The street art was beautiful, especially the murals from French and Cuban- American artists about older Cubans who lived while the revolution was happening. They were amazing because the people kept asking what happened to people who got painted they did comments like did they die or something? I thought that was interesting because they painted regular Cubans. In the same documentary, they mentioned how their idea was to create something more than political art because when they visited they observed how many street artworks were of El Che or Fidel Castro. It was amazing to them but they wanted to create something else.
Talking about the art in Cuba I hope to see more street art, but do you think there in future years we will see more political art or other forms of art in the streets of Cuba?
About the music, I really liked Cuban music, especially the video of the trombone player who played jazz who was Roberto Fonseca. I know how to play the baritone horn and some trumpet and when I heard him play I was astonished and I can’t wait to see musical groups in Cuba. Of course, Gloria Stefan and her famous song Mi Tierra is a well-known song in Latin America. It reminded me of my childhood when my mom used to play songs while cleaning the house.
But Rumba really resonated with me because as well as Cuban in my country Bolivia, we also got African slaves that the Spanish brought and we have musical dances that have stories of the relationship between slaves and Spaniards. Rumba is important to the culture because it’s a rhythm that has African roots. It’s part of their history and how African slaves were brought to Cuba by the Spanish. A romantic and fun genre of Cuban music gave other genres inspiration to create fun music to dance to like Salsa.
I love how music can tell us stories about history. The way they move, the way they dress and even the music is fun but they originated in sorrowful moments in history when slavery was part of society.
In an interview with an artist assistant Elias Aseff, he talked about Hamel’s Alley or El Callejon de Hamel where there are cultural murals that used techniques such as cubism, surrealism, and abstract art painted without permission in the ’90s but now are very recognized in Cuba. He says something that really resonated with me because I also worry about this. He said “in suffering we create” he refers to the socioeconomic issues that Cubans faced and continue to face. However, the shared suffering enabled them to maintain their culture even more. It enabled them to create no matter the consequences and to be very creative because they couldn’t get the materials they needed. I agree you learn more when you suffer and have nothing than when you are happy and have everything. However, he also said that now that the US and Cuba have reasonable diplomatic relations is good that people will have more opportunities to create and hopefully people don’t stop creating. Suffering is part of humanity and I think people get more creative when they have necessities. What do you think of his worries do you think that with new opportunities brought by the internet and more diplomatic relations with the US, they will stop creating or rather create with different motivations and other approaches?
This post offers some interesting perspectives and details on different types of artistry in Cuba. After reading this post and other articles like it, it seems as though Cuban street art is on the rise despite the tight grasp of the socialist state. In order to break the stigma of street art, Cuban artists must persist in their journey to incapsulate their struggle and bring it to a broader audience.
ReplyDeleteI am also a big fan of the drums and style of the Rumba, and I am hoping we can listen to some of that when in Cuba! I believe the internet will have a grand influence on the creation of art and music. Artists are now focusing more on making money now that Cuban art is seen as so valuable internationally. For that reason, they will most likely be taking new approaches in the future which will end up drawing the most attention to their work.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how Rumba has become such an important dance style connected to African roots. Giving the dance and associated music historical context and meaning. There is history that can be shared through learning about the dance.
ReplyDeleteHello! I love your post! I really like the first question that you posed- "Talking about the art in Cuba I hope to see more street art, but do you think there in future years we will see more political art or other forms of art in the streets of Cuba?". I think because of what we learned about the Cuban art scene that there will be more political art, but it will be "abstract". meaning that the art will be political without being directly political. Like the artists Marco Castillo who creates abstract are that could be seen as political to some but not to others. That is because a lot of his art abstract so there it is not direct. I look forward to seeing Cuban art in person!
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