Musicians’ affiliate of the UNEAC in Matanzas: Willingness and rootedness.

The analysis of the Musicians’ Branch of Matanzas, prior to the X Congress of Writers and Artists, was characterized by interventions aimed at defending ideas and activities at the service of the people and their right to a spiritual life exalted by art, far from the banal or mediocre.

It was touching to remember those who are no longer with a standing ovation to the concert master Ildefonso Acosta, who was president of the provincial committee of that institution for 14 years.

A laudable success is to maintain the White and La Bella Cubana Awards for life’s work to prestigious artists, together with the promotion of musical peñas at UNEAC’s Social House and the main heritage institutions.

Laureate troubadour Luis Llaguno, president of the branch, highlighted how, in spite of the difficulties during the pandemic and the current economic limitations, there is the will to preserve the Cuban style recognizable anywhere in the world.

Particular effort, in my opinion, has taken the monthly realization of the peñas in the Social House of the UNEAC and in important patrimonial institutions, starring significant exponents of our music.

Some examples are: «La Rumba soy yo», with Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, in long celebration of their 70th anniversary; «De la canción al jazz», with the group Mestizaje, directed by professor and musician Miguel Angel Rodriguez Zulueta; and «El concierto», under the direction of renowned singer and composer Alfonsito Llorens and his guests.

Plus the presence with their peñas in the houses of Culture, concert halls, in museums, among these the Oscar María de Rojas museum, with the group Nuestra América, which celebrated its 50th anniversary; the Pharmaceutical Museum with the pianist Hilda Elvira Santiago, one of the most excellent instrumentalists in the country; the Palacio de Junco with the Afrocuba group and in the summer the special protagonism of Tony Ávila; in addition to the itinerant tour of the province of the guitarist and composer Vicente Hernández Morejón, among hundreds of programmed activities.

There were concerns, which are becoming old, made more acute by these times of economic inflation, about the monthly non-payment to artists by the Empresa de la Música Rafael Somavilla and the reduced budgets of the local radio and television; the insufficient commercialization in the hotel sector of the spa city; the stagnant exchange system of the salaries earned in MLC.

Likewise, the real situation that musicians must assume all the expenses to offer their concerts and with what they currently receive, their possible performances are reduced to a minimum; as well as the fact that the salary increase was not applied to art school teachers. These are problems that require ministerial decisions.

Notwithstanding this panorama, among the creators there was a strong will to preserve the strength and quality of music in Matanzas and to continue supporting artistic education, as demonstrated by the «Federico Smith» Chamber Music Festival, recently held, through a joint work that led to success.

The Matanzas musicians decided to recognize the work of singer and composer, Luis Llaguno, director of the group Nuestra América and founder of the Movimiento de la Nueva Trova, in his ten years at the head of the branch and to select a new executive, composed of Reynaldo Montalvo as president, plus Olga Blanco and María de los Ángeles Horta, vice-president and secretary, respectively.

The plenary was also presided over by José Manuel Espino, president of the Provincial Committee, together with Osbel Marrero, provincial director of Culture; Orismay Hernández, director of Turarte; Maritza Cuba, representative in the province of the Ministry of Culture before the MINTUR and Yansiel Menéndez, director of the Rafael Somavilla Music Company.

Written by María Elena Bayón Mayor.