African History Month part education, part celebration

"It’s African History Month again," writes Minister Faust in Canada's Vue Weekly, "and across the city and across the continent, folk are gearing up for education and celebration. But not everyone is celebrating, with some fighting over the name and others questioning whether the month still even needs to exist.

Death of Tata Güines

"Cuban percussion maestro, Tata Güines, died Monday, February 4 in Cuba of kidney failure and high blood pressure," write the editors of World Music Central.

"Known as the 'rey de los tambores' (king of the drums), Tata Güines was renowned worldwide for his percussion work since the 1950s. His specialty was the tumbadoras (the name given in Cuba to congas). Arístides Soto Alejo was born June 30, 1930 in the town of Güines. He was better known as Tata Güines, his artistic name."

The BBC notes that the " 'King of the Congas' shared the stage with some of the world's most renowned performers during a career spanning more than six decades.

"In the US in the 1950s, he performed with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Josephine Baker and Dizzy Gillespie.

"He had spent his formative years playing with some of the greats of 1930's and 40's Cuban music.

"Despite his success in the United States, Güines returned to Cuba after Fidel Castro's communist revolution in 1959, saying he had never been able to get used to the racial segregation in the US at the time.

" 'Fame did not extend beyond the stage. Once you left the stage, it was like the signs said: "Whites only",' he said in an interview published last year."

The African Presence in México: From Yanga to the present 

"Like many, I thought the African influence in Mexico was limited to the Caribbean coast, especially Veracruz," writes Los Angeles Times staff writer Agustin Gurza in his article 'The African Presence in México' breaks new ground which describes the exhibit "The African Presence in México: From Yanga to the Present" on view at the California African American Museum through June 1.

"Think again. The exhibition illustrates the depth and reach of African culture. You suddenly see African features in a pre-Hispanic Olmec sculpture or in the faces of miners from the central Mexican state of Guanajuato. The influence is unmistakable in the rhythms of the son jarocho and the architecture of round huts with thatched roofs in the Costa Chica, a coastal region south of Acapulco with a strong African presence that is documented in the striking portraits by African American photographer Tony Gleaton.

"It's in this region, straddling the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca, that Moreno was first struck by a part of Mexican culture that had seemed invisible to him until then. How many times had he hung that 1910 photo by Agustin Casasola of a Mexican revolutionary, 'Portrait of a Female Soldier From Michoacan,' and still not seen it? 'I was blown away that it had never before crossed my mind that this woman is of African descent,' he says. 'I felt like an idiot. There she was staring me in the face and I had never recognized her before.'

"Racism has led to denial in Mexico, where the census doesn't even have a category for counting blacks and even Afro-Mexicans prefer to be called brown or Cuban, according to the exhibition's meticulous and beautiful companion book. At the same time, Moreno notes, interracial marriage has helped blur race lines in Mexico almost since the Spaniards arrived.

Catalogue cover for "The African Presence in México"

"Still, Mexico has had its Afro-Mexican heroes, including President Vicente Guerrero, who outlawed slavery in 1829, a move that helped spark the confrontation with Texas, a slave state, and the subsequent war with the United States. (Like Lincoln, Guerrero was assassinated.)"

Remembering the Legend: Bob Marley

February 6^th marks the birthday of Bob Marley. And although it has been almost 27 years since his passing, Marley's music continues to reverberate throughout the globe.

Bob Marley was born in the small village of Nine Miles, Jamaica in 1945. Born Nesta Robert Marley, he has been labeled one of the most significant musical artists of the twentieth century and remains the most widely known performer of reggae music.

He died on May 11, 1980 of melanoma to his lungs and brain at the age of 36 years of age.  Prior to his death he fathered 13 children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, and the remaining eight with separate women.

Marley is best known for his reggae songs, which include the hits "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Three Little Birds", "Exodus", "Could You Be Loved", "Jammin'", "Redemption Song", and "One Love". His posthumous compilation album Legend (1984) is the best-selling reggae album ever, with sales of more than 12 million copies.

"The reservoir of music he has left behind is like an encyclopedia," says Judy Mowatt of the I-Threes, Marley's famous back-up group. "When you need to refer to a certain situation or crisis, there will always be a Bob Marley song that will relate to it. Bob was a musical prophet."

To celebrate his birthday and his music, musical events, street walks and talks are scheduled to take place in Belgium, Kenya, Denmark and the United States. 

Information about specific events can be found on the www.rastaites.com website.