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Rosa Marquetti published a survey on high carats for anyone interested in the history of Cuban music. The researcher and incorrigible musician recently presented the book Saturday the title Chano Pozo. Life. It's a volume that obviously speaks of the name.
With this title the author has studied many pbadages of the life of this historic Cuban musician and by the way, he paid a debt with the admiration that He professes. Granma follows the steps of this volume in a conversation with the researcher who has been running the blog for years, Desmemoriados, to bring to the present the rich tradition of Cuban music.
-Why do you think it is necessary to publish a book? About Chano Pozo right now?
-After having been many to have preceded me by addressing the figure of Chano Pozo, both literature, journalism, audio-visual. I am indebted to them because they knew how to keep alive their legend and their knowledge, which also allowed me to access this antecedent legacy. Chano Pozo is, for a long time, one of the most famous Cuban musicians in the world. Nobody denies his great contribution to jazz: as far as I'm looking, I can not find another moment in the history of music in the United States where Cuba could influence a change: it was the moment where Afro-Cuban percussion, the tumbadora, was inserted organically and sustainably in instrumental jazz formats, and in this Pozo Chano had a great responsibility. However, despite this, over the years Chano has been better known for the myth that he himself helped build, for this life of "thriller" full of adventures, very dubious and alarming facts , crystallized in several legends, only for his musical work as a composer, percussionist, dancer, performative actor. I felt the need to go after this legend, to try to find reaffirmations and to deepen aspects that still seemed to me in the opaque, just as the l '39. impact that had its presence in the cast of the famous RHC Cadena Azul, the main radio of Cuba in the early 40s of the last century; Chano's musical diary during the 21 months when, in total, he lived and worked in the United States; Little is known about the pbadage of Chano Pozo across Sweden, Denmark, France and Belgium on tour with Dizzy Gillespie's band
– How access to original sources has- did he serve to compose the volume
? -From the beginning of the research I decided to work, preferably, with primary sources. I also went to the testimonials collected in time by other researchers who preceded me, but I was obsessed with the idea of transcending the anecdotes and myths in order to help. to evaluate the reputation of Chano as a musician through the press of the time; opinions expressed – positive and negative, if any – by the American musicians who worked with him in the Gillespie group; the journalistic critics in which his musical work was appreciated, all in Cuba, in the United States and in other countries where he played.
– What stages of Chano's life does the book take?
-The book tries to cover Chano's entire life, the 33 years that he lived, but I tried to contextualize this journey through his life path, because it is true that Chano has managed to be in appropriate places at the right times, but to reach this conclusion, it takes It was happening in Cuba, or New York, or Paris when our drummer was playing such or such event. A final chapter – Chano after Chano – refers to the impact of his life and death in the months immediately following his death, especially in the musical field, in the United States and Cuba
– What characteristics of Chano's life and personality impressed you during the realization of the work?
– The genius of his empiricism as a musician; the ability to capture with rare resources, almost all rhythmic, not only the sound world that has been linked, but the narrative of the facts and experiences that people have played, then identified and made popular, when he referred them back into their parts. But perhaps the most moving thing, what has impressed me the most is how the origins and the marginality were always present to complicate his life. Undoubtedly, the fact that his greatest success, his most accomplished musical composition, his immortal Butter, had been written to serve him as a requiem and at the same time a hymn to bring him to life. immortality.
-Chano, one of the great figures of Cuban music barely spoken of in the media. Why do you think this happens?
-Because the media and other platforms prefer to talk about the contemporary, without leaving room for the knowledge and the diffusion of musicians like him. The media respond to commercial action based on certain stereotypes, including ours, because we already know that not all the good news is being broadcast, or whatever the different groups or segments of the population are asking for or wanting. In my opinion, there is not much media willingness to find ways to bring modernity closer to such fundamental figures as Chano Pozo. Such a lack can even be seen as an act of ignorance in a country with the musical richness that exhibits ours, with a musical history that many countries would like for themselves. But I perceive that the global trend is to the segmentation of the music market, and to the formation of niches of consumption of this or that genre or style. It is naive to claim that taste or musical consumption is globalized
– After the presentation, you thought of some kind of project to continue to bring the book to all those who are interested, in Cuba and l & # 39; abroad.
-Editorial Oriente, who publishes the book, did a great job to give it a graphic quality that I appreciate. Also to make it happen, as will happen in the coming days, to bookstores in the country. On the other hand, the publishing house La Iguana Ciega, of Barranquilla, Colombia, is interested in the text and will present its edition at the Barranquilla Jazz Festival, Barranquijazz 2018, next September, being available in the countries of the region (Colombia Venezuela, Peru, Panama and Ecuador). I hope that later, probably next year, the ebook format version will appear through the usual platforms for this type of editing.
-Maybe that this book is a simple exercise of nostalgia. ?
-No, that's not it. It is a conscious act, which benefits from certain investigative resources that are only now possible and that complement what those who preceded me have done. This is my contribution to placing Chano Pozo in the place where it should be. I do not care if there is no statue of Chano in Havana, but I care that young people know who he is and what his great contribution to our culture was.
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