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Tender Pablo
I'm listening to the song Dias de Gloria (Glory Days) by
Pablo Milanes and I feel the need to talk about this man of
clear voice and deep feelings. Perhaps unknown to some of
our subscribers, our loveable Pablo is from a movement that
began in the 1960's under the name of Nueva Trova*. This
"music with meaning" is also sung by Silvio Rodriguez.
Milanes had played son, guajira and filin (from the English
"Feeling"), and was part of a circle of intellectuals that
made up the ICAIC Sound Experimentation Group in 1969. That
environment of transformation, still fresh after the
Revolution, began to appear in his lyrics.
He sang about life and love, but always with a committed
tone and devotion to Cuba. Songs like Yolanda, Yo Me Quedo
(I'm Staying), Anos (Years) and Yo No Te Pido (I'm Not Asking You)
are some of the most popular in Latin America. Dias de
Gloria is particularly stirring, and a little painful for
those of us who've followed the life of this singer.
To hear the original in Spanish click here for the MP3 file.
English translation follows. Pablo will do the rest.
Days of Glory
The days of glory flew by and I never noticed,
Only their memory will keep alive for me what once was.
I live with ghosts that feed dreams and false promises,
Not returning the days of glory I once had.
I lost my yagruma tree and hummingbird,
I lost my guitar, it went with the joke
Where I lose my speech and you.
The days of glory went with all I once was.
The days of glory closed, respites opening windows
Through which pain from long ago towards the future
Is what's left for me from that morning, from those sweet years.
Our stubborn anger lets the days of glory slip by.
* Trova and Nueva Trova: Cuban folk music and its
second generation
When Havana Was Within Walls
One can close one's eyes and be transported back to 1674,
with a new bustle in a 150-year-old town on a bay. The first stones
are being placed in what will be a great wall around the land side of the
city, making it invulnerable to pirate attacks from land.
By 1740 the wall is finished, extending in an arc from Desamparado
street on Havana Bay to La Punta Fortress at the entrance to the bay. There are nine huge doors,
the most well-known being La Punta, another at Reina Street
and still another called La Muralla.
Within the stone belt Spanish soldiers strut through the
narrow streets in their crisp uniforms. The sun is high,
bouncing light off the earthen roofs and town criers can
be heard, along with squeaking carts full of supplies.
Senoras sit fanning their faces, dabbing flowered lotion
on their necks, the most daring folding up their dresses
and showing calves.
In the neighborhoods of Jesus Maria, La Catedral, El Santo
Angel and San Juan de Dios there is a constant shuffle of
domestic slaves, artesans, musicians and port workers.
The onset of evening brings the nine o'clock cannon shot
and the doors are closed. The growing suburbs left outside
are el Horcon, San Lazaro, Carraguao, Guadalupe and the
feared Manglar, a multicultural working class neighborhood.
The city's rapid growth rendered the wall anachronistic,
and it was demolished 123 years after its completion.
The portals were opened, uniting inner and outer Havana
forever. The extended city saw important construction
like the Aldama theater, the Paseo del Prado and the Tacon Theater.
Streets with wonderful names still exist today, like
Amistad (Friendship), Concordia (Harmony), Lealtad (Loyalty),
and more.
Scattered fragments of the wall stand to this day, one
of the best near the central railroad station in Old Havana.
Savory Coffee
Ay, Ay mama Ines, ay mama Ines, todos los negros tomamos
cafe... , sang Bola de Nieve, one of Cuba's greatest
vocalists last century. He was referring to the island's
Afro-Cuban population being particularly fond of coffee,
but everybody loves the stuff.
The irrestible grain first arrived in the 18th century
with Spaniard Jose Gelabert, who grew it outside Havana.
The subsequent entry of French colonists ignited a fiery
trade of this product with Europe in the 19th century.
Cuban coffee is 100% Arabic, has a natural taste, excellent
aroma and rubs shoulders with the best of Brazil and
Colombia. It is grown in the highlands of the Sierra del
Rosario mountains in Pinar del Rio, the Escambrays in
central Cuba, and the Gran Piedra zone in Santiago.
The latter area in eastern Cuba is where you can find
the strongest coffee - it will knock your socks off!
They drink more than anywhere else, in tiny cups the
moment they wake and after every meal, if not more.
They don't adulterate it with milk, but add plenty of
sugar, and it's perfect company for a good cigar and a
shot of rum.
In any town in Cuba you can smell coffee brewing inside
peoples' homes, and whether it be in an espresso maker
or strained through a cloth, you'll probably be invited
in for a cup.
New Art Museum in Havana
An encounter of different works, styles, and spirits
has come to Old Havana with the opening of the new
National Museum of Fine Arts, a treasure of paintings,
sculpture, prints and more.
Back in action after years of reconstruction, the museum
has been divided into two separate buildings: one for Cuban art and one for
Universal art. The first is in what has always been the
Fine Arts Museum next to the Museum of the Revolution,
and the second occupies one of Havana's most impressive buildings, the former Centro
Asturiano in front of the Parque Central. The two are just four blocks apart. Both
are open Tuesday to Saturday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. and
Sunday 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
The spacious well-lit salons shelter more than 47,000
works, most of which are part of Cuba's permanent collection.
The ancient art section has 590 pieces which include the
seven traditional European schools. There is also a graphics
area with more than 36,000 pieces among between drawings, prints
and posters, including an Asian Art section with work from
the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Cuban Art museum possesses a huge amount of work
including pieces by Nicolas Escalera, Menocal, Victor Manuel,
Mariano Rodriguez, Carlos Enrique, Wifredo Lam, Amelia Pelaez,
Portocarrero, Pedro Pablo Oliva, Jorge Arche, Sosabravo
and more. Issues reflected include religion, pop
culture, social criticism and the Cuban landscape.
Las Parrandas de Remedios
Remedios is a city to the north of Villa Clara in
central Cuba that was founded by Spanish
colonists in 1514, the 8th of such settlements .
A visit to this town from January to November may not
bring much more than a yawn, although its historical center
has indeed been declared a national monument. Its San Juan
Bautista and Buen Viaje churches are not to be missed, nor
the tiny alleys surrounding these beautiful buildings. The
Plaza Marti is a great place to sit in the shade on a wrought
iron bench.
Nevertheless, the village silently prepares all year long
for the last Saturday in December. This is the Parrandas*
festival, one of the most spectacular in Cuba.
Las Parrandas began on Christmas Eve in 1822 when a creative
priest herded together a group of noisy boys armed with
pots and pans to wake slumbering parishioners for midnight
mass.
The practice was repeated, spread to two rivaling
neighborhoods called Carmen and San Salvador, and began
to include fireworks for noisemaking. In later years the
competing neighborhoods began to build floats with
mythological, literary or patriotic themes, and of
course, plenty of fireworks.
The hullabaloo of Remedios is unsurpassed, with plenty
of rum, traditional foods cooking in the streets, and a
community glowing until morning.
Fly Away Forever
One of the most well-know stories in Cuba is that of a
19th century character, Matias Perez, who wanted to build a
balloon and float to the heavens.
Matias was an awning builder, but in his free time he studied
aerodynamics. Little by little he built the basket, burner,
balloon and accessories, named it La Villa de Paris, and
finally was ready for take off.
On June 9, 1856 he took his balloon to what is now the Parque de la
Fraternidad in Old Havana, and amongst stares from friends,
family and strangers, he lifted off. Many voices cheered him
on: Buen viaje Matiaaaaassss! (Have a good trip Matias).
The thing is, he was never heard from again. To this day
when someone disappears people say "Did he do a Matias Perez?"
The Cuban flag waves its history
The vicissitudes the Cuban flag went through are really interesting, and enclose the sacrifice and heroic actions of the Cuban people in the process of the formation of its nationality.
Cirilo Villaverde, patriot and writer, offered the most valuable information due to his direct participation in the events.
He said that the national badge was thought by General Narciso López de Uriola, who tried to imitate the Colombian flag.
Shortly afterwards, in New York, he decided to change the concept of the flag, taking into consideration the fact that Cuba was divided into three departments, West, Center and East, so the Island should have three blue stripes on a white background that symbolized “the pure intentions of the independent republicans”. To insert a third color –red- he didn´t use the quadrant, maybe due to his Masonic filiations, he selected an equilateral triangle: a stronger geometrical figure also allusive to the famous triptych of the French Revolution of “Liberty”, “Equality” and “Fraternity”, that stands for the blood shared for freedom. Perhaps, inspired by the Cuban poet Heredia, they decided to place a star in the center of the triangle.
Everybody accepted that badge that was considered the flag of the future nation.
Requested by López, the Patriot Miguel Teurbe de Tolón designed the flag with Republican colors, and the young Emilia Teurbe de Tolón sewed the first flag that was a very small one. After Narciso López landed in Cárdenas City, seeking for the annexation of Cuba to the United States, this original flag remained in the hands of the writer Cirilo Villaverde. It remained there until Narciso Villaverde (Cirilo´s son) handed it to the “Cuban American Foundation to assist the Alleys”, institution that finally donated it to the Presidential Palace, where it is still kept in a crystal urn.
It is believed that shortly before this last step, this original flag was kept by Emilia Teurbe de Tolón, the seamstress who hided it inside a cushion of the living-room in her house. All this shows that the flag remained in Cuba before it was publicly raised in Cárdenas, Matanzas, on May 19, 1850.
This date indicates the presence of the flag during the first armed struggle. Narciso López´ expeditionary men brought a flag similar to Emilia´s from New York, and waved it on the Town Council in Cárdenas. It was raised high by the Cuban expeditionary Juan Manuel Macías before going back to the United States by boat, after the poor reception of the Cuban people to that annexationist attempt. It was kept by this family until it was sent to the distinguished patrician, Don Manuel Sanguily and Garrit, and when he passed away, his son donated it to the Senate of the half-free Republic. Since then, it will continue being a stimulus and witness of the heroic deeds of the Cuban people.
Canarreos Archipelago, a real hallucination
Like the Isle of Youth, the Canarreos is formed by 350 keys and small islands, located on the southern coast of Cuba, having an exotic and impressive beauty.
They have valuable natural resources: long beaches with the purest white, fine sand, mangroves and rocky coasts, blue and transparent waters with abundant fish, vegetation and attractive fauna. Astounding coral formations, that accompany the isolation, peace and purity of the environment, offer the visitor a harmonious and total contact with nature.
These tropical islands have a warm climate with winters poorly accentuated. The hottest month is August, with an average temperature of 28oC; and the coldest is January with 23.6oC, while the average temperature of the sea is 26.4oC. These waters also treasure numerous archaeological remains (cannons, anchors and other wreckage remains), relics of the times when the pirates were the owners of Los Canarreos. Some 200 shipwrecks have been reported in the Canarreos.
Cayo Largo del Sur is the largest island, after the Isle of Youth. It has a 25 km beach long, where sea-gulls, royal pelicans, coruas, herons and flamingoes fly across the Island, and chelonians, iguanas, jutías (West Indies rodents) and crocodiles wonder around freely. Besides the fact that the Canarreos Archipelago deserves a reputation for some of Cuba’s
best wildlife viewing, we have to add an attractive landscape, a strong sun, warm and transparent waters, and an environment with no contamination whatsoever. Among the most significant beaches are, Playa Sirena, one of the most exquisite tropical landscapes, Playa Lindamar, Playa Blanca, Playa Los Cocos and Playa Tortugas. The hotels are situated on the coast line, with comfortable rooms all facing the sea. (See here the hotels.)
Other nearby keys can be visited as well. Cayo Iguanas, a rocky territory north of Cayo Largo, has a large population of endemic iguanas; Cayo Rosario, good for fishing, scuba-diving and practice underwater photography; and Cayo Cantiles, commonly known as the Island of the Monkeys, where a number of these animals live. All these keys have a great number of species ideal for sports fishing; such as, dorado, palometa, shad, marlin, and others.
A short or long visit to these hallucinating keys gives our body brightness and splendor, revives our mind and spirit, and puts us in contact with nature and its kindness.
A Café touched by Jazz
In front of Malecón (a driveway along the coast), on the second floor of Galerías de Paseo shopping center, Jazz Café reveals a pleasant atmosphere through its dark glasses. Two hotels on Paseo Avenue, the modern Cohíba Hotel and the legendary Riviera Hotel, are just across the Café.
Toasts, smoke puffs, perfume scents, and the presence of a very special public, give this Club a bohemian and sui géneris atmosphere. It is this place where famous Latin Jazz composers and interpreters meet to play the sax and the electric guitar, invading the Havana nights with their rhythm.
You will have everything at hand: exquisite cocktails, national and international drinks, light food, dinner, good music, a pleasant atmosphere, and a cozy space to establish a quiet conversation.
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