2023-08-13 08:59:00
The precise sounds of the batá drums were perhaps the first telegraph or the first letter of humanity. Its mystique and revelations characterized the colloquium on those instruments, held at the Cine Teatro Juárez as part of the second edition of the Artemisa Mestiza Festival.
The luthiers Manuel Goicochea and Emilio Soto, connoisseurs and true masters, gave a lesson in spirituality, said Miguel Barnet, president of the Fernando Ortiz Foundation and honorary member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac).
The Cuban poet, writer and ethnologist confirmed his idea of declaring the drum, first, a Heritage of the Cuban nation and later of Humanity. Then, the batá drum will have a special recognition, for its significance and hyperthelia beyond the sound
What are the batá? The set consists of three drums with two heads, carved in wood and shaped like an hourglass: from largest to smallest, Iyá, Itótele and Okónkolo. Of Yoruba origin, they are used mainly in religious festivals of African origin.
Ulises Mora Valiña, president of the Timbalaye International Festival, said that they have been, are and will be the instrument that determines Cuba as a nation.
Manuel Goicochea, also a promoter of the Casa de Cultura de Artemisa, addressed the construction process even before cutting the wood: the ceremony, hand-made, consecration, rituals, discarded traditions that he insists on rescuing, and the legacy of the batá drums.
Meanwhile, Emilio Soto, a cultural promoter and member of Uneac, stressed that batá means family. “Precisely, its function is to communicate with the orishas, the deities and both living and deceased people.
“Their sound has endowed them with a virtuosity capable of traveling the world, even as far as Canada, China and Japan. The batá drums have made music in the silence, ”he said, giving as an example the sign language created to combine sounds, which he took advantage of to teach the deaf.
After the colloquium, the exhibition Los Tambores de Aponte was inaugurated and prizes were awarded to the winners of the batá drumming competition.
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