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Day 1
Last night we had a party to honor Marshall’s move from Colorado to LA. There were 12 of us there, so enough of a crowd to really get a good rumba going,, and it was good!! Steve, who informed us he is also moving to California, was leading most of the singing. Wow, what a great player that guy is! We’ll sure miss him from the local Rumba crowd. His uncle is some kind of famous percussionist in France “Jille” is his name. Also present was my teacher Dave, for just a short while, since he had a gig later that night. ET, who is a great Batalero, Rick, Dan, Hal, Scott, Marshall - of course, Denver Dave, Paco, and Henry who hosted the event in one of his abandoned warehouses. It was pretty nice since it had carpeted floors, but it was still loud in there since it was empty with low ceilings. We had boxes, a full compliment of Bata, and the Denver guy’s drums. Henry had some gourmet food and beers on ice. Marshall did an interesting thing in that he was the one leaving, but he gave everyone gifts. The method that he used was to write everyone’s names on pieces of paper, and then raffle off a bunch of items in a box that he had wrapped up and wouldn’t let anyone open. What was even better was that one of the items being auctioned was a video tape of Giovanni, and a book. These were then won by the person who gave them to Marshall! They came back to their original owner via raffle! Then, I won a metal bell, which when I looked close, had my mark that I always put on my equipment! It was mine! And I won it back! I had also brought a bomba, which was originally owned by Dan and Scott. It’s a long story, but they had passed the co-owned bomba back and forth for years, and had produced much bad blood between them. Then, at one point Scott sold his half of the drum to me, but I held on to it for over a year without Dan’s knowledge just to have a laugh at his expense. So, I chose last night to ceremoniously reveal his bomba, and gave it back to him. He was very chagrined by the whole thing, so it was worth it! The energy in the room was so high that we played each rhythm for about 30 minutes completely exhausting whoever was a little insecure with whatever part they ended up with. The first one I played on was a Columbia and I ruptured a blood vessel in my left ring finger. Rick recorded the session, and Henry got lots of pictures, but I don’t’ know if I’ll be able to get my hands on either. I couldn’t’ stay late since I was leaving early the next morning for Humboldt, so I expect they played until the early morning hours. I got back home by 11:00PM and still did a bit of last minute packing
Today I have just landed in Arcata airport. What a quaint little place! I love it!! It’s about 56 degrees F. and I just put on my sweatshirt. It’s the Middle of the summer and everyone’s roasting around the country, but here I have to wear a jacket! I sat across from Abby on the plane. She’s youngster who’s one of the workshop participants. We had an e-mail exchange two days ago because I had posted on the rider list that I could pick people up since I was renting a car for the week. But, after realizing the folly of spending all that money for the car to sit in the parking lot for the week, I cancelled the reservation. So, that meant that Abby would have to pick up the airport shuttle, which she did minutes ago. So, I’m sitting here and waiting on a flight to get here 30 minutes from now, and good ol’ James will come to pick up myself and two guys coming in on the next flight. They found me the same way Abby did; through the rides wanted section of the camp’s website.
Day 2
Mike and Mike both showed up at the airport, and I called James to come pick us up, but he went to a small airfield to the South of town instead of the Arcata/Eureka airport to the north of town, so we stood out there for quite a while. No big deal,, James eventually figured it out, and we got checked in. Then, we went and saw Howie’s film he always starts camp with. It’s very thorough historically and style-wise for the different types of music found in Cuba. Then, David Penalosa gave a lecture on Bata about where clave is found in Bata. Howie, Venessa, and another guy, I met for the first time, played the three Bata while David played clave. It was very revealing, and I felt like I “got it” this year! At least more so than the previous year. We had dinner and then went to song class where Lazaro Gallaraga taught us several rumba songs. We learned three different Yambu, two Guaguanco, and three or four Columbias. This was awesome! Lazaro is an amazing singer! Wow! And we were all inspired! Its sounded like a choir in that room! Then, we went to the gym and learned a Yambu, Guaguanco, and Columbia dance. Pretty packed for the first day of camp! But, it wasn’t over! Then, we went back to Mannie’s room and jammed on Jame’s nice vintage Valje drums. We officially weren’t supposed to play in the dorm rooms, but no other camps were in session, so we figured, “why not?” It was such a blast playing again with these familiar faces I only get to see once a year. James, Karl, and Mannie. I didn’t sleep well since I was so pumped up from an amazing first day,, but today I’m REALLY tired and taking the time to nap several times during the day. The first real drum class was at 2:00, and we learned two variations of Havana style Palo, and one from Matanzas. This was the level 4 Bantu with Jesus Diaz. James got us a practice room at 3:30 where we worked on the various parts, and finished off with a Guaguanco. At song class I was reminded of exactly who Lazaro Gallaraga is.. He’s the whole reason that I ever became interested in singing any Afro-Cuban repertoire! I never even made that connection until this second night of singing.. I swear that guy’s voice is like butter! It is just awesome! We had a great time singing in that class! Wonderful choir-like coro since so many in there knew his songs.. He hardly even had to teach us a thing! We just sang for an hour and half.. Then went to Rumba dance class. They did have a party that night, but I went to bed.. Too wiped out from the previous days.
Day 3
Today, we started with 9:30 drum class with Francisco Aguebella. He showed us two different Arara rhythms. Then we played an Iyesa. So, I volunteered to be the bell player, and I must say, did a fine job for a while,, but then at one point got sucked into one of the sticking parts that’s quick and punchy and fell off.. Fransisco said, “I know what it is.. You were trying to fit to him.. Don’t try to fit to anybody, we’re all trying to fit to you!” So, everything was fine after that.. Later I got on the Tumba part to one of the rhythms and it was an upbeat that switches from a muffled tone with sticks, to tones. It’s 6/8 upbeats on the lowest drum.. OUCH! That’s a really tough one for me, so I fell off and basically had to give it up. Again,, OUCH.. No worries though, I redeemed my awkwardness with the Tumba part on Iyesa which I’ve played for years.. Dang,, tough class though.. The other level 5 students were definitely all great players! I was probably one of the lowest level players in the crowd.. After lunch, I went back to Jesus Diaz’s class on “Rumba” where the whole point to the class was that “there is no definite way to play Rumba.. As long it fits in clave, and you know where you are in relation to the other parts,, then ANYTHING goes.” So, to illustrate this point he shared what he does when he plays with Sandy Perez, or folks who he feels comfortable with. It’s a pattern based on Guarapachangueo, where the Segundo hits two tones into the four, and the Tumba has a two clave part where on one clave it rolls three bases into the three, and on the next one plays a muff, then tone into the three. It also has a really cool slap dialogue where the Segundo plays a slap right before the one, and Tumba slaps just after the one… The pattern is freaking awesome, so I made sure to get it written out.. I’m an old dog,, and with this new trick, it’ll take me a year to get it semi-playable.. So, don’t be haranguing me to demonstrate it yet! There were two younger guys that picked it right up, and were even making up variations and changes for it in the practice room afterwards. Again, James, our fearless leader got us a room! Go James! We had a bunch of the level 5s and fours in there for a nice practice/Jam session that definitely rocked! Everyone felt good, like they got to play off some steam and converse musically with new friends.. This year really feels like better practice sessions than in the past.. Maybe it’s that people keep coming back, and the music is sinking in for all of us!
After dinner we went to song class again with Lazaro Gallaraga!! He’s so great! What wonderful positive energy! The guy is just glowing when he leads the class.. I got his CD- Arara’, and actually going to put into my laptop after I post this..
We sang all kinds of Arara songs tonight that were just beautiful.. I’m still high from the vocals! Later we’re partying at a local brewery where they have a stage set up for all the maestros from our camp.. Should be pretty cool!
Day 4
That night we went to a Brew pub called the HumBrewery. There were some locals playing guitar and singing sort of like an open mic, then our folks got up there on the stage and rocked the house! Vanessa led a bunch of singing with the second tier players, and then Lazaro Gallaraga got up there to wow us all with is wonderful voice for the rest of the night! Johnny Santos, Chris Walker and a few others rounded out the rest. I drank three pints of beer that night, which is FAR too much for this light weight! So, I got pretty drunk. The next morning I had one of the worst hang-overs ever! I was sick, couldn’t hold down food, had my head over a toilet, and slept off most of the morning. I felt much better by lunch time and went to the afternoon session with Toto Berriel. It was a class on two forms of Bembe Matanzas style. I was especially into the Caja and the variations. Some of us stayed after the class and compared notes. I had messed up where the Kachimbo part fit on clave, which is no surprise, but at least we got it figured out. We then had another really fun and invigorating practice session.
Everyone took naps, and then it was the BEACH PARTY! Now, these beach parties are legendary! And true to form, it was everything I expected and more. I’d have to say the highlight of the night was standing behind Erick Barberia and watching that guy play tumba on Guanguanco! WOW! His muffled tones were so thick! And his patterns really killer! He played it almost like quinto,, and then would come back to the part so cleanly to display amazing virtuosity! He would turn and give me a sideways grin each time he did a new unique phrasing.. He could sense my amazement.. };-D
Other highlights, Mike Spiro on quinto – really something,, I swear he gets better every time I see him play.. Chris Walker’s Caja on Bembe, Jesus Diaz and Ray Gonzales on anything they touched.. Johnny Santos on Bembe lead Shekere, Collin Douglas – Mr. Machine. We had a crowd of 40-50 people and we ALL were singing from our souls! It was truly one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve ever witnessed.. Through this workshop I get to experience first hand some of musical joy that people in Cuba get to live within their culture. I feel so blessed to take part in this once again.
Day 5
The next morning, I go to Level 5 “Cajon de Muerto” with Chris Walker. At least that’s what it said on the schedule, but Chris said that it would be more properly called “Cajon pa los Muertes”. It was quite interesting, as are all of Chris’s classes.. He is so cool and suave that he projects that into his students.. We learned several Plegarias and some really interesting patterns based around the bombo note in 6/8. Then, I went and observed a level 3 dance class with Palo/Yemaya. It started with Johnny Santos on four congas, and a full bata accompaniment. I must say that Johnny’s chops were most impressive! It was fully amazing to watch that for a while. Then, I went to have a tea and relax for while. After lunch it was Iyesa with Toto Berriel. What a fun class!!! I didn’t really learn anything new, except for a bit on Caja variations, but it was quite fun anyway! Song class was awesome as usual, then there was a guest lecture right after it. A lady named Amanda Vincent gave a speech about African Diaspora of bata, and how much has changed in Africa while Cuba retained the old ways. It was very interesting. That night there was an unofficial party in the staff dorms. They were really rocking as usual, and I was one of the fireflies soaking it up..
Day 6 Next morning I miss breakfast and go to Mark Lamson’s level 3 bata class. He is a gentlemanly type with a calm demeanor and VERY thorough! I liked it a lot, so I’m going back the next two days. I’m really a beginner batalero, if that,, so I was just there to observe and soak in what I could. I tapped out patterns on my legs – they call it “mirroring” – and it seemed a good method for learning this music. I already have plenty of recordings and notation,, so I’m not bothering to write anything out. Then, went to my favorite coffee house and had some tea. Back to lunch, then off to Toto’s Conga (comparsa) class! Did I mention I love that guy!? He’s got such great positive energy! You can’t go wrong in one of his classes! I played mostly the bomba, then a bit of bell.. They had what we normally play as the lead on the Segundo, then added quinto on top of that pattern. Interesing.. It helps to round out the conga sound. After dinner, song class included mostly three or four songs to sing over comparsa, then a bit of a follow-up on the Orisha songs we’d been learning the last few days. Then, the second of Amanda Vincent’s lectures on African diaspora of bata, dry and intellectual as it was, still to me, a good addition to the workshops. Afterwards a party at Kevin’s house. Everyone was there, and the music as wonderful as ever!
Day 7 Again, I miss breakfast and go to Mark Lamson’s Bata class. This time I actually played something which I held on the okonkolo. They did a call from the Iya, which I missed because I didn’t know what the rhythm was doing. So, Mark then showed me my new part. It was an off-beat thing and I held it! Made me feel good to hold my own for at least a small sampling of bata. It’s such a deep world and I’m just now stepping my toes in to test the waters.. I’m psyched to play more of this tantalizing instrument. For the second lesson that day, I went to Toto’s Level 4 Arara. I learned the bell pattern fairly quickly, and it was yet another way to play Arara bell.. There must 100s of different variants! I enjoyed this class again because of Toto’s enthusiasm and vast feel of the music. I pulls it out of everyone! Later that night we went to the Humbrewery again for an evening of Rumba and merriment. I was “on the wagon” still and would not have even one beer since that first time there and getting drunk and ruined my taste for alcohol. The students first did a set, then the HEAVY WEIGHTS came out to play! Two worth noting here.. Johnny Santos on the large Bajo playing tumba cajon parts and the tres dos on a conga. He anchored both parts and really did a tasteful and wickedly awesome combination of the two.. I am ever more impressed every time I see this man perform. Howie Koffman our fearless leader! Really crisp tone on his quinto style! He’s been working on his chops and the man is a heavy weight in my book. I’m sure years of playing next to the masters has done it’s part in his ascension.
Day 8 Since I had some pizza last night, I wake up late, miss breakfast, and the start of the bata class. I decide to blow it off, have a leisurely shower, and plan with James on our adventurous day to the beach and redwood forest. We pick up Karl and all three of us go to Patrick’s Point first. The road winds around and we have difficulty finding a parking spot for Agate beach. It turns out that Agate beach has made of rounded gem stones. THE ENTIRE BEACH! The sun had heated up the stones – all of which are rounded – and as we walked towards the ocean, we got foot massages.. It was amazing the feeling on your feet! James immediately started looking around for Agates, even though none of us knew really what made an Agate an Agate. So, we just picked up what our eyes liked the most in the immense pile of beautiful stones. My eyes were picking out the greens, James seemed to like the blues and purples, and Karl liked the reds. Later, James asked a woman who was an Agate hunter, and she said the clear smoky ones were the Agate, which I’ve verified after Googling it. Our next stop was “Wedding Rock” where there is an enormous Batholith with a walking path to the top. We got up there and had a spectacular view of the ocean front below. The pelicans were tiny and skimming the water way down below. The ocean was a deep indigo and small wisps of clouds in the sky. It was truly beautiful. Next stop the Redwoods. So we drove about 30 minutes North to Lady Bird Johnson’s Redwoods. There is circular walking path through the forest that circles several of the extremely large ones with circumferences of 20-30 feet. Unfortunately I didn’t get any camera shots of the redwoods, but I did of the ocean. We got back to the dorms about 4 o’clock. Took a nap, and went to dinner about 6:00. James and I decided to eat out this night – last night and all – and had an awesome sushi dinner at Tomo. The Ngiri slices were about 4X larger than some I’ve had in Colorado. We then came back to the dorms and had an all-out jam session Rumba with Paul, and a few other guys that just happened into it. Then, it was the faculty performance! Wow! It was better than ever! They did Yemaya, Ochun, Rumba, and Comparsa as four different movements. It was well choreographed and they pulled off the Coro with a smaller group of singers than I’ve seen in the past. But, this crew of heavy weights doesn’t need much backup, that’s for sure! I got several pictures of the show. That night, they had the party at Sabina’s house on 6th street, and it didn’t get visited by the police this year! It was really nice. I got to stand right in front of Gallaraga and Toto for most of the night as they smoothly sang throughout the night. Some of the songs are beginning to find their way into my thick skull. I said many goodbyes to my friends as we end this year’s Afro-Cuban camp, and look ahead to next year!
Last night we had a party to honor Marshall’s move from Colorado to LA. There were 12 of us there, so enough of a crowd to really get a good rumba going,, and it was good!! Steve, who informed us he is also moving to California, was leading most of the singing. Wow, what a great player that guy is! We’ll sure miss him from the local Rumba crowd. His uncle is some kind of famous percussionist in France “Jille” is his name. Also present was my teacher Dave, for just a short while, since he had a gig later that night. ET, who is a great Batalero, Rick, Dan, Hal, Scott, Marshall - of course, Denver Dave, Paco, and Henry who hosted the event in one of his abandoned warehouses. It was pretty nice since it had carpeted floors, but it was still loud in there since it was empty with low ceilings. We had boxes, a full compliment of Bata, and the Denver guy’s drums. Henry had some gourmet food and beers on ice. Marshall did an interesting thing in that he was the one leaving, but he gave everyone gifts. The method that he used was to write everyone’s names on pieces of paper, and then raffle off a bunch of items in a box that he had wrapped up and wouldn’t let anyone open. What was even better was that one of the items being auctioned was a video tape of Giovanni, and a book. These were then won by the person who gave them to Marshall! They came back to their original owner via raffle! Then, I won a metal bell, which when I looked close, had my mark that I always put on my equipment! It was mine! And I won it back! I had also brought a bomba, which was originally owned by Dan and Scott. It’s a long story, but they had passed the co-owned bomba back and forth for years, and had produced much bad blood between them. Then, at one point Scott sold his half of the drum to me, but I held on to it for over a year without Dan’s knowledge just to have a laugh at his expense. So, I chose last night to ceremoniously reveal his bomba, and gave it back to him. He was very chagrined by the whole thing, so it was worth it! The energy in the room was so high that we played each rhythm for about 30 minutes completely exhausting whoever was a little insecure with whatever part they ended up with. The first one I played on was a Columbia and I ruptured a blood vessel in my left ring finger. Rick recorded the session, and Henry got lots of pictures, but I don’t’ know if I’ll be able to get my hands on either. I couldn’t’ stay late since I was leaving early the next morning for Humboldt, so I expect they played until the early morning hours. I got back home by 11:00PM and still did a bit of last minute packing
Today I have just landed in Arcata airport. What a quaint little place! I love it!! It’s about 56 degrees F. and I just put on my sweatshirt. It’s the Middle of the summer and everyone’s roasting around the country, but here I have to wear a jacket! I sat across from Abby on the plane. She’s youngster who’s one of the workshop participants. We had an e-mail exchange two days ago because I had posted on the rider list that I could pick people up since I was renting a car for the week. But, after realizing the folly of spending all that money for the car to sit in the parking lot for the week, I cancelled the reservation. So, that meant that Abby would have to pick up the airport shuttle, which she did minutes ago. So, I’m sitting here and waiting on a flight to get here 30 minutes from now, and good ol’ James will come to pick up myself and two guys coming in on the next flight. They found me the same way Abby did; through the rides wanted section of the camp’s website.
Day 2
Mike and Mike both showed up at the airport, and I called James to come pick us up, but he went to a small airfield to the South of town instead of the Arcata/Eureka airport to the north of town, so we stood out there for quite a while. No big deal,, James eventually figured it out, and we got checked in. Then, we went and saw Howie’s film he always starts camp with. It’s very thorough historically and style-wise for the different types of music found in Cuba. Then, David Penalosa gave a lecture on Bata about where clave is found in Bata. Howie, Venessa, and another guy, I met for the first time, played the three Bata while David played clave. It was very revealing, and I felt like I “got it” this year! At least more so than the previous year. We had dinner and then went to song class where Lazaro Gallaraga taught us several rumba songs. We learned three different Yambu, two Guaguanco, and three or four Columbias. This was awesome! Lazaro is an amazing singer! Wow! And we were all inspired! Its sounded like a choir in that room! Then, we went to the gym and learned a Yambu, Guaguanco, and Columbia dance. Pretty packed for the first day of camp! But, it wasn’t over! Then, we went back to Mannie’s room and jammed on Jame’s nice vintage Valje drums. We officially weren’t supposed to play in the dorm rooms, but no other camps were in session, so we figured, “why not?” It was such a blast playing again with these familiar faces I only get to see once a year. James, Karl, and Mannie. I didn’t sleep well since I was so pumped up from an amazing first day,, but today I’m REALLY tired and taking the time to nap several times during the day. The first real drum class was at 2:00, and we learned two variations of Havana style Palo, and one from Matanzas. This was the level 4 Bantu with Jesus Diaz. James got us a practice room at 3:30 where we worked on the various parts, and finished off with a Guaguanco. At song class I was reminded of exactly who Lazaro Gallaraga is.. He’s the whole reason that I ever became interested in singing any Afro-Cuban repertoire! I never even made that connection until this second night of singing.. I swear that guy’s voice is like butter! It is just awesome! We had a great time singing in that class! Wonderful choir-like coro since so many in there knew his songs.. He hardly even had to teach us a thing! We just sang for an hour and half.. Then went to Rumba dance class. They did have a party that night, but I went to bed.. Too wiped out from the previous days.
Day 3
Today, we started with 9:30 drum class with Francisco Aguebella. He showed us two different Arara rhythms. Then we played an Iyesa. So, I volunteered to be the bell player, and I must say, did a fine job for a while,, but then at one point got sucked into one of the sticking parts that’s quick and punchy and fell off.. Fransisco said, “I know what it is.. You were trying to fit to him.. Don’t try to fit to anybody, we’re all trying to fit to you!” So, everything was fine after that.. Later I got on the Tumba part to one of the rhythms and it was an upbeat that switches from a muffled tone with sticks, to tones. It’s 6/8 upbeats on the lowest drum.. OUCH! That’s a really tough one for me, so I fell off and basically had to give it up. Again,, OUCH.. No worries though, I redeemed my awkwardness with the Tumba part on Iyesa which I’ve played for years.. Dang,, tough class though.. The other level 5 students were definitely all great players! I was probably one of the lowest level players in the crowd.. After lunch, I went back to Jesus Diaz’s class on “Rumba” where the whole point to the class was that “there is no definite way to play Rumba.. As long it fits in clave, and you know where you are in relation to the other parts,, then ANYTHING goes.” So, to illustrate this point he shared what he does when he plays with Sandy Perez, or folks who he feels comfortable with. It’s a pattern based on Guarapachangueo, where the Segundo hits two tones into the four, and the Tumba has a two clave part where on one clave it rolls three bases into the three, and on the next one plays a muff, then tone into the three. It also has a really cool slap dialogue where the Segundo plays a slap right before the one, and Tumba slaps just after the one… The pattern is freaking awesome, so I made sure to get it written out.. I’m an old dog,, and with this new trick, it’ll take me a year to get it semi-playable.. So, don’t be haranguing me to demonstrate it yet! There were two younger guys that picked it right up, and were even making up variations and changes for it in the practice room afterwards. Again, James, our fearless leader got us a room! Go James! We had a bunch of the level 5s and fours in there for a nice practice/Jam session that definitely rocked! Everyone felt good, like they got to play off some steam and converse musically with new friends.. This year really feels like better practice sessions than in the past.. Maybe it’s that people keep coming back, and the music is sinking in for all of us!
After dinner we went to song class again with Lazaro Gallaraga!! He’s so great! What wonderful positive energy! The guy is just glowing when he leads the class.. I got his CD- Arara’, and actually going to put into my laptop after I post this..
We sang all kinds of Arara songs tonight that were just beautiful.. I’m still high from the vocals! Later we’re partying at a local brewery where they have a stage set up for all the maestros from our camp.. Should be pretty cool!
Day 4
That night we went to a Brew pub called the HumBrewery. There were some locals playing guitar and singing sort of like an open mic, then our folks got up there on the stage and rocked the house! Vanessa led a bunch of singing with the second tier players, and then Lazaro Gallaraga got up there to wow us all with is wonderful voice for the rest of the night! Johnny Santos, Chris Walker and a few others rounded out the rest. I drank three pints of beer that night, which is FAR too much for this light weight! So, I got pretty drunk. The next morning I had one of the worst hang-overs ever! I was sick, couldn’t hold down food, had my head over a toilet, and slept off most of the morning. I felt much better by lunch time and went to the afternoon session with Toto Berriel. It was a class on two forms of Bembe Matanzas style. I was especially into the Caja and the variations. Some of us stayed after the class and compared notes. I had messed up where the Kachimbo part fit on clave, which is no surprise, but at least we got it figured out. We then had another really fun and invigorating practice session.
Everyone took naps, and then it was the BEACH PARTY! Now, these beach parties are legendary! And true to form, it was everything I expected and more. I’d have to say the highlight of the night was standing behind Erick Barberia and watching that guy play tumba on Guanguanco! WOW! His muffled tones were so thick! And his patterns really killer! He played it almost like quinto,, and then would come back to the part so cleanly to display amazing virtuosity! He would turn and give me a sideways grin each time he did a new unique phrasing.. He could sense my amazement.. };-D
Other highlights, Mike Spiro on quinto – really something,, I swear he gets better every time I see him play.. Chris Walker’s Caja on Bembe, Jesus Diaz and Ray Gonzales on anything they touched.. Johnny Santos on Bembe lead Shekere, Collin Douglas – Mr. Machine. We had a crowd of 40-50 people and we ALL were singing from our souls! It was truly one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve ever witnessed.. Through this workshop I get to experience first hand some of musical joy that people in Cuba get to live within their culture. I feel so blessed to take part in this once again.
Day 5
The next morning, I go to Level 5 “Cajon de Muerto” with Chris Walker. At least that’s what it said on the schedule, but Chris said that it would be more properly called “Cajon pa los Muertes”. It was quite interesting, as are all of Chris’s classes.. He is so cool and suave that he projects that into his students.. We learned several Plegarias and some really interesting patterns based around the bombo note in 6/8. Then, I went and observed a level 3 dance class with Palo/Yemaya. It started with Johnny Santos on four congas, and a full bata accompaniment. I must say that Johnny’s chops were most impressive! It was fully amazing to watch that for a while. Then, I went to have a tea and relax for while. After lunch it was Iyesa with Toto Berriel. What a fun class!!! I didn’t really learn anything new, except for a bit on Caja variations, but it was quite fun anyway! Song class was awesome as usual, then there was a guest lecture right after it. A lady named Amanda Vincent gave a speech about African Diaspora of bata, and how much has changed in Africa while Cuba retained the old ways. It was very interesting. That night there was an unofficial party in the staff dorms. They were really rocking as usual, and I was one of the fireflies soaking it up..
Day 6 Next morning I miss breakfast and go to Mark Lamson’s level 3 bata class. He is a gentlemanly type with a calm demeanor and VERY thorough! I liked it a lot, so I’m going back the next two days. I’m really a beginner batalero, if that,, so I was just there to observe and soak in what I could. I tapped out patterns on my legs – they call it “mirroring” – and it seemed a good method for learning this music. I already have plenty of recordings and notation,, so I’m not bothering to write anything out. Then, went to my favorite coffee house and had some tea. Back to lunch, then off to Toto’s Conga (comparsa) class! Did I mention I love that guy!? He’s got such great positive energy! You can’t go wrong in one of his classes! I played mostly the bomba, then a bit of bell.. They had what we normally play as the lead on the Segundo, then added quinto on top of that pattern. Interesing.. It helps to round out the conga sound. After dinner, song class included mostly three or four songs to sing over comparsa, then a bit of a follow-up on the Orisha songs we’d been learning the last few days. Then, the second of Amanda Vincent’s lectures on African diaspora of bata, dry and intellectual as it was, still to me, a good addition to the workshops. Afterwards a party at Kevin’s house. Everyone was there, and the music as wonderful as ever!
Day 7 Again, I miss breakfast and go to Mark Lamson’s Bata class. This time I actually played something which I held on the okonkolo. They did a call from the Iya, which I missed because I didn’t know what the rhythm was doing. So, Mark then showed me my new part. It was an off-beat thing and I held it! Made me feel good to hold my own for at least a small sampling of bata. It’s such a deep world and I’m just now stepping my toes in to test the waters.. I’m psyched to play more of this tantalizing instrument. For the second lesson that day, I went to Toto’s Level 4 Arara. I learned the bell pattern fairly quickly, and it was yet another way to play Arara bell.. There must 100s of different variants! I enjoyed this class again because of Toto’s enthusiasm and vast feel of the music. I pulls it out of everyone! Later that night we went to the Humbrewery again for an evening of Rumba and merriment. I was “on the wagon” still and would not have even one beer since that first time there and getting drunk and ruined my taste for alcohol. The students first did a set, then the HEAVY WEIGHTS came out to play! Two worth noting here.. Johnny Santos on the large Bajo playing tumba cajon parts and the tres dos on a conga. He anchored both parts and really did a tasteful and wickedly awesome combination of the two.. I am ever more impressed every time I see this man perform. Howie Koffman our fearless leader! Really crisp tone on his quinto style! He’s been working on his chops and the man is a heavy weight in my book. I’m sure years of playing next to the masters has done it’s part in his ascension.
Day 8 Since I had some pizza last night, I wake up late, miss breakfast, and the start of the bata class. I decide to blow it off, have a leisurely shower, and plan with James on our adventurous day to the beach and redwood forest. We pick up Karl and all three of us go to Patrick’s Point first. The road winds around and we have difficulty finding a parking spot for Agate beach. It turns out that Agate beach has made of rounded gem stones. THE ENTIRE BEACH! The sun had heated up the stones – all of which are rounded – and as we walked towards the ocean, we got foot massages.. It was amazing the feeling on your feet! James immediately started looking around for Agates, even though none of us knew really what made an Agate an Agate. So, we just picked up what our eyes liked the most in the immense pile of beautiful stones. My eyes were picking out the greens, James seemed to like the blues and purples, and Karl liked the reds. Later, James asked a woman who was an Agate hunter, and she said the clear smoky ones were the Agate, which I’ve verified after Googling it. Our next stop was “Wedding Rock” where there is an enormous Batholith with a walking path to the top. We got up there and had a spectacular view of the ocean front below. The pelicans were tiny and skimming the water way down below. The ocean was a deep indigo and small wisps of clouds in the sky. It was truly beautiful. Next stop the Redwoods. So we drove about 30 minutes North to Lady Bird Johnson’s Redwoods. There is circular walking path through the forest that circles several of the extremely large ones with circumferences of 20-30 feet. Unfortunately I didn’t get any camera shots of the redwoods, but I did of the ocean. We got back to the dorms about 4 o’clock. Took a nap, and went to dinner about 6:00. James and I decided to eat out this night – last night and all – and had an awesome sushi dinner at Tomo. The Ngiri slices were about 4X larger than some I’ve had in Colorado. We then came back to the dorms and had an all-out jam session Rumba with Paul, and a few other guys that just happened into it. Then, it was the faculty performance! Wow! It was better than ever! They did Yemaya, Ochun, Rumba, and Comparsa as four different movements. It was well choreographed and they pulled off the Coro with a smaller group of singers than I’ve seen in the past. But, this crew of heavy weights doesn’t need much backup, that’s for sure! I got several pictures of the show. That night, they had the party at Sabina’s house on 6th street, and it didn’t get visited by the police this year! It was really nice. I got to stand right in front of Gallaraga and Toto for most of the night as they smoothly sang throughout the night. Some of the songs are beginning to find their way into my thick skull. I said many goodbyes to my friends as we end this year’s Afro-Cuban camp, and look ahead to next year!
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