CAMAGÜEY.- The Camagüey Professional Choir turns 60 today. With that pretext, he will offer a concert in the José Marín Varona room, at 8:30 p.m. It will be a night of elves and angels, of songs and feelings from this city.
Knowing how to master an instrument that is carried inside is one of the virtues that captivates the group founded on November 12, 1961. Although incomplete, it continues to surprise by the power and magnitude of its talent and enthusiasm.
Teresa Romero was involved as a student and has been on the staff since 1991. She became an arranger and continues with the humility of an apprentice. She appreciates the lessons of each director, from the experienced Emilia Díaz to the young women who succeeded her, all with innate talent for identifying each showgirl.
“Anaday Díaz, from Matanzas, Gold Title, she taught me to open the base of my throat; that's why I can sing in the Voces Duo as a second voice, the bass. Through Lena I knew how to elevate the sound and launch it like the lyrics, ”she explains.
Denysse Guevara Fonte has taken less time, who upon graduating from the secondary level began to combine in the group with teaching in artistic education due to the choir subject in the study plan, and because she came from there.
“Tje Choir is a great school and a family. It helps you to expand your sound, to express together. There are colleagues with projects in general education schools. We want choral music not to die ”, she insists.
DIRECTING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
. Photo: Alejandro Rodríguez Leiva/AdelanteLena Lauzao Rosales, from Holguín, has been directing the Camagüey team for two years, after settling in the city. "I loved the human and technical material that I saw," says she who has added ancient and contemporary music from the 21st century.
To the repertoire of themes from the Renaissance, Baroque and Latin American composers of the past century, she incorporates scores by Guy Forbes, Morten Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre; and of the Cubans Guido López-Gavilán, Wilma Alba, Yaniel Hernández and Keyla Orozco. "Until now we have been looking for works that are a challenge," she emphasizes.
─ How does it flow and find the valuable among so much information that circulates today?
─ Accessing these scores is difficult. We do not have a system to buy online and there are many restrictions from the arrangers. It is difficult for us to get a premiere work, unless it is commissioned, paid, or for the interest of young people in trying their music. We have tried to pull relationships with teachers and principals like Alina Orraca and María Felicia Pérez, to have more to work with and keep the information fresh.
─A sample of musical brotherhood we appreciate through social networks, at the gala directed by Fernando Medrano ...
─ The response of the National Choir, the Choir Between Voices, the Exaudi, without a direct relationship, was incredible. With affection they sent us their materials and messages, expressed the desire to come, among them, Sine Nomine. The Cuban choral movement publishes on a page on Facebook, but continues the problem of face-to-face exchange. The last experience for Camagüey was at the Ávila Choral Conference, courtesy of the Ciego de Ávila Choir in April 2019.
─For registration and promotion, what prevents you from recording at Estudio Caonao?
─We have a long play from 1981. Thanks to that, the sound was captured at that time, the thought of a generation. It is an important album because the Choir has been part of the DNA of the culture of the twentieth century of Camagüey. It would be wonderful if a label interested a project with the development of the group after 60 years.
─Nobody is indifferent to how the building on República Street between Francisquito and San José “sounds, how much more do they dream of space?
─We are lucky to have a headquarter. We want to make it a choral center, attract an audience, do concerts, but conditions are lacking. We have achieved activities with children, educational concerts in schools to revive the choral movement. Before there was a powerful fan movement. We also close relations with the Provincial Center of Houses of Culture.
─What do you attribute the difficulty to develop your own quarry?
─ Several factors influence: there is no elementary level of choral singing, nor a singing school. In addition, the pandemic halted the hiring process. We have young people with a lot of potential waiting. The Camagüey Choir has been characterized by a great sound. It is one of the most numerous in Cuba with a staff of 30 members, although now we only have 19 covered.
“In an empirical way we have reached people, without criticism. The public has seen us and has been surprised. Chorus is sometimes thought of as a rigid, unattractive thing. It happens because of ignorance or because it is not proposed to the audience. We aspire for next year, if the anniversary is still worth it, to complete a documentary, to go on tour to other provinces and offer a gala with various functions. The artist needs a face-to-face audience ”.
Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez