A week to “Conocer la Habanera”

The National Museum of Music (MNM) invites us to the Event “Conocer la Habanera” to be held from Monday November 14^th to next Sunday with a program where the performance of singer-songwriter Liuba María Hevia and maestro Jesus Ortega’s Sonatas Habaneras stand out in the opening gala.

The authentic Cuban music gathers researchers, artists and public through concerts and lectures. According to organizers, the goal is “to contribute with the preservation of this music genre so linked to the history of our identity.”

The press release highlights that the scheduled activities are added to the celebrations for the 503^rd Anniversary of the founding of the Villa de San Cristóbal de La Habana and will also be dedicated to recognizing the figure of Dr. Eusebio Leal Spengler, who was a lover and champion of Havana.

On November 15th, at 16:00 hours, flutist Niurka González, Malva Rodríguez on piano and the Duo Nu9ve will perform at the Hall of the Palacio del Marqués de Arcos, a concert in which several generations come together as a sign of the validity and roots of the Habanera.

At the same time, concert pianist Cecilio Tieles and the Schola Cantorum Coralina are Wednesday's proposals for Argeliers León Hall, at the National Center for Concert Music.

The theoretical event will hold its first session on the morning of November 17^th at the MNM, with the performance of Dr. C. Cecilio Tieles Ferrer, Pere Lluís Domènech Santos, the MSc. Irina Pacheco Valera, Bachelor Ariel Gil Gómez and Doctor of Science Argel Calcines Pedreira.

This event continues on Friday 18^th with the interventions of Doctor of Sciences Olavo Alén Rodríguez, Pavel Granados and MSc. Katia Cardenas Jimenez. To close the scientific conference, the book El euroafricano. Su presencia en la cultura europea en los siglos XVI al XVIII, by Doctor of Science Dr. C. Cecilio Tieles Ferrer, will be launched.

Also at the MNM, at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, soprano Emilia Morales and guitarist Silvio Tarín will be performing live, along with the Leo Vocal Chamber Choir.

On Thursday afternoon, the program moves to Casa de las Tejas Verdes, where the public will be able to enjoy, at 3:30 p.m., a performance by soprano Johana Simón and tenor Bernardo Lichilín, accompanied on the piano by the Maestro Cecilio Tieles.

The Gisela Hernández Hall of the MNM will host the National Choir, directed by professor Digna Guerra, on Saturday 19, at 4:00 p.m.

The closing concert will take place at Casa del Alba Cultural, on Sunday 20^th, at 4:00 p.m., where soprano Milagro de los Ángeles Soto and the Exaudi Chamber Choir, directed by María Felicia Pérez Arroyo, will perform live.

The Event…

This initiative that began in 2017, promoted by the prominent researcher and concert pianist Cecilio Tieles Ferrer, has among its goals to provide spaces for the legendary musical genre to return to the contemporary repertoires of excellence and to recognize its value within the history of Cuba. It is, also, an attempt to preserve the famous "Habaneras en La Habana" Festivals, which for over 20 years filled the city with their elegant melodies.

Under the General and Artistic Direction of Maestro Tieles, the Event "Conocer la Habanera" is organized by the Cuban Institute of Music, the National Museum of Music and the Provincial Directorate of Culture, together with the Office of the Historian, the Casa Eusebio Leal and the Opus Habana Magazine. It also has the collaboration of the National Concert Music Center, Habana Radio, the Adolfo Guzmán Provincial Music Center, the América Theater and the Catalan-Ibero-American Cultural Association.

The Habanera…

The lyrical Habanera flourishes on the basis of the Havana contradanza, created in the second half of the 18^th century, by black and mulatto Cuban musicians, with solid professional training, such as Tomás Alarcón (1720-1795), Ulpiano Estrada (1777-1847), Tomás Buelta y Flores (1798-1851), Secundino Arango (?-1870), Claudio Brindis de Salas Monte (1800-1872), among many others. It is recognized as a vocal genre in 1842, when "El amor en el baile" is published.

Tú, by Sánchez De Fuentes, is among the most famous songs as well as Veinte años by Maria Teresa Vera and La Paloma by the Spanish Sebastián Iradier.

From the core of the Habanera were born diverse genres such as clave, danzón and bolero. Argentine tango and early jazz also came from the same core.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff