Cuba's architecture has transitioned from being in colonial style to forms of modernism. Originally, architecture in Cuba took a lot of from Romance country style and Moorish styles. During the 19th and 20th century Cuba adopted Neo-classism, art deco, eclecticism, and art nouveau.
I really enjoy Latin American and Spanish music. So, a lot of the Cuban songs listed sounded really pleasant and festive to me. Music I would enjoy hearing anytime. Some of my favorites were Despacito, Mi Tierra, and Son Cubano. All had very solid beats and musical voices. Despacito reminds me of high school as I remember it being super popular back then. The woman in Mi Tierra had a beautiful voice.
Rumba is a form of music that has influenced other musical styles such as mambo, salsa, and jazz. The roots of rumba come from Cuban African slave descendants. The artistic music and dance style is widely celebrated in Cuba, representing the African Cuban community. Rumba utilizes instruments including maracas, bells, conga drums, claves, and scrapers. This style of music is supposed to connect to the soul, while being high in energy. The dancing style is in a duet. With a lot of swirling, hip movements, arm waving, etc. There are some low moves to the ground. The dance has a lot of bounce, reminding me a little bit of samba. This dance seems fairly fast paced and with fluid motion.
Buena Vista Social Club is an organization giving a place for Cuban musicians and artists to congregate. Cuba playing major influences in the arts industry, it is good for Cuban artists to have a place to meet, collaborate, connect, etc. This club helps preserve and create Cuban musical and artistic culture.
Yulier Rodriguez is a Cuban street artist. Who likes to fill up walls in Havanan streets with humanoid figured aliens. His art is somewhat creepy, haunting, and jarring. The aliens are of the stereotypical image, having big heads and eyes. His street art adds value to collapsing and less aesthetic locations of Havanan streets. He specifically paints in places within older and falling buildings to add to some vibrance to the surrounding areas. However, Rodriguez acts without government permission and at times runs into some challenges, having works removed.
My favorite Cuban artist is Alberto Korda. His images of Che Guevara have played a major influence in history. The iconic pictures he took have gone to become many a part of many artworks, posters, forms of propaganda, symbols of communism, etc. What I find so fascinating is the the history behind the artwork and the images. The connections to Castro are very strong and an important part of Cuban history. I find art with connections to history as very fascinating. It gives a lot more meaning to works of art with a story to accompany it. The famous images of Che Guevara are what I’ve seen before in school, art, public, shirt designs, posters, etc.
Questions:
Is art more interesting when there is historical context and meaning?
How similar is art now in Cuba to what was popular during the early revolution and communist times?
This post does an excellent job highlighting some of the history of Cuban music and dance. Your paragraph detailing your admiration for Cuban artist is Alberto Korda, was super interesting, I did not know how influential he was in Cuban art history. Art is certainly more interesting when there is historical context and meaning, as it gives the viewer an enhanced perception of what lay before them.
ReplyDeleteHello! I really like your first questions - "Is art more interesting when there is historical context and meaning?". I think art is more interesting when there is historical context and meaning. That is because when there is meaning behind the piece of art than it can bring that piece of art alive. It can allow other people to connect with it also well. The Cuban artist Alberto Korda took pictures of different things that have historically significance. Because he did that it gave his works more meaning to people. A historical photo can also be used to preserve history.
ReplyDeleteHi Brian,
ReplyDeleteI think that history is a huge part of what makes art interesting. This is because history effects the entire context of what an artist is expressing in their piece, which varies from place to place. For example, Cuban history and teh Revolution are what has led to so many restrictions in Cuban art.
Hi Brian,
ReplyDeleteGloria Stefan, the singer of Mi Tierra is such a famous person in Latin America, she even acted in a show called One Day at a Time on Netflix which I recommend watching And that song is so pretty. Rumba also reminded me of of samba a little bit!
I also think that art has more meaning when it is attached to a historical moment or period in time. As the saying goes an image can say more than a thousand words, and art is another form of cultural survival so using art to tell history is crucial to cultures. However, music and dance are marvelous and creative artforms that function as cultural survival.