By Stephanie Wright. Staff Writerr.
Contra Costa Times. Published
Tuesday, March 20, 2001
Five seniors and their teacher from the Head-Royce School recently embarked
on a journey to a country that few Americans get to see. As members of the
Head-Royce School Jazz Combo, they traveled to Cuba to participate in a youth
jazz festival -- the first American high school group to go there in more than
four decades.
Canada Cuba -- an organization that promotes cultural exchanges in the
fields of arts and athletics -- and the financial support of the students'
parents made the trip possible. They were allowed to visit because their trip
was for educational purposes.
Departing on Feb. 18 for a 10-day trip, the students arrived at the airport
on the outskirts of Havana in the evening.
"What struck me immediately was the absence of advertisement on the
billboards," says Ric Zappa, the school's instrumental director, as he
recalls his first impressions of Cuba. "The only things that you see on the
billboards are revolution propaganda. Aside from that, the streets aren't lit,
the highways aren't lit and you definitely felt like you were in a very
different place."
Venturing out the next day to view the formerly grand buildings of Old
Havana, the group also witnessed widespread poverty.
"This is just a gorgeous part of Havana with the old buildings;
however, they're not kept up. I don't think the government has the money,"
Zappa says. "I was struck by the basic poverty there. I sensed from the
people that I spoke to that the revolution remains alive in the minds and hearts
of many and is still an extremely powerful influence."
He learned that the average Cuban earns $10 per month and receives ration
coupons from the government that last an average of 10 to 15 days of the month.
"After that they're left on their own. So it's a place where you see
communism, socialism and capitalism existing side by side," he says. "The
American dollar is both envied and revered and also people see it as the devil.
But they need the American dollar because after 1994, when their economy
bottomed out, the government realized they had to do something or they would
lose people's commitment to the revolution."
While there the combo performed at a variety of venues including schools,
community centers and jazz clubs, in both the city and the country, where they
played swing and salsa styles of jazz.
"Our style is mostly American jazz on the traditional side, although we
do some Latin types of style," Zappa says. "Where the Cuban style is
all very Latin. What astounded us was the high quality of musicians that we
heard in this festival."
He found himself especially impressed with a performance student from
Escquela Nationale.
"It's a national music and dance school. That's their discipline and
that's their focus," he says. "They learn classical music -- white
man's, dead man's music. They play better than most professionals I've heard and
it was nothing to them. They were very humble."
Student alto sax player Jake Ritvo remembers Cubans being shocked when he
expressed an opinion about the current American president.
"I made a joke about George W. Bush and they said, 'You can say that
about your leader?,'" he remembers. "I explained our Bill of Rights
and the Constitution. They were really amazed. There's a lot of anti-American
propaganda there and there is a lot about our government that the people don't
know."
But he says he found the people receptive to Americans and excited to meet
the group. For him the deepest connection he made while there happened through
the music.
"The music was the reason we could go to Cuba," Ritvo says. "For
the Cubans, music and art is the only freedom of expression they have. For them
to share with us and for us to share with them was fantastic. Latin music is
very hard-driving with a lot of percussion. American jazz is more swing and
traditional swing. They struggle to play it (swing) and it's not very popular
there, so they were really pleased to hear our music."
Having conducted research prior to his trip, Ritvo knew of the impoverished
conditions in Cuba. However, it made them no less disturbing.
"It really doesn't have to be like that. They could be a really
thriving country if it weren't for the socialism and the United States policy
toward Cuba," he says.
"I really felt bad for them -- I didn't leave a single thing on my
plate because I know there are people starving there." | 