These haiku are inspired by music from the 1940s onward. I used to love listening to “latin jazz” and afro-cuban jazz. Years ago, when I had a radio spot, finding music to share was a delight, especially since it was long before the Internet!
Chano Pozo revolutionized American jazz at a time when it was increasingly open to global influences, while at the same time, changing Cuban music forever, with Bandleader and tresero/tumbadora player, Arsenio Roriguez (1911-1970), You can hear him here:
In 1942, Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo collaborated on “Manteca!”, one of the first latin jazz tunes to survive and thrive in the crossover market with mainstream music.
Chano Pozo’s Drums
1.
We can’t help but marvel
each time that syncopation
beats air to feet
2.
Skintalker, Chano
talks to the wood and skin
our feet answer back
Merceditas Valdes ( 1922-1996)
was a singer who popularized AfroCuban music both in her home country of Cuba and throughout Latin America. Colloborating for many years with Grupo Yoruba Andabo, she also worked with Canadian flautist and bandleader Jane Bunnet. I even got to see her perform, though she had slowed down quite a bit! Merceditas Valdes got her start at the end of the 1940s and performed until shortly before her death.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7XXKDTiaC0
1.
Old breath of mourning
morning’s arrival takes me
into light, shadow
2.
Your voice like your hands
warm, brown, wrinkled motion
rhythm of the fading havest
Ear to the Ground 