BataMbira - Spiro latest CD!

[ABAKUA]

Ah cool, thought your name sounded familiar.

[zaragemca]

Greeting Davidpenolosa, before I could even respond to your intervention, I would like to ask you a question,where did you learn bata playing,and who was your teacher?..Dr Zaragemca

[davidpenalosa]

Hi Dr Zaragemca,

I didn’t know I was doing an "intervention". I thought this was a public forum. Maybe intervention isn’t exactly the word you meant to use. I hope you will be able to respond to the content of my last message, instead of employing the tactic of attacking my "credentials". What I said about some of the most respected batá masters playing batá in non-traditional settings is either true of not. My "credentials" don’t make it true or not true. I believe it to be true because it’s public record and I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Feel free to share your own batá "credentials" if you think it’s relevant to any point you care to make.

-David

[zaragemca]

greeting David, first you must know that people are welcome in this forum,I use that word in a non-offending way,and also we always want to know the background of the percussionists in order to find out experience in the percussion field,and the fact that we know the backgroung of the people which have been around here for a while,(including mine).There is a tread,(Master Percussionist),which was created becouse the same question which was asked to mi some time ago.The answer of what you are commenting is already posted by me..But nobody could be attaking to your credentials since we don't even know any.Dr Zaragemca



Edited By zaragemca on 1117553501

[davidpenalosa]

Why don’t we stay on topic for the moment?

Zaragemca:
"Irakere,did played with Bata,(for the purpose of giving some flavor to the music,but never engage in singing 'sacred Yoruba music and playing Bata' with the Band."

Me:
I refer you to "Babalu Ayé" by Irakere. It features the late Lazaro Ros (Cuba’s most famous akpón) singing Orisha songs with batá drums and Irakere. That would seem to contradict your statement.

Zaragemca:
DO NOT GIVE TO ANYBODY THE AUTHORIZATION TO SING YORUBA MUSIC AND PLAY BATA in A DIFFERENT WAY THAN WHAT HAVE BEEN STABLISHED.

Me:
That statement strikes me as silly and obviously false. I defer to the batá masters. It would seem that you don’t approve of the experiments of Cubans Jesus Perez, Regino Jimenez, Chacha, Mario Jauragui, Bolaños, Francisco Aguabella and Julito Collazo and North Americans Mike Spiro and Milton Cardona. That’s fine. It appears you hold a minority view. If Cuba’s greatest batá masters are not enough authority for you, then fine. There is no Santeria Pope, you are free to follow the religion as you see fit. I figure if the Orisha are not happy with the way someone is performing the music, they will make their feelings known to that person. You don’t "own" this religion whatever your ethnic background or nationality is.

I went to a bembé in Matanzas in which several mambers of Afrocuba attended. After the ceremony they put Mike Spiro’s Bata Ketu on and danced. The next day I went over to Chacha’s house and he and some friends were listening to the same CD. The following year Regino Jimenez performed Bata Ketu live in Berkeley with Spiro and others.
I encourage anyone reading this to check out Bata Mbira and judge for themselves. It was done tastefully and with great respect. I suspect that the ancestral deities of the mbira and batá are pleased.

David

[ABAKUA]

:cool:

[JohnnyConga]

I remember a song that goes....."Tell it like it is!"........attitude towards the Drum is in constant change, as well as the playing of the drum in many ways and variations. Can u argue against the new term today in Cuba is "Rumba Invento"?.....an open new form of Rumba utilizing a variety of "styles" which include "Bata-Rap"(ex. Rumba Tropical DVD)....I would say that today who is in "authority"?, but the individuals that keep the drum alive, and grow with it, as it grows ,through it"s many phases......paz...."JC" Johnny Conga...

[davidpenalosa]

Hey Johnny,
You reminded me of a scene on the Bugaloo Productions DVD "Rumbon Tropical" in which batá master Mario Jauregui (fomer music Director of the Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba) playing batá in a bata-rap piece.

-David

[zaragemca]

Thanks for the information,may be that's the reason that the things in Cuba do not get better,( the trips from Miami were cancelled, people could not longer have dollars,there was a long time that a Hurricane would not touch Cuba,but two went through it not to long ago,the Soviet Union anounced that they couldn't longer provide the financial help which they were providing,etc. It look like they are receiving a lot of Ache, (por todas las marranadas).Dr Zaragemca



Edited By zaragemca on 1117634317

[JohnnyConga]

Hi Zara....the day Castro dies will be the beginning of the New Revolution...so hold on to your hat....I can see it now the McDonalds Arches on the Malecon!.....Cuba is lacking a Hero...that is the problem with Cuba......"JC" Johnny Conga...

[zaragemca]

Greeting,my brother,it is the other way around Cuba have a lot of Heroes,Antonio Maceo,Jose Maceo,Quintin Banderas,Jose Marti,Juan Gualberto Gomez,Chivas,Julio Antonio Mella,Ciro Redondo,etc.,but they all were betrated,( for money), and this is what is happening with the Yorubas Religion now.Dr.Zaragemca



Edited By zaragemca on 1117672522

[JohnnyConga]

THEY ARE ALL DEAD HEROES!...where are the ones today?????..."JC" Johnny Conga....I dont' think u have been to Cuba in many many years, my brother....

[zaragemca]

I would have the good answer,but It is not the subject of this forum,I've been out of Cuba,and I keep mysellf in the music business,not a politician.Dr. Zaragemca



Edited By zaragemca on 1117816470

[rahalak]

Tamboricua - thanks for the link! I've been looking for this CD since I first heard a cut on the radio. It's not available from Amazon, and oddly it's not even mentioned on Spiro's own website (I guess Mike isn't very skillful at "exploitation").

Chris

[windhorse]

I got it at CD Baby