37 Weeks Pregnant Discharge

call a free man Air

was the day a great walk, one of firsts for me. This should be early May, 2004.
Within three days, authorities have decreed that a million people would walk down the Malecon. Así of sencillo.
I've got a front row seat as the casa particular where I live at this time overlooking a street used as parqueo. In front of my window all night, I hear the bus coming to the pitch, filled, are parked one behind the other, and invade the neighborhood.



is even a little scary to see those who clog the streets one after another, unbroken lines of buses of all kinds, ceaseless noise. Overnight.
On the Malecon, from 7am, nonsensical posters filled with swastikas, a few years kids screaming into microphones that imperialism does not happen, and a crowd rushing to march, obedience to conviction A small flag paper by hand.
Printing disheartening to have to face yourself with people who have given food for thought, which submitted their ability to judge, question, responsibility to others later.
This short morning (walking itself ends at about eleven o'clock in the morning, and presto, everyone at home to enjoy the holiday improvised) depresses me: And seeing the mobilization mechanisms, and what they imply abdication, docility leaves a bitter taste, which has little to do with the image of an impressive crowd-river view of helicopter who comes and goes on television all day.

In late afternoon, friends call me. They invite me to join them at a peña, a concert in "El hueco" (the hole), a small open-air amphitheater at the corner of G to 19 (or 21, I doubt). "It's a trovador, a type owl, you'll see .
On the way, I remember the flamboyant covered with flowers, I collect a few, delicate, bright orange, a makeover. On site, the place is amazing, charming, a sort of large hole below the streets, sheltered by giant ficus. All tiers concrete filled, and settles on the small stage a bearded man, round, smiling, in his fifties. Pedro Luis Ferrer.

(Image resumed Blog Pedro Luis Ferrer, slideshow.

As for me, I am at 4 th rank toward the middle, jajaja ...)

He starts talking, joking, telling stories to small entities malicious, talks about the morning walk with humor and detachment. I'm flabbergasted. It feels so good, a bit of second degree is like a breath of fresh air, a gap in a setting that would monopolize the entire space.
Then he sang a few songs again in chorus by the audience. Her voice is beautiful, powerful. Bystanders watching from the street. There is a joyous atmosphere, free. It's been a few weeks I'm here, and for the first time I feel a kind of spontaneity in public. " Ciento cubano por Ciento , and the public rejoiced.


At the end of the concert, my friends drag me with them, continue the party at Pedro Luís, they know. Late into the night on his porch, several trovadores improvise, there's always this lightness in the air, a chispa makes a good crazy.
Peña de Pedro Luis, to be monthly, was suspended after the second number only. He then gave a few concerts at La Casona, in peña organized by actor Renecito de la Cruz on Sunday night - before it fell victim to its success and more or less closed.
In the years that followed, I often reviewed Pedro Luís, I spent a beautiful afternoon asado in his house full of friends, singing, children, until he eventually leave at half move to Spain and return a few months here and there.
One of my last nights in Cuba, I had the chance to see him in the Great Hall of the Amadeo Roldan. It was packed, even if the concert had not been announced publicly. When he came, he took his guitar in hand, moved, looked at the public slowly, smiling: "It's nice , it's been long time since we had not seen "


Everyone applauded, and later, the whole world held its breath when he began to sing the song of Paco abuelo at the end of the concert: " Grandfather built this house, and while we all lived with the sacrifices it means to care for move the slightest thing, he must ask permission and if grandfather disagrees, nothing changes in the house ... "



(The video was a march organized in January 2006. Sound recordings of the concert of Amadeo Roldan, February 2007)

Monica Roccaforte The Best Movies

la peña turtle

I left Cuba because I was tired of the atmosphere schizophrenic situation there, because after several years of life, I did not want to make my life there, because I often felt stifled, stuck, and that feeling has come to be stronger than happy to live surrounded by a tribe Cálida.
Three years ago I arrived in Havana with a single ticket and the address of a casa particular where to put my two bags in the first days. That's it. I did not know if I would stay a few months or years. I knew nobody on the island, but I was full of curiosity (I exaggerate a little, I kept a friend from my first trip to the island in 1995, and the fact that he comes to me at the airport when I arrived made me a very foolish).
Very soon my Cuban andanzas led me to chance encounters, concerts Peñas, parties in discussions. I had the chance to meet great people early, even if I had only half aware that time.
few weeks ago I read an article posted on Penúltimos Días . There was talk of "new rebels." And I realized that I knew almost everyone, close friends, and that beyond the political positions of each other, it is precisely their rebellion, freedom, energy that accompanied my discovery of Cuba, and had made him so rich.
I arrived at a rather sluggish in Cuban history, the end of a political project, his disintegrating anyway. But what binds us to a country, it is not an abstract image, rather it is very flesh, these are the friends you have, the meetings that mark us, sometimes we bury the dead .
The time has passed since I left, but I'm always careful what happens there, and my memories remain strong. And since fragments island is there, why not continue to share?
So if laziness does not conquer me, I'll introduce you to some friends. I've already talked about Yoani and Reinaldo , soon you will meet Pedro Luis, Ray, Gorki, Ciro, Amaury, Luis Eligio, David, Arthur, Jacqueline, Irina, Pedro, Frank, Erick, Mayito, el Maja El Profe and many others ...

Merilyn Sakova - Office

Lord

On this day a little rainy in Paris, I take you for a ride to Havana, the time of a song on the roof of a building Vedado, to find Adriana, outstanding singer and friend Cukier. A Gozar!

What Can I Serve As A German Appetizer

the birth of a blog

I remember it was an afternoon in late winter, shortly before I left Cuba. I was in their living room with this view that dominates the south of Havana.
often I came home for the past two years, have a coffee, a glass of water, eat some pasta, a pretext for informal discussions - precious moments, trying to decipher an opaque reality. Was like leaving the island for a few hours, the codes were different, everything seemed simpler, more direct.
During one of my trips outside Cuba, they even kept Jico my jicote despite his voracious curiosity toward their tiny Téa. Since then, Jico hibernates in Paris and Téa joined the Turtle ...
paradise that day, Yoani sought a name for the blog that she wanted to create, she had several ideas. I found that "Generation Y" was the most appropriate for the Y, if and when generational Cuban, and the echo that it referred to the Gen X left behind history.
Since then, his blog has become a piece of the recent history of Cuba, precisely, and millions of people now have the chance to share the freedom of thought and Yoani Reinaldo (without Y. ..) . I am often
worried about them, how to avoid it, but I know their strength, quiet, comfort me now as then. And read day after day, it just cancel the hurricane in the middle where they are.

(And here , one of my first pieces, about Reinaldo).