|
|
|
F
R O M O U R M A I L B A G |
Havana.
March, 18 2004 |
|
BY MARELYS VALENCIA
|
|
MUSICIAN AND
COMBATANT IN THE SPANISH CIVL WAR
From Spain, Javier requests
information on Cuban musician Julio Cueva.
Julio Cueva was born in 1897 and
entered the world of music as a child. Beginning in
the 1930s, with the Don Aspiazu band, he played all
over: New York, London, Lisbon, Zurich, Paris,
Madrid, Tripoli and Beirut. In the French capital,
he participated in the filming of the movie
Orquidea Negra (The Black Orchid), starring
Carlos Gardel.
Don Aspiazu returned to America, but
Julio Cueva joined the Snow Fisher and his
Harlomarvels jazz band, and later started his own
group. Paris opened its doors to him, and that is
where his new band debuted, in a recently opened
cabaret called La Cueva, in honor of Cueva himself.
The Spanish public also took to this new musical
wave. It was right at that moment of popularity that
the Spanish Civil War broke out in July of 1936, and
Cueva joined the groups collecting material for the
front. Later, he joined the 10th brigade, and was
subsequently given the rank of captain in the 46th
Division, and director of the musical band, which he
kept up during the three years of the war.
"The history of Julio Cueva during
the Civil War is an entire separate novel, going far
beyond the demobilization, the painful retreat,
crossing the French border and the 78 days in the
Argelés-sur-Mer concentration camp. In spite of the
abuse and terrible living conditions, he has the
spirit to create a satiric song against the attitude
of the camp authorities..." So goes the account of
that part of Cueva’s life in an article recently
published on
www.lajiribilla.cu
in the Memorias section.
Julio Cueva returned to Cuba and
died on December 25, 1976.
Another account that I recommend to
our readers is that published on March 12 on
www.radioprogreso.cu
in the "De dónde son" section.
ITALY-CUBA FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION’S
MARCH EVENTS
The Italian friendship association
with Cuba has informed us that it has organized a
bus from Milan to Geneva to attend a European
demonstration of solidarity with Cuba during the UN
Human Rights Commission meeting.
They also tell us that rallies
demanding the release of the five Cuban heroes were
held on March 10 outside the U.S. diplomatic
headquarters in Rome and Milan.
RECEIVED WITH THANKS
From France, Didier Lalande invites
readers to the
www.lesamisdecuba.com
website, which I have just visited and which
contains detailed information on the five Cubans
imprisoned in the United States, the violations
committed against them, a gallery of photos, and
other information on its homepage.
Hervé Fullet, of L’Humanité
newspaper, has asked for articles covering our view
of the current situation in Haiti. We have published
various materials on the issue during the last three
weeks. They can be found on the Granma daily
and Granma International websites. If, for
some reason, none appear on the homepage, go to the
News, International News or Our America sections,
which appear to the left of the current day’s news.
From Italy, we have received
inquiries about Carnival time in the eastern city of
Santiago de Cuba. Well, carnival is usually
celebrated at the end of July, so start making your
reservations for the trip. |
|
|
|
|
