CubaNostalgia celebrates Cuban culture with a packed line-up of shows
With the demographic shift of the Cuban exile community, the here and now outweighs the past in the 27th edition of CubaNostalgia.
Rumba, mojitos, chicharrones de cerdo and music are taking increasingly prominent roles. The list of artists who will perform May 16 and 17 at the Fairgrounds on Coral Way and 109th Avenue includes Willy Chirino, Lena and Malena Burke, Aymée Nuviola, Brenda Navarrete, Ronkalunga, El Niño y la Verdad, Amaury Gutiérrez and El Gallito del Son.
.JPG "45365f05-9ee8-48e4-bbe5-336a8ddbb69f (1).JPG")
“Things have evolved. Now we have more entertainment options to attract the grandfather, so he brings his son and grandson,” said Peter Regalado, executive director of CubaNostalgia.
Regalado arrived in the United States at age six and remembers little of Cuba, except for the trips he often took from Havana to Pinar del Río in his father’s 1957 Chevrolet—“blue with a white stripe”—to visit his mother’s family in Cuba’s westernmost province.
His goal with CubaNostalgia is to preserve the designs of those buildings on large canvases that lead visitors on a stroll through Havana. “We took the two blocks of the Paseo del Prado with fewer trees and reproduced them exactly,” Regalado said. That’s where the art galleries and vendors selling Cuban memorabilia are located in CubaNostalgia.
Near those architectural replicas are the cafés and food trailers, which serve thousands of croquetas, pastelitos, fried cod fritters, pork sandwiches, complete plates of congrí, fried yuca and pork pastries. Large quantities of chicharrones from Mr. Pork Belly — a restaurant owned by Regalado located on 41st Street and 92nd Avenue in Doral — will also be available.
Regalado reveals the secret of these chicharrones. “It’s a Brazilian-style chicharrón that has very soft skin, it’s not so fatty, and they chop it into small pieces before frying it. You can eat it with lipstick on,” he said.
El Gallito del Son at La Bodeguita
La Bodeguita del Medio at CubaNostalgia has something the original on Empedrado Street in Old Havana no longer has: writing on the walls. And constant music... CubaNostalgia opens at 11 a.m., and by noon Jorge Alberto El Gallito del Son is already performing classics like “Son de la Loma” by the Matamoros brothers, which always draws dancers.
The audience loves El Gallito’s improvisations, which he can do for hours, taking inspiration from the people in the crowd — a woman in a red blouse or a dancer wearing a hat.
“ Sometimes I go three hours without stopping. I talk to people about their towns, and they get emotional and cry,” says El Gallito.
He learned the art of improvising verses in the Cuban countryside, in Taguasco and other towns in the province of Sancti Spíritus, when he was eight years old. The guajiros organized parrandas where they would show up unannounced at houses and the party would begin right there. “They’d slaughter a pig or whatever was available,” recalls El Gallito del Son.
.jpeg "90b42ee7-8403-4e8a-92c8-2b86e751ac3b (1).jpeg")
His career led him to collaborate in Cuba with Cándido Fabré and La Original de Manzanillo, Compay Segundo and Polo Montañez, and in Miami, since 2003, with Israel López “Cachao” and Israel Kantor, who became his mentor and gave him the name El Gallito del Son. He also sang in the parrandas of Ponce, Puerto Rico, with Papo Lucca and La Sonora Ponceña.
“Guajiro poets think, but I don’t think. It’s in the moment,” says El Gallito del Son, describing the way he improvises. “It’s as if God removed me from my body and I only heard the piano, and when I finish improvising, it’s as if God returned me to my body.”
El Gallito del Son will also premiere three songs at CubaNostalgia composed for him by maestro Jorge Luis Piloto, author of “Que le den candela,” popularized by Celia Cruz, and “Yo no sé mañana,” sung by Luis Enrique.
Concerts, mass and films
The Tropicana cabaret opened in 1939 in the Marianao neighborhood of Havana and is known as “a paradise under the stars.” Its replica at CubaNostalgia is very popular because this space, with 2,000 seats, hosts the event’s main concerts. On Saturday at 2 p.m. Brenda Navarrete begins with a show, followed by Lena Burke; Ronkalunga; and closing with Willy Chirino starting at 10:30 p.m., with a set that sometimes runs past midnight.
On Sunday at noon Father José Espino, rector of the Ermita de la Caridad, celebrates mass in front of the replica of the Cathedral of Havana, and after 1 p.m. the concert schedule resumes with Malena Burke, who always dedicates a song to the Virgin. The musical lineup continues with El Niño y la Verdad; Amaury Gutiérrez; and Aymée Nuviola.
This is a special year for Amaury Gutiérrez because he hadn’t participated in CubaNostalgia for some time. “This event is a mosaic of Cuban culture, its music, its cuisine,” said the singer of “Yo sé que es mentira” and “Dime corazón.”
“I’m always composing and there are songs that I debut live before recording them,” said Gutiérrez, who is preparing new material to record with his label, J&N Records, the independent label of Juan Hidalgo and Nelson Estévez.
For those who want a break from the music, the Payret cinema will screen a documentary about Willy Chirino and episodes of “La Tremenda Corte,” featuring the humor of Tres Patines, Don Gumersindo and Nananina. A replica of the Domino Park in Little Havana will also be open.
For shopping there is a replica of Galiano’s Ten Cent, the old Woolworths, which in this case doesn’t just sell Cuban items but has anything else you can imagine, from costume jewelry to knickknacks—more flea-market than boutique.
On the way out, after the mojitos, daiquiris, croquetas and tamales, don’t forget to stop by the classic car area to see the great warriors of Cuba which still roam the island as proof of the triumph of the U.S. automotive industry and of the wealth Cubans had in the 1940s and 1950s when they could buy them fresh off the factory line.
If you go:
What: CubaNostalgia,
When: May 16 and 17, starting at 11 a.m.
Where: Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition, Coral Way and 109th Ave., Miami
Cost: Tickets, $25, include concerts.
www.cubanostalgia.com/tickets.html
