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Estrella Acosta and her Cuban band from Holland performs with Tony Castaneda
and his Latin Jazz Sextet, $5 cover at the door ($3 for students with
ID)
Estrella Acosta and members of her Cuban band, lecture-demo
The exhibition will include about fifty works on paper, paintings on
canvas, a video installation, and a large 2D and 3D installation/performance
piece by one of the artists, Leandro Soto. The themes represented include
several African and Afro-Cuban religious and spiritual traditions such
as Lukumi, Kongo/Palo Monte, Abakua, and Santeria, as well as subjects
dealing with contemporary Cuban social issues in the context of complex
global forces. Some of the artists to be included are: Francisco Arredondo
"Gordillo," Manuel Mendive, Jorge Delgado-Alfonso, Jose Rodriguez,
and a video installation by Patricia Clark. The opening, free and open
to the public, will include an Abakua video, music by Tony Castaneda
and his Latin jazz Sextet and a salsa-rueda dance performance. Cuban
food will be served.
John Mason (Founder and Director of the Yoruba Theological Archministry,
NY and author of several books on Yoruba/Lukumi religion and culture)
on "Are the Gods More Popular, but Less Sacred?"
First of a series of seven classes every Wednesday evening at 6:30 until
October 31 (bring student/picture ID). Come "stretch out your leg
and let dance catch it!"
A screening and discussion with Bernie Dwyer, the Irish co-director
(and possible live telephone hook-up with Philip Agee for questions
and answers).
Photographs of Cuba in the late 19th and early 20th century are scarce,
and those that do exist are generally of landscapes and people taken
by travelers or traveling photographers. In February of 1904, two years
after the founding of the Republic, 37-year old American itinerant photographer
Sumner W. Matteson, a native of Decorah, Iowa, visited Cuba for approximately
four months. He traveled extensively throughout the entire 1,200 km.
length of the island, taking over 500 photographs of working people
that cut across racial, gender, class and geographic lines, and imbued
his subjects with a sense of pride, respect and agency. This paper argues
that Matteson portrayed Cuba and its people unlike any photographer
before him, respecting them and celebrating their lives at a time when
Cuba was viewed as an American colony, and the Cubans were seen as exotic
others. Discussant -- Narciso Menocal
Talk and gallery tour of the exhibition of Ediciones Vigia art books
at the Kohler Art Library, Chazen Museum of Art (exhibit open for approximately
2 months)
The Vigia Press of Matanzas-Cuba uses re-cycled materials
and represents a "semi-official" publishing venue outside
official government controlled publishing entities. Discussant- Margarita
Zamora
Cuban music and refreshments
The Yoruba have Egungun, ancestral figures that come out in elaborate
masquerades of music and dance. These familial or community sprits did
not travel well in the Yoruba Diaspora, and now exist only in Brazil
and with residual traces in Cuba. But the Simbi and other venerated
ancestors from Central African are alive--on the other side of life-and
doing well in the Americas. This presentation will observe how these
Kongo/Angolan figures have crossed Kalunga, also known as the Atlantic
Ocean, to become important fixtures in the Central African based religions
of Cuba (Guía Congo), Puerto Rico (Divisíon de los Congos),
Dominican Republic (La Divisíon Haitiano, La Divisíon
de los Negros), and Brazil (Preto Velhos). They are also found in the
southern United States where they are still known as Simbi when they
live in the forest. Found wherever Central Africans have gone, the Simbi,
Congo Guides, Preto Velhos, etc., are among us, offering curative advice,
and helping us into the future with mercy, grace and wisdom. Discussant
- James Sweet
The sacred philosophies of West and Central Africa continue to vibrate
in the sacred and secular practices of African descendants in the Americas.
These lived traditions are integral to the lives of the children of
Africa encompassing private and public spaces of cross-cultural interaction.
Excerpts from her new film - Quando los Espiritus Bailan Mambo!"
will be shown.
Discusses her past, present and future work related to Cuba. Discussants
- Francisco Scarano and Glyn Jemmott
Featuring floats/arts/music about Cuba, Africa, and the African Diaspora
1-2:30 pm -- Lunch Break
Cuba and Its Music: From the
First Drums to the Mambo and The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish
Silver to Congo Square (forthcoming)
Though largely ignored by historians until the 20th century,
the Haitian Revolution has belatedly come to be understood as one of
the major events in hemispheric history. Less frequently noted is the
generative impact that its three castes of refugees had on the course
of popular music in the hemisphere. In eastern Cuba, the groups known
as tumbas francesas, while correctly considered as a part of Afro-Cuban
folklore, can also be seen as a link in a musical chain that reached
from Guadeloupe to Louisiana. Discussant - Ricardo Gonzalez
The Abakua mutual-aid society of Cuba was created in the 1830s
based upon the Ekpe leopard society of West Africa's Cross River basin;
both societies are organized into a hierarchy of grades, each with a
specific function. Abakua masquerades and drum construction, as well
as musical structures, are largely
based on Ekpe models. The presentation will offer examples of Cross
River expressive arts in Abakua ritual performance. Discussant - Henry
Drewal **To listen to his radio program on this topic (can be downloaded
and listened to -- it is up for a limited time on-line) go to: http://www.afropop.org/radio/radio_program/ID/686/The%20Voice%20of%20the%20Leopard
Afro-Cuban artists have been a major presence in Cuban art. Beginning
with the internationally famous Wilfredo Lam, Professor Martinez-Ruiz
will discuss the contributions of Afro-Cuban artists, their inspirations,
creative processes, and impact globally. Discussant - Guillermina De
Ferrari
Memorial Union Theatre
Bobi Cespedes and her Afro-Cuban group
Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble
October/November
Tuesday, October 23 - 7pm
L140 Chazen Museum of Art
A bata percussion lecture/demo/performance with Jamie Ryan and
friends
Bata is the sacred Yoruba drum for Shango and the ancestors. It came
to Cuba from West Africa in the 19th century. Jamie Ryan plays with
the Latin Jazz band Le Clan Destino. This event is part of the Afro-Cuba
at the Crossroads Project.
Screenings and discussion with Gilberto Martinez-Gomez*/./ Martinez-Gomez
is a co-founder of the video production company Cimarron Productions.
In Havana, he worked at the Cuban Institute for Cinematographic Arts
and Industries (el Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográfica–ICAIC)
for twenty years (1985–2005). During his tenure there he was a
visual effects and special effects specialist for many feature films
and shorts. Since 1986 he has worked freelance as a cameraman, cinematographer,
and director of photography. He has also co-produced many documentary
films for the independent film company Images of the Caribbean (Imágenes
del Caribe) and other projects in conjunction with noted writer and
director, Gloria Rolando. Screening and discussion of “/Raíces
de mi Corazón/ (Roots of my Heart) (DVD, Color, Spanish with
English subtitles, 50 minutes). This independently produced short feature
film deals with, for the first time in Cuban hemisphere's first black
political party outside Haiti. In the period after Cuban independence,
the Independents of Color organized a political party to fight for their
rights to full employment, education, full political participation and
above all respect and dignity. He will also screen “/Oggun/”—a
dramatization of the Yoruba god of Iron and War who is venerated in
Cuba and widely in other parts of the Yoruba Diaspora of the Americas.
10 –10:20 am-- Introduction by Gilberto Martinez-Gomez
10:30-11:20 am-- /Las Raíces de mi Corazón/ (Roots of
my Heart//2001)
(DVD, Color, Spanish with English subtitles, 50 minutes)
11:30 am – 12:22 pm -- /Oggun: An Eternal Presence//1991
(DVD, Spanish with English subtitles, 52 minutes)
****lunch break**
2:30-2:50 – Introduction by Gilberto Martinez-Gomez
3-3:53pm -- /Los Hijos de Baragua//1996
(DVD, English with Spanish subtitles, 53 minutes/1996)
4-4:19pm --/El Alacrán//2002
(DVD, Spanish with English subtitles, 19 minutes)
4:20 – 4:30 – General discussion
4:30-6:00pm -- A film by Bernie Dwyer, /Mission Against Terror/, (48
mins) will be shown and discussed. Norman Stockwell to be the moderator/discussant.
7-9pm – Reception and Fund-raiser for the Cuban Five – Room
B1, Lowell Hall, 610 Langdon St. Leonard Weinglass will speak on the
Cuban Five
Coffee, sweets, conversation, and music --
come join us !
Sponsors: We gratefully acknowledge generous financial support from
the Anonymous Fund, the Nave Committee, and the George L. Mosse Program
in History at UW-Madison as well as the collaborative support of a wide
variety of other University and community organizations: The Promega
Corporation for an exhibition of Afro-Cuba art curated by Daniel Swadener;
LACIS; Departments of Art History and Afro-American Studies; African
Diaspora and Atlantic World Research Group; The Chazen Museum of Art;
the Kohler Art Library; The Dance Program; the UW Medical Education
Program to Cuba; The Madison Children's Museum; the Madison-Camaguey
Sister City Association; WORT-FM; WYOU; the Cardinal Bar; Tony Castaneda;
el Clan Destino; and others.
Organized by Professor Henry Drewal, Evjue-Bascom Professor, Departments
of Art History and Afro-American Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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