Report from the United Kingdom July 2006
It’s been over a year since my last article appeared in Salsasf.
Since then I spent 3 three months living in Cuba, one month travelling around
Yucatan and Chiapas with my then 11 year old son, probably one of the best and
most exciting things I have ever done. I came back and before I knew it I was
from receiving Ocha in February of this year which WAS the best thing I have ever done for myself and my family and
something that was long coming. Since then I have been back to Cuba with my project with
Martha Galarraga.We took nine
students to study the Songs and Dances for the Orishas.The students had an amazing time.
 Students relaxing after a gruelling dance class. |
It was not the run of the mill touristy trip to Cuba. These classes were held in the
religious community in Luyano, Havana. In addition to classes and trips, the
students also witnessed my presentation to Aña, which was I was told incredibly moving for the students and amazing
for me to have had that connection with back home in England. This is what some
of the students had to say:
“Mind Blowing, better than the Rio
Carnival”
“A journey to the heart of Afro-Cuban
culture. A unique opportunity to
learn and experience Orisha .We never stopped dancing. It was fantastic”
“An amazing experience, I feel truly
blessed and privileged to have been part of this incredible journey. It has changed my life, thank you so
very much.”
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We plan another trip for the New Year.
Since I am now in my Iyaworaje (the year where
the initiate of Santeria or Regla de Ocha wears white and follows a strict code
of conduct in addition to taking things as easy as possible in order to get to
know the Orisha that has been placed in their head) I therefore have
temporarily retired from going to concerts etc, and therefore can only comment
on what has been happening this year from the comfort of my own sitting room.
So this article I am going to pay a personal homage to Jose Antonio Maceo who
passed over in November in addition to reporting on one of the last interviews
I made before going to Cuba in February with one of Cuba’s most admirable
personalities, Pedro Luis Ferrer.
I can however report that there is a massive international
takeover of Reggaeton. In Cuba,
Mexico, Brixton Market and my own house, one hears nothing else.It is great to dance to, and I love it
for about an hour at a time. After an hour my poor son usually gets asked to
turn it down for a while until I have recovered.
There is also a rise in “Cuban style” dance
classes and congresses.I find
that quite sad since in the domain of contemporary Cuban music and dance there
has always been a connection to live music and this is no longer the case. The
first Cubamemucho congress is coming to London in October and as usual there is
not one single featured live band. However in the Cuban Carnival this year on
the South Bank there was plenty of live music including Sur Caribe whose song Añoranza Por la Conga has been super popular in Cuba for the last six months.85,000 people passed through this
festival on the banks of the River Thames, to listen to the music, drink
Mojitos and soak up the sun.England is going through a heat wave at the moment.
In the late 1980’s early 1990’s the Cuban
band who kept Son alive pre Buena Vista
were regular visitors to London. The band’s manager was based here in addition to
their record label “World Circuit”.My band “Salsa Y Aché” became close
friends of Sierra Maestra and we shared many
magical moments with them all.Amongst them there was one guy that shone out, Jose Antonio “Maceo”
Rodriguez. As a person he was humble, fun loving, generous to a fault and just
a really great person to have around. In his free time he hung around our band,
came to rehearsals (which must have been at times quite painful for him) and
gave us tips, never asking for anything in return.He always had such enthusiasm.One of my favourite times was when he came with me to one of
the dance classes I was teaching at the time. We decided to teach Son dance and where to come in with the Clave.Maceo was a great teacher and made us
all laugh when in demonstrating Son his head only came up to the chest of the
tall blond girls in the class.Here is what some of the other girls from Salsa Y Aché had to say:
“I realise that Jose was quite a seminal influence on my life, if only for his incredible generosity of spirit, warmth and enthusiasm (and wicked sense of humour). And great encouragement to play trombone with that kind of passion and love of it all.” Caroline Hall Trombone
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London early 1990’s
“My memories of our times on the crazy
salsa scene of the 90's in London when we gave all of our passion, creativity and laughs are
attached to him!!!!
He taught me how to recognised my highest
note.... he mentioned to me that when I am scared and I shout out of
shock that unconscious note it's the highest note on my range!....I
followed his instructions since. Now and every time I want to hit a high
note I smile and remember his words.....what a wise ninyo eh? “ Sandra
Forero, Vocalist
Jose knew all the shop owners in Brixton market, we joked about them putting up a statue of him. He also loved our children dearly………All the kids used to call him "Crazy Jose" and he loved it.
Everytime I think of him I have to smile. He had such a love of life and such tremendous energy. It still seems so unreal that he is no longer with us.” Sara McGuiness, Keyboards
Jose will be missed by all that knew him, including the band that became his family, but he will never be forgotten. And although in recent times, his great and unmistakable voice and personality was somehow overshadowed by the Buena Vista Movement, he does feature on the Coros of the Buena Vista and Afro-Cuban recordings and Ibrahim Ferrer recordings.
In the early 1990’s I had a party at my house in London.Some members of Sierra Maestra were there and taped our somewhat spontaneous rumba which was sent to me months later by one of the members of the band.On the other side of the cassette tape was a copy of Pedro Luis Ferrer’s album, Espuma Y Arena . After I listened to the album I became intrigued by this outspoken and talented singer/songwriter. I consequently found him to be held in high esteem by Cubans living in Cuba and outside.He is a cult figure, well known for his satirical lyrics. And although in the forefront of the Nueva Trova, his outspoken lyrics led to a ban of his work for several years.When I saw by chance that he was playing at London’s legendary Marquee in Leicester Square, I was excited by the prospect of meeting this underground superstar and set up in interview before the gig which was promoting his latest album “Rusitco” (He has since released another album “Natural” which has had a fantastic revue in Descarga.com).I arrived to the venue as he was coming to the end of a laborious sound check.A completely acoustic quartet which includes guitar, tres, percussion and voices requires a meticulous sound check in order to get everything to sound just right.
 Pedro Luis Ferrer |
Pedro Luis Ferrer looks like a trainee Santa Claus and he made me feel at ease instantly.I felt that I could ask him almost anything and began by asking him if he considered himself to be the true voice of contemporary Cuba. His lyrics reflect many realities, as much the personal as the political.The first track “Fundamentos” echoed conversations I had heard on a daily basis whilst living in Cuba a few months previously.Mr Ferrer, however disagreed with me.“I am not the voice but one of many voices expressing my own opinion.I think it is just as important to voice critique as it is to talk about the positive things.I mentioned to Mr. Ferrer that I had lived in Cuba in the 1980’s to study music and was quite taken aback by what I perceived of as being quite a high level of cultural repression.Having had close links with Cuba over the last 20 years I felt that Cuba had changed but in quite a controlled way.I asked Mr. Ferrer if this cultural repression had affected him.Despite the fact that some of his work had been banned, he said he did not recognise the cultural repression of which I had spoken and argued that Cuba had always permitted critique within limits.He pointed to ICAIC and the cinematographic movement which has always offered a satirical critique of the establishment.He did, however, admit that in the first years of the revolution the Ministry of Culture did make some grave mistakes regarding certain genres and certain individuals. I pointed out to Mr.Ferrer that printed on the film covering his latest offering “Rustico” were bold red letters announcing that the album had been
Banned in Cuba Mr Ferrer was clearly upset by this and told me that both his manager and himself had been made aware of this fact recently and that he did not agree at all with this particular marketing ploy.He told me that he preferred that people bought the album because they enjoyed his songs and also wished to point out that he as a person is not banned in Cuba contrary to popular opinion. As far as the album is concerned, Mr Ferrer informed me that it had not been distributed in Cuba so there was no basis to suggest that it had been banned there. Pedro Luis Ferrer, does not hold a high profile as a live artist in Cuba although some of his songs are occasionally played on the radio from time to time depending on the lyrics.
Rustico features the amazing voice of his daughter Lena.He proudly told me that he has been his daughter’s only teacher and that she had not attended any conservatory or anything like that. In the past few years she has become very much part of his live act. I asked Mr. Ferrer about the song “Maridos Majaderos” (having had a few of my own). It is a tongue-in-cheek look at Cuba’s Machismo; a commentary on cranky husbands. I asked him how he managed to voice the female opinion so realistically. Mr. Ferrer chuckled. He told me he wrote that Guaracha with Lena in mind in order to teach her the genre of the Guaracha. As a father of three girls, he preferred that they did not get involved with a “Marido Majadero”
Despite being notorious for his lyrics, Pedro Luis Ferrer is obviously passionate about the music.He sees himself not as creator of music but a re-creator.The genre he really likes to work with is the Changui.He told me that there is room for people to interpret the music in a traditional way but he did not want to be constrained by tradition.He enjoys incorporating other influences. I suggested that this was a typically Cuban thing to do.Mr Ferrer argued that although Cuban music is regarded as a fusion between African and Spanish influences, the Spanish had been influenced by North African culture for centuries. And Cuba, despite its youth has developed many different genres because of this and will continue to develop new styles of music all the time. Pedro Luis Ferrer calls his re-creation Changuisi. In his
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live gig that night, Ferrer introduced every song with a musical explanation.His stage persona is open, honest and humorous. The beautiful harmonies and unison singing of the two girls in addition to the use of the guitar, tres and rhythmic sectionspan (Played by Basilio on Campana, Clave, Marimbula and Bongo, sometimes all at once!) was an experience to entice the senses, which dispelled my worries that the gig would bypass those who did not understand the lyrics.
In Cuba its people have been pushing the boundaries since the beginning of the revolution, like an intelligent child pushing its parent to the limit. When I lived there in the 1980’s, despite the fact that some styles of music such as reggae and rock were clandestine, people always managed to obtain copies of bands playing these styles. Steel Pulse (Handsworth revolution) and other bands that should have been quite obscure were very popular amongst the youth.Now it is acceptable to play music that was once seen to be counter revolutionary. However there is a huge underground music movement in Cuba.Whether or not “Rustico” is heard on the radio and gets distributed, Cuban people will obtain access to it and Pedro Luis Ferrer will continue to remain a popular and enigmatic figure amongst Cubans and other music lovers’ as well!
Lastly, Pedro Luis Ferrer reminds me of my father, an outspoken singer songwriter who cannot be classified. Last time I wrote for Salsasf I had just finished recording a track of his with a chachacha influenced arrangement by myself together with Jimmy Martinez and Ernesto Estruche. It has now been released on “And they all sing Rosselsongs” see link below for details. On this note I leave you until the next time. See the relative links below.www.wildindigo.co.uk
It’s my website. Photos of Mexico and Cuba on last year’s trip and information about my next Cuba study trip with Martica Galarraga
www.leonrosselson.co.uk
for information on Leon Rosselson and my contribution to his latest CD, which is not Salsa but he is my dad and I am on it!!
www.descarga.com
For information of Natural the latest CD released by Pedro Luis Ferrer
www.sierra-maestra.net
for information about Sierra Maestra
www.wawagency.com/tours.html
for information about the “Natural Tour” happening in October this year
