– Looking For Afro-Cuban Music and Finding More
My Latest Posts
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Roots in Reverse, Looping Forward: Orchestra Baobab and the Long Conversation Between Dakar and Havana
At El Grito we’ve always been drawn to the musical currents that slip back and forth across the Atlantic — rhythms leaving Africa, mutating in Cuba, and washing home again carrying new shapes, new accents, and old memories disguised as something modern. We didn’t set out to become obsessed with this loop; the loop caught…
Luisito – Fire and Softness in Two Songs from a Havana Troubadour
By Kamila Del Grito There was a little more than an hour left before the sun would begin to kneel before the night. Sunday afternoons are always cooler and more even-tempered, I told myself as I walked through the streets of central Havana. My plan was simple: I would go in search of good music…
Telmary: The Sorceress of the Word in Havana
The night sweats in Havana are a living thing. At La Vitrola Social Club, the walls seem to breathe — peeling turquoise paint, the clink of beer bottles, ceiling fans stirring the ghosts of bolero singers past. Kamila’s camera is rolling, its red light blinking like a heartbeat. The hum of expectation. Someone says, “Telmary’s…
From Yara to Havana: Céline Díaz and the Unexpected Flamenco Rhythm
By Kamila Del Grito El Grito attempts to reflect the paradoxes of Cuban music. An example of this is that Pete, a crusty old punk, is always on the lookout for signs of youthful rebellion, while I, a young journalist, have been captivated by old and new Cuban trova since I was a child. Faithfully…
Eliades Ochoa – From Santiago To Bristol
El Grito loves to bring you undiscovered artists from the streets of Havana but from time to time we visit the refined venues of Europe to catch the undisputed heavyweights. Eliades Ochoa has a singular place in Cuban musical history – I am an expert in this having devoured a reverential biography I’d picked up…
X-Alfonso Redefines Cuban Rock At The Fabrica De Arte
As is customary, El Grito (The Scream) is behind the most notable and substantial movements in the island’s musical scene. We attended the recent concert by singer-songwriter and instrumentalist X Alfonso at the Fabrica de Arte Cubana, the venue of which he is a founder and director. The concert, in a reasonably intimate venue, was…
Eric Mendez – Nueva Trova, Change and Challenge
I was lucky to catch Eric Mendez – a 47 year old singer songwriter of 25 years, and with a long back catalogue of published recordings – playing in Iris, in my opinion the best restaurant in Old Havana, on Pena Pobre, right on the mouth of the bay. Eric is from Cerro – a…
Tuesday Night At El Bily, Vinales
During our stay in Viñales, we visited many charming places, but without a doubt the center of nightlife was El Bily – head there if you want to eat and then dance until nightfall. Despite the long hours and the lack of electricity, Bily made the valley party. Honestly, I thought it was quite a…
Origin Stories – Kamila
If I look back six months ago, I would never have thought that today I would be an aspiring Gonzo journalist and music blogger. And all of this was thanks to El Grito. It may sound a bit cheesy, but this project unwittingly became a cry of hope for a Cuban girl living in a…
Lágrimas Negras by Miguel Matamoros – Story Of The Song
“You want to leave me, I don’t want to suffer with you, I’m leaving my saint, even if it costs me to die.” Who hasn’t heard this famous chorus at some point? From Bebo Valdés, Compay Segundo, Omara Portuondo to the Spaniard Diego el Cigala, many have been the artists who have performed the mythical…
Filipe Hernandez – Havana Street Musician
Walking down Obispo in Old Havana, trying to escape the boredom we felt due to the lack of electricity, we stopped in front of San Gerónimo University. A musician with his trumpet caught our attention. His name was Felipe Hernández. We asked him to play a song or two. It was so captivating to hear…
Fire Dancing In The Palanque De Los Cimarrones – Vinales
El Grito loves music from the 70’s. Especially the 1570’s. And we are big fans of Drake. Around that time Spanish rule in the Caribbean was challenged by the Cimarrones, escaped African slaves forced to live in the most inhospitable parts of the Caribbean to avoid recapture, and to develop advanced guerilla warfare tactics. In…
Yolanda by Pablo Minales – Story Of The Song
For lovers of trova and Cuban female singers, the lament “Yolanda, eternally Yolanda” could be said to be an anthem for music lovers suffering from the fatal virus of love. The song “Yolanda” was written by Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés, dedicated to his then-girlfriend. The couple married in 1971, and three daughters were born (Lynn,…
Havana In The Dark
Back to Havana for a fortnight of music blogging. That was the plan. I arrived on a beautiful tropical evening, the sun was setting over Havana’s suburbs, which mix Caribbean tropes with Soviet industry. I hopped in a taxi, to rendezvous with Kamila, eat and see if there was enough energy left in the tank…
Guantanamera – Story Of The Song
Paraphrasing the first stanzas of the simple verses of the Cuban poet José Martí, the popular Cuban song Guantanamera has been the epicenter of various controversies about its authorship. The first theory is officially attributed to José Fernández Díaz, better known as Joseíto Fernández who told different versions of the origin of the song on various…
El Manisero – Story Of The Song
Is there a start to music? For many people, for Cuban music, the beginning was El Manisero, the song reputed to have derived from a peanut vendor’s cry in the streets of Havana in mid 1800s but attributed to the band leader Moises Simon and first recorded in 1927. But what actually did it kick…
Mora – Havana Street Artist
The real sound of the street in Havana. I encountered Mora amongst the ghosts of Old Havana. She sang a song, took a tip and disappeared. When we went back to look for her she was no longer there.
Gens: 45 Years Making Rock In Cuba
My first night at the Fabrica De Arte challenged my preconceptions of Cuban music. I’d expected my preconceptions to be challenged but it challenged the way that I expected my preconceptions to be challenged.
Origin Stories – Pete
What could be more straightforward than hopping on a plane to Cuba, declaring yourself an Afro-Cuban music blogger and immediately regaining the sexy vitality of your youth? We’ll find out.
El Grito 