My publications so far...grateful.
Un link en el que se puede acceder a las referencias de los textos que he tenido la oportunidad de publicar hasta el momento...agradecida.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Friday, September 22, 2017
Weekly Chart: Mapping Disasters and Displacements in Latin America and the Caribbean | AS/COA
Weekly Chart: Mapping Disasters and Displacements in Latin America and the Caribbean | AS/COA: As Mexico and the Caribbean assess the damage from earthquakes and hurricanes, we look at where the region stands on disaster-related internal displacements.
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Music Theory Interview: Jacob Collier (Part 1)
For those into Harmony and Microtonality, a Do Not Miss Interview. Jacob Collier is rescuing an old book on theory of harmony that hardly anybody knew until he started using it. 
☺️ After this interview, the sale rates of this book have increased exponentially in Europe and elsewhere...
☺️ After this interview, the sale rates of this book have increased exponentially in Europe and elsewhere...
Para aquellos interesados en la Armonia y la Microtonalidad. Jacob Collier recupera un libro antiguo casi no leído, sobre teoría de la armonía negativa, y lo pone en practica. Luego de esta entrevista han subido las ventas de este método en Europa..
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Leandro Soto
ABRE CAMINO QUE VOY: TO OPEN THE PATH
photo by Mario Porchetta
Performance installation by Leandro Soto
The divine Janus-Eleggua-The Joker is sleeping in the lobby of the theater before and after the Dance Program Final Presentation at the Errol Barrow Center for Creative Imagination, University of the West Indies in Barbados. His costume is red and black and full of symbols that represent communication, secret codes, and the duality of everything: to be awake or sleeping, Yin/Yang, day and night, good and bad, beginnings and endings, among other things. Thanks to the music of drums and chanting in Yoruba language he responds to the calls. The music awakens him. Moving up from the floor, he starts to dance. Giving candies to the audience, he starts to jump, moving rapidly like a child that is happy to be alive. He invites people to follow him. Drummers and the audience are moved to follow his steps in order to see the exhibition on display in the gallery space. Once in the gallery he is makes fun of things; he appropriates objects, cloths, pictures, etc. He models for the camera as a way to pull the attention of new generations towards the arts.
The performance was presented with the support of the Dance Program’s director Neri Torres.
Performance
Leandro Soto performing as Elegua at the Errol Barrow Centre - Barbados
Sunday, August 20, 2017
When the Sky Is a Sea of Darkness: A Few Listening Options For the Solar Eclipse
When the Sky Is a Sea of Darkness: A Few Listening Options For the Solar Eclipse
WBGO.org By NATE CHINEN
You know it’s coming, you’ve stocked your provisions. But what is your soundtrack for the eclipse? We’ve got a few ideas.
Sun Ra, “When There is No Sun”
“Sky is a sea of darkness / When there is no sun.” There isn’t a much more concise distillation of the moment than this lyric, sung here by Sun Ra and the other members of his quartet: trumpeter Michael Ray, tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and drummer Luqman Ali. The recording was made in 1978, in Rome, and originally released on the album New Steps. (A couple of years ago, producer Gilles Peterson included it on the Strut compilation To Those Of Earth... And Other Worlds.) The mood is quiet and a little uneasy — precisely like the cosmic moment it describes.
Bobby Hutcherson, “Total Eclipse”
Sometimes the answer staring you in the face is just the thing you can’t see. (There’s an eclipse metaphor there, somewhere.) I first posted this list without the Bobby Hutcherson track above, and was promptly alerted to my omission on Twitter. (Good looking out, Richard.) Total Eclipse was recorded 50 years ago, and sounds no less fresh today. Hutcherson builds a suspenseful narrative with his vibraphone solo; has an effortless hookup with Harold Land on tenor saxophone; and leads a killer rhythm section, with pianist Chick Corea, bassist Reggie Johnson and drummer Joe Chambers.
Brad Mehldau Trio, “Black Hole Sun”
Brad Mehldau has recorded his trio at the Village Vanguard several times over the years; this recording appears on the album simply known as Brad Mehldau Trio Live. The band is playing the most iconic Soundgarden tune, a pained, dreamy dirge. Mehldau sets a processional tempo, but as Larry Grenadier gets into his bass solo, there’s an inexorable flip into double time. Things almost get downright springy — but there’s always a hint of shadow, a suggestion that Chris Cornell’s darkness is something Mehldau has carefully considered. (See especially the rubato exploration that begins around the seven-minute mark.)
Sarah Vaughan, “Midnight Sun”
The more on-the-nose choice would be “How High the Moon,” which of course was an Ella Fitzgerald special. But I find that selection too chipper for our purposes here. So instead, here is Sarah Vaughan in 1978, backed by only the best: pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Joe Pass, bassist Ray Brown, drummer Louie Bellson. Her treatment of Johnny Mercer’s lyrics is luxurious (“I can't explain the silver rain that found me / Or was that a moonlit veil?”), and so is her nearly glacial progress with the melody. What the words describe isn’t an eclipse per se, but something like its inverse — still transfixing, still rare, still something worth savoring.
Eric Revis, “Rye Eclipse”
A composition by pianist Kris Davis, who gave an album this title in 2008. Davis rerecorded it on a date by bassist Eric Revis, with whom she has an excellent rapport. In this performance, from the new album Sing Me Song Cry, a freeform bass solo sets the tone before the band — also with Ken Vandermark on tenor saxophone and Chad Taylor on drums — essay the haunting melody, with an underlay of staccato unrest.
“East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)”
Consider the coordinates. At a certain point, before traverse is underway, you might reach for a phrase like this. You’ll certainly want to reach for this version of the Brooks Bowman standard, as recorded by tenor saxophonist Stan Getz for his 1955 album West Coast Jazz. There’s a nice, concise trumpet solo by Conte Candoli, and a solid couple of choruses at the piano by Lou Levy. Getz sounds fabulous, of course.
Keith Jarrett Trio, “Solar”
“Solar” had to make this list, and there are no shortage of fantastic performances of the tune. This concert clip — a 1993 hit in Tokyo by Keith Jarrett’s longtime trio, with Gary Peacock on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums — is searching yet light on its feet, with a beautiful interplay. And because this mighty band is no more, there’s also a hint of the ephemeral here, of certain fantastic alignments that can only last so long.
Steve Coleman’s Natal Eclipse, “Morphing”
Finally, a sublime recording released just weeks ago. Steve Coleman, the alto saxophonist and composer, has been known to make a study of astronomical trajectories; it’s no accident that he calls his chamber-like new ensemble Natal Eclipse. Much of their new album, Morphogenesis, deals with boxing metaphors. But you can picture a more celestial inspiration on a track called “Morphing,” which involves a lot of brisk maneuvers by the woodwinds, and some annunciatory singing by Jen Shyu. This is just a taste of the track, which runs a total of 14 minutes, and can be purchased (along with the rest of the album) at Coleman’s Bandcamp page.
#Wynwoodartists #Miami #Globalculture #2017 #DavidOlivera #ReinierGamboa
#acryliconpaper #davidolivera
#wynwoodwall #reniergamboa
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
My per-reviewed article "Cubanidad in Between: The Transnational Cuban Alternative Music Scene" is published at the Latin American Music Review Journal.
Happy to share a Link to the new issue of Latin American Music Review journal (Spring-Summer 2017), where I publish a per-reviewed article, entitled: "Cubanidad in between: The Transnational Cuban Alternative Music Scene."
For the PDF full text click here
For the PDF full text click here
The article is part of one chapter of my PhD. dissertation, where I provide my analysis about the network of music collaborations, aesthetic connections and discourses among Cuban singer-songwriters and academically trained musicians who migrated in the last 25 years like Gema Corredera Pavel Urkiza Julio Fowler Habana Abierta Yosvany Terry Dafnis Prieto Yusa Mar Descemer Bueno Eidel Morales (Mr. Haka), Cubiche, among many others, through cities like Madrid, New York and Miami. Thanks to Manny A. Diaz for the cover art.
Here's the article abstract in English and Spanish
Abstract
abstract:
This article examines the music production and discourse of the transnational Cuban alternative music scene (TCAMS), a prolific diasporic network of Cuban singers, songwriters, and academically trained musicians. Through ethnographic research I map this transnational music scene throughout local, nonmainstream, and online music circuits. The TCAMS employs fusion as its main musical language, showcasing a strong musical and educational background. These musicians' transnational identities and discourses are in constant negotiation and assume apparent depoliticized and dystopian discourses in relation to dominant narratives of Cubanness. TCAMS is an "in between" transnational space of music creation, a shifting aesthetic and generational scene in the alternative context of Cuban music. It deconstructs the territoriality of Cuban music production and projects a postnational Cuban soundscape at the turn of the century.
resumen:
Este artículo examina prácticas de producción musical y de discurso de la escena transnacional cubana de música alternativa (ETCMA), una prolífera red de colaboración entre cantantes, cantautores y músicos entrenados académicamente en Cuba. A través de un trabajo etnográfico, el texto mapea a esta escena en circuitos de música locales, no comerciales y redes sociales. La fusión es el principal lenguaje musical de ETCMA, exhibe un sólido background educacional y musical. Las identidades y discursos transnacionales de estos músicos están en constante negociación y asumen discursos aparentemente despolitizados y distópicos con relación a narrativas dominantes de cubanidad. ETCMA es un espacio "in between" de creación musical transnacional, una escena de cambios estéticos y generacionales en el contexto de la música cubana alternativa. Esta escena de música deconstruye la territorialidad de la producción musical cubana y proyecta un paisaje sonoro cubano posnacional de cambio de siglo.
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Artists invited to my class on Cuban music at the University of Miami, Spring 2017: Yusa, Pavel Urquiza, Vanito Brown and Ariel Fernandez-DJ Asho
During the Spring 2017 semester, I designed and taught the class SPA 322 "Cuban music: Readings and critical auditions on imaginaries about the nation and the diaspora," for undergraduate students at the University of Miami. In this class, students were able to improve their writing, listening and oral skills in Spanish, while learning, developing critical skills and producing knowledge on cultural aspects about Latin-American topics, in this case on Cuban music and negotiations of identity.
The class provided a historical overview throughout some of the most important Cuban music genres since the 19th century, from Rumba to Reggeaton. It explored the influence of music in the process of negotiation of the idea of a Cuban nation, as well as on negotiations of national, diasporic and transnational identities within and outside the island, throughout historical time and geographical spaces.
An important component of the class was to provide students with firsthand interactions with Cuban musicians living in diaspora since the last 25 year, specially singer-songwriters and academically trained musicians. For that purpose, I invited Yusa, Vanito Brown, Pavel Urquiza and Ariel Fernandez-Dj Asho. They are among the protagonists of the important process of transnationalization and renaissance of Cuban music production that is taking place throughout the world since the 1990s crisis.
-Pavel Urquiza
Pavel Urquiza was the first invitee, under the section on Cuban Fusion. He is one of the protagonist of what I call Cuban Fusion, which refers to the music produced between Cuban singer-songwriters and jazz musicians since the 1990s throughout the world.
Cuban fusion is for the most part underground or alternative (non-mainstream), relies heavily in ad-hoc collaborations and improvisation, and transcends generic borders. It's highly informed by timba, boleros, guaracha, La Nueva Trova and Afrocuban rhythms, in an open-ended dialogue with an array of world music genres like funk, jazz, pop, hip-hop, cumbia, reggae, Argentinian rock, Brazilian songs and others. Cuban fusion is also informed by the generational and individual subjectivities, education, references, frustrations, illusions and aesthetics of these musicians, who massively became migrants and are dispersed throughout the world.
In his presentation, Pavel expanded on one of his latest and more important projects so far, his double album and documentary La ruta de las almas (2014). The project traces back the ancestral human connections prompted by music from Persia to Patagonia, throughout 30 cities and with the participation of 50 musicians. He also talked about another project on the making, which focuses on the tambor (drum) culture across the world.
-Ariel Fernandez DJ Asho
Ariel was closely involved with the Cuban hip-hop movement in the island since the 1990s. Before the class, the students read an article wrote by Ariel for La Jiribilla, "Poesía urbana o la nueva trova de los noventa" (2001), where he provides his views on the origins and challenges faced by the Cuban rap and hip-hop movement.
Under the class' section about this type of music, Ariel provided a comprehensive presentation about the historical presence of African traditions since the origins of rumba, the emergence of Afrocuban jazz in New York during the 1940s, the filing song movement in the island and the consolidation of Cuban rap and hip-hop as a movement in the late 1990s. He also highlighted the historical influence of American music in Cuba, such as in most of the music genres mentioned before, and specially salient in the appropriation of jazz band sonorities like in the case of legendary Benny More.
He situated Cuban rap and hip-hop as one of the most important examples of American music' appropriations by Cubans in the island. Beyond that, Ariel also considered the developments of this music genre in the island the result of a local need from the marginal and black populations to have a voice, as the most affected social sectors by the nineties' crisis.
-Vanito Brown
Vanito is one of the founding members of Habana Abierta, a music collective often regarded as the “generational voice” of the 1990s. He indicated he was part of a group of singers, songwriters and bohemians who spontaneously interacted in Havana at the time, in gatherings like La Peña de 13 y 8, and undergrounds bands such as Lucha Almada, Superávit, Cuatro Gatos, Cachivache, Debajo and En Serie. Those gatherings and bands mapped out an alternative music scene in the midst of the most severe post-revolutionary crisis. As a result, most of these musicians eventually migrated and spread out throughout the world.
From diverse and mostly self-trained music backgrounds, these musicians updated the legacy of La Nueva and La Novísima Trova with multiple references common to their generational music universe referred before. Vanito also talked about the origins of Habana Abierta, his career in Spain, and he shared details about H.A. two successful come back presentations in Havana, despite the lack of support from the cultural establishment.
Vanito provided an overview on his career as a soloist. He showed the class his two latest videos: Chévere (2014), recorded in Havana and featuring a song from his latest album Norte, Sur, Este y Aquel; and the making of Bolero Inaudito (2016), a song he composed twenty years ago in Madrid together with singer songwriter Kelvis Ochoa, and that they recently recorded in Miami.
-Yusa
Yusa is one of the pioneers Afrocuban women from what I call the Transnational Cuban Alternative Music Scene (TCAMS), a network of music production and collaborations across the world established by Cuban diasporic singer-songwriters and academically trained musicians since the 1990s crisis.
She was a founding member of the music collective Interactivo, together with Robertico Carcasses and others. Yusa has an important discography as a singer-songwriter as well as an skillful performer of guitar, bass and tres. Yusa has been very successful in the World Music and jazz scenes in Europe, Japan and Latin America. She is also a pioneer in the introduction of feminist and LGTB topics in the Cuban song. After a long residency in Argentina, Yusa is currently residing in Miami.
For the class, Yusa reviewed some of the most important moments of her career, since her initial incursions performing traditional Cuban music in Europe, until her prolific career as a singer-songwriter and bass player across the world. Yusa recognized that, although she has been greatly surprised by the impact of fortunate coincidences in her life, she believes that her career has been closely related with careful choices and decisions she has made along the road. She performed two songs for the class accompanied by her acoustic guitar: "Waking Heads," from her album Haiku (2008), and "Tomando el Centro," from Yusa (2002).
Monday, May 1, 2017
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Dialogando con Proust
A propósito del cuestionario de Proust:
La
cualidad que más aprecio en una mujer
Eva Silot Bravo
A primera vista esta pareciera una pregunta sencilla, pero, a su vez, me sugiere otras, que se presentan como paradojas cíclicas e infinitas
¿Qué es ser mujer?...
¿Por casualidad se referirá Proust a ese ser humano al que casi siempre asociamos con una naturaleza frágil?
¿El supuesto sexo “débil”?
¿La imagen última y acabada del recato y el pudor?
¿Acaso el epítome de la candidez y la benevolencia?
O, ¿La suprema belleza?
¿Será quizás el género “escogido” para sustentar una vocación eterna de acomodo y adaptación?
¿La que puede casi siempre dejar de ser, para ayudar a otros a erigirse?
¿La que no le cuesta renunciar o posponer el encuentro consigo misma para siempre entregarse, o ponerse a disposición de otros, casi siempre tan ávidos de recibir apoyo extra y colchón?
Como el que les proporcionan sus madres santas, que dios las tenga en la
gloria.
¿Será a la que siempre se le puede pedir un esfuerzo extra?
¿La que antepone una disculpa aunque no venga al caso?
¿La
incondicional?
¿O la que siempre lo complica todo innecesariamente?
¿La que no debe pensar tanto, porque con ello amenaza su propia existencia y la de sus semejantes?
¿O la que no para de hablar, cuando
casi nadie está dispuesto a escuchar?
Y, si no fuera el caso...
¿Por qué tantos poetas
se han enfrascado en discernir y sugerir coordinadas simbólicas
sobre lo femenino en la memoria, tanto ilustrada como vernácula, a través del tiempo y el espacio?
¿Le importará a Proust mis preguntas? ¿Y, si no, a quién?
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