Fusion of Spanish melodies and African rhythms

Continued from last week

Once the wrapping is complete, the final touches are added. First the wrapper leaf is worked until it is completely smooth. Then comes the trimming. The cigar tip is finished off by wrapping the end with a last tobacco leaf.

Once the cigar is finished, the diameter is checked with a special gauge stamped with various standard sizes established for every kind of cigar. The same instrument is also used to measure the pre-established length after which the cigar is cut to this size using the cutting machine.

The tobacco plant grows from small, round, golden seeds. Cuban tobacco seeds are in demand throughout the world because their quality is considered to be very good. Tobacco plants are quite delicate and require skilful handling.

The Cuban government allows private tobacco growers to have 17 acre plots, but the State is still the sole manufacturer and distributor of cigars.

We were not allowed to take photos inside the factory. However, we were permitted to photograph the lady inside the Pantages sale room.

The hundreds of young men and women are going through the described process of manufacturing cigars.

The popular brands are Montecristo, Pantages and Cohibas and Romeo and Juliet. We were told that the brand names were inspired by most favourite books the cigar makers read during their break.

Transport

American cars on Cuban roads

Since the energy crisis of the late 1980s when the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries stopped supplying Cuba with the petrol it needed, every possible means have been used to get around the Island.

Cycle pedal rickshaws were recently introduced to Cuba as another solution to the fuel shortage. They are used for short trips in towns and each can carry up to two people. The traditional carriage is a one horse drawn vehicle.

Vintage cars

Because of the embargo and the shortage of petrol, the Cuban government prohibited the sale of vehicles to private citizens. Cars made in the 1940s and 1950s mostly American makes, could not be replaced and owners have had to do their utmost to preserve and restore them and keep them running which was not an easy task in the absence of spare parts.

Cuban car mechanics have been forced to devise ingenious creative solutions and have even been known to fit Lada engines in Chevrolets It is quite common to see museum pieces on the streets. The Cadillacs and 1930-s Fords have been fashionable cars to own in Cuba. The Chevrolet is the most commonly seen car in Cuba, appreciated for its durability and space. The popular Bei Air, 1956 and 1957 collectors models of Chevrolet is commonly used as taxis.

Reproduction of the Swan with outspread wings from Chevrolet bonnets is sold in the market to replace the originals. In the late 50s, it was a common sight to see Ernest Hemingway driving his brand new 1955 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe Convertible enroute for his daily drinking sessions with his friends.

After his death, Hemingway’s’ sleek black Chrysler New Yorker escaped the clutches of the Cuban government and apparently passed into the hands of Augustin Nunez Gutierrez, a Cuban Policeman, according to writer Joann Biondi, later Nunez hid the car and hopped on a raft for Miami. Popular legend says the car’s whereabouts are still a mystery and that the Chrysler still awaits discovery as some incredibly fortunate collector’s dream.

Music and dance

Anything can be used to make music in Havana at anytime, anywhere. The most popular music is a fusion of Spanish melodies and African rhythms which is the very essence of Cuba. Today its son, rumba and salsa. Dance is an essential part of life with the Cuban people. This country is moving, swaying and rocking to the rhythms.

‘Son’ is a type of country music that originated in Cuba in the 19th century, a blend of African rhythm and Spanish melody, which then greatly influenced Latin American music as a whole. In around 1920, *son* began to be played in towns, in Eastern Cuba, where, along with other genres, it produced the trova traditional, a Ballard style sung with guitar.

The popular salsa is the dance music which maintains the rhythmic structure of son, while adding new sounds borrowed from jazz and other Latin American genres.

Exclusive Cuban musical instruments consist of the tres, a small guitar, always used in son bands, with three paws of metal strings and the ‘requinto’, another small, high pitched guitar that is used in trios to play melodic variations. Typical Cuban percussion instruments are the ‘tumbadora’, a tan wooden or leather drum played with the hands, which is used in all musical forms, including jazz, the bongos, two small round drums, the claves, two wooden cylinders played by striking them against one another, the ‘guiro’, and the gourd of a guira fruit which is stroked with a small stick, and the marimbula a rarely used small piano.

The Rumba of course is the African core of Cuban music, the rumba originated in poor neighbourhoods as a voice of rebellion against slavery and segregation. It then became a form of political expression of an unhappy love affair. Columbia is country-style rumba, white ‘yambu’ and guaguanco are the urban varieties, with a dance rhythm that can be sensual and dynamic or sad and stow.

Wim Wonders in his 1988 film, “Buena Vista Social Club” brought into the limelight traditional son interpreters Ruban Garzalez and the singer Ibrahim Ferrer.