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T.O. Music Pix Newsletter #124: January 10, 2011
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1. T.O. Music Pix update

In the last newsletter, I announced I was taking a break from the website and newsletter. That's still the case, but I'm not shutting it down. I have recently added some event listings (scaled-down from the previous format), and you can still expect some occasional newsletter updates. Still around, but a little less active...

Event Updates

As noted, there are some updates on the events page, briefer, and less complete than previously, but remember that the event page also has links (on the right) to numerous sources for music information: clubs, concert venues, promoters, other listing sources, etc.

The 10 member Cuban acapella group, Grupo Vocal Desandann has been a favourite of mine since I first saw them in the mid-90's at Harbourfront Centre, and I've often mentioned them here.

A superb vocal ensemble, their intricate harmonies are unique in Cuban music, not in the least because they are all descendants of Haitian immigrants, and their music is often rooted in Haitian tradition and sung in Creole.

We've been lucky in Toronto to have had the opportunity to see them over the years because of their connection with Jane Bunnett who has promoted, and recorded with them. But I've been puzzled why they haven't received greater recognition. Bunnett's involvement hasn't translated into the success they really deserve.

In 2009, Jane & husband Larry Cramer recorded a new CD, Pwan Dife, by the group, but for some reason, it never seems to have been made available for sale. (It couldn't have been because of the cover photo -- one I took -- of the group :-) )

However, shortly after the CD was released, in the summer of 2009, Desandann went to the UK, and thanks to some British boosters, played the WOMAD and Edinburgh festivals. They connected with Peter Gabriel who recorded a CD by the group, now named The Creole Choir of Cuba. The CD, Tande-la, hasn't been released in North America yet, but is available as a download from WOMAD

As a result, it seems that they are finally about to see a bit of much-belated recognition. They've received great reviews in the UK for their performances and CD, have tours scheduled in Europe and Australia, and have made numerous TV & radio appearances in the UK.

I was particularly happy to hear they were booked to play GlobalFEST in New York City last night. With American doors finally beginning to re-open for Cuban musicians, this concert, connected with a major North American conference for world music professionals, could be another key achievement for the group.

So, I was shocked and saddened -- to put it mildly -- to read the news on Saturday that the group was denied a visa to the US. Their NYC and Philadelphia performances were  cancelled. A news article blamed "delays caused by the enhanced security clearance processing required for Cuban artists."

This came out on the same day when other news reported the murderous assault in Arizona apparently by an American citizen with some bizarre political complaints, and a string of incendiary devices being mailed to government officials in Maryland and Washington, seemingly by somebody upset about public warnings to report suspicious activity! No news yet whether the the suspect is a citizen or a dangerous Cuban musician, but Maryland police admitted, "we just don't know where this person is going".

My last newsletter reported on the great Afrocubism concert I'd seen in New York City in November. Best show of the year, but bizarrely, one of its core members, ngoni master Bassekou Kouyaté wasn't there because he was unable to get a US visa, even though he'd toured that country earlier in the year.

I am extremely upset over the musical blow of these two (and likely other) decisions; but I'm even more concerned about the apparently regression in openness this seems to signify. Those of us passionate about world music see as one of its benefits, the bringing together of people of good will and uniting, in some small way, cultures from around the world. Whatever is behind the inability to bring Bassekou or the good-hearted and great musicians of Desandann into the US is a very troubling sign in 2011.

Earlier on the day I'd heard of the visa problem, I had just listened to a recording I'd made of an hour-long guest spot Desandann made earlier in the year on DJ Ritu's (now-cancelled) "A World in London" show on BBC Radio London. The group performed live in studio, and Ritu interviewed the group leader, Emilia Chavez. I'd visited Emilia about a year ago at her home in Camaguey, Cuba. She was extremely upset about the situation in Haiti at the time, as he had no word on her relatives there following the earthquake.

However, a few weeks after my visit, the group travelled to Haiti, and Emilia talked about their experiences there in the interview. (However she gave no word on any of the group's relatives). She also talks (in Spanish) about the visit in this YouTube clip.

So, in honour of Desandann, below, a clip from a 2007 concert they did in Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity:

John Leeson
www.to-music.ca