Wednesday 4 March 2009

A Cuban In Cuba (Reflections)

29 comments:

  1. gracias! very beautiful,the song, the photos, the feelings! home :)
    salut du midi

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  2. Many thanks to you, dancing doc, and thanks for the prize, too.

    Greetings from London.

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  3. This was wonderful. I loved the raw footage through the windshield of the car and how the video bounced back and forth between London and Cuba. Beautiful song too. I wish I knew what the lyrics meant.

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  4. Hi, duthc, I will be leaving the same message on your blog shortly.

    The lyrics are about friendship and that was what gave me the idea for the shortie. Most of my friends have left Cuba and when I was there recently I sat down with two of them and they were both struggling to make ends meet. It's also an allegory to those of us who have chosen a path as far from our homeland as possible, but who still carry that flag and that alligator-shaped island in our heart wherever we go. Many thanks for your comment.

    Greetings from London.

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  5. Beautiful post. Thanks for sharing the photos!

    I have a friend who was expelled from Poland in the last pogram against Jews there (he was a child). His family were loyal communists and didn't self-identify as Jews, so they chose to move to Russia. That ended up badly, so they eventually emigrated here, to the U.S.

    Every few years he gathers with other Jews expelled as children from Poland in Israel. They tell old stories, and grow teary eyed singing Polish lullabies. He says they are still sad to know that their Mother (the national imagery within Poland is maternal) hated them.

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  6. Thanks for the beautiful presentation..the music is so heartfelt..the words must be loving!
    Lyn

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  7. This was wonderful, Mr. Cuban! I especially like the fuzzy black and white video in the mix. Very nice. Do you have any other videos on YouTube?

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  8. Veo que fuistes a Trinidad! me encanto la toma desde el mirador de Topes, que recuerdos me trae eso!

    London, pero estoy esperando tus palabras aun...

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  9. ¡Qué canción compadre!
    Nosotros que cargamos con la huella, somos también los encargados de que esa memoria perdure de intercambiarla y de que crezca, porque "grano a grano" como decía aquel* poeta “se forman largas playas” aunque luego 'pase el viento y las revuelva... borrando las pisadas y los nombres’ quedan canciones como estas, que se cantan para revivir los recuerdos.
    Un abrazon con son y gozadera,
    Tony.

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  10. Que bueno que almenos pudistes regresar. Yo no puedo, y me duele tanto. Quizaz un dia cuando las leyes cambien podre caminar sobre mi patria una vez mas. Muy lindo el montaje.

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  11. Thank you so much. I have always romanticized Cuba, always wanted to go, then chickened out when it once was possible to leave from Merida in the Yucatan if I surrendered my passport. I want to see the mountains and the sea and Hemingway's finca, and sometimes I go to Cuba in my dreams.

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  12. Many thanks to you all for your kind comments.

    Willow, I did do another video a few years ago for the company I used to work for and it's still on youtube (methinks). So, the answer is yes, I have.

    Greetings from London.

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  13. So beautiful, the song and the island. Made tears come to my eyes.

    You must get so homesick. Do you?

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  14. Hi, Reya, yes, I do get homesick sometimes. I probably get sicker when I see what the Cuban government is doing with my home, if you catch my drift.

    Greetings from London.

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  15. Never been to Cuba but this video gives a flavor of what its like. Must have been pretty strange arriving in London for the first time.

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  16. Sad but beautiful.
    Very nicely done.
    Saludos,
    Al Godar

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  17. I’m not sure which I enjoyed more, your tour of Cuba or the fabulous music that accompanied it. Interesting to hear what the lyrics mean in your comment. Aren’t you lucky to call both Cuba and London home? It’s always a pleasant trip visiting your blog.

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  18. Many thanks to all for your lovely comments.

    Yes, the video is sad and I wanted it to be that way as I think that was the way my friends felt.

    The word 'paradero' whiich the singer repeats many times translates as 'whereabouts' and the song is dedicated to those whose whereabouts we don't know about.

    Thanks.

    Greetings from London.

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  19. Qué lindo...la musica tambien muy bonita!
    Beijos*

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  20. Porque sera que lo quien nos llamamos Cubanos somos tan melancolicos? Hasta desde una que ni nacio alli, pero, guarda las memorias de sus abuelos. Me da una cosa cuando veo los balseros...que desespero...los pobres.

    Chin up, Cubanito. Espero que las cosas cambien.

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  21. I'm sure that beautifully shot - and masterfully edited - video wasn't supposed to make me cry. But it did. The accompanying music is so evocative with it's gently melancholic rhythm. The word 'paradero' ('whereabouts' - as you explained) is one which could so easily be associated with my own country as well. There are many South Africans who joined the struggle for freedom and whose whereabouts are now unknown. Thank you, Cuban, very much for sharing that with us.

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  22. Many thanks, tessa, sofia and liza, for your kind comments.

    Greetings from London.

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  23. I would love to go to Cuba someday. My in-laws spent their honeymoon there in the 40's. The food, the music, the dancing, the art, the cars, the cigars, and the wonderful Cuban people!! You must be really cold up there in London!!! Thanks for your visit, Mr. Cuban!
    Catherine

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  24. I know that you must miss your mother land Cuban in London....
    My Prince misses London sometimes as well. We still have a daughter in London and one in Barry, Wales.
    We long for them everyday.......

    Steady On
    Reggie Girl

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  25. Many thanks, a thousands and midlife, for your kind comments.

    Greetings from London.

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  26. A wonderful picture book into your recent travel home. That song is haunting...I can still hear it as I type this comment. As an African in the "diaspora" I struggle every day to connect my spiritual whereabouts to the motherland, for strength, for Utu as we say in Kiswahili.

    Thanks for sharing. Greetings from Atlanta.

    Mama Shujaa

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  27. Thank you very much, Mama, for your kind comment.

    Greetings from London.

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  28. Ay qué manera de llorar...
    Yo estoy que veo una foto de Cuba y me pongo toda acuática
    ...aunque haya acabado de llegar de allá.

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  29. Asi que estuviste en el caiman, eh? Que te parecio aquello, el acabose.

    Gracias por tu comentario.

    Saludos desde Londres.

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