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WOMAN
IN JAZZ
Better? Quite
possibly
BY
PEDRO DE LA HOZ —Granma daily staff writer—
THEY
are more than ever in the vanguard and are carving
out space for themselves with intelligence and
character, given that musicality and knowledge
abounds. They are meeting up again from today,
Friday through Sunday in La Zorra y el Cuervo,
animated by the woman who promoted the these initial
meetings, keyboard player and composer Bellita
Expósito. The emblem isn’t a feminist one; in
other words they are not there on account of their
gender but for their genuine contribution to a
highly competitive world, dominated from its origins
by the presence of men. Women in jazz are more of a
reality than a challenge, with a lineup that
includes established figures like saxophonist Lucía
Huergo and Canela, that always surprising troupe who
alternate jazz with dance music, and newcomers in
the category of powerful vibraphone player Tamara
Castañeda and the Angeliza duo.
The
time has come for Bellita Expósito to demonstrate
that there are good instrumentalists among Cuban
women and that as their experience grows, they grow
even more.
"It
isn’t an issue that only happens in the Cuban
sphere," the leader of the Bellita quartet and
Jazz Tumbatá, right from the cradle it is usual to
point to women as vocalists. Everyone knows the
great names of the blues: Ella Fitzgerald, Sara
Vaughan, and Carmen McRae. But with time phenomena
like those of Regina Carter or band director María
Schneider have appeared on the scene. In Brazil you
can’t talk of piano without mentioning Eliane
Elías. And among us flute and sax player Jane
Bunnet is well known for her work with Cuban
musicians.
And
what is happening in Cuba? "Something that came
as a surprise at first, but as the century advances
it will be seen as very natural. In our schools of
music, where there is a balanced gender
representation, boys and girls practice all kinds of
genres and styles and recently Latin jazz is all the
rage. In certain specialties like piano, flute and
percussion, they are always derived from jazz
improvisation. Girls are becoming aware that
hierarchy is not related to who plays but how they
play. That leads me to believe that Cuban women will
become steadily better in jazz."
4TH
EDITION "WOMEN IN JAZZ" MARCH ‘03
FRIDAY
28
•
Vocal Catarsis
•
Grupo Afroamérica
•
Tamara Castañeda
•
Damaris Bautista
•
Danys Bautista and Quinteto Esperanza
SATURDAY
29
•
Vocal Baobob
•
Duo Angeliza
•
Samaris Faver
•
Ofelia y su Chandenid
•
Marialy Pacheco
•
Jesús Fuentes and Canela
SUNDAY
30
•
Vocal Novel Voz
•
Sahily Moredo y Román Filiú
•
Neysi Wilson
•
Glenda López
•
Yuliet Canfux
•
Ofelia y su Chandenid
•
Lucía Huergo
•
Bellita and Jazz Tumbatá
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