Under The Radar - A Survey of Afro-Cuban Music

"Under the Radar - A Survey of Afro-Cuban Music" is a documentary that introduces viewers to the distinct music of Cuba, examining the enigmatic island’s music scene as it was in 2001. The film documents the travels and recordings of its producer/director, jazz saxophonist, J. Plunky Branch, and executive producer, Alvin Skipper Bailey, and highlights their musical interactions and collaborations of Afro-Cuban rumba, son, salsa, timba, rock, changui and hip-hop musicians and rappers.
Branch and Bailey, both African-Americans, traveled under the auspices of a number of US universities, and in collaboration with the humanitarian organization, Pastors For Peace, to carry out this project. They toured the cities of Havana, Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba, to research and record a wide range of musicians. The results of their work is being disseminated through this 85 minute educational film and a series of three compilation music CD’s.
For more than 50 years the United States has maintained an economic blockade against the Island of Cuba, restricting travel, investment and cultural exchange between Americans and their Caribbean neighbors just 90 miles south of Florida. Afro-Cuban music has inarguably been recognized as some of the most vibrant and influential rhythmic music in the world.
#cuban music, #African connections, #santería, #cuban, # Cuban culture, # Cuban jazz, #Afro-Caribbean music, #Cuban history, #Cuban religion, #traditional cuban music

[@Irishpineapple97]

Thank you for sharing this amazing experience with the world! I am very moved by the sound and vibrations created by these wonderful humans

[@teresai1877]

Thank you for your video and honoring the profound contribution of African enslaved people to the culture of Cuba most notably in dance and music. I'm a Nigerian and this music sounds IDENTICAL to our traditional music especially that of the Ibibio/Efik tribe and Yoruba tribe in Nigeria. This makes sense because many Nigerians especially from those tribes were taken to Cuba. By the way, I also acknowledge that indigenous Taino (Indians/Natives) and Europeans had influence as well (e.g. strings, piano, trumpet and other wind instruments) on Cuban culture.

[@tierramariefortson3696]

EXACTLY!!!

[@lalavanegas9538]

Great project!!!! Thanks for preserving this valuable legacy! Cuban music as you state its the most vibrant and influential rhythmic music in the world. No one could said it better!

[@victorbujase4939]

4 those who do not give Cuba it's Merit; it's just that ur Island do not have that creativity n Flavor as the Cubans do. This is their creativity n that is the truth.

[@PDro11]

This is cool. I love the culture and history. One misconception i'd like to clear up, however, is that some of these persons that go to the island to learn tend to imply that African migration to western Cuba is how the culture there developed. This is wrong. Western and Central Cuba saw very heavy African importation, particularly before and during the 19th century. The folkloric culture of the island is mainly based in Western Cuba and has existed for centuries. Other than that, i enjoyed the documentary.
I would also say that they could have gone to Matanzas and Pinar Del Rio if they wanted to go deeper into the folkloric rhythms of the island. You won't get deeper than those to places.
1:05:00, this is not bembe nor Lukumi. This is Rumba Columbia. That is more Congolese and Carabali than Lukumi.