Leo Brouwer Music Festival

Writing about the Leo Brouwer Music Festival - it clings to the name chamber music festival but is much broader than that - is hard precisely because it is so large and so eclectic that no short description seems possible.  A perfect connection, combination, union of intelligent music is the official description. Genre-bender Leo Brouwer sees not only the connections between many types of music - everything first-rate of its kind and nothing trite or over-exposed - but between music and the other arts.  The festival includes concerts, plastic art exhibits, film, and dance, but mostly concerts.

Every year, and this is my third Festival, (the Festival itself is 5 years old), I get my mind and my tastes expanded a bit.  Last year a standout concert for me was Sytse Buwalda, the male contralto.  But I thought I didn't even like countertenors.  A huge unexpected pleasure this year was Il Dilirio Fantastico, a French early music group, especially Virginie Botty on recorder, (that boring instrument, I had felt - I used to play it.)

The biggest thing for me this year was unexpected and very moving - I heard Leo Brouwer play guitar.  He came out with a guitar in hand for the last piece on the Pablo Milanés half of the  concert Amor  de Ciudad Grande, played an introduction to the piece that included one of the estudios sencillos, and accompanied the song.  Wild rumor ran through the hall - he'd had an operation and his hand was now OK, he would resume playing in public.  Unfortunately, this was false - he played with thumb and 2 fingers as a tribute to friendship and to José Martí.  Not at all incidentally, the two pieces by Brouwer which opened this concert - Es el amor que se ve, written in 1972 for voice, flute, violin, cello, piano, guitar and vibraphone; and Elegías Martianas written in 2009 for flute and piano - were stunning. This festival will be a revelation for those who think of  Brouwer as a "guitar composer."   He is that, also, but  most of his work is for other instruments.

So what else did I hear?

            An organ concert starting with a piece by Arnolt Schlick (15th C.) and ending with Bach and Vivaldi.  A concert by Paco de Lucía and his group.  A concert that sandwiched works by Vivaldi with Minimalist works, including Steve Reich, Michael Torke, Brouwer, John Adams, Terry Riley - I got to hear "In C" live.  A concert with chamber music by and about Verdi and Wagner.  A concert with music by Brazilian composers - I was expecting the usual charming light-weight pieces and I was quite surprised: of course Brazil has composers who are part of their culture but not tied to folkloric music.  Did I expect that Villa Lobos would be an isolated artist? 
            A concert of choral music by Cuban composers, and later the same day a concert of Brouwer works interpreted as flamenco.  A concert dedicated to Benjamin Britten, with  his Green Broom and The Evening Primrose for chorus, and the Sonata Op 60 for cello and piano - stunning-, and works by Hindemith (The Sonatina Canonica for 2 flutes Op 31, which was like being in a magic forest in a dream with the best possible sounding birds in the world), Brouwer, Alvarez, and Popper, plus Arvo Part's Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten.  This concert featured Douglas Vistel on cello, who was so good it was startling.  Cello, like choral music and guitar, seems to be a Cuban strength.  Young Cuban cellist Alejandro Martinez is very very good indeed and some day I will be proud to say "I knew him when..."  Vistel, with his wife Almuth Krauber on piano, is the amazing Berlin-based Duo Cello Capriccioso - hear them if you possibly can.

            The concert Sonatas, Concertos y Fantasias, in the beautiful old church San Francisco de Asís, with Scarlatti, Mudarra, Sanz, de Murzia - and Brouwer - played on baroque guitar, lute and ...electric guitar... (I admit this latter didn't work for me.  It didn't work for the church's electrical system either, and somehow caused the organ of Il Dilirio Fantastico to burn-out something.  A longer than planned intermission occurred while Vincent Bernhardt tuned the harpsichord so that the concert could proceed.)  The second half was all Vivaldi Concerti and never needed to end, really.  Yes, there's a lot more to Vivaldi than Four Seasons.  A Lecuona concert.  A flamenco concert with a flamenco purist from a long tradition, Carlos Piñana (unlike fusion players like Tacoronte and, yes, de Lucía). A Benny Moré tribute concert.  There were also mini-concerts associated with the conferences, and some miscellaneous which was enjoyable, and a lot of movies and jam sessions which I missed but which sounded as if they were interesting and fun.  I'm tired of typing, though, and this is long enough.

            There are some things you can count on at the Leo Brouwer Chamber Music Festival.  You will hear music played by excellent artists, both Cuban and international, in well thought out programs.  You will not hear any warhorses, and will have the opportunity to expand your knowledge and taste.  You will hear lots of Brouwer, almost all of it works you were not familiar with.  You will see lots of Brouwer, too; this is truly his festival and his vitality and intensity as a conductor and as a person will impress you.  As the festival grows, he has become increasing busy, but he's very gracious and you'll have time for a brief chat or two.  It will be  great fun and just a tiny bit over the top.  You will not have time for everything.  Something unexpected will happen that will make you feel happy and fortunate.

footnote: El hombre escapa'o

In one of the conferences, José Martí was quoted to the effect that "La música es el hombre escapado de si mismo."  Later that night, after the concert, I got a ride home (you stand on the right street, stick out your hand, a jitney cab stops or sometimes someone who's driving the work-truck home and just wants to make the 10 pesos - this was the latter.)  Where was I coming home from?  A Leo Brouwer Festival concert.  " Leo Brouwer? Este hombre es escapa'o!" Cuban slang for totally awesome, involved heart and soul.  I was struck by the coincidence, but not by the fact that a random person driving home has an opinion about the country's leading composer.  That's just Cuba.

Maestro Brouwer

This is the organizing genius who puts together this festival - Musicologist Isabelle Hernandez
It must require the combined talents of a caterpillar tractor, a ballet dancer, a senior diplomat, and, Oh Yes, a musicologist.
(She's married to Leo.)

After a chamber music concert in the beautiful Basilica Menor del Convento de San Francisco de Asis, the audience danced through the streets behinds sanqueros on stilts to Casa de Africa for another concert.  

If there are few concert pictures here, it's because my camera just wasn't up to the challenge of movement in darkness.

with Pedro Chamorro and one of the organizers

Edin Karamazov, Sytse Buwalda, and Leo Brouwer

with Eusebio Leal, historiador de la ciudad, responsible for much of the restoration of Old Havana

A concert in the park

Conferences were held in the Antigua Casino Español, and students,
as well as other members of the public were invited.

with Saskia Spinder

 Sytse Buwalda, Dutch contralto

Joe Ott Pons, guitarist.
He won the Premio Espiral Eterna for musicians in 2012

Artists from Grupo Giganteria acted as auxiliary ushers

Costa Rican composer Marvin Camacho performing his own work.

Cellist Alejandro Martinez and Percussionist Eilyn Marquetti Gonzalez
creating the first performance of a work by Costa Rican composer Eddie Mora

Cellist Alejandro Martinez
won the Espiral Eterna musicians prize in 2011

ofibrouwer@cubarte.cult.cu
Berta Rojas and Bobby McFerrin, among others, will be at the 6th annual Leo Brouwer Chamber Music Festival
September 27 to October 12 2014

The organizers, hard at work, but not showing any sweat.

Commemoration of Moncada - 60th anniversary

INTERNATIONAL CELEBRATION OF THE 6OTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE START OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION 

The Cuban Revolution started 60 years ago and it was a hard start.  In fact, nothing afterward has been easy either.  Blockaded and attacked by the most powerful empire in human history (yep, us), Cuba has endured and has been an example increasingly respected in the world and followed in Latin America and the Caribbean.  At the most recent celebration of the revolution's beginning, the heads of state of many  Latin American and  Caribbean nations went to Santiago de Cuba and spoke in front of the Moncada, formerly army barracks, now a museum and school complex.  Presidents and prime ministers thought this was an important occasion: Evo Morales of Bolivia, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Jose Mujica of Uruguay, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica, Winston Baldwin-Spencer of Antigua and Barbuda, Kenny Davis Anthony of Santa Lucia, Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent & Grenadines.  A lot was said but  common themes were, " Cuba gave dignity to the people of Latin America" and "Cuba taught us not to be afraid."

WHAT EVENT WERE WE CELEBRATING?

After years of organizing against tyranny and for better government, on July 26 1953, 158 men and 2 women led by Fidel Castro and Abel Santamaria attacked the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba.  Some were killed in battle, many were captured, tortured and killed.  Some survived, including Fidel.   As a military operation it failed; there were logistical errors and mishaps as well as an overwhelming disparity in numbers and arms.  But Moncada wasn't only a military action, it was a political action and an organizing action and it was not a failure in those terms.  As we all know, 5 ½ years later the revolution triumphed.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

OK, so an island nation of a few million people threw off a repressive government.  What is it about this change that has made Cuba an inspiration, a guiding light in the world, from one point of view and from the opposite point of view a  country which must be forbidden to trade, and which you as a US citizen are forbidden to go see?  The US had always assumed that it had the absolute right to decide everything that happened in the Western Hemisphere.  This didn't leave much independence or dignity for those whose lives and countries we were controlling.  Attempts at defiance or autonomy were quickly punished, by direct military force if required.  Cuba has not only held out, it has promoted the international nature of revolution.  Cuban volunteers in Angola fought the forces of apartheid South Africa and defeated them.  Cuban doctors are spread throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.  Evo Morales said, "The Cuban revolution is the mother of all the revolutions of America and of the world," and remembered that when he planned land reform which he feared would cause US retaliation, Fidel had said, "Evo, you are not alone."  The other big inspiration, or problem depending on your perspective, is that Cuba has tried to find a working alternative to corporate capitalism and the relationships among people that it produces.  There is no laboratory for social and economic changes, and they are not quick or fool-proof or easy.  The experiments have to happen among living people and some things go right and others don't. Enough has gone right to make the Cuban example very threatening to those who want corporate capitalism to occupy the whole world.  Cuba has tried to be a revolution of, by and for the "humildes" - the ordinary people, (I'm quoting Raul Castro here, who also spoke.)  It has tried to be a revolution of dignity and self-worth, and respect for diversity, of basic equality, of  the weak not fearing that they will be crushed by the strong.  (quoting Jose Mujica, president of Uruguay)  This alternative way is either profoundly inspiring or really scary, depending on your outlook.  I was very proud to be present with Pastors for Peace at the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the start of the Cuban Revolution.

All photos are by Ninaj Raoul, and remain her property.

Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela

Pepe Mujica of Uruguay

Evo Morales!

Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua 

Roosevelt Skerrit

Pastors for Peace 2013 Caravan to Cuba

The new streamlined no-bus caravan started with send-off events in spoke and hub cities.  Needless to say, Fresno was a spoke.

Fresno Event July 12

Songs by amazing Merlinda Espinoza, with Sue Kern singing along on this one.

San Francisco was a hub city.  We flew from there to Mexico D.F., and then to Havana.

At the Martin Luther King Center in Havana

The Cuban Revolution started with the attack on the Moncada barracks in 1953.  
The celebration of the 60th anniversary is on July 26.

 Antonio Maceo y Grajales was a leader in the Cuban independence movement.  He was a brilliant guerrilla general and a clear thinker.  The aims of the Mambi struggle were Cuban independence and the abolition of slavery in Cuba.  It is interesting but futile to speculate on how US history would be different if the objectives of independence and the abolition of slavery had been linked.

 Juan Almeida Bosque was one of the leaders of the Cuban Revolution.
His words, "Aqui nadie se rinde," are the motto of Santiago; it was posted, among other places in the expresso bar where we drank coffee.

 The trees of Santiago and the surrounding area were very badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy.  This is a reforestation project.

 Foreign students from the medical school in Santiago.  Their education is free.  They will go home to their countries to serve the underserved - a euphemism for poor people.  There are many students from the US at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana, studying on full scholarship, with the same understanding.

 It's not always easy to keep those well-known old cars running.

 Getting ready for July 26

 Many homemade signs on the houses and streets.

HURRICANE SANDY

 Hurricane damage has been repaired at speed but there's a lot of damage still visible.  The City Model Building, which was itself badly damaged, has an exhibit of photos from just after Sandy.  The destruction was immense and the clean-up and restoration efforts remarkable. The sign on the door of the photo above is a building permit.

New housing in the flatlands of the city.  This was completed since the hurricane; residents have  already moved in.  We did a little foundation digging for what will be similar new apartments.

This outdoor gym is mostly for senior citizens but all ages are welcome.

 Santiago street scene.

 Back at the church where we stayed: Free Evangelical Lutheran Church on Yarayo near the corner of Patricio Lumumba.

CARNAVAL IN SANTIAGO BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE OF SANTIAGO.

kids

big people

neighborhood organizations

beauties

This banner is about recycling.

This banner says "Santiago arises and the Cuban 5 will return."

We were invited to an agriculture cooperative. After explaining how it worked, the coop members invited us to a very good party.   The state buys what is produced, which avoids the problems of distribution and marketing which make small farming so difficult in the US.

We head back to Havana, with a stop
in Camaguey for a great meal.

THIS IS LUIS; HIS BUS HAD A VERY SUDDEN BLOWOUT BUT HE WAS ABLE TO BRING THE BUS SAFELY TO A STOP.

The hard job of changing this huge tire.

Bill Hill, frustrated because they won't let him help.

 Waiting in the shade of the bus.

 Trying to shade the drivers.

We made it back to Havana, where the always wonderfully kind and caring Martin Luther King Center kitchen staff stayed up to give us "breakfast" before we went to the airport at 2AM.

WHAT THERE ARE NO PICTURES OF AND WHY:

The concert, at which a new work by Leo Brouwer, Elegia y Furia, had its first performance. Too dark.

The 26th of July 60th Anniversary of the start of the Cuban Revolution.  The heads of state of Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Uruguay, as well as from Trinidad-Tobago, St. Vincent/Grenadines, Sta. Lucia, Antigue & Barbudo, and Dominica all spoke about the effect that Cuba has had on the hemisphere.  They said many things but a common theme was,  "Cuba taught us not to be afraid."   Too excited.

The construction work - digging the foundations.  Hands too dirty.

The Museum of the Clandestine Struggle.  Photos not allowed.