Emma Kostyun (Blog # 3): History through Architecture, Music and Street Art

     Cuban architecture like many other countries with rich histories has a certain diversity that ranges from colonial structures to neo-classical, baroque, art deco, art nouveau, and eclectic. In my travels to countless different countries I have become jealous of the architecture that decorates every street. In America, our history is only so short that the oldest of our buildings are only a couple hundred years old whereas for Europe, Asia and even some of Latin America these buildings have been around for millenniums. Our own architecture in our country has changed from what we carried over from England to our own spin of colonial, victorian, craftsman, modern and contemporary. I personally love colonial architecture but more into what Cuba has which is from strong influences of the Moorish and Spanish, as well as some Italian, Greek and Roman Styles. I am excited to see the architecture in Havana and other places that we travel! Especially churches, of which I think are most important parts of architecture to understand a country's history. 

    Religion not only tells about the country's past and devotion but also tells about their music and how it influences it. Santeria, the religion found in Cuba, influenced their music. Each orisha, or deity, is associated with colors, emotions, Roman Catholic Saints, and drum patterns called toque. Elements of this religion's music began to take root in many other genres of music like Folk and Pop. Music History has also been something that I have been interested in, I studied Music Theory in high school, I worked for music organizations as well as perform myself. Cuba has had many countries be influence to their music and has been influence to many other countries as well, contributing to the development of jazz and salsa, Argentinian tango, Ghanaian high-life, West African Afrobeat, and Spanish "nuevo flamenco." Some types of traditional Cuban music are Guajira, Musica Campesina, Danzon, Charanga, Changui, Son, Rumba and Timba. All of which I am excited to hear and perhaps dance to! After the Cuban Revolution Cuba established a music education for all of it's students because musicality is a important part to Cuban culture so they begin to teach it at a young age. For those of us that watched Esteban, we saw this in there where young Esteban was taught music in his school but sought to learn piano as well. Throughout the movie he was able to gain private lessons and inevitably ended up auditioning for La ENA (I believe) at the end of the movie. 

    One of the most popular music forms is Rumba which is a root rhythm for voice and percussion that has cross-fertilized with mambo, salsa, and jazz. It represents Cuba's African influences, it is energetic and soulful, using conga drums, claves, maracas, scrapers, and bells. Cuban dancing dates back to the Spanish's first arrival when they brought with them guitars and violins. This also helped the development of Cabarets (espectaculos) which are an important part of the entertainment scene. As someone who really enjoys Cabarets I am really excited to perhaps witness one of these shows because it is absolutely one of my favorite things. 

    Street Art in Cuba is something that I am also looking forward to as it is a very artistic city. I did not know it was quite rare but I am still excited to see what it has. Some of the abandoned derelict buildings that we might see in America with Graffiti tags are used more for murals in Havana. Many neighborhoods house many murals and figures on the walls as a product of the young street art movement. 

My Questions: 

1. Personally, what is your thoughts on street art? Do you think it has to have a particular style to be considered street art vs being considered Graffiti? 
2. In many other communist countries the building architecture is very boxy, plain and simple; why might that be different in Cuba?