Magic with sticks and drums
Written by Administrator

Translated by / Eduardo Rodriguez Melis
Tuesday, April 02, 2013 00:00

The XII Drum Festival proposed this necessary trip to Cuban percussion, considered the backbone of Creole music

By: Yelanys Hernández Fusté

That fragment of time in which the instrumentalists take their drumsticks and initiate their show, indicates the beginning of a period of musical lyricism, to which it is difficult to escape.

They improvise their melodic notes and in the seats feel the connection with the scene. In some the influence of the rock, in others of more Latin rhythms is noted; All carry in their executions that national nuance, that goes from the most Afro-Cuban side to the most contemporary tendencies.

I just witnessed it in the recently concluded XII edition of the Drummer Party Guillermo Barreto in Memorian. With their own hands or when taking their drumsticks, a group of percussionists made of pailas, bongoes, batteries and tumbadoras a party of sounds tangible, sensual.

Experienced artists appropriated the scene of the capital Mella theater last weekend to invite them to enjoy an essential ingredient in the sound panorama of the island.

In the show of that Saturday a script was presented without dramaturgical dissonances, in which two thematic lines gravitated: the test of fire of the participants in the International Competition of Percussion and a luck of exhibition of virtuous drummers of the Island.

A great reality came out of the contest: in Cuba there is a huge quarry of percussionists, capable of continuing the legacy of Guillermo Barreto, Tata Güines, Changuito and Los Papines, among many other renowned exponents of these instruments.

The participants, who had the opportunity to attend without limits of age or academic degree, had to move freely by genera from the Island such as son, bolero, chachacha and danzón, to name a few.

That night we enjoyed the small incursions of the contestants, who were sometimes accompanied by the three and the bongo, while in others they were followed by a more complex musical base composed by the piano, the bass, the tumbadora, the bell .. .

However, in the evening they only demonstrated their skills in a great “discharge” sound, although it would have been enriching a test that would have taken into account the diversity of Creole genres. A final that surprisingly measured the competitor by his mastery when interpreting at least more of our style.

After seeing the finalists play, the jury issued its verdict after one o’clock in the morning – the change to daylight saving time also influenced the contest.

While in the batá Manuel Rafael Gutiérrez took the first prize; His colleague Christopher Joel Ortiga Valdés deserved it among the youngest. For his part, Ruben Rodríguez Duconge collected the award in bongó; Yoendry Perera Ferrer and Miguel Ángel Pacífico, ten years old, did it in tumbadora – in this instrument we must make a parenthesis to mention the second place obtained by the Australian Dominic Kirk.

In the battery, one of the most striking sections, José Carlos Sánchez and Hanet Mota Mompié (12 years old) were awarded the first place, while in the pailas the highest marks fell to Roberto Guerra Madden and Ángelo Julio Sotolongo, from nine years.

If the competition left us the clear reading of the true future of the national percussion, the presentation of outstanding drummers raised the show stop at the Mella. A real waste of virtuosity.

The expected “parade” began with the combination of computerized sounds and the outgoing drums made by Ruly Herrera in his Percussion and sequence, to reach a climax with the trio composed by Eduardo Ramos, Keysel Jiménez and José Julián, who played a Intense and applauded It sounds like it looks.

A perfect conjugation between the congas and the battery offered the duet of Adel González and Oliver Valdés; At the same time that Ramsés Rodríguez also bordered on his performance the frontiers of jazz that he cultivated with his group Temperamento. In this segment we must include two special interventions: that of Klímax, led by Giraldo Piloto, who also presides over the Feast of the Drum, and the discharge that reverenced the 50 years of artistic life of Enrique Plá, fundamental percussionist to enter the genres Creollos, in which Walfredo de los Reyes (Cuba-United States), Aldo Mazza (Canada) and Memo Acevedo (Colombia) participated, among others.

Three hours and so much in the Mella became minimal time for a singular spectacle that leaves us with the desire to be repeated. But we will have to wait until next year to join these artists, perhaps in doses multiplied by the appealing call, and thus to make sure that this appointment with percussion is a unique, oxygenating, necessary act.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 02 April 2013 20:09