LIFE AND CULTURE
Art and Culture
By María de la Soledad
Hip Hop in Havana
In spite of the August heat in the Cuban capital, rap fans were all over the 9th annual Havana 2003 Hip Hop Festival. The event was held in several of the city’s theaters with the participation of 60 groups – 40 locals and 20 from abroad. The Unites States, Colombia, Canada, Mexico, Italy, United Kingdom and Switzerland were the invited countries.
Speaking of local groups, there are so many that some critics claim that there are 400 of them, and others say that Cuban hip hop groups number more than 1,000. Some are known internationally, like Orishas, and others are very popular locally, like Free Holes Negros, Eddy K – who is well known for his theme song written for a popular weekly TV program, “The Other Geography”. There are newer groups that are gaining followers such as Primera Base, Alto Voltaje, and Obsesión, who recently toured the U.S.
The Ministry of Culture has created an organization to promote the rappers, the Cuban Rap Agency, that even has its own recording label, Asere Productions.
The new hip hop magazine, Movimiento, was launched during the festival. Also presented during the event were DJ demonstrations by representatives from the U.S. and Great Britain, debates on graffiti, fanzines and films, among them 8 Miles, about American rapper Eminem.
In short, Havana just experienced 10 days where the musical theme was summed up by the catchy hit by the Free Holes Negros, which I recommend which goes something like this: “catch it catch it, it’s burning / catch it, it’s burning.”
News From All Over
Summer is over, although in many places temperatures are still high, and there is news of the season’s successes. For example Cuba’s National Ballet and its production of Romeo and Juliet or Shakespeare and His Masks, a premiere presented in Spain, was considered one of the main hits of the 2nd Biennial of Valencia. Its originality lies in the character of Shakespeare that appears on stage as the narrator, leading the audience through the story. The ballet is based on the greatest love story ever told, danced to the music of Gounod and choreographed by Alicia Alonso herself. Ms. Alonso was also honored with the Medal of Artistic Merit of the Royal Site of San Lorenzo of El Escorial. In that Spanish city, Ms. Alonso and her company offer a yearly summer course with participants from Europe and the Americas. This year 200 students, almost all professional dancers, attended.
The famous Mexican group Los Tigres del Norte, who sing the so-called narcocorridos based on the subject, also visited Madrid this summer where they have a following derived from their corrido hit, “The Queen of the South,” inspired by a novel written by Spaniard Arturo Pérez Reverte, who himself was inspired by a Tigres’ corrido, “Romance and Treason” – talk about interactivity! – which is the latest bestseller among Spanish-speaking readers. I currently have it by my side, and those who have read it say it’s great. I’m waiting for a few days off I have coming to begin reading it; getting to know its main character, Teresa Mendoza. As expected, singers and author met in Madrid and exchanged mutual praise. Pérez Reverte was recently elected a member of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language.
In the months of July and August, German and British audiences have discovered Yusa, a new Cuban singer/songwriter that has had great success on the island. The British critic Jon Fairley called her “the Cuban sound of the 21st century”. Back home in Havana Yusa presented in mid August a Saturday concert, that in spite of the time (4 p.m.) made many of her fans abandon beaches, siestas and air conditioning to listen to her sing. She was a rousing success. What makes Yusa special, besides the quality of her music, is her ability for innovative projects. Last year, for example, we heard her accompaniment during the theater production of The Vagina Monologues, and also when she performed with Robertico Carcassés’ jazz group Interactivo.
It’s truly a pleasure to stay home and read during these hot summer days. It turns out that many Spanish-speakers were able to read Harry Potter’s latest adventure, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in Spanish. You may wonder how, if the Spanish edition won’t be published till next year? Thanks to Internet: A multinational group of fans of the child sorcerer agreed to translate it. It’s a translation of unequal quality and at time even arguable, but placed enthusiastically at the disposal of Harry’s, Hermiony’s and Ron’s friends. Some people in Havana have read it and a friend of mine insisted that I do so also, but I’ll pass. I prefer hard covers and paper with the ink smell on it.
A warm welcome was given by Cubans to one of the greatest living glories of contemporary Latin American literature, Paraguayan Augusto Roa Bastos. Author of over twenty books – including novels, plays, short stories and poetry – and winner of the Cervantes Prize for his life’s work, Roa Bastos, now 86, is the author of two of the fundamental Latin American novels, I, the Supreme, based on the life of Paraguayan dictator José Gaspar Rodríguez Francia, translated to 25 languages since its publication in 1957; and Son of Man, reissued in Cuba on the occasion of this, the author’s first visit to the island.
And a follow up on literature: the 13th edition of the prestigious Juan Rulfo Latin American and Caribbean Prize in Literature, bestowed in Mexico, has been awarded to Brazilian writer Rubem Fonseca for his life’s work. Fonseca, author of novels such as The Morel Case and Happy New Year, among others, said he was honored to receive the prize that bears the name of the author of Pedro Páramo and The Plain in Flames.
And if Brazilians were overjoyed with the Juan Rulfo Prize to Fonseca, other news filled them with sadness: the passing away of Paulinho Nogueira, guitarist and composer, one of the founding fathers of bossa nova; two years after his great friend and bossa nova cofounder Baden Powell died. Nogueira was the author of emblematic songs such as “Menina”, “Bacheaninha”, “Menino des ce dai”, and was the teacher of Vinicius de Moraes and Toquinho.
For the celebration of the centennial of diplomatic relations between Canada and Cuba, Phototheque of Cuba inaugurated an exhibit titled, “Cuba and Canada: A Look at a Hundred Years”. It’s about photographs that illustrate the relation between both countries, taken not only by professionals such as Canadian Karsch and Cuban Korda, but also by Cuban and Canadian amateurs that photographed important moments in their lives. There are photos of late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau on his official visit to Cuba, and another of two anonymous Canadians in wedding garb who wanted to be married in the island. There are more than 100 photos in the exhibit that has been one of the most successful this summer at the Phototheque.
Also celebrating the centennial of the relations between Cuba and Canada was another exhibit in Toronto called “Cuban Cantos”, by three of the best contemporary Cuban painters: Zaida del Río, Choco and Ernesto García Peña. Although people in Toronto have been reluctant to mingle lately in large groups because of SARS and the recent blackout, the show has been a rousing success. The Prince Arthur Fine Arts Gallery, in the heart of the beautiful city of Toronto, inaugurated the exhibit a la cubana, with “mojitos” and traditional music pleasing attendants almost as much as the exhibits paintings.
American actress Susan Sarandon (who can forget her in Thelma and Louise?) said to the Brazilian daily O Globo, according to ANSA, that she believes that the cinema has a social responsibility, and that includes filmmakers as well as spectators. And she added: “People consider political only those films that defy the status quo. But for me (...) every film reinforces or defies some affirmation: what it means to be a man, what do women want, what is fair and what isn’t. It’s the spectator who should make a political reading of what each film proposes, including comedies and films of entertainment. All artistic works are political; you only have to know how to read them.”
The problem is not (as Silvio Rodríguez says in a song) how much money you make, but how you spend it. For example, famous Cuban actor Jorge Perugorría, who starred in Strawberry and Chocolate and in many other Latin American and Spanish films, has decided to put his money to good use and produce a film himself, a coproduction with the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC), and to co-direct it as well, together with Cuban filmmaker Arturo Sotto (Vertical Love). It’s a 52 minute chronicle of the concert at the Salón Rosado of the Cuban dance band Habana Abierta (Open Havana), previously named Habana Oculta (Hidden Havana), whose members have been living in Spain for the past 8 years (“I didn’t leave, I just went away a bit”, says one of their songs), and which was a tremendous success among many of their young fans. At a press conference, Perugorría and Sotto said they needed to tell a story about their reality before others come and do their version. They wanted to record what it meant, this reencounter of Habana Abierta’s members with their country and their natural audience, after 8 years of absence. The title of the documentary is, of course, Habana Abierta.
A chip off the old block, the saying goes. The importance (and touching side) of the news I share with you will be very well understood by those who have had the particular fortune of having several generations of the family in the same trade. In Edinburgh there is going to be a staging of a free version (very free, I would say) of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s so free that the character of Charlot, the loving tramp created by Charles Chaplin, is in the play. And one of the performers who auditioned for the part was… the granddaughter of the great British actor, Oona Chaplin, 17. “I’ve grown and matured surrounded by Charles Chaplin’s things, and I feel exactly how my grandfather would act the part”, she said to the press. She also said that previously her respect for her grandfather stopped her from auditioning, but that her mother, actress Geraldine Chaplin, encouraged her to do so.
And that’s all for today. See you in two weeks.
María de la Soledad has a BA in Latin American Literature.
If you have any questions or if you would like to share some news with Progreso Weekly readers, you can write to María de la Soledad at
