Creole Choir of Cuba
Review
Performance at the Barbican on 08/02/2011
Creole Choir of Cuba
The Creole Choir of Cuba sing the stories of their Haitian ancestors who were brought over to Cuba to work in slave like conditions in the sugar and coffee plantations. Through their music the tradition of freedom songs is passed down by parents and grand parents…
We at Latino Music UK were looking forward to this performance as we had checked out the Creole Choir on Spotify and on YouTube, all we have to say is watch this Choir Live, you will be blown away.
The theme of their singing is about the struggles of being a slave, the struggles of lost loved ones, the often hard realities of life of being poor that of a slave, reading this it may sound like it’s all doom and gloom but nothing could be more further from the truth, the show is vibrant with colour, passion and positivity and I mean visually as well as Rhythmically.
One of many stand out highlights of the evening which also included some dancing and i don’t mean just by the Choir there were two lucky men who were plucked from the audience and pulled up on to the stage to strut their stuff with the choir, the first dancer was comical at best the 2nd was actually quite good anyway, one of the highlights was the Creole Choir of Cuba’s rendition of Unforgettable by Nat King Cole. A performance that received rapturous applause and a standing ovation and rightly so, there was gasp of surprise and realisation as they performed this classic number, I have since been told that Creole Choir sometime’s perform this as an encore as it is never written down on the set-list so it is a song that is sometimes thrown in, it certainly worked well at the Barbican and we were glad that we were there to hear it.
The Entire performance is knitted together expertly by a choir truly passionate about what they are singing. Through out the course of the performance you are able to hear influences in their music from France, Spain, Cuba and Africa which have been expertly interwoven together in to this truly majestic live show which can only leave you feeling inspired.
The Creole Choir finished the evening by selecting a few more upbeat and Cuban sounds that we are more familiar with, and with that they strolled off, leaving the stage and walking through the crowd singing and shaking hands with as many members of the audience as they could whilst heading towards the bar area/forum.
A Perfect ending!
One tip of advice, if you do go and see The Creole Choir of Cuba, go and dance, don’t just sit there all static and motionless, get involved either by standing, clapping or shaking that gluteus maximus, it doesn’t matter as long as there is some kind of movement, their passion deserves and warrants a response, after all so many of us human beings suffer the idignity of poverty and economic slavery that the very least we can do is be inspired by this choir, as through all the hardships and suffering that they sing about their message is truly a positive one.
This truly is an inspirational night out.
Creole Choir de Cuba Amazon mp3 Player
The Choir Consists of
Musical Director: Emilia Diaz Chavez
Emilai Diaz Chavez, Fidel Romero Miranda, Marcelo Andres Luis, Irian Esther Rondon Montejo, Marina de los Angeles Collazo Fernandez, Teresita Romero Miranda, Yoranka Sanchez Fajardo, Dalio Arce Vital, Yara Castellanos Diaz, Rogelio Rodriguez Torriente
Creole Choir Set-list at the Barbican
MANGAJE – Recounts the disorientation felt by a symbolic figure of an African slave on arrival in Haiti.
EDEM CHANTE – A freedom song created during the dark days of the Duvalier regime. The Cry “Edem Chante” means “Help us Sing”
MAWOULE – Tells the story of a drover who takes the cattle through the mountains at night. The words tell of the loneliness of the long journey across rivers, avoiding cattle thieves, and of the wisdom that keeps him going.
PEZE KAFE – Offering a snapshot of the difficulties encountered in everyday life. Peze cafe tells of a boy shouting for his mother after he is robbed when taking the family’s coffee crop to be weighed.
KADJA BOSWA – A prayer to the protector looking after travellers on their way.
CHEN NAN REN – This song means “chains around the waist” and is a defiant cry for freedom, protesting against the continued exploitation and suffering of the poor, from colonial slavery to modern neo-liberal times.
WONGOLO – Haitians to their long departed friend, Wongolo, where they tell him of the troubles they have been experiencing.
MARASA ELU – Young children who have been orphaned, having lost their parents in a natural disaster befalling the island.
TANDE – This Freedom song denounces the misery and suffering of the Haitian People during the Duvalier government.
NEG ANWO – A call to the richer members of the Creole population in Haiti to help their poorer counterparts
FEY – Fey means “leaf” in Creole. The song tells the story of a mother who mourns the absence of her son, who has been deported as a political protestor.
LA NMOU RIVE – An unspoken love between two young people
OU PA NAN CHAJ – Humorous song that pokes fun at a man who has no luck with the women he tries to charm.
LUMANE CASIMAR – Tells the true story of a young peasant woman with a beautiful voice who arrives in Port-au-Prince one day with a guitar under her arm. Although she becomes famous and loved by the people, at the end of her life she dies impoverished and alone back in her native village.
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