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Other examples of traditional music from the Oriente region
around Santiago include "El Carretero." This tells of the
daily routine of a man who transports sugarcane to the mill.
He rhapsodizes about the beauty of the countryside. "La
Alborada" also glorifies the rural lifestyle and the
countryside's natural beauty.
Even such popular artists as singer and composer Pablo
Milanes, one of Cuba's most successful contemporary
troubadours and a leading exponent of the nueva trova--new
ballad--movement of recent decades, believes the most
powerful inspiration for new works comes from everyday life.
Although he has written music for poems by some of Cuba's
greatest poets, he is also inspired by the daily routine of
common people. "I think I'm closer to Mart¡'s poetry than
any other," he told Fern ndez, "although the poetry of the
street also reaches me--the poetry that underlies the way
ordinary people talk. I'm always observing human behavior,
and I especially love the popular background. These are
things conveyed in my songs." Many of Milanes' themes
reflect a worldly disposition and a zealous, revolutionary
spirit that has made him one of the Castro government's
favorite performers. But the rural-based sentiments of the
traditional son course through such self-penned works as
"Homage" and "I Love This Island," in which he exults: "I am
Caribbean. I could never step on firm ground. It inhibits
me."
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An Escuela Superior de
Art student playing on the street. |
Timeless music
resonates anew
"I believe the son was born from a need of people to
express themselves," says Joaquin Em¡lio Solorzano Ben¡tez,
a Santiago percussionist who has spent his life studying the
origins of his land's music and how best to interpret it
authentically. He is part of a close-knit community of
academically trained musicians who apply the same attention
and skill to interpreting every style, from rudimentary folk
music to classical works. On any given day, he can be found
in the Cuban government's Siboney recording studio, working
on a project like singer Ochoa's recent album, teaching
private students, or performing in local salsa and folkloric
ensembles.
"Son came from customs and culture, like other art
forms," he adds. "It is an expression of what people feel.
When those sentiments came together with rudimentary
instruments, such as the tumbantala [a tree limb with a
string attached, stuck in the dirt, functioning as a
primitive bass], son was born."
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