collaboration, sums up the
musical relationships between Cuban and American music. The influence has been
back and forth for centuries and I just know that once Cuban and American
musicians/dancers/artists have freer access to each other, there will be amazing
results. So fitting that our last music demonstrated this perfectly.
We all (including Ariana, Ocsar, & Raul) returned to our favorite palador for
our last dinner. Again, a fitting end. Our travel yesterday back to Miami was
basically uneventful, customs-wise, and we leave soon for the flight to Phoenix.
It's been a fantastic experience and I'm glad we've had the opportunities to
share as we go. Toni's photos will follow eventually. And for those who want to
hear the variety of CDs we've acquired, I'll figure out a way to circulate them
or have a listening party! Hasta luego. MT
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