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Expanding Contact with the Rebeh

Thomas G. Paterson

in Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution

The Barbudos remained in the mountain ranges and the Batista troops faltered to track them. The 26th of July Movement guerrillas slowly increased their “Free Territory” in the Oriente Province, ... More

The Barbudos remained in the mountain ranges and the Batista troops faltered to track them. The 26th of July Movement guerrillas slowly increased their “Free Territory” in the Oriente Province, obtaining recruits and arms. With triangular shoulder patches to identify them as part of the rebel troop, Castro forces patiently developed the support of local guajiros (peasants), who provided them food, shelter, and their young sons as messengers and lookouts. Rebel sympathizers in America sent smuggled arms to Cuba by hiding bullets, machine guns, and pistols in cars shipped via the ferry boat from Key West to the Havana car agency. Female activists travelled from Miami to Cuba with small guns hidden under their skirts.Less

Terrible Mood: Castro and the General Strike

Thomas G. Paterson

in Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution

Tensions increased in Cuba in late March and early April of that year; everybody prepared themselves for a violent showdown. Larger numbers of Latin American, European, and U.S. reporters roamed ... More

Tensions increased in Cuba in late March and early April of that year; everybody prepared themselves for a violent showdown. Larger numbers of Latin American, European, and U.S. reporters roamed around the island, witnessing first hand police and rebel violence. Batista prepared his troops for a rebel-developed general strike. His troops chased dissidents of types, killing M-26-7 suspects on the spot. Rebel units also destroyed Oriente Province, battling with Cuban forces, stopping traffic. The U.S. Embassy initiated the early phases of evacuation plan for its citizens.Less

Ontology of the Son

Raul A. Fernandez

in From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz

The twentieth century witnessed the growth, spread, synthesis, and resynthesis of the most popular and influential genre of Cuban dance music styles, son, that went on to provide the foundation for a ... More

The twentieth century witnessed the growth, spread, synthesis, and resynthesis of the most popular and influential genre of Cuban dance music styles, son, that went on to provide the foundation for a number of dance trends, such as the rumba and the mambo. This chapter examines the characteristics, history, and development of the genre in its various manifestations: as a dance, as poetry, and as instrumental form. Although disagreements persist, son is most often seen as a product of the uniquely isolated yet multicultural province of Oriente, a province that appears as an appropriate site for the development of this powerful form of New World Creole music. Examining the date of its arrival and popularization in Havana in the early 1920s is considered a useful way to approach its possible birth date. Son was born not at a concert but at a dance, and the sounds of its instruments and the vocal parts were part of a whole that allowed people to round out the picture with their body movements. Jazz and the Cuban son merged in the last half of the twentieth century to produce a fun and dynamic hybrid of hybrids that came to be known as Latin jazz. Like its African and Spanish ancestors, it is several things at once: an instrumental music, a popular song, and a people's dance.Less

Regionalism and the Intersections of Race and Place in Cuba

Rebecca M. Bodenheimer

in Geographies of Cubanidad: Place, Race, and Musical Performance in Contemporary Cuba

This chapter chronicles the pervasiveness of regionalist sentiment within contemporary Cuban society. First, a genealogy of regionalism on the island from the early colonial period through ... More

This chapter chronicles the pervasiveness of regionalist sentiment within contemporary Cuban society. First, a genealogy of regionalism on the island from the early colonial period through independence is presented in order to contextualize the present situation and challenge the notion of a unified hybrid nation put forth by the Cuban state. The discussion of contemporary regionalism will focus on relationships among Cubans in Havana, and the effects of large-scale migration from Oriente (eastern Cuba) to the capital. The second part of the chapter elucidates the intersections between race and place, taking into account the racial demographics of each region both historically and in the present moment.Less

“La Habana No Aguanta Más”: Regionalism in the Lyrics of Cuban Popular Music

Rebecca M. Bodenheimer

in Geographies of Cubanidad: Place, Race, and Musical Performance in Contemporary Cuba

Chapter two elaborates on the ways regionalist tensions are performed through the lyrics of Cuban popular music, and conducts textual analyses of several songs that explicitly comment upon this ... More

Chapter two elaborates on the ways regionalist tensions are performed through the lyrics of Cuban popular music, and conducts textual analyses of several songs that explicitly comment upon this issue. This chapter examines songs from three major dance music groups – Los Van Van, Orquesta Original de Manzanillo, and Adalberto Álvarez y Su Son – to demonstrate their various attitudes toward regionalism in contemporary Cuba. A song from Havana rumba group Clave y Guaguancó will also be analyzed as an example of Havana natives’ views on migration from Oriente. In addition to the use of song lyrics, the analysis draws on subjective perspectives and ethnographic observations.Less

“Conciencia de Caribeñidad”: Regionalism, Folklore Oriental, and Santiago’S Caribbean Connection

Rebecca M. Bodenheimer

in Geographies of Cubanidad: Place, Race, and Musical Performance in Contemporary Cuba

Chapter three provides a detailed discussion of the current status of eastern Cuban folklore, both in terms of academic scholarship and performance. Because this realm of cultural production has been ... More

Chapter three provides a detailed discussion of the current status of eastern Cuban folklore, both in terms of academic scholarship and performance. Because this realm of cultural production has been marginalized within national scholarship, and has been discussed in very few English-language publications, the chapter presents a comprehensive overview of folklore oriental. This category includes both Afro-Haitian traditions (religious and secular) and other local genres like conga santiaguera. It utilizes various sources and methods, including a review of regional scholarship on these traditions, interviews with musicians (primarily from Santiago), discourse analysis, and musical description/analysis.Less

The Politics of Place and National Traditions: Race, Regionalism, and the Relationship between Rumba and Son

Rebecca M. Bodenheimer

in Geographies of Cubanidad: Place, Race, and Musical Performance in Contemporary Cuba

The book’s final chapter returns to the relationship between eastern and western Cuba, and the discussion of regionalism more broadly. It takes up an exploration of how historic regional inequalities ... More

The book’s final chapter returns to the relationship between eastern and western Cuba, and the discussion of regionalism more broadly. It takes up an exploration of how historic regional inequalities and the overall hegemony of Havana-based and western Cuban traditions may have informed the scholarship on the two most important national music traditions, son (from Oriente) and rumba (from western Cuba). Specifically, the chapter argues that rumba has been discussed as the more “authentic” of the two because of its heavier African influence, while sonhas long been considered the quintessential example of cultural hybridity, and thus less “pure.”Less

Why Cry? Sezen Aksu's Diva Citizenship

in The Republic of Love: Cultural Intimacy in Turkish Popular Music

This chapter explores pop diva Sezen Aksu's 1995 album, Işık doğudan yükselir, Ex Oriente lux (Light from the East) in relation to the radical transformations of Turkey's neoliberal 1990s. It ... More

This chapter explores pop diva Sezen Aksu's 1995 album, Işık doğudan yükselir, Ex Oriente lux (Light from the East) in relation to the radical transformations of Turkey's neoliberal 1990s. It discusses how Aksu's version of the song “Ne ağlarsın” became an icon of national soulfulness. In part, its iconic status rested on its evocation of a deeply familiar trope: nation imagined as suffering woman.Less

The Making of the Cuban Revolution

Laurent Dubois and Richard Lee Turits

in Freedom Roots: Histories from the Caribbean

This chapter explores the roots and unfolding of the 1950s revolutionary movement in Cuba, in which Fidel Castro’s small guerrilla army triumphed against all odds over the powerful U.S.-backed ... More

This chapter explores the roots and unfolding of the 1950s revolutionary movement in Cuba, in which Fidel Castro’s small guerrilla army triumphed against all odds over the powerful U.S.-backed Fulgencio Batista regime. Castro’s army thrived in Cuba’s Oriente Province, where they tapped into a decades-old battle for land between planters and independent peasants and squatters. In this sense, Castro found a movement more than he founded one. The rural insurrection was complemented by an equally important urban uprising that helped destabilize and delegitimize a dictatorship beginning to crumble from within. The chapter integrates the urban, rural, and multi-class dimensions of the Cuban insurrection. In doing so, the chapter sheds light on the complexity of revolutions more generally and the way successful struggles depend on coalitions built among groups with often contradictory interests and goals. The chapter also demonstrates how political aims and alliances shift dramatically in the context of struggle, amid changing perceptions of the possible and new political opportunities, constraints, and alternatives.Less

Men Newly Powerful: How Pueblo Politics Became a Caste War

in Rebellion Now and Forever: Mayas, Hispanics, and Caste War Violence in Yucatan, 1800-1880

This chapter examines the origins of the Cast War. It suggests that the uprising emerged from a series of Oriente cabals that spun out of the Mexican invasion. Hispanic bigmen, particularly ... More

This chapter examines the origins of the Cast War. It suggests that the uprising emerged from a series of Oriente cabals that spun out of the Mexican invasion. Hispanic bigmen, particularly Valladolid caudillo Agustín Acereto, began to dabble in revolts organized among people of the Oriente villages, in order to further their own interests. It is argued that pueblo politics—in theory the fruit of Mexican independence and the right of all citizens as they pursued their peculiar vision of the municipio libre, or free village—empowered Oriente military caudillos and jefe políticos, folded Maya peasants into sordid schemes, and in the process became a Caste War.Less

Introduction

in Cuba's Wild East: A Literary Geography of Oriente

This book belongs to a series called American Tropics: Towards a Literary Geography. The series of American Tropics provides a new way to the writing of literary history. This book deals with Oriente ... More

This book belongs to a series called American Tropics: Towards a Literary Geography. The series of American Tropics provides a new way to the writing of literary history. This book deals with Oriente as a place, in which people from outside have been drawn. Oriente is also considered as a ground where Cubans and non-Cubans, orientales and non-orientales have often met, with both sides giving accounts of their meetings in a variety of forms. Moreover, this book covers Sierra Maestra, Guantánamo Bay and Jiguaní. Finally, an overview of the chapters included in this book is given.Less

José Martí at Vega del Jobo (1895)

in Cuba's Wild East: A Literary Geography of Oriente

This chapter sets the war diary of José Martí alongside the exile poems of his most famous predecessor as a Cuban poet, José María Heredia, alongside the work of the indigenista movement known in ... More

This chapter sets the war diary of José Martí alongside the exile poems of his most famous predecessor as a Cuban poet, José María Heredia, alongside the work of the indigenista movement known in Cuba as siboneyismo, and alongside some of Martí's other writings. His most famous essay, ‘Nuestra América’ [Our America], is considered. The chapter also explains the subsequent constructions of the indigenous presence in Oriente. Then, it describes the impulse behind ‘Nuestra América’ by Patricio Del Real. It suggests that the small indigenous communities in Vega del Jobo may be hidden in the mountains, but they embody the history of Oriente.Less

Josephine Herbst in Realengo 18 (1935)

in Cuba's Wild East: A Literary Geography of Oriente

This chapter discusses the visit of Josephine Herbst in Realengo 18. An account of Pablo de la Torriente Brau's visit to Realengo 18 is also reported. Herbst is a woman journalist and novelist from ... More

This chapter discusses the visit of Josephine Herbst in Realengo 18. An account of Pablo de la Torriente Brau's visit to Realengo 18 is also reported. Herbst is a woman journalist and novelist from the USA. de la Torriente Brau is a left-wing activist working in Havana. The accounts left by these two writers inscribed its name on the history of Oriente. Since de la Torriente's visit, Realengo 18 had now become an issue of truly national importance. It is suggested that the peasants of the Realengo 18 wrote glorious pages of history, of defiance against oppression and against big landholders.Less