Annotations for Speaker: Art Pages

What Mr. Gilberto [inaudible] just said is that he is manager of a Latin group now playing at the Cuban Club in Tampa Florida who are going to sing for you some of their traditional Cuban songs. I am the pianist of the unit, Art Pages, and will play some of them for you myself.

Uh, all these units, all of the actors in the unit are all native Cubans and they came from Cuba two or three months ago.

They have to for they are requested to do so.

Uh, the melody that Estella [inaudible] will sing for you next is a typical Cuban melody. This is sung in the country by the peasants. It's probably uh . . . I don't know what to say.

Oh, that, she's probably heard it all her life from her parents and so forth.

Do you want me to do that in Spanish?

In Spanish?

AP asks question in Spanish and Estella responds.

Uh, she has said that she has, uh, heard that melody, of course, recently due to the fact that she is very young but she has heard her parents say that have heard it for years and years back.

Estella [inaudible] will sing this melody for you now.

Uh, the Cuban persons use songs to call on their loved ones especially at night or in the morning. The song that Estella [inaudible] sang is one of them. Uh, roughly, it is morning and he is singing to his loved one and though he claims that the sun is just out and he can see everything clearly, it seems like there is nothing around until he's seen her [distortion].

The young man that you have just heard sing is Carlos Poz. He is the blackfaced comedian of the unit, of the Cuban unit. He just sung for you a typical African song, songs that were sung by the slaves when they were brought to Cuba and he has picked that from tradition. That is, he has heard that type of song over and over. It is always heard in Cuba.

Uh, they usually use Cuban drums and gourds and sticks like they used to use in the days of the slaves when they didn't have any musical instruments and they were accompanied by sticks and drums and so on.

It is. We use it here, we use that type of songs here often.

Well, no, they, uh, it has been picked from the negroes but it is used by actors.

Oh, they love it. It's such a strange rhythm to most of all people that they prefer to hear that song to any other.

Uh, the song that you have just heard Carlos Poz sing, it's sort of a negro song. It is a negro telling his girl not to mix with another, uh, tribe, because he does not consider them as good as they are and does not want to, uh, mix the tribes. And --

Well, he does that, it seems like the, uh, girl is in love with someone and she, uh, goes to a nearby tribe and he does not want her to continue to go over there and he is asking her to please stay in her, in their grounds.

That's right [laughter] [distortion].

The song you have just heard was sung by [inaudible] Martinez. The name of the song is 'Merce'. It is a different type of song that have been sung before, for this one is dance, in dance halls in Cuba, that is that rhythm. You have also heard some Cuban drums played by Roman [inaudible] and Mr. Delfino was playing gourds and I was at the piano, Art Pages.

Carlos Poz helped her out by helping her sing in the montonu, that is the fast part of the number. The number is divided into two parts. The first part is sung a little slower than the second part. The second part is a little faster. They keep on getting faster until, uh, it takes up to a very fast tempo.

The idea of the song is uh, the name of the song is 'Merce' and that's a, uh, name, a proper name. It's a negro girl's name and she is supposed to be the most popular of the party and the song refers to her popularity, that is her way of dancing and acting and speaking and so forth and everybody sings to her beauty and her pep, would you say? And the whole song is based on her.

Uh, the song that you heard was sung by Gilberto Elfino, manager of the unit. And the name of the song is 'Nena'.

Uh, this is probably the oldest type of Cuban song that has ever, uh, that has been known to be the oldest.

Uh, there is no way of tracing it to its author or its originality. It has just been picked from one generation to the other.

Well, I don't know [distortion].

Uh, this is a typical song that is sung to a girl by a window, a Spanish, uh, window. And that's about all I know about the song.

No, I couldn't.

He just sing to her and telling her how much he loves her, and uh, i other words, uh, calling her to the window in order to start a conversation or something, a song to start a conversation [distortion].

We are now going to give you an idea of the different Cuban rhythms. The first one is a song, that's a slow rumba.

Now, he would play a rumba. That's a faster rhythm.

And now a bembe. That's a typical African rhythm.

And now, a conga.

And now, man. This is probably the oldest rhythm going.

This was done by Ramon [inaudible] a Cuban drummer.