2011 Spring Season JUN 2011

Alexandre Arrechea, The Wind on My Face, 2010

Published by: BAM 2011 Spring Season sponsor: BAM 2011 Spring Season

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Alan H. Fishman, Chairman of the Board William I. Campbell, Vice Chairman of the Board Adam E. Max, Vice Chairman of the Board

Karen Brooks Hopkins, President Joseph V. Melillo, Executive Producer

presents The Creole Choir of

Approximate BAM Howard Gilman Opera House running time: Jun 4 at 8pm one hour, 30 minutes, no Musical director Emilia Diaz Chavez intermission Producers Adam Spiegel, Jon Lee, John Simpson Production stage manager Stephen Petrilli

Part of the ¡Sí Cuba! festival, a New York celebration of Cuban arts and culture

BAM 2011 Spring Season sponsor:

Support for ¡Sí Cuba! programming at BAM provided by The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, The Reed Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, and the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation

Major support for ¡Sí Cuba! provided by Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The Creole Choir of Cuba

Formed in 1994 by choir director Emilia Diaz Chavez, the 10-strong group hails from Camagüey, Cuba. Each member is a direct descendant of Haitian migrants who escaped at the end of the 18th century, or more recently, came as laborers to work on Cuba’s sugar plantations. The Creole Choir of Cuba has preserved musical treasures from , Dominica, and Cuba within the active communities in Cuba.

With information gathered from generations of Haitian immigrants, the Creole Choir of Cuba promotes and performs music of Haitian origin, especially “La Cancionistica,” music that has been enriched by elements of other Creole-speaking countries. Their repertoire consists of a wide range of choral arrangements with percussion accompaniment.

After performing at WOMAD and the Edinburgh Festival in 2009, the Creole Choir of Cuba was signed to ’s Real World record label and has been touring internationally since. The group has been incredibly well received—a fact that only pays homage to the vibrant and captivating rhythms, heartfelt harmonies, and fresh, inspiring energy given in every performance.

The Members: Emilia Diaz Chavez Fidel Romero Miranda Marcelo Andres Luis Teresita Romero Miranda Dalio Arce Vital Irian Rondon Montejo Yordanka Sanchez Fajardo Marina de los Angeles Collazo Fernandes Rogelio Rodriguez Torriente Yara Castellanos Diaz

Creole Choir of Cuba appears by arrangement with: IMG Artists, LLC 152 W. 57th St., 5th Floor New York, NY 10019 212.994.3500

Creole Choir of Cuba records for Real World Records Ltd. Program by Sven Creutzmann

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Mangaje—recounts the disorientation felt by a symbolic figure of an African slave upon arrival in Haiti. Traditional Haitian

Edem Chante—which means “help us sing,” is a freedom song created during the dark days of the Duvalier regime. Eddy Francois (adapted by Marcelo Andres Luis)

Mawoule—tells the story of a poor man who takes cattle through the mountains at night. The song speaks of the loneliness he feels during the long journey across rivers, avoiding cattle thieves, and of the inner wisdom that keeps him going. Traditional Haitian (adapted by Marcelo Andres Luis)

Peze Kafé—offers a snapshot of difficulties encountered in everyday life. It tells the story of a boy shouting for his mother after he is robbed when taking the family’s coffee crop to be weighed. Traditional Haitian

Kadja Boswa—a prayer to the protector looking after travelers on their way. Traditional Haitian (adapted by Marcelo Andres Luis) Program

Chen Nan Ren—This song means “chains around us” and is a defiant cry for freedom, protesting the continued exploitation and suffering of the poor, from colonial slavery to modern neo-liberal times. Bobech (adapted by Marcelo Andres Luis)

Wongolo—Haitians sing to their long departed friend, Wongolo, telling him of the troubles they are experiencing. Boukman Eksperyans (adapted by Marcelo Andres Luis)

Marasa Elu—young children are orphaned after losing their parents in a natural disaster befalling the island. Traditional Haitian (adapted by Teresita Romero Miranda)

Tande—this freedom song denounces the misery and suffering of the Haitian people during the Duvalier government. Eddy Francois (adapted by Marcelo Andres Luis)

Neg Anwo—a call to the wealthier members of the Creole population in Haiti to help their poorer counterparts Eddy Francois (adapted by Teresita Romero Miranda)

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. Traditional Haitian (adapted by Marcelo Andres Luis)

Lanmou Rive—an unspoken love between two young people. Marcelo Andres Luis

Ou Pa Nan Chaj—humorous song that pokes fun at a man who has no luck with the women he tries to charm. Traditional Haitian (adapted by Marcelo Andres Luis)

Lumane Casimir—tells the true story of a young peasant woman with a beautiful voice who becomes famous. However, she falls out of grace and at the end of her life she dies impoverished and alone back in her native village. Traditional Haitian The Creole Choir of Cuba

Upper row: Rogelio Rodriguez Torriente, Irian Rondon Montejo, Emilia Diaz Chavez, Teresita Romero Miranda, Marcelo Andres Luis

Lower row: Yara Castellanos Diaz, Dalio Arce Vital, Yordanka Sanchez Fajardo, Fidel Romero Miranda, Marina de Los Angeles Fernandez

About the Creole Choir’s live show: “A euphoric live show ... an evening of uplifting sadness and inspirational joy. —The Times

“Entrancing, exquisite, unlike any other music show.” —The Scotsman

“Anyone who has fallen for Cuban music of any style, be it the Buena Vista Social Club or Omar Sosa, or who just likes great singing, will be moved by this ultra-colorful, cross-generational troupe’s performance.” —The Herald

“The sweet harmonic sounds and melodies from the Creole Choir of Cuba brought audience members to their feet with tears of joy. ... Spiritually uplifting ... A must see for the whole family!” —The Voice

“If their residency at next month’s London Jazz Festival doesn’t sell out, then something is drastically amiss in the universe.” —The Sunday Times

Who’s Who

Stephen Petrilli (production stage manager) has worked on productions at BAM since 2006, includ- ing DanceAfrica. Also a lighting designer, he has designed for Pilobolus, Noche Flamenca, Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers, Shapiro & Smith Dance, Ailey II, Nathan Trice/Rituals, and the Kevin Wynn Collection. Theater credits include work for the Pearl Theatre Company, NAATC, State Theater Company in Aus- tin, and the Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival in his hometown of Pittsburgh. Petrilli also spent five years touring as the lighting/sound supervisor for Pilobolus. He has an eight-year-old son, Liam, and they have a really great cat, Chynno. The Creole Choir of Cuba by Sven Creutzmann

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The Creole Choir of Cuba— Haitian by descent, these Cuban musicians find themselves learning new songs from children inspiring and healing who despite their plight are keen to share what they know and laugh in the process. This is On February 20, 2010, a little over a month a very moving experience for the choir which after the massive January 12th earthquake that back home in Cuba is known as Grupo Vocal devastated Haiti, the Creole Choir of Cuba is in Desandann (desandann means descendents). Port-au-Prince living with the long-term mission They have revived the songs of their ancestors of 600 Cuban doctors, nurses, and paramedics. for modern times because of a belief that “music Each day at 8am they leave to visit various is like food, it feeds the spirit and is a major in- makeshift encampments, where, in whatever spiration for everyday life.” Their sojourn to Haiti shade is available under hot sun, they gather so soon after the earthquake only confirms this the people together and sing. Their aim, in the belief: “We are Cubans but we felt this catastro- words of Emilia Díaz Chávez, the Creole Choir’s phe deep in our hearts as our families were born director, is “to help the Haitian people de-stress there and it is our heritage. Haiti is a country that with music.” While UK television reports on aid has suffered, yet its people and its children are workers unable to leave Haiti’s main airport, the alive with culture.” Creole Choir journeys out every day to different settlements in all parts of the city and even further The Creole Choir’s 10 remarkable singers come out to nearby towns to visit many orphanages. from Camagüey, Cuba’s third city, at the eastern At night they bed down on mattresses in tents end of the island. They grew up and studied on the grounds of the hospital behind the ruined music in this old colonial town, designated a Presidential Palace. They spend most evenings UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 for its singing with local children, most of them orphans, iconic architecture. The Creole Choir itself was who gravitate to the Cuban compound. founded in 1994 during the “Special Period,” when the Cuban economy fell into a black hole The Creole Choir of Cuba by Sven Creutzmann

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following the end of the USSR and of Soviet early-20th century, and again in the 1950s dur- support for the revolution. Food was scarce while ing the brutal dictatorship of Papa Doc Duvalier. homes and work places often went dark due to All lived in the countryside in conditions akin to lack of electricity. It was at this difficult time that slavery, enduring harsh discrimination until the members of the Professional Choir of Camagüey 1959 revolution brought with it literacy, educa- who were descendants of Haitians decided to tion, and equality. The Creole Choir describes re-forge the resistance songs and laments of their each of their songs as being “like a small film” forebears, to celebrate the history of their Haitian filled with vitality, humor, and compassion. They descendants enslaved to the Caribbean from tell stories of survival despite abject poverty, of West . To the songs that had been passed heroes who defied colonial masters, of ghosts at down in their families since the early 19th centu- the crossroads, of enduring love, of homesick- ry, they added modern Haitian sounds, following ness for family, of abandonment but never loss their first visit to a Haitian festival in 1996. of hope, of mother’s laments and prayers, and of the desire for freedom. With irresistible melodies Songs are sung in Creole, Cuba’s second lan- driven by richly textured harmonies, and shifting guage, which was first created by slaves by fus- Caribbean rhythms with a very original root bass ing together words from their African languages, sound, this is impassioned singing by a unique the Taíno language of Caribbean indigenous group. In the words of the glorious Edem Chanté people, with French, Spanish, and English. Cre- —help us sing!—be prepared to hear something ole was spoken by the choir members’ parents, completely different and “new” from Cuba. grandparents, and great grandparents—people doubly displaced—first from Africa, then from —Jan Fairley Haiti. The first wave of Haitians were brought to Cuba as slaves to work in the sugar plantations For information on the Creole Choir of Cuba’s of the French aristocracy who fled Haiti after the album Tande-La, on Real World Records, go to: slave revolts of the 1790s. Subsequent waves of realworldrecords.com/thecreolechoirofcuba Haitians came to the island during the 19th and