How does cuban sound?

4.05.2023

Clave is a secret code. Like those used by slaves during the colony to send messages with the rhythm of a drum. Claves is an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument, the rhythm it produces is called clave and who plays it is the clavero. En clave is a rhythm that cannot be missing in Afro-Cuban music. Enclave is a territory within another, as was Guantanamo, in Cuba, when it belonged to the United States. En clave means something with the tone of, that is, when the musicians play in a Cuban tone. En Clave Cubana is a short documentary that recounts the academic, research and practical experience of Nisleydis Flores, Lino Arturo Neira and Emilio Morales Ruiz sharing cuban music with the world.

Rhythms fusion

The documentary begins when the directors decide to prioritize sound over visuals in the narrative structure, with the aim of making music visible as a creator of spaces for communication and exchange of knowledge between Cuban and Colombian culture. Through the instruments and the musical composition, they narrate how the artists, attendees of the IV Percussion and Cuban Piano International Seminar, ended up fusing the different local and Cuban musical styles, thus enriching their own music.

The assembly process

The second act of En Clave Cubana is born in the editing. In a documentary, as in life, you don’t write dialogue, you film what happens and then begin the process of editing and creating the story. And that is how En Clave Cubana came about, when the directors, who attended the festival with the intention of only leaving an audiovisual record, ended up recording the Cuban and Colombian musicians, playing together and mixing rhythms.

The protagonists behind the music

The third act happened by itself. After recording, the protagonists of the short film were already there; cuban musicians Nisleydis, Lino and Emilio, who told during the interviews how they managed to combine the different musical styles, the Manizales people hospitality and the way they were received in the Colombian city.

Story creation

The fourth brought with it the story of the documentary. When Daniel Gómez, one of the directors told Luis Guillermo Morales, Music department professor, before starting the event: prof., we don’t have very good cameras, but that’s all there is, so I’ll handle them and you take care of the sound, that the music tells the story of this short film.

The end

And the last act emerged on stage, because the Caldas College is a hidden stories universe. The short film directors said that cinema is a way to project those narratives, so that more people know what happens inside the college. “With En Clave Cubana we lined up many people to carry out the filming; Luis Guillermo was always open to allow us to meet the guests, to be in the musicians’ rehearsals and chat with them, we listened to their stories and anecdotes and from C-Transmedia we created a cinematographic narrative in a different, striking, exciting and danceable way,” said Gómez Restrepo.

C-Transmedia Communications