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April 28, 2006

Senator to speak against Cuba's oil exploration

By Jasmine Kripalani. jkripalani@miamiherald.com. Posted on Fri, Apr. 28, 2006.

Sen. Bill Nelson will be in Coral Gables this morning to talk more about his legislation aimed at preventing Cuba from further oil drilling.

Nelson is scheduled to speak at 10:45 a.m. in the lobby of the Biltmore Hotel, 1200 Anastasia Ave.

Nelson's legislation would prevent the Bush administration from renewing a 1977 international agreement that allows Cuba to conduct commercial activity near the Florida Keys.

The Miami Herald has reported that Cuba has signed agreements with companies in several countries, including Spain, Canada and China, to explore potential oil and gas fields offshore -- where industry analysts have suggested there are at least 1.6 billion barrels of crude-oil reserves.

So far those exploration efforts have been disappointing, but efforts continue.

Nelson: Block Cuban oil drilling

Citing fears that Cuba plans to drop oil rigs near the coast of Key West, Florida's Sen. Bill Nelson planned legislation that he says could tie Fidel Castro's hands.

By Lesley Clark. lclark@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Fri, Apr. 28, 2006.

WASHINGTON - Throwing a grenade into the fight over oil drilling off Florida's coastline, Sen. Bill Nelson plans to announce today legislation that he says could prevent Cuba from drilling in its waters some 50 miles off Key West.

The Florida Democrat says his bill would block President Bush from renewing a 1977 international agreement that allows Cuba to conduct commercial activity in waters off its coast, near the Keys -- unless the administration secures an agreement to prevent Cuba from putting oil rigs near Florida.

The legislation is likely to rile already testy U.S.-Cuban relations, and it was unclear late Thursday how the United States might enforce a ban on Cuban drilling for oil or natural gas in the Florida Straits if the agreement lapsed. However, according to a draft of the bill obtained by The Miami Herald, the legislation would seek to discourage foreign oil companies from drilling near Cuba by imposing sanctions against them.

But the legislation may be a tough sell: Florida Republican Sen. Mel Martinez, who has teamed up with Nelson to fend off efforts to open Florida waters to offshore drilling by U.S. oil companies, said Thursday he has ''some concerns'' about Nelson's proposal.

''Sen. Martinez's position is that this is a complex issue and it requires thoughtful and thorough deliberation,'' Martinez spokesman Ken Lundberg said, adding that Martinez has talked about ''potential remedies'' to Cuban oil drilling with the State Department.

The effort to halt Cuban drilling comes as gas prices soar and a growing number of members of Congress cite Fidel Castro's fledgling energy exploration program as justification for drilling near Florida.

FAVOR DRILLING

They include Rep. John Peterson, a Pennsylvania Republican who wants to drill for natural gas within 20 miles of the U.S. coastline and who uses the Castro argument to press his point. And Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said this week he plans to introduce legislation that would allow U.S. companies to drill near Cuba -- a provision that would require an exception to the embargo that bans most trade with the island nation.

Kirby Jones, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association -- which promotes trade with Cuba and organized a February energy conference between Cuban government officials and U.S. companies interested in exploring Cuban waters -- predicted the Cuban government will scoff at Nelson's efforts.

''They have an international treaty agreement that is signed. They have a similar agreement with Mexico and it's existed for 29 years and everyone has operated under those boundaries,'' Jones said. 'Nelson coming along saying, 'It's against the law for Cuba to do X, Y or Z in its own waters?' The Cubans will laugh at us.''

SIGNED AGREEMENTS

Cuba, which does not have the technology to conduct offshore drilling, has signed agreements with companies in several countries, including Repsol in Spain, Sherritt International Corp. in Canada and the Chinese energy giant Sinopac, to explore potential offshore oil and gas fields.

Some sectors come as close as 50 miles off Key West, and industry analysts have suggested there are at least 1.6 billion barrels of crude-oil reserves in the area. So far, the efforts have proved disappointing but they continue.

Nelson and Martinez are pushing for a drilling boundary no closer than 150 miles from the Florida Panhandle and about 260 miles from its west coast, arguing that drilling any closer to shore could imperil Florida's tourist-dependent economy.

Nelson's legislation would look to dampen foreign enthusiasm for drilling near Cuba by sanctioning executives of foreign oil companies.

According to the draft bill, the U.S. secretary of state could deny visas to oil company executives, curbing their ability to conduct business in the United States -- in a move patterned after the Helms-Burton law that denies visas to executives of foreign companies that invest in properties seized by Cuba after the 1959 revolution.

''It's Sen. Nelson's intention to do everything he can do to keep oil rigs away from the coast of Florida,'' said Dan McLaughlin, a spokesman for Nelson, who is running for reelection this year.

It's like old times under the arches

A Navy base concession is celebrating 20 years on the U.S.-controlled corner of communist Cuba with 39-cent hamburgers and birthday-style festivities.

By Carol Rosenberg, crosenberg@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Tue, Apr. 25, 2006

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- The only McDonald's on this island sold its trademark burgers on Monday for 39 cents apiece -- 1986 prices -- as the all-American classic celebrated the 20th anniversary of its arrival on this U.S.-controlled corner of communist Cuba.

With daily flights, a couple of Starbucks and pizza delivery to U.S. Navy housing, the fast-food fries and shakes are less of a sensation today than when the Golden Arches went up 20 years ago on this sprawling 45-square-mile base in southeast Cuba. Back then, sailors on the base known as ''Gitmo'' drank powdered milk and bread that arrived frozen on a barge from the U.S., recalled retired sailor Stacey Byington, who did a tour of duty in the '80s and is today the base spokesman.

''I live for McDonald's french fries and their cheeseburgers,'' said a U.S. Army sergeant first class who just so happened to be named Domini McDonald as he picked up a sack-full Monday at the drive-thru.

''McDonald's makes Gitmo feel like home,'' said the 43-year-old soldier from Dunnellon, Fla.

The franchise along the base's main thoroughfare, Sherman Avenue, has a drive-thru window lane wide enough for a Humvee.

Still, it looks much the same as it did on that first day, in the 1980s when, as today, the base is self sufficient since a decision to exclusively resupply from stateside since early, tense U.S.-Cuban relations in the 1960s.

Since then, sweeping changes have come to the base, which in the mid-1990s was overwhelmed by 40,000-plus Cuban and Haitian boat people and then down-sized to a sleepy backwater of some 1,200 sailors and contract workers.

Business once again soared in 2002 when the Pentagon chose this remote site for its offshore interrogation center for suspected terrorists.

Today there are about 490 ''enemy combatants'' confined to prison camps a few miles up the road from the drive-thru -- behind maximum security barriers, on a bluff overlooking the Caribbean.

On that first day, 2,595 customers came by to get a taste, according to a report in the base newspaper, The Gazette.

Average daily traffic now runs at about 1,200 customers a day, said manager Anthony Lewis, who Monday offered hamburgers for 39 cents, cheeseburgers for 49 cents and free birthday cake and balloons to celebrants.

One thing, however, hasn't changed.

Marines still patrol opposite a Cuban minefield along a 17.4-mile fence-line made famous in the 1992 Hollywood hit movie, A Few Good Men, when Jack Nicholson sneered, "You want me on that wall, you need me on that wall.''

And Fidel Castro is still in charge on the other side.

The Bridge Generation

By Oscar Corral, ocorral@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Sun, Apr. 23, 2006

Four years ago, a few Cuban-American students from Harvard, Georgetown, and the University of Florida, feeling disen-franchised from the Cuba discourse that dominates Miami, started a youth group to focus on the island's future.

The controversy surrounding the tug of war over Elián González, the little boy who was rescued at sea after his mother drowned escaping Cuba, was still fresh in the minds of several of the students. They felt many Americans throughout the country misunderstood Cuban Americans' strong feelings on the issue. Then, in early 2003, Cuba launched one of its biggest crackdowns on dissidents and independent journalists, arresting 75 and sentencing them to long prison terms after summary trials.

Today, Raices de Esperanza, perhaps the largest group of 20-something, politically charged Cuban Americans, is holding its third conference at Princeton University, featuring Gloria Estefan as the keynote speaker. The group, whose name means "the roots of hope," expects about 150 people at the conference, almost twice as many as the first one in 2003.

The group's rise and its message are a testament to the changing dynamics in the Cuban exile community.

Not that Raices' message is much different from that of their elders. They want free-dom and democracy in Cuba. They want to focus on Cuba's human-rights abuses. And they criticize the communist government.

CONNECTED

However, Raices members stand out in two key ways: They talk democracy and politics with youth groups on the island, and they have success-fully taken their message beyond Miami -- to the national and international stage. They have formed affiliate groups in foreign countries to hold protests and vigils abroad on key issues affecting Cuba.

"While our parents and grandparents had their own movimientos and organizations, we wanted to create something of our own to be able to enthuse our generation," said Joanna Gonzalez, 24, one of the group's founders who attended St. Brendan High School in Miami and later the University of Florida.

"A positive way to move forward is to empower the youth -- who are those that will be making decisions and influencing public opinion in the future -- to be educated on the issues going on in the island," she said. "We want the youth in Cuba and out of Cuba to see what life is like in each other's shoes."

Estefan said that, as a Cuban exile and a parent, it has been important for her to keep the Cuba issue alive with her children.

"They have gone beyond the talking phase to taking action," she said of Raices. ''And it needs to be supported and applauded every chance we get because if any change will come in the future, it will come from the youth," Estefan said Friday. "That's the torch they need to carry: commitment to the issue."

Apathy about Cuba was one of the main reasons the students decided to get involved in late 2002. It started small, as an e-mail network of friends and contacts, Gonzalez said. Most of the members today are full-time students or have graduated and have day jobs.

It remains an informal group, with no annual dues, and no official membership list, Gonzalez said. Their most visible activity is the annual conference, which has headlined VIPs, such as former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

For some students from around the country, Raices has been a way to reconnect with cultural roots that have long been dormant. Kenneth Sinkovitz, a Princeton junior who has been involved in Raices for more than a year, said he was first drawn to Raices out of curiosity because he was curious about other Cuban Americans.

"Originally, I was most curious to see and meet other Cuban Americans on campus because growing up I never knew any," said Sinkovitz, whose mother is a Cuban exile, and whose father is Austrian- American.

"I'm looking forward to be able to objectively speak to some of these academics and professionals about Cuba, whether they are from the right or from the left."

Raices, which incorporated as a non-profit group this year, has no steady source of income. Donations to put together the conference come from vari-ous sources. One of them is Premier American Bank Chairman Carlos Saladrigas, who also leads the moderate Cuba Study Group in Miami.

To Saladrigas, Raices fills a vacuum in the discourse, now dominated by older exiles.

"It sends a powerful message for the future of Cuba," Saladrigas said. "I think they are going to be the bridge gen-eration. They are going to play a very important role in Cuba's future."

Raices is not without its intrigue. One of the group's co-founders, who asked that his name not be used because he doesn't want to compromise his contacts in Cuba, said he communicates with young Cubans on the island regularly via telephone and e-mail. Raices has mounted launched anonymous letter-writing campaigns to young people in Cuba, for example.

"We want to inspire them to become authors of their own future," the co-founder said. "There is a lot of disillusionment there . . . We are trying to offer support and solidarity."

CROSS-CULTURAL

Not everyone in Raices is Cuban American. Cynthia Romero, 24, is a Princeton University graduate from Puerto Rico who now works for a non-profit in Miami. She became involved in Raices more than a year ago after a friend of hers told her about the group in Washington.

"There's definitely a reevaluation going on among the exile community of what is constructive criticism of the situation in Cuba, rather than destructive," Romero said. "And there's more talk about reconciliation, and a lot more talk about what's happening in Cuba not being a partisan issue, or a local issue, but a human-rights-abuse issue."

Alex Burgos, a graduate of Miami's Belen Jesuit Preparatory School and the University of Florida, is Raices' offi-cer in charge of networking among young professionals. He said Raices also has members from many Latin American countries, including Mexico, Venezuela and Peru. Last year, for example in fact, Raices co-hosted the launch in Mexico City of the Interna-tional Youth Committee for Democracy in Cuba, attended by 800 young people.

"When we left Miami and went to schools outside of Florida, we realized that nobody knows about the Cuba issue," Gonzalez said. ''We are trying to get the word out of what s wrong, and what can be done to fix it."

Cuba agrees to buy another $20 million in farm goods from US state of Alabama

Associated Press. Posted on Wed, Apr. 26, 2006

HAVANA - Cuba agreed Wednesday to buy another $20 million (euro16.14 million) in agricultural goods from Alabama, among several U.S. farm states still pushing for more trade with the communist-run island despite tightened U.S. restrictions.

Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks told a news conference that his southern state's relationship with Cuba in recent years had been "extremely important to the farmers of Alabama."

"Agriculture is very important to Alabama, representing 467,000 jobs," Sparks said. "The relationship with Cuba ensures we keep those jobs."

The $20 million (euro16.14 million) in goods mentioned in Cuba's letter of intent was expected to include paper and wood, as well as poultry, said Pedro Alvarez, head of the Cuban food import firm Alimport.

Cuba last week agreed to buy another $30 million (euro24.3 million) in food from Nebraska during a visit here by that state's Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy and Agriculture Director Greg Ibach.

On Wednesday, members of the visiting Alabama trade delegation also read two resolutions recently passed by the state congress, calling on U.S. lawmakers to eliminate trade and travel restrictions on the island.

The second state congressional resolution praised Alvarez for his efforts to develop trade with Alabama.

Cuba has been under an American trade embargo for more than four decades, but a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 2000 allows American food to be sold directly to the island on a cash basis. Recent restrictions require Cuba to pay for the goods in full before they leave American ports.

Lawmakers would ban public universities from Cuba trips

By Jennifer Mooney Piedra. jmooney@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Wed, Apr. 26, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - State-run colleges and universities would be banned from sponsoring trips to Cuba, under bills that will be debated today in both chambers of the Legislature.

State Rep. David Rivera, a Miami Republican, filed the legislation soon after the January arrests of Florida International University professor Carlos M. Alvarez and his wife, Elsa, an FIU counselor. The couple was accused of being unregistered agents for Cuba.

Rivera is confident the bill will pass the House.

''It is important because I don't believe Florida's taxpayers support the use of taxpayer money funding trips to terrorist nations -- particularly when America is fighting a war on terror,'' he said.

Its Senate counterpart, filed by state Sen. Mike Haridopolos, a Melbourne Republican, will also be taken up today.

Under the plan, colleges and universities would be barred from using state funds, private donations and grants to ''implement, organize, direct, coordinate, or administer activities related to or involving travel to a terrorist state.'' The countries that fall under that category, as designated by the State Department, are: Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.

Book on Cuba will remain in school's library

After surviving another appeal, a controversial children's book about Cuba will stay on a public school library's shelves -- at least until another appeal is heard in coming weeks.

By Matthew I. Pinzur, mpinzur@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Tue, Apr. 25, 2006

A controversial children's book about Cuba will stay on the shelves at a Miami-Dade school library following a committee's decision to reject a complaint filed by a parent.

The committee of administrators and parents at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary in West Dade decided late Friday to reject a father's request to remove Vamos A Cuba (subtitled A Visit to Cuba).

The committee voted by secret ballot, but minutes from their meeting on April 17 show the book was kept by a 7-1 vote. Those minutes make no mention of any substantive discussion over the book's merits or faults.

The father, Juan Amador Rodriguez, immediately filed a new appeal to Superintendent Rudy Crew. Crew referred the appeal to a 16-member panel of administrators and others, though he had the authority to unilaterally reject the appeal.

The panel's recommendation must come within 15 days. Crew can either accept or reject the panel's ruling; his decision can be appealed to the Miami-Dade School Board.

Board member Frank Bolaños tried to circumvent the appeals process and immediately remove the book, but he was rebuffed by a 6-3 vote last week. Some in the majority, however, indicated they were voting to show support for the established procedures rather than for the book itself -- a second vote could come out differently.

The five-year-old book has drawn attention this month for its rosy depiction of Cuba under Fidel Castro.

In one oft-cited passage, author Alta Schreier writes: "The people of Cuba eat, work and study like you.''

''Nothing could be further from the truth,'' Bolaños wrote in his bill, citing food rations, proscribed employment and forced school chants about Castro's greatness.

Librarians and civil-liberties groups have opposed removing the book, citing the freedom of information that is supposed to thrive in school libraries.

A landmark Supreme Court case bars public schools from removing books that are considered politically objectionable, but opponents have argued Vamos A Cuba is factually inaccurate and therefore subject to removal.

The schools own a total of 49 copies of the book, and Miami-Dade's public libraries have about 20 more, district officials said. Another 160 copies can be found in other Florida districts' school libraries.

MIAMIHERALD.COM: To read Matthew Pinzur's new blog, Miami Gradebook: Inside South Florida Education, click on Today's Extras.

Cuba book to stay on school shelves; new appeal filed

By Matthew I. Pinzur, mpinzur@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Mon, Apr. 24, 2006

A controversial children's book about Cuba will stay on the shelves at a school library following a committee's decision to reject an appeal filed by a parent.

The committee of administrators and parents at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary decided late Friday to reject a father's request to remove Vamos A Cuba (subtitled A Visit to Cuba). The text of that committee's report was not immediately available.

The panel's reccomendation must come within 15 days. Crew can either accept or reject the panel's ruling; his decision can then be appealed to the Miami-Dade School Board.

The five-year-old book has drawn attention this month for its rosy depiction of Cuba under Fidel Castro.

In one oft-cited passage, author Alta Schreier writes: "The people of Cuba eat, work and study like you.''

''Nothing could be further from the truth,'' Bolaños wrote in his bill, citing food rations, proscribed employment and forced school chants about Castro's greatness.

Librarians and civil-liberties groups have opposed removing the book, citing the freedom of information that is supposed to thrive in school libraries. A landmark Supreme Court case bars public schools from removing books that are considered politically objectionable, but opponents have argued Vamos A Cuba is factually inaccurate and therefore subject to removal.

Orishas bring island style hip-hop to Miami

By Jordan Levin. jlevin@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Mon, Apr. 24, 2006

You'd think that a group called Orishas, the name of the gods of Santeria, Cuba's unofficial religion, would be welcome in the center of el exilio. But it's been a long and frustrating road to this week's multiple appearances in South Florida by Orishas, the Cuban hip-hop fusion trio based in Europe.

Since their one show at a sparsely attended Thanksgiving night concert at the small South Beach club Starfish in 2000, they've been thwarted by visa denials (for the Latin Grammys in Miami in 2003) and hurricanes (a canceled festival appearance last fall).

But perhaps the gods are finally with them.

This week, Orishas bring their original blend of intoxicating Cuban music and incisive rap to a concert at the West Dade club La Covacha, a performance on the Billboard Latin Music Awards on Telemundo, and an appearance on El Zol's (WXDJ 95.7FM) top-rated morning show El Vacilon de la Mañana.

Years after the craze for old-school Buena Vista style music from the island, Orishas are poised to ride the exploding Latin hip-hop scene to bring a new kind of Cuban sound to the United States.

''It's like returning to the end from the beginning,'' says Ruzzo, one of the trio's two rappers. He's on the phone from his home in Milan, while Yotuel, the other rapper, is on the conference call from his place in Madrid, and Roldan, the singer, is speaking from his bedroom in Paris as his two sons shriek in the background.

But thanks to teleconferencing and the close connection between them, they could be in the same room, sharing a bottle of rum and joking in dense Havana slang.

'A TOUCH OF SYMBOLISM'

''For me especially, this has a touch of symbolism,'' Roldan says. "I think they've been waiting for us in Miami for a long time, and we've wanted to come for a long time.''

Indeed, the group's website (www.orishasthe best.com) is buzzing with news of the Miami concert. One woman was so excited she contacted the promoter's office asking if she could pass out fliers.

When Eduardo ''Yoyito'' Rodriguez, who grew up in the same small town in Cuba as Roldan, heard the news, he taped a newspaper ad in the window of his family's Hialeah restaurant, where he's now selling tickets.

''There are a lot of people waiting for them in Miami,'' Rodriguez says. "They have authentic Cuban flavor.''

That flavor has not been diluted by their living in Europe, although their residence there has made it easier for them to have a career.

In 2003 Orishas were able to get an ''unblocking license'' from the U.S. State Department, based on their residence in Europe (Yotuel has Spanish citizenship, while Roldan and Ruzzo are legal residents of France and Italy, respectively).

It enables them to get U.S. visas to visit and perform, unlike artists in Cuba, who have been largely thwarted because of post-9/11 security restrictions and an increasingly hostile relationship between the United States and Cuba.

In the more than seven years they've lived off the island, the group has gone from proud proclamations of Cubanidad to a more complex, ambivalent point of view, struggling to maintain their Cuban roots within a more universal identity.

A HIT, THEN COMPLEXITY

Their 1999 debut, A Lo Cubano (Cuban Style), with its proud, sexy, compulsively danceable hit title track, came at the peak of international and U.S. excitement over the island's music. It was a hit in Europe, and sparked excited buzz in the Latin alternative, hip-hop and Cuban music worlds.

But by 2003, in Emigrante, Orishas were rapping about immigration and their children; in Que Pasa? they answered their brothers in the Havana hood who challenged their Cubanness. In 2005's El Kilo, both the music and themes are more complex still. The title song puts a deceptively sweet melody to a weary warning about political hypocrisy. "A lie no, throw it out, step on it, pass it on brother/Forget it/you don't get change from a penny.''

And if people want to read criticism of Castro into the line ''pick up the old guy/his time has passed/and now he's taking the fool's road'' that's their business.

''Of course the lyrics, like everything, have a logical evolution with respect to the reality that we're living,'' Ruzzo says. "But in general we try to make it so the themes can't be associated with anything political. We always talk about a current, serious idea, and it doesn't only touch on Cuban reality or Cuban youth, but about things in general, because we all have the same problems in different ways.''

Staying true to such a complex musical vision and reality has its price. ''Where do you put Orishas in a music store?'' asks Roldan. "In world music, Latin music, reggaeton, rap?''

But it's also who they are. And it's key to their appeal. ''They blow me away,'' says Liana Abreu, 38, an ardent, Miami-born Cuban-American who is passing out fliers to the show and bringing a dozen friends. ''They're not only limited to Cubans, there are so many Latins who are into these guys. They have fans all over the world. It's only here they're not that well known and it's a shame. We're really missing out on some good music.'' Promoter Luis Sanabria says he hasn't heard of any anti-Castro protests being planned for the Orishas' appearences, just excitement. ''I don't see the controversy,'' Sanabria says. "I haven't seen anyone making a big deal out of it.''

''This is music, why do we always turn things into a political situation?'' says Enrique Santos, of El Zol's popular morning show El Vacilon de la Manana, who with co-host Joe Ferrero did a telephone interview with members of the group last year that drew some angry calls.

"This community has evolved. It's not that we've forgotten. [Orishas] are rapping about common things in their lives and our lives. They're not saying Castro is great, but they're not up in arms against him either . . . rightfully so, if I had family members in Cuba. Orishas is part of our culture and they take it to the world.''

The trio says it doesn't see anything political in their South Florida appearances this week.

''We are not coming to Miami to fix any problem between Cuba and Miami,'' Ruzzo says. "We're only coming to do a concert for whoever wants to go. The only thing we want to promote is our music and talent. And if you like it, good. If you don't, don't come.''

This trip is potentially career-changing. With reggaeton having opened the music world to hip-hop in Spanish, it could be the Orishas' moment to translate their considerable success in Europe to North America.

GAINING RECOGNITION

They've had significant recognition in the music industry, particularly given that they're largely absent from radio and touring. Emigrante earned a Latin Grammy and a Grammy nomination, and El Kilo was nominated for a Latin Grammy. In 2003, Time magazine called them one of the 10 most important groups outside the United States, alongside U2 and Radiohead, while hip-hop bible The Source named them the best international hip-hop group.

''Its competitors have yet to surpass the bar they set with their soaring brand of Cuban hip-hop,'' The Los Angeles Times wrote after an Orishas show in L.A. last November. "The group hasn't lost its national, ethnic and racial identity while absorbing outside musical influences.''

Producer Andres Levin, head of hot Cuban-funk group Yerba Buena, who produced Orishas' 2005 album El Kilo, believes their originality will help them stand out from a broadening Latin hip-hop scene.

''They don't follow any trend, they've created their own sound,'' he says. "I think they feel like they're part of something bigger now, so that will help them evolve their style. They're adored, they've made it in Europe and in Cuba they're known as one of the originators of Cuban hip-hop, so they're in the history books already.''

But they have yet to play to the musical masses in the United States.

''One of the big things that we still have to realize is to work in the U.S.,'' Yotuel says. "We have the credibility, but we still want to have a lot more presence for Orishas in the U.S., so that fans won't only think of Orishas as a group of Cubans in Europe, but a group of Cubans who make music for everyone, for all kinds of Latinos, all kinds of people.''

Cachao has the audience in his hands

In concert, famed bassist Cachao showed why he is the greatest living Cuban musician.

By Enrique Fernandez, efernandez@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Mon, Apr. 24, 2006

Ramón Puig, Miami's famed ''wizard of the guayabera,'' whose Calle Ocho shop has draped exile warriors, American presidents and your average Cuban American, would've been ecstatic. Most of the men -- and a fair number of women -- who packed the James L. Knight Center Friday night for a concert by legendary Cuban bassist Cachao were wearing the classic shirts.

They had come, as Snoop Dogg would say, to represent. ''Esto es Cuba'', said the show's organizer, presenter and member of the band, actor Andy García -- "this is Cuba.''

He got a big cheer, in part because he said it in Spanish. Alas, most of his patter was in English, which got negative reactions from an audience that was not interested in representing in anything but their first language.

The 87-year-old Cachao is the greatest living Cuban musician, on or off the island. A classically trained bassist -- he has played symphony orchestras as well as Vegas shows -- he is a master of the danzón, an elegant yet funky descendant of the French contradanse. He and his brother Orestes are credited with inventing the mambo: an epoch-making feat. Yet, that really was not his greatest musical contribution.

The mambo of the López (Cachao's birth name is Israel López) brothers did not go far. It took another Cuban musician, Dámaso Pérez Prado, to start the mambo craze -- his tunes made it to the American hit parade. What Cachao did for music was to put together the kind of groove that was played Friday night, the descarga, or as his '50s recordings are known in English, the Cuban jam session.

Like the jazz jam, but utilizing a Cuban musical idiom, the descarga lets a group of virtuosi dialogue with one another and improvise as the spirit moves them. And they did. Uruguayan violinist Federico Britos soloed with verve, Ed Calle would step up to blow his sax, and, the night's treat, veteran trombonist Generoso Jiménez showed that, though aged and feeble looking, he still had a trick or two up his 'bone.

Then there was Cachao. The master does not own a bass -- too much trouble hauling around and, besides, takes up room in his apartment. He just grabs whatever is handed to him and he plays (upon hearing this a few years ago, a horrified Charlie Haden said he'd send him one of his and had to be convinced that Cachao was simply not interested).

Friday night Cachao did several of his classic numbers, including danzones, mambos, sones, rumbas and a lovely bolero -- the late René Touzet's Si te pudiera querer. He is such a deft old fox that he had the crowd in his hand without anyone noticing that Cachao would pluck a tumbao (a basic Afro-Cuban groove) to start a tune, then quickly switch to bowing. When a percussive sound was required, Cachao would beat a rhythm on the strings with his bow, or even hand-slap the wood as if it were a conga drum.

It would seem that the master's hands can no longer hold up an evening's worth of plucking Cuban music's hard beats. But no one cared. In fact, his using the bow as a drumstick drove the audience wild.

The band members, which included imports like famed L.A.-based trombonist Justo Almario, held their own in lively descargas. And when they played a rumba with the famous coro Ave María morena (a play on words which can mean, ''Holy Virgin Mary, my dark girl!'' or, more interestingly, ''Holy dark Virgin Mary!'') the audience, which until then had sat there enthusiastically but discreetly behaved, stood up to dance in place, possessed by the saints that this great artist, at the dusk of his career, can still call down to own us all.

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