The "Concierto de Aranjuez," by the blind, 20th-century composer Joaquín Rodrigo, is one of the most well-known works for classical guitar. However, it is less often that one gets to hear it backed by a full orchestra. Ed Stephensonperformed the Spanish bonbon last night on the Meredith College campus, accompanied by the Raleigh Symphony, which also performed works by Beethoven and Dvorak.
Meredith College campus at night.
Born in Canada, Stephenson is half-Ukrainian (original family name: Stefanyshyn). Besides teaching at Meredith, he performs regularly in the area as a soloist and with his nuevo-flamenco combo Paco Band.
The Adagio second movement is instantly familiar; so familiar, in fact, that contractually, orchestras can only obtain the rights to perform this concerto in its entirety. But for simplicity's sake, I'm bringing you just the video of this melancholic second movement from last night's performance:
Ed passes a bouquet to Raleigh Symphony conductor Jim Waddelow.
The young, unusual Latin jazz trio of Ilan Bar-Lavi plays a free concert in Chapel Hill this Saturday (11/19)at 5 pm in the FedEx UNC Global Education Center's Nelson Mandela Auditorium. The concert will close out this year's NC Latin American Film Festival.
This video by Martin Cohen at Congahead.com opens with a Bar-Lavi guitar solo:
The Israeli-Mexican guitarist is a 20-something graduate of Berklee School of Music; his own brand of avant-garde jazz blends his Latin and Middle Eastern roots.
Dobet Gnahore. Photo (c) Michel De Bock courtesy of Rock Paper Scissors.
Seriously...have I just never noticed before, or is the Triangle awash in opportunities to hear African music right now?
NEXT on the roster: Ivory Coasts's Dobet Gnahore. She's strikingly gorgeous, an experienced professional dancer, singer and musician, and she speaks French (so therefore, local interviews and press coverage have been limited). Music style is contemporary, with influences from Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana, Congo, etc. She's the daughter of Ivorian percussionist Boni Gnahore, and has three solo albums to her credit. Musically and personally, she has paired up with French guitarist Colin Laroche de Félin.
Tickets run $24-28 at Stewart Theater (NCSU still has the lowest precios populares among the area's elite arts series). Discounts apply if you are faculty, staff, or student at NCSU.
PARKING NOTE: because of some construction/campus street closings, Cates Ave. is blocked for about one block between Talley Student Center and the parking deck, but do not be deterred. You can access the usual FREE parking deck via PULLEN ROAD.
Some of you may have heard in the news recently that the United States has sent 100 military advisors to Uganda to take on the Lord's Resistance Army, a notorious group that has massacred thousands and displaced millions in Eastern and Central Africa since the 1980s. Forcing children to commit heinous crimes as 'child soldiers' is among the LRA's most warped, and well-known atrocities.
Emmanuel Jal, one of these former "Lost Boys" of Southern Sudan, escaped the LRA and is now a musician/activist spreading a message of peace to the world. The rapper and spoken word artist will participate in a FREE performance and discussion today at Duke, in the Reynolds Theater in the Bryan Center: Tuesday, Nov. 1, 7:30-9:30 pm. Doors open at 6:30; free parking and dessert reception. This event is free and open to the public.
Jal has released ten hip hop albums, with tracks in Arabic, English, Swahili, Dinka and Nuer languages. Here's the video single from his upcoming See Me Mama album, introduced by AliciaKeyes:
The event is part of a Kenan Institute for Ethics series entitled, "Uprooted, Rerouted: Stories of African Refugees Losing and Finding Home."
UNC Charanga Carolina and Colombian harpist Pavelid Castañeda will headline once again this year at Durham Academy's Fiesta Latina. The PUBLIC IS INVITED to attend this free festival in honor of Hispanic Heritage month. Live music and dance program runs from 7:30-10:00 pm, and food trucks will be selling food out front from 6:30 pm on. Location: Brumley Performing Arts Building at Durham Academy Lower School, 3501 Ridge Rd (corner of Pickett), Durham. Admission: FREE.
Charanga Carolina has exciting news; its studio album La Familia has hit the streets. The CD represents a milestone for the collaborative student/community ensemble, founded c. 2003 by Dr. David F. García. The 11 tracks, which include homages to Los Van Van, Arsenio Rodriguez, La Sonora Ponceña, Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barretto and Tito Puente, can be sampled at the Charanga's revernation page. To purchase the CD, for a $12 donation to UNC's Department of Music, send your check and return address to: David Garcia, UNC Department of Music, Hill Hall CB#3320, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3320.
Charanga Carolina at this time last year--October 2010
This year, Charanga alum Andy Kleindienst has taken over direction of the group. The ensemble's first public performance was a few weeks ago, so this semester's new recruits should be pretty warmed up for the DA concert.
Andy Kleindienst playing trombone with Orquesta GarDel in August
I last saw PavelidCastañeda a few weeks ago at a private concert at UNC for the university's Board of Visitors. He was part of a very exciting program, put together by Lisa Beavers at the Center for the Study of the American South, which brought together 3 local masters of ancient stringed instruments from three distinct global traditions: Pavelid on Latin American folk harp, Naji Hilal on oud, and Diali Cissokho on kora. For the artists, presenters and myself, it was an intense exchange of music and information; future collaborations are already being planned, so keep on the lookout for that!
Pavelid Castañeda @ The ArtsCenter in June 2010
Pavelid always wows audiences with his percussive, rhythmic style and unusual arrangements for harp, ranging from traditional folk music to salsa and rock, and his own fiery compositions. He is about to release an original solo album, currently in co-production with his son, the prominent jazz harpist Edmar Castaneda.
The Durham Academy Fiesta Latinais coordinated annually by Bela Kussin, and realized with the help of many volunteers at the school. It's not only meant for the cultural enrichment of students and staff, but also as a gift for the community at large. Brumley is a beautiful new arts facility, with great auditorium seating as well as room for dancing, which will be encouraged during Charanga's sets. Come out and celebrate Latino culture and the arts in our community!
BREAKING: Just learned that Nuyorican spoken word artist and rapper La Bruja, aka Caridad de la Luz, performs at a student-sponsored event on the Duke campus tonight. It's FREE and OPEN to the public, and there has been a last minute venue change. The following information was confirmed for me by the artist today at 3 pm:
La Bruja performs tonight, Monday (10/24) from 6-7 pm, followed by discussion until 8 pm, in the McLendon Tower, 5th floor media room. This building is part of the new Keohane Quad on Duke's West Campus (see map here).
Goran Bregovic BLEW THE ROOF off Page Auditorium Friday night (10/14). My reflections boiled down to this, a review essay which I originally wrote for another blog, but which finds its home here instead:
Goran Bregovic: Unplugged, and All Together Now
by Sylvia Pfeiffenberger
The name of Goran Bregovic’“Wedding and Funeral Orchestra” is part satirical—a grand joke on the part of the perfectionist, prankster, film composer and former rock star—but it also promises a return to our unamplified, tribal human past, a time when social rituals were marked with big gatherings and live music, and individuals were suspended, not in ethereal social networks, but in the gelatinous broth of clan, nation, and religion.
Of course, there’s a dark side to this sort of nostalgia: tribalism and nationalism have exacted a high price from human societies, and none have paid more dearly or more regularly than the Balkan region, and former Yugoslav republics, from whence Bregovic hails. Sarajevo, at the borderline between Catholics and Muslims, Jews and Gypsies, Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, is “a place where nothing is really pure. It’s always a mix,” says Bregovic in an interview with his publicist. Centuries of war have shaped the “small” regional culture of the Balkans into a sort of “Frankenstein,” he says. In the 1990s, war again forced the retired rocker into Parisian exile, which proved a stepping stone to creating his own global form of folk music, attuned to the large and small screens of the IT age.
The listening experience we had in Page Auditorium Friday night (10/14/11) was unlike anything you can hear outside of a church, a classical concert hall, or a movie theater nowadays. Who’s got the budget to commission composers and produce large ensembles of live instrumental and vocal musicians anymore? Only institutions that run on charity donations, and Hollywood. Bregovic’s orchestra was actually a multicultural collective, made up of four sections:a string quartet, an all-male choir, the Bulgarian vocal duo the Radkova sisters, and a Gypsy vocalist with brass band. Each unit operated independently at times but cooperated as a seamless unit, like a four-chambered, polyphonic heart. The some-time soundtrack composer ‘conducted’ while facing the audience, from his guitarist’s chair, one hand frequently aloft to signal timing, entrances and phrasing. It was like hearing a miniature Mahler symphony, blown through Surround Sound.
Photo (c) by Andrew Shpak; courtesy of Pomegranate Arts.
Bregovic built up the evening’s set like a cinematic-depressive fairy tale, an episodic ride that vacillated between drunken exhilaration and island-of-the-damned sobriety. Capturing our attention from the get go, Bregovic mumbled a few introductory words, then let single narrators (guitar, clarinet, violin) lock in our attention. Just as we were getting comfortable in our seats, the Gypsy brass band announced itself from the back of the hall and marched down the aisles, horns blazing, waking our senses in a visceral rush. Suddenly, in that moment, we became one audience: the polyphonic heart had found a body. For the rest of the night, waves of sound flooded us with animal joy, and uneven folk meters jogged our human jelly like a friendly reminder of mortality.
Bregovic clearly relished the role of conductor, and ultimately his instrument was us, the kinetic collective that responded to his every direction, be it to clap and rally to our feet, or to hush and listen to his next bit of storytelling. The ruckus was loudest in the cheap seats, but firm fan footholds were scattered throughout the room, as bodies swayed and hands danced in the air, Mediterranean-style. Shouts in Slavic languages rang out occasionally; next to me, a Turkish couple mouthed the words to Bregovic’ Emir Kuristica soundtracks. Did they understand the words? “Not really--it’s close to us,” they shrugged, electric grins lighting up their faces. On the other side of me, a couple of Duke alums, here simply because they had bought $5 tickets to every show of the season right before they graduated, radiated the same ecstasy.
They say that conductors have one of the highest job satisfaction ratings, but that role is typically dictatorial. Yet, while directing sound with hairline precision, Bregovic brings something fundamentally rebellious to the role. This goes back to his roots as a teenage bass player in the band “Bijelo Dugme” (“White Button”). Under Communist rule in the former Yugoslavia, just playing rock music at all was an act of rebellion, and Bregovic learned how to walk the line of cultural resistance without getting thrown in jail. Back then, backed by a rock band, he might have parodied Marshal Tito’s uniform on stage; now, in a silky cream suit and backed by his ethnically diverse orchestra, he delivered impure rants about sex and dying, and antifascist ditties such as the Italian partisan hymn “Bella Ciao.” Bregovic rejected classical music training as a child, when he was forced to take violin; today, he says, he chooses to play with folk musicians out of the same sense of rebellion against formal high culture. With rock star excess, Bregovic kept one-upping his encores, announcing, “it would be a shame to go to bed after that.”
Through the aperture of the Balkans’ “small culture,” where impurities are a virtue, Bregovic has created a sense of global belonging out of his own exile and displacement, genetically modifying folk music so that it feels like our pop and movie music. It’s not even a metaphor at times, such as when Bregovic plays zydeco covers and tunes he wrote for Iggy Pop. Is that breakneck Balkan number smuggling a ska beat, ‘50s rock and roll, or a Mexican quebradita? It’s a question that doesn’t really need answering, because Bregovic has hit the folk/pop dancebeat button in a way that feels universal, or rather: in a way that feels local, in every language and cultural tradition. With the vision of a film director, Bregovic reconnects us with the unamplified roots of his particular folk cultures, making space for us to feel social connection through “big,” live music in an increasingly digital world.
As it turns out, the musicians on stage had been only intermediaries in Bregovic' raucous ode to sex and death; the human orchestra was us.
“You’re a beautiful audience. Good night.”
Photo (c) by Mikhail Ognev; courtesy of Pomegranate Arts.
Is there any Triangle stage that features black women artists more regularly, and in greater proportion to their overall programming, than Arts NC State? In recent memory, they've presented Buika, Esperanza Spalding and Emeline Michel; already this season, they introduced me to the exquisite blueswoman Ruthie Foster. Yet to come in November: Ivorienne singer/dancer Dobet Gnahore (11/4), and local cellist/singer Shana Tucker (11/11).
TONIGHT (10/22): Jazz violinist and MacArthur "Genius" grant winner Regina Carter performs at Stewart Theatre. Her latest album, Reverse Thread, integrates African folk tunes with jazz, in a band featuring kora and accordion. Tickets run $28-32 for general public, with NCSU staff and student discounts available.
Our good friend John Brown, director of Duke's jazz program, leads a pre-show discussion at 7 pm. The discussion is free and open to the public in the Walnut Room, in Talley Student Center.
Afropop Amazon: Angelique Kidjo (photo: Andrzej Pilarczyk)
There's been such a wealth of great African music in town this month. Although I had to miss Bassekou Kouyate at Duke this Friday, I did this preview for dP's blog The Thread.
I did get a chance to see most of the Mau a Malawi: Stories of AIDS project at UNC that same evening. What a dedicated group of musicians, student actors, and volunteers. To mention only some is to slight all, but the vocalists in particular are so wonderful; I'm now a huge Lizzy Ross fan. To read more about the Mau a Malawi concept album, see my Indy story about it here. To visit the Stories of AIDS webpage, go here, where you can download the album for a donation to the arts-based charity Talents of the Malawian Child. It's for a good cause, yes; but just as importantly, it's great original music that deserves to be widely heard.
As a preview to that evening, Peter Mawanga, the Malawian co-producer of Mau of Malawi, gave a sweet, free show at The Station on Wednesday prior. Some of the guys from Kairaba backed him up, as well as others from the show. I got to get a good look and listen to Peter's "Jozi," his custom-made South African guitar. He and Mau a Malawi collaborator Andrew Finn Magill are still actively songwriting, and they played one song that they had written only 2 days before, dedicated to "those women who go through so much," in Peter's words, "before being forced to sell their bodies on the streets in a country that is ravaged by HIV and AIDS. This song is for those ladies." How rare and moving it was to hear a man speak about sex workers with such compassion; I felt like I was understanding the song, although the lyrics were in Chichewa. That IS the univeral power of music to communicate beyond language, a gift Peter has in great measure.
Kairaba played an opening set, intense as usual; one hears them growing in confidence, as they are about to head into the studio this week to record a first album. Kairaba's spiritual head, Diali Cissokho, always wins a crowd. His euphoric moment in the show this time came when he (somehow) balanced his kora upside down, and still managed to played it. I didn't have the stamina to take in Kairaba and Toubab Krewe out at Shakori Hills last weekend, but from what I hear, Diali did a surprise, walk-on vocal with one of Toubab Krewe's songs--the instrumental just happened to be a song he knew from Senegal. I wish I could have been there to see THAT. Lesson learned--always expect the unexpected from this charismatic griot of Carrboro.
The African music streak ain't over. Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo hits UNC's Memorial Hall this Sunday (10/16). Here's my Indy pick writeup about her. I saw Kidjo a few years back, touring with Santana at Walnut Creek. The global pop diva still commands respect as a strong voice from, and for, Africa. I was really stunned by this bare, unplugged duo performance that shows just how strong that voice is:
I had the privilege to interview Haitian singer Emeline Michel, as well as her guest violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), for this story in the INDY this week:
POST UPDATED 3/26: check out this excellent short documentary about Charanga Carolina by Samantha Lapinsky. The documentary starts at minute 1:16:
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Charanga Carolina, harpist Pavelid Castañeda and Orquesta GarDel are all making appearances at UNC this weekend, at two different concerts happening Friday (3/25) and Saturday (3/26). Both events take place at 7 pm in the Kenan Music Building Rehearsal Hall.
Friday's concert features two sets of dance music by the Charanga, and a solo set by Colombian harpist Pavelid. This benefit for the Scholars' Latino Initiative program has a $7 door.
Saturday's show is a double-bill salsa dance party with Charanga and Orquesta GarDel. Co-sponsor Mambo Dinamico celebrates its 9th anniversary with live dance performances. Door price is $10. MORE INFO On Facebook, "Charanga Carolina"
As a warmup, here's video of Charanga Carolina's last concert in February. The group combined with the UNC jazz band here, and features special guest Conrad Herwig on trombone:
The Southern Sacred Steel Conference kicks off this Thursday (3/17) with a free front porch concert at UNC's Center for the Study of the American South. The Allen Boys perform between 5-7 pm. The free, public concert includes an audience conversation moderated by folklorist Robert Stone.
Ticketed events get going on Friday (3/18) the Artscenter, which is hosting the conference exploring steel-guitar-based Black gospel music, with strongholds in Florida and Western NC. Folklorist Stone, who has documented the genre in photographs currently on exhibition at the Artscenter, will give several lectures. On Saturday, headlining artists will give steel guitar master classes. The conference ends Sunday morning with a worship service.
If you missed out on Eddie Palmieri yesterday--from his student masterclass, to the Memorial Hall concert, to a jam session on Franklin Street--you can still look forward to a great evening of Latin jazz tonight at UNC: a joint concert of Charanga Carolina and the UNC Jazz Band, with guests Joe Chambers (drums) and Conrad Herwig (trombone). Rumor has it there will be some special guests on vibes as well.
Palmieri was so stoked upon hearing the Charanga Carolina yesterday, that he placed cell phone calls during the rehearsal to share the live sound with two very important people: his wife ("she's a charanguera!" says Eddie), and trumpeter/music historian Rene Lopez.
"This is a rocking band! You better give them a good write-up," Palmieri told me afterwards.
He gave some playing tips to the group's pianists, current and former, who huddled around the keyboard on the Hill Hall stage, where yesterday's masterclass took place.
Palmieri's trombonist, Conrad Herwig has been in residency all week, playing lip-busting concerts with UNC faculty, the NC Jazz Rep Orchestra, as well as his boss. He told me Wednesday that he is looking forward to playing with the Charanga tonight.
Tonight's concert will be in UNC Memorial Hall at a cost of $15 general admission. An after hours jam session is planned at 10:30 pm at West End Wine Bar (cover: $4)
This intense burst of concerts continues next weekend, as part of UNC's 34th Carolina Jazz Festival. Trumpeter Marcus Printup of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra returns to campus for a residency Thursday (2/24)-Saturday (2/26).
I never did a full review of Charanga Carolina's show at Talulla's a few weeks ago, but it was a barnburner. Although the intimate setting puts dance space at a premium, the warm acoustics and family-run atmosphere at Talulla's are a perfect home for Charanga.
Here's a video from last time to get you in the mood for tonight:
A TRANSCRIPT containing more of this interview will be available here LATER TODAY. Check back later on Thursday.
I just had a chat last night with Conrad Herwig, Eddie Palmieri's trombonist, in the green room after he played a lip-blistering concert with Jim Ketch in Hill Hall. This was a free concert, lots of other events (some paid/ticketed, some not) taking place over the next two weeks at UNC, part of the Carolina Jazz Festival. Conrad is doing a residency and will also perform in Memorial with the UNC Jazz Band and Charanga Carolina on Saturday. I will post more info later!
Bio Ritmo sets up shop at the new Durham venue Casbah on Friday, December 3 for a vinyl release party of their new 45rpm single. Yours truly, Santa Salsera, will be spinning dance music between sets.
A-side "Dinah's Mambo" displays that funky, experimental side of Bio Ritmo we know and love, while B-side "La Muralla" is the smokin', old school salsa we can count on.
And now, for an Onda Carolina EXCLUSIVE:
Charanga Carolina is poised to announce its next show, a Latin dance party at Talulla's, on Saturday, December 4. Thanks to director David Garcia for the scoop. Charanga will play one set from 11pm-12 midnight; cover is $5.
At their last show in October at UNC, vocalist/percussionist Nelson Delgado made his exciting vibraphone debut with the Charanga. He's joined here in a VIBES DUEL (! ! !) by Matt Thurtell, a UNC exchange student from the Royal Academy of Music in London, on the Tito Puente classic, "Cayuco":
Having spent a week trying to describe Buika, I don't have a lot of energy left except to say: see this indescribable songstress on Tuesday (11/16), 8 pm at NC State's Stewart Theatre, you won't regret it.
Oh, and yours truly will give the Pre-Concert Talk from 7:00-7:30 pm in Talley, Room 3118 (3rd floor, same building as the Stewart Theatre). There will be audio and video. Come on down!
Sylvia Pfeiffenberger: Omara, tell me about your beginnings in music. What were your first music schools, either formal or informal?
Omara Portuondo: I attended normal schools from elementary through high school. Starting in primary school, I belonged to the chorus and took classes in music.
Sylvia: How and when did you arrive in the Filin scene?
Omara: That was in the decade of the 40s, I encountered a group of young people that called themselves “Filin” [>Eng. “feeling”]. Filin means “sentimiento,” and so everything they did in music, they said it had to have “filin.” We began doing boleros and lots of things. The most well-known song they did was called “Contigo en la Distancia,” by composer Cesar Portillo de la Luz. The pianist of the group was Frank Emilio Flynn. Many of these people have already died, because they were older than I was. I was still an adolescent, I was still in high school at that time. But I went to places where you could hear trova, and came to know their music in the houses of friends, etc.
Sylvia: Who gave you the nickname, “La Novia del Filin,” [the Sweetheart of Feeling] and when was that?
Omara: It was the first show I ever did, a program called “El Microfono,” on the radio station Mil Diez. The announcer Manolo Ortega gave me the name “La Novia del Filin,” because I was the only woman in the group at that time.
Sylvia: Among Cuban composers, do you have favorites?
Omara: Almost all of them are my favorites. One of them who has works that are almost classical in nature, but with Cuban roots, is Sindo Garay. I like the writers of traditional trova, and the composers of filin, like Cesar Portillo de la Luz. On the Gracias album, there’s a filin song called “Adios Felicidad” [by Ela O’Farrill]. There are many more I could name.
Sylvia: Is it true what one reads, that North American jazz singers influenced the Filin movement, such as Maxine Sullivan, Lena Horne or others?
Omara: We heard all that music in Cuba, because the southern US is close to Cuba and the Caribbean. We made our own jazz, too, like Frank Emilio, who was an excellent jazzista, but also had a filin ensemble. We also made Brazilian music because we knew it. We made Italian music because we knew it. From Spain we had zarzuelas, all the Spanish music. We had the possibility to know almost all cultures, to have access to them, to know them and to enjoy them.
Sylvia: Was it an international movement then, in terms of its influences?
Omara: The Filin? Filin was a national movement. We sing the same songs now as when I was starting out, boleros, sentimental songs, that’s why it’s called feeling. We were music aficionados. We weren’t very professional in the beginning, but as time went on, we got more professional. We made music everywhere, on the radio stations, everywhere. The radio was a very important means for transmitting the music.
Sylvia: I want to talk a little about your time in the group Cuarteto D’Aida.
Omara: El Cuarteto D’Aida was founded in 1952. There were five musicians, the director, Aida Diestro, and the [vocal] quartet of girls, Elena Burke, Moraima Secada, my sister Haydee Portuondo and me. Aida Diestro was a magnificent musician, complete in every way, she knew how to make great arrangements and select the songs and everything.
Sylvia: Was this also a sort of school for you?
Omara: Yes, that was my university. I was active in the quartet for 15 years, from 1952 until 1967. Then I left to become a soloist.
Sylvia: Let’s talk about your album Magia Negra, at the end of the 50s, that was your first album as a soloist, correct?
Omara: Oh! You know it. While I was still with the quartet I made that record because the musicians suggested it. They wanted to make a record with me, and that’s what we did.
Sylvia: That record has a very interesting sound, a mix of jazz, musica tipica cubana…
Omara: Yes, we did a completely Spanish version of “Magia Negra” [“That Old Black Magic”]. Lena Horne sang a song at the time in a film, Stormy Weather. I sang it with Frank Emilio on the radio, in Spanish and English. “Summertime,” all these type of things, I sang these in English and Spanish. At the time several [U.S.] movies came out with all-black casts, another was Carmen [Jones], with Harry Belafonte.
Sylvia: Have you acted in movies?
Omara: Yes, I’ve acted in two films. One is a Cuban opera, it’s a zarzuela, called Cecilia Valdes. They turned it into a movie. There’s a character called Mercedes Ayala running a club where white men could dance with mulatas.
The other film is called Baragua, it’s a city in Cuba where they made peace in the war for Cuban independence. In that one I played the mother of one of the fighters for Cuban independence, Antonio Maceo.
Sylvia: This past November you visited the US to present at the Latin Grammys, and you also won that award [Best Tropical Album for Gracias (2008)].
Omara: That was a very lovely thing that happened to me, and to everyone who worked on the record. We work as a team. We have Brazilian musicians, some from Buena Vista, my son…it was a beautiful project for that reason, because we all worked together, composers, producers, and musicians.
For many years we couldn’t come here [to the U.S.] because Cuba was on a terrorist list. For that time [c. 2004-2009] they didn’t give us visas. But last year, they gave me one. I was able to meet a Mexican composer [at the Latin Grammys] whom I admire greatly.
Sylvia: When was your first visit here? How many times have you toured the U.S.?
Omara: The first visit, it was in 1951, with a show from the Tropicana. There were dancers, musicians, and an orchestra. I haven't counted them [U.S. tours], but that was the first one.
Sylvia: I want to talk some about the Buena Vista phenomenon.
Omara: That was a big hit, also.
Sylvia: Were you expecting it? What importance did it have, as one chapter in your long musical career?
Omara: Well, really, I’m very glad I was incorporated as a part of that very successful record. We toured all over, Europe, Germany, we visited all these places. I was making a filin record at the time, and they came to me and said they wanted me to sing on this record that still didn’t have a name. I sang a duet with Compay [Segundo], “Veinte Años,” which is a song I have been singing for many, many years. It’s a song my parents taught me, a very special one.
Sylvia: To be quite honest with you, that was my introduction to Omara Portuondo, but since that time I’ve been lucky enough to get to know most of your music.
Omara: You don’t say. I give thanks for that, I had no idea someone like you would be interested in getting to know all my music after so many years. In what part of the U.S. do you live?
Sylvia: In North Carolina.
Omara: Well you know we are going to visit you soon.
Sylvia: Yes, we are looking forward to it. I’ve been waiting a long time for the return of Cuban artists.
Omara: Yes, we’re here now. I'm very happy about it because culture has to have its space.
Sylvia: Do I have your correct birthdate, which is October 29, 1930? How do you plan to celebrate your 80th birthday?
Omara: Yes. That day I’ll be [performing] in Chico, California. That’s the best way I could spend it, singing, because I don’t like parties. I don’t drink alchohol. My parties for me are my work, because I get tremendous enjoyment out of it. It gives me energy, it gives me life. I feel very good on stage.
Sylvia: It’s interesting to me that you are a singer with a very refined style, you sing jazz, you have performed on TV and in nightclub shows, but also, you are really a people’s singer, because you sing songs that everyone knows and that everyone sings.
Omara: Yes, of course, that is very important for me too. Because what interests me, what I need as a human being, is to sing things that everyone feels. Love songs, all these sentimental things I’m interpreting, I’m also feeling them at the same time, when I am singing.
Fiesta Latina features live performances starting at 7:30 pm with Colombian harpist Pavelid Castañeda; my Independent story on Pavelid in June links to performance videos and a closer look at his Camac Electroharp. Headliner UNC Charanga Carolina plays the last hour from 8:30-9:30 pm, and dancers will be encouraged to take to the open dancefloor. Foodtrucks will be onsite selling dinner options from 6:30 on.
Fiesta Latina is FREE and the public is invited. It will be the 5th year for this community celebration in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, which is not just an enrichment opportunity for DA students, but a serious bid for membership in the wider community.
BRING YOUR PROGRAM from Fiesta Latina to get a $5 door discount at LA EXCELENCIA. La Excelencia doors open at 9:30, and the first set won't start before 10:30 pm, so you will have plenty of time to make your way to official afterparty at Fred Astaire Studio.
Aggressive salsa dura, barrio-style, is what La Excelencia promises:
Charanga Carolina is a UNC performing ensemble made up of students and guest artists from the community. Like a sports team, the roster varies year to year based on student enrollment and graduations. We're lucky to have a few key players back in Charanga this fall (Caity Bunch on flute, Alex Williams on piano, and Ryan Raven on trumpet, among others), as well as a whole new crop of student Charangueros.
With more trumpets than trombones this semester, however, director David Garcia has rotated timba charts out of Charanga's book, for the time being. "To play Los Van Van, you really need the 3 trombones," David says.
What emerges stronger this season are the strings, with 5 strong players in the violin section. What better way to showcase this than by playing danzón, the original mainstay of the charanga orchestra, and the genre from which later developments such as the mambo and the cha cha chá emerged.
With its slower tempo and more classical sound, danzón may seem like a staid alternative, but it's an important building block in the history of Cuban music, and still forms the basis of many Latin jazz compositions to this day. Playing danzón well is challenging, because there's not much cover for the musicians, and its rhythmic shadings have their own subtle idiosyncrasies. Danzón builds slow, but the groove payoff in the end is large. Hear a modern echo in the cha-rock slowcookers of the 60s and 70s, songs like "Cocinando" ane "Oye Como Va"--based on rhythms that originated, in the way-back time, with danzón.
Charanga Carolina did an impressive job last Sunday, therefore, with their first public performance of this classic danzón "Angoa" at Chapel Hill's Festifall.
"That was the first time I've ever heard live danzón, and it made my day," said dance aficionadaAmanda Jackson.
Other new charts in the book this season: an Arsenio Rodriguez son, "Blanca Paloma," and a conjoined version of "Guantanamo" and "Me Voy Pa' Moron." As a dancer, I can tell you these two-for-one charts are heaven to dance to. Thanks, Charanga! Keep up the good work.
Next performance of CHARANGA CAROLINA:
Saturday, October 16 at 8:30 pm at Durham Academy's Fiesta Latina. Free and open to the public! Not only that, but your Fiesta Latina program will get you a discount at the door to see New York salsa band La Excelencia at Fred Astaire studio later that night, which is the official afterparty of DA Fiesta Latina.
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