Saturday, January 30, 2016

Final dinner with new friends

Photos from the final dinner together at The Hotel National de Cuba



Tony and Patty

New friends: Beth, Liz and Joanne

Terry and Aimee




At the dinner table

Leslie and Petey

Brett (Sax), Niel (trumpet), Terry (guitar)

Brian Nova

Leslie Darwin (singer) and Andy (drums)

A talented cuban musician who played for us a couple nights. From our group, Missoni (singer) and Andy (drums)

Brian Nova


The 'jam' group that played for us during 3 or 4 dinners during the week. Very talented.

Our tour guide, Abel, and his wife.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Visiting the music schools


Children's schools that we visited and brought donations to. 

School of Music

This high school is only about studying music. They awake at 6am and go to bed at 9pm. All they study is music; singing, reading music, history, playing different instruments. Even though it is a government run school, we still gave them donations of instruments, music stands, guitar strings. They were amazing. 

Director at the music high school











Clave Del Sol, Orquesta de Guiterra 
This is a children’s guitar group from ages 6 and up. They are not government run and must rely on donations of others and money earned from performances. They started 2009 with 9 kids, now they have 305. Anyone can join, they just need their own guitar and the want to make music. They received letters from Bertschi’s 2nd grade class along with donations of instruments and guitar strings from our group. 

Awesome group of kids that performed for us!


This young singer / dancer had such bravado!



Outside of the school. About the size of a mobile home.






La Cominita, meaning little beehive

This program was another favorite on the trip. This is in the heart of Havana, and takes in children up to 15. These children work hard to sing and dance on stage and are able to tour in other counties.  The children here must demonstrate the core values of humanity, creativity and forgiveness, not only in their work, but in their day-to-day lives, in order to remain members of the troupe. These kids were so wonderful. We saw the performance, then they had an extra special performance for us and had us up and dancing in the aisle with the kids. Everyone was smiles.


This girl asked me to dance in the aisles

















Sunday, January 24, 2016

Dancing!

Compas Dance
We went to listen to some amazing music. One of my favorites was Compas Dance. This is a community project meaning that the government doesn’t give them any money so they survive off of tours, shows and selling their art. Here it is a place for female performers that not only dance, but also use percussion. They use any element at hand: drumsticks, castanets, heels, wood slippers, claves, chequerés, and percussive chairs-all that they’ve made there. The women also learn to play the bata, which is an African drum that is forbidden for women to play. The batas at Compas Dance were handmade there by the director. Since he was making them especially for the women to use, they were allowed to use them. I brought back a clave which is essentially a rhythm stick. 

The women dance and play African music, the Rumba and the Salsa. There is also a traveling group. It was more than amazing to watch. At Compas Dance, a few of us from the tour took Salsa lessons on one of the days. Where we didn't have the rhythm of our instructor, it was a blast!




Wall that is made of cardboard, painted by the same man who makes the instruments

Playing the Bata. Made by the man in white, playing drums

Getting ready to dance, sitting on percussion chairs

Same guy who gave us salsa lessons, showing off the chequeres

Battle of the beat









Saturday, January 23, 2016

Music school and Shopping


Education is free, all the way through university. Students wear uniforms. Elementary kids are in red and white. The middle schoolers are in mustard and white. High school is blue and white. The middle schoolers in these photos were on a field trip into the city and LOVED posing for the camera. The girl in red is returning from school in the city. 



A peek inside an elementary school

A peek inside an elementary school

Elementary kids heading home




At the School of Music, high school building

At the School of Music, high school building
At the School of Music, high school building
The Cuban government takes care of the basic needs for the people; food, health, and education is all free. Each resident has a ration card for the amount of food they are allowed for free. This is mostly for rice, beans, oil, etc. Each month, they go to the Bodega and get their rationed food. If they have money saved, they can purchased more food at the supermarket or from street vendors.




Bodega: where to get your monthly food rations

Bodega: where to get your monthly food rations

Street vendor


Garlic

Herbs