Juanito Roche
Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:44 pmHi group,
I just came back from Havana on January 13th. I was there to complete my iyaworaje with the ebo meta, learn some rituals and arrange other religious issues. Luckily and unexpectedly, I came in contact with two exponents of the batá scene in Centro Havana.
I had a chance to delve into the intricacies of Ñongo, one of the most basic, common, useful, and seemingly simple toques batá. My teacher Reimundo Sosa who celebrated his 24th birthday (of age!) these days, was the most helpful and skilled teacher ever to explain to me where it's at. He confirmed that playing itótele in Ñongo is really the hardest job in batá drumming. Reimundito, as he was called, differentiated the fixed conversations of the toque itself from citations of conversations from other toques batá as well as downright adlib passages, shared between iyá and itótele in a kind of collective "improvisation".
I saw Reimundo perform the oru seco on a ceremony for Inle and Yemayá, and he played just great. The tambor that played on the occasion was no other than the famous Añabí, the first batá set on Cuba at all, and the only one that was not born from any other Añá, but created by Añabí and Atandá out of a religious vacuum, with the materials that the island provided. Its religious legitimacy and aché were confirmed by Olofi, while all other sets were practically born from its fundamento. Contrary to the information given by Fernando Ortíz, the set was not created 1830, but exactly in the year 1837. Reimundo claimed that there were no batá drums in Cuba before Añabí; "they played a lot of Bembe". (Up to further research.)
I was also invited to sit in on the tambor for two tratados. The iyá player was Humberto Oviedo "Película", who was just visiting his country from his current mainstay in Italy. It was thunder and lightning. The okónkolo's chachá was giving me a hard time and a blister on my left fingertips.
The current dueño, or aláña of the drums is Juanito Roche, the grandson of the legendary Pablo Roche, who had played this tambor until his death in 1957. Juanito is also known under his nickname "El Sucio"; I never found any reason why he was struck with this name. He is a knowledgable babalawo and Añá specialist, who helped me out with many an information on Añá that was missed out by my padrinos in Añá that I haven't seen since my juramento in 2005. He is also the most thoroughly friendly and innocent person I can think of. He dropped by the house of my padrino in Ifá quite often; only meeting appointments wasn't exactly his thing.
We couldn't take a picture of Reimundito, who was iyawó at the time, but here is a photo of me with Juanito Roche.
Greetings from Hamburg,
Thomas
I just came back from Havana on January 13th. I was there to complete my iyaworaje with the ebo meta, learn some rituals and arrange other religious issues. Luckily and unexpectedly, I came in contact with two exponents of the batá scene in Centro Havana.
I had a chance to delve into the intricacies of Ñongo, one of the most basic, common, useful, and seemingly simple toques batá. My teacher Reimundo Sosa who celebrated his 24th birthday (of age!) these days, was the most helpful and skilled teacher ever to explain to me where it's at. He confirmed that playing itótele in Ñongo is really the hardest job in batá drumming. Reimundito, as he was called, differentiated the fixed conversations of the toque itself from citations of conversations from other toques batá as well as downright adlib passages, shared between iyá and itótele in a kind of collective "improvisation".
I saw Reimundo perform the oru seco on a ceremony for Inle and Yemayá, and he played just great. The tambor that played on the occasion was no other than the famous Añabí, the first batá set on Cuba at all, and the only one that was not born from any other Añá, but created by Añabí and Atandá out of a religious vacuum, with the materials that the island provided. Its religious legitimacy and aché were confirmed by Olofi, while all other sets were practically born from its fundamento. Contrary to the information given by Fernando Ortíz, the set was not created 1830, but exactly in the year 1837. Reimundo claimed that there were no batá drums in Cuba before Añabí; "they played a lot of Bembe". (Up to further research.)
I was also invited to sit in on the tambor for two tratados. The iyá player was Humberto Oviedo "Película", who was just visiting his country from his current mainstay in Italy. It was thunder and lightning. The okónkolo's chachá was giving me a hard time and a blister on my left fingertips.
The current dueño, or aláña of the drums is Juanito Roche, the grandson of the legendary Pablo Roche, who had played this tambor until his death in 1957. Juanito is also known under his nickname "El Sucio"; I never found any reason why he was struck with this name. He is a knowledgable babalawo and Añá specialist, who helped me out with many an information on Añá that was missed out by my padrinos in Añá that I haven't seen since my juramento in 2005. He is also the most thoroughly friendly and innocent person I can think of. He dropped by the house of my padrino in Ifá quite often; only meeting appointments wasn't exactly his thing.
We couldn't take a picture of Reimundito, who was iyawó at the time, but here is a photo of me with Juanito Roche.
- ta-juan.jpg (18.2 KiB) Viewed 12981 times
Greetings from Hamburg,
Thomas
