Content tagged with: cuban music

A musico-choreographic analysis of a Cuban dance routine: a performance-informed approach

The research is based on the analysis of a live performance on Cuban television of ‘Los Problemas de Atilana’ by Orquesta Aragón in the early 1960s, where musical gestures are shown to be embodied in the flute and dance solo ‘duet’ performed by Cuban flautist Richard Egües and dancer Rafael Bacallao, revealing the shared memories of a community bound by common cultural experience. Interdisciplinary in nature, analysis is undertaken by a musician-scholar, a film scholar-practitioner and a professional Cuban dancer-animator in order to unearth details of this embodied repertoire, thus translating and making overt culturally implicit knowledge for those outside of the artistic community of practice, and, in some cases, within it.

A Musico-Choreographic Analysis of a Cuban Dance Routine – Animation Demonstrations

This practice research by Prof. Sue Miller, Guillermo Davis and Dr Sarah Bowen is based on the analysis of a live performance on Cuban television of ‘Los Problemas de Atilana’ by Orquesta Aragón in the early 1960s, where musical gestures are shown to be embodied in the flute and dance solo ‘duet’ performed by Cuban flautist Richard Egües and dancer Rafael Bacallao. Through re-performance and re-presentation in the form of a recording and short animations, the many meanings embodied in the original performance are examined through analytical text, musical notation, visuals, recordings and animation film. The article will be published soon in the British Forum for Ethnomusicology Journal and below are some of the animations made to go with this article. Animations are by Cuban dancer-animator Guillermo Davis and the music is recorded by Sue Miller (flute) and her band Charanga del Norte.

NEW BOOK – Improvising Sabor – Cuban Dance Music in New York

Improvising Sabor: Cuban Dance Music in New York begins in 1960s New York and examines in rich detail the playing styles and international influence of important figures in US Latin music. Such innovators as José Fajardo, Johnny Pacheco, George Castro, and Eddy Zervigón dazzled the Palladium ballroom and other Latin music venues in those crucible years. Author Sue Miller focuses on the Cuban flute style in light of its transformations in the US after the 1959 revolution and within the vibrant context of 1960s New York.

Sue Miller features on the Radio programme Tropicana Musical in Brazil

Sue Miller was interviewed on the radio programme Tropicana Musical in Brazil by ethnomusicologist and broadcaster Edwin Pitre and is now available as a podcast.The interview on the history of Cuban charanga is mostly in Spanish and features music from Orquesta Tata Peireira, Arcano y sus Maravillas, Fajardo y sus Estrellas, Orquesta Aragon, Orquesta Belisario Lopez, Orquesta Broadway, Charlie Palmieri y su Charanga Duboney, Johnny Pacheco y su Charanga, Estrellas Cubanas, Orquesta Sublime and Charanga Rubalcaba.

New book Improvising Sabor pre-order half price in the 2021 special offer

You can get my new book Improvising Sabor: Cuban Dance Music in New York for only $20.21 until December 15th 2020 if ordered online which is a bargain especially for the hardback version.

Sue Miller interviewed by Nelson Garcia on La Troja Radio, Barranquilla, Colombia

Entrevista de Sue Miller con Nelson Garcia en la Radio Troja, Barranquilla, Colombia – ‘ mas salsa que pescao!’ Bandleader of Charanga del Norte is interviewed in Spanish by Salsa DJ Nelson Garcia on 22 July 2020 (53’16 minutes into the programme).

Experiments in Cuban Music, Dance and Animation June 6th 2019 Lawrence Batley Theatre 6.30pm

Cuban dancer-turned-animator Guillermo Davis, Dr Sarah Bowen (Head of Animation, northern Film School) and Dr Sue Miller, director of Charanga del Norte and Reader in Music at Leeds Beckett University discuss and present their collaborative projects in music, dance and animation film with screenings of animation shorts featuring music by Charanga del Norte (who will be performing live at Lawrence Batley Theatre on Sunday 28 July).

Films with music by Charanga del Norte include a world premier of Cyrilo’s Dance from the work in progress Atilana alongside the animation Charanga Time made to celebrate the band’s 20th anniversary in 2019. Other films by Guillermo Davis to be shown include The Little Rose Shoes based on a Cuban poem for children by Jose Marti and Grandad Go and Get the Bread!, an animation short about an old man who shuffles out to dance on Carnival day. Another film short When You Can Hear the River is an animation based on a devastating flood in Guillermo’s home town of Guantanamo.

Festival Internacional Danzón Habana

Dr Sue Miller will be giving an invited talk at the International Festival and Conference on Danzon in Havana this April. El Festival Internacional Danzón Habana 2019 se desarrollará en La Habana entre los días 18 y 28 de abril en varias locaciones capitalinas y estará dedicado al 500 aniversario de la fundación de […]

Charanga del Norte perform live in Manchester 7 February 2019

Charanga del Norte perform at Instituto Cervantes, Manchester on Thursday 7 February.

British Academy Grant Awarded

A new research project – bringing to life the practice and history of mid-20th century New York-based Latin music – has launched at Leeds Beckett.

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