Caribbean and Latin American Music Study Day

Saturday 12 November 2011
University of Huddersfield
School of Music, Humanities and Media, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH

Guest Speaker Dr Henry Stobart (Royal Holloway, University of London)

CALL FOR PAPERS

The study of music from the Caribbean and Latin America has tended in the past to remain the preserve of ethnomusicologists and those writing on popular music. This study day intends to extend this area of academic research by also focussing on practice-led research in this area. In addition to historiographic and ethnomusicological studies on Caribbean and Latin American music forms we hope to incorporate performance as a main element. Alongside paper presentations we encourage submissions for lecture recitals and short performances. The aim is to bring together researchers from the fields of performance, musicology and ethnomusicology to enable new ways of researching this subject.

Possible music areas in a range of national settings could include:

• Tango in Buenos Aires or elsewhere in the world
• Cuban musics
• Brazilian musics
• English-speaking Caribbean forms (such as pan, soca, reggae and calypso)
• Salsa (in all its manifestations)
• Traditional and Modern Latin American forms from Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia etc
• Jazz from the Caribbean

Although not restricted to specific themes, possible topics could include:

• Performance as research
• Exoticism in Latin American music
• Approaches to the analysis of world musics
• The influence of Latin music on popular Anglo-American styles
• A critique of participant-observer methods of ethnomusicological fieldwork
• Film music
• The spiritual in the secular
• Migration and trans-cultural exchange
• Cultural policy and how it affects musicians’ lives on the ground
• The African aesthetic in New World forms
• The relationship between Iberian and New World musical forms
• Latin American music in the global marketplace

Abstracts of no more than 200 words are invited for papers (20 minutes duration followed by 10 minutes for questions) and for lecture presentations or performances (30 minutes with 15 minutes for questions).

Abstracts need to be submitted by the 15 of September 2011 to Sue Miller s.miller@charangasue.com for consideration by the programme committee. Proposals from those pursuing practice-led research are particularly welcome.

Conference committee:
Jessica Quiñones (University of Huddersfield),  Sue Miller (University of Leeds), Rachel Hayward (City University)

See http://www.rma.ac.uk/conferences for further details

BOOK REVIEW

Cultural Policy and Music Making in Revolutionary Cuba

Sue Miller

Music and Revolution: Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba, by Robin D. Moore, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 2006, 367pages, £38.95p/£15.95,

HB ISBN 0 – 520-24710-8, PB ISBN 0 – 520-24711-6

In Music and Revolution Robin Moore,  professor of music history at the University of Texas, presents a comprehensive survey of cultural policy making in Cuba from the early years of the revolution, the ‘quinquenio gris’ (from 1969 to 1973), the more optimistic 1980s, and the special period in the 1990s through to the present day. He looks at the ideologies behind the policies, exploring how issues of race and religion, alongside cultural theories of socialism, Marxism and nationalism, have impacted on cultural policy. After a chronological overview of cultural changes from the 1950s onwards, Moore turns his attention to various case studies. Here, I shall focus on his discussion of dance and  Afro-Cuban ‘folkloric’ musics, although Moore also explores  Nueva Trova, Salsa and Timba to illustrate the effects of various policies on Cuban musicians themselves. As he states in his introduction, critiques of cultural policies in Cuba are rare due to the tendency of writers on Cuban matters to come down on one side or other of the political divide (pro or anti-Castro). His stated aim is to fairly evaluate the impact of cultural policies in Cuba post 1959 with a view to opening up an informed debate on the subject. The sense of victimhood and isolation felt by Cuba (due to the US embargo and the  collapse of the Soviet Union) has often led to a defensive stance as regards evaluating its own cultural policies and in this book Moore sets out  to discover the truths surrounding cultural life in socialist Cuba. He states at the outset that as a North American academic, this has not been an easy task as many obstacles have been put in his way. For example, he has had difficulties getting funding to study in Cuba from the US side and the Cuban Ministry of Culture has refused him access to statistical data.

Moore highlights the fact that the Afro-Cuban community was the first to benefit from the revolution in terms of better living standards, housing, health and education. Many Afro-Cuban artists also received state support, particularly in the early years of the revolution. However, such support does not always mean that musicians are free to do what they want given various attempts by the government to interfere with the development of Cuban musicianship. Moore recounts one amusing tale of Pedro Izquierdo (Pello el Afrokán) being asked by Fidel Castro in 1965 to write a song about the sugar harvest to spur on the workers. The resulting song pleased both Fidel and the musicians through the well tested Cuban art of double-entendre, with lyrics such as “Ay, how tasty the sugar cane is honey…bring your cart over here!” Other examples of state intervention had more serious consequences however, such as Nueva Trova artists in the early part of their careers being sent to ‘voluntary’ labour camps for ‘re-education’.

Moore’s exploration of dance music shows how the socialist government has struggled to reconcile the pleasure principle with its concept of music as having to ‘edify’ and ‘educate’. However, Cuban son music, emanating from the black working class, with its lyrics about daily life and its emphasis on dance and sensual pleasures, is  not an ideal medium for political messages. Charanga and Son Conjunto bands were, of course, immensely popular in the 1950s but were viewed as escapist and frivolous by the new leadership. Consequently,  many of these dance bands received little state support. Yet as Moore explains, to acknowledge the rich artistic life of the 1950s does not in any way negate the existence of prostitution, poverty, racism and other hardships suffered by ordinary Cubans. As he remarks, many musics such as Jazz and Tango have originated amidst appalling social conditions. The rise in popularity of Salsa worldwide and of Timba in Cuba in the 1980s and 1990s, however, have led to a volte-face by the state, which now  supports dance music as a means of securing much needed revenue.

The facile criticism (by Cuban commentators such as Ariana Hernández-Reguant) of the Buena Vista phenomenon, (the 1997 international hit ‘Buena Vista Social Club’ documentary film and recording by UK-based ‘World Circuit’ Records that showcased pre-Revolutionary artists such as Rubén Gonzalez and Ibrahim Ferrer), as ‘imperialist nostalgia’ is challenged by Moore (p132) as he points out that performers from the 1940s and 50s have been consistently underpromoted in post-revolutionary Cuba and that these musicians have been unfairly stigmatised by association with the Batista era. Moore points out that the state record company, EGREM, could have effected a similar success to that of World Circuit’s Buena Vista productions had it chosen to promote its high quality back catalogue of 1950s performers.

Regarding ‘Afro-Cuban’ forms of music (Rumba, religious ‘folkloric’ music such as Santería, Palo Monte and Abacuá), state support has been uneven and contradictory. This is  because the issue of racism is rarely discussed in the context of socialist Cuba, as the leadership promotes an image of a unified Cuban nation in the face of US aggression. Nevertheless, racism did not disappear in 1959 and Moore points out that Marxist  intolerance of religion has also been used as a cover for racial prejudice, with Afro-Cuban folkloric drumming often viewed as ‘atrasada’ (backward) by party officials and musicians too (composer Gonzalo Roig described the music as barbaric). All forms of religion were banned by the revolutionary government and Afro-Cuban religions in particular have been viewed as a throwback to primitive, colonial times. State support for the music and dance of Santería and other Afro-Cuban religious  forms have set out to valorise the music and dance but separate them from their religious content, turning performances of ‘Afro-Folkloric’ music and dance into ‘heritage folk-art’ for the concert stage. The first state-supported Afro-folkloric group, the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional was founded in 1962 and is perhaps the most well known both in Cuba and abroad. Criticisms of these staged performances of Afro-Cuban artforms by Cuban musicologists such as Helio Orovio and Carlos Moore include the lack of spontaneity, the diminished role of improvisation and the increased formality of these events. On the plus side these groups have played an important educative role, particularly as conservatoires up until very recently have not allowed Cuban popular music or ‘Afro-folkloric’ drumming into their curriculum.

Moore’s book gives a fascinating insight into how state intervention in the arts affects artists on the ground in Cuba. Some policies have been immensely successful (for example a ‘Casa de Cultura’ in every town, top level free music education, guaranteed salaries for performing musicians), whilst other measures have been more detrimental (such as the banning of Afro-Cuban religious ceremonies  in the late 1960s and the instigation of  education programmes in schools and youth summer camps aimed at eradicating Afro-Cuban religions).

Although the book is well researched, Moore’s inability to gain access to the Ministry of Culture’s statistics means that his work is necessarily incomplete. Let us hope that the Ministry of Culture will soften its policy of non-cooperation with US researchers sooner rather than later. As a musician who has interviewed Cuban musicians,  I appreciate the in-depth background that  Moore’s book affords researchers such as me.  The thirteen musical transcriptions included serve to illustrate some styles and rhythms, and show evidence of the use of Afro-Cuban religious music in popular dance genres, yet  knowledge of musical notation is not a prerequisite for understanding the book. In sum, Music and Revolution will be of great interest to Cubaphiles, ethnomusicologists, cultural, and political theorists in addition to anyone concerned with how the state’s involvement in cultural policy can affect the artistic life of nations.

Pancho Terry, Sue Miller, ?, Guillermo Rubalcaba, Polo Tamayo

I guested with various veteran bands such as Charanga de Oro, Orquesta Sublime and Estrellas Cubanas as part of the International Danzón Festival. I also gave an invited lecture in Spanish on the history of Charanga de Norte and on my research into Cuban Charanga at the International Conference on Danzón organised by UNEAC. My performance with Orquesta Sublime on 6 April in the Cabaret Nacional was filmed for Cuban Television and video extracts are available on this site.

Performances in Havana as Guest Flautist 2006 & 2007:

Charanga de Oro, ‘Teatro America’, Havana matinee                     25 March 2007

Charanga de Oro. Santa Cruz del Norte, evening                              25 March 2007

Estrellas Cubanas, ‘Union Fraternal’, Habana Vieja                       22 March 2007

Orquesta Sublime, ‘Cabaret Nacional’, Havana                                 9 April 2007

Orquesta Barbarito Diez, Bejucal                                                           14 April 2007

Estrellas Cubanas in ‘Casa de la Cultura’, Vibora’, Habana           17 Feb 2006

La Sublime in ‘Associacion Artistica Gallega’, Habana Vieja        5 March 2006

Performance in New York as Guest Flautist 2007:

Orquesta Broadway, Mamoncillo Festival                                              15 July 2007

Salsa Performance 2010:

The Wardrobe, Leeds: A Tribute to Eddie Palmieri’s La Perfecta    5 February 2010

Charanga del Norte 2010

Seven Arts Centre, Seven Jazz, Leeds                                                       13 May 2010

Charanga del Norte 2009

Lakes Alive Festival, Carlisle                                                                        24 May 2009

Victoria Park with Orquesta Aragon & Changui de Guantanamo   21 June 2009

Barbican, London                                                                                              28 June 2009

Barnsley Civic Theatre                                                                                        7 November 2009

Charanga del Norte 2008

Marsden Mechanics                                                                                         1 March 2008

John Leggott College Scunthorpe                                                            26 April 2008

York World Music Fiesta                                                                             5 May 2008

Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield                                                3 August 2008

Colchester Arts Centre                                                                               23 August 2008

Charanga del Norte 2006/2007

Leeds Metropolitan University                                                             13  September 2006

Sheffield University Concert Series                                                     17  October 2006

College of St Johns, York 12^th Night Salsa Extravaganza             5 January 2007

Instituto Cervantes, Manchester                                                          21  February 2007

Instituto Cervantes, Leeds                                                                      22  February  2007

Richmond, Yorkshire                                                                               24 August 2007

The New Picket, Liverpool                                                                     13 October 2007

Charanga del Norte 2005/2006

Otley Courthouse Arts Centre                                                               3 Dec 2005

Leeds Hi-Fi Club                                                                                       24 April 2006

Colchester Arts Centre                                                                          24 June 2006

Park Lane College, Leeds                                                                       6 July 2006

Hull Jazz Festival                                                                                    29 July 2006

Darlington Arts Centre                                                                        29 July 2006

Charanga del Norte Summer Tour 2005:

Darlington Arts Centre                                                                         28 May

Helmsley Arts Centre                                                                            4 June

The Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, Fife                                   11 June

Sunderland Kite Festival (organised by Sage Gateshead)     3 July

Colchester Arts Centre                                                                        9 July

North Cornwall Arts, Bodmin Moor festival                              22 July

Trowbridge festival                                                                              23 July

2003 Charanga del Norte UK Tour:

Wiltshire Music Centre                                                                                  14 June

Queens Gardens, Hull                                                                                    21 June

Bar Rumba, London                                                                                       24 June

Colchester Arts Centre                                                                                 28 June

The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester (supporting Eliades Ochoa)     2 July

Fiddlers, Bristol                                                                                                  4 July

Cheltenham Town Hall                                                                                     8 July

The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen                                                                          11 July

The Y Theatre, Leicester                                                                               18 July

Brampton Live Festival                                                                                 19 July

Harrogate International Festival                                                               20 July

Trowbridge Festival                                                                                      27 July

Sidmouth Festival                                                                                          1 August

Chapel Allerton Arts Festival, Leeds                                                    27 August

Musicport Festival, Whitby                                                                      25 October

2001 Charanga del Norte UK Tour:

Manchester Streets Ahead Festival                                                       13 May

Whitby Musicport (Pre-Festival)                                                            28 May

Woodhouse Millennium Festival, Leeds                                               3 June

The Vale Centre, Todmorden                                                                   10 June

Heeley Festival, Sheffield                                                                          24 June

Kirkstall Festival, Leeds                                                                              8 July

The Kirkgate Centre, Cockermouth                                                        28 July

The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester (‘Hola Mundo’ Festival)         3 August

Talking Heads, Southampton                                                                  25 August

Colchester Arts Centre                                                                             26 August

The Tower Arts Centre, Winchester                                                    8 September

The Castle, Wellingborough                                                                 22 September

The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge                                                       23 September

Whitby Musicport Festival                                                                  30 September

1999 and 2000 Charanga del Norte performances included:

Casa Latina Leeds, Colchester Arts Centre, The Bridgewater Hall ‘Hola Cuba’ Festival, Hull Jazz Festival, Exeter Salsa Club, Westward Ho! Salsa Event, Window on the World Festival (North Shields), The Castle Arts Centre (Wellingborough), Hebden Bridge Trades Club and The Lawrence Batley Theatre (Huddersfield).

TEACHERS:

Richard Egües: Cuban Flute Improvisation (Havana)

Dr Luke Windsor: Supervisor for PhD, University of Leeds

Bill Kinghorn: Improvisation, Functional Harmony and Analysis (LCM)

Dharambir Singh: Indian Music (LCM)

Lis Parry: Classical Flute (LCM)

Nikki Iles: Jazz Piano (LCM)

Performances as Director of the 30-piece ‘Cuban Music Ensemble’: (Education Work)

Harrogate Festival (concerts in Kettlesing and Kirby Malzeard),      July 2003

Brudenell Social Club  (for Women’s Aid)                                               12 December 2003

Briggate, Leeds (for Refugee Week)                                                            13 June 2004

HQ Club, Chapel Allerton Leeds  (for Leeds Asylum Seekers)        17 June 2004

The Irish Centre, Leeds (for LGI and St James Infirmary staff)      20 December 2004

Brudenell Social Club (Leeds Cuba Solidarity ‘Moncada Rocks’)    3 June 2006

The Venue, Leeds College of Music                                                           24 November 2006

Headingley Parish Hall (Cuban Descarga night)                                  10 December 2006

Leeds United Football Club (for Women’s Aid)                                  22 November 2007

Seven Arts Centre, Leeds                                                                                6 June 2008

The Venue, Leeds College of Music                                                           6 May 2009

Seven Arts Centre, Leeds                                                                              12 July 2009

In 2006 I guested with Orquesta Barbarito Diez in Bejucal near Havana which was a lovely gig with a sweet rhythm section which included the grandson of Orestes Varona, the timbale player from Orquesta Aragón. On piano a very classy lady called Obdulia , Francisco ‘Panchito’ on bass and Jeronomito Barbón on congas  and a wonderful guiro player I’ve yet to find out the name of – how can you not play well when you have  this elegant grooving rhythm section behind you!

Orquesta Barbarito Diez in rehearsal at Obdulia's house

Taken from the Ethnomusicology Forum Website September news:

2009 BFE Student Prize

The winner of the 2009 prize for the best student paper presented at the 2009 annual conference at Liverpool John Moores University goes to Sue Miller for her paper, “‘The Thieving Magpie’: Musical Borrowing, Quotes and Signifiers in Cuban Charanga Improvisation”. The panel thought this was highly original work, demonstrating an expert knowledge of the subject matter, using superb examples chosen with a performer’s as well as an audience perspective, pertinent and persuasive use of relevant theory woven into the narrative, and tightly timed presentation. Many congratulations!

Ethnomusicology Forum website

At the International Danzón Festival I performed with Charanga Orquestas ‘Estrellas Cubanas’, ‘Orquesta Sublime’ and ‘Charanga de Oro’ and gave a lecture in Spanish at the conference on my research and my band Charanga del Norte (the UK’s only Charanga Orquesta). I was featured on Cuban television and radio as something of a novelty – an English girl improvising flute Charanga típica style.

I gave a one hour lecture in Spanish on my research into Cuban flute improvisation and on the history of Charanga del Norte at the International Festival and Conference on Danzón, Havana on 1 April 2009:

Here’s my abstract:

¿El Danzón Ingles?

Presentacion de Conferencia

Coloquio y Festival Internacional de Danzón, Habana, 2009

Por Susan Miller

En 1997 en un club de Salsa (la Casa Latina de Leeds) descubrí a dos grandes de la música cubana a través de las grabaciones de Cachao Master Sessions Volume 1 y Danzones de Ayer y de Hoy II de la Orquesta Aragón (compré este disco de un cantante cubano visitante). El hipnotismo del Mambo de Cachao y las improvisaciones y el sonido de la flauta de Richard Egües me motivaron a empezar mi propria Charanga en Inglaterra. Transcribí numeros de las grabaciones  de oido y  despues los arreglé  numeros para mi Charanga en estilos de Danzón, Chachachá, Son, Mambo y Pachanga. Tuve muchas dificultades en crear mi grupo porque no hay Charangueros en Inglaterra (y no hay muchos músicos de Salsa afuera de la capital). Mientras que aprendí la flauta Charanga debí enseñar a los músicos como tocar la música Charanga. Tuvimos miles de aventuras y malentendidos pero  he perseverado ya diez años con mi Charanga del Norte, haciendo conciertos a traves del Reino Unido. En 1998 fui a Cuba para asistir al Festival de Charanga en Palma Soriano y en camino encontré a mi ídolo Richard Egües en la Habana. Volví a estudiar con él en el año 2000 y 2001 y hasta hoy continúa siendo mi profesor a traves de sus grabaciones.

En el año 2005  empecé mis estudios de doctorado en la Universidad de Leeds mientras de trabajaba como músico y hoy quiero mostrar como mi trabajo de músico y musicólogo van de mano en mano. Como me dijo Amadito Valdes en el 2008: para aprender esa música hay que tocarla! Además voy a mostrar como el análisis de la improvisación de Richard Egües entre otros  no solamente me ayuda en mi  prática pero también me ayuda a tener mayor conciencia de esa forma de arte. Aunque no soy musicólogo histórico considero el contexto y la historia de la música cubana como imprescindible al estudio de la flauta en la Charanga y considero que el Danzón tiene la llave para la comprensión de este estilo de improvisación

Esta presentación esta acompañada de videos de la Charanga del Norte en concierto tocando Danzón, grabaciones de la Charanga del Norte y entrevistas con flautistas cubanos de la Charanga típica  y con otros musicos importantes  del mundo de la música popular bailable de Cuba.

I gave a lecture at the international Danzón conference in Havana in April 2009 where I demonstrated how I learnt the Cuban flute style of improvisation from renowned Cuban flute players such as Richard Egües, Polo Tamayo and Melquiades Fundora.

Couples dancing Danzón in the Union Fraternal, Havana Vieja

Richard Egues and Sue Miller

I am currently undertaking a PhD part-time at the University of Leeds, UK, where I combine my practical work as a performer with more traditional research methods. In addition to a written thesis my work  involves recording in the studio and live at concerts,  where analysis, commentary and transcription of flute improvisations link in to this practical side. My research therefore  covers various academic areas such as music analysis, improvisation, ethnomusicology and performance.

My thesis title is ‘Flute Improvisation in Cuban Charanga performance, with a specific focus on the work of Richard Egües and Orquesta Aragón.’

I am supervised at the University of Leeds  School of Music by  Dr Luke Windsor (Psychology of Music and Performance)  Dr Luke Windsor

You can view the School of Music postgraduate students’ blog at this site: Music Postgraduates Blog

Gladys and Richard Egües with Sue Miller in April 2001