Juanito Roche

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Juanito Roche

Postby Thomas Altmann » Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:44 pm

Hi group,

I just came back from Havana on January 13th. I was there to complete my iyaworaje with the ebo meta, learn some rituals and arrange other religious issues. Luckily and unexpectedly, I came in contact with two exponents of the batá scene in Centro Havana.

I had a chance to delve into the intricacies of Ñongo, one of the most basic, common, useful, and seemingly simple toques batá. My teacher Reimundo Sosa who celebrated his 24th birthday (of age!) these days, was the most helpful and skilled teacher ever to explain to me where it's at. He confirmed that playing itótele in Ñongo is really the hardest job in batá drumming. Reimundito, as he was called, differentiated the fixed conversations of the toque itself from citations of conversations from other toques batá as well as downright adlib passages, shared between iyá and itótele in a kind of collective "improvisation".

I saw Reimundo perform the oru seco on a ceremony for Inle and Yemayá, and he played just great. The tambor that played on the occasion was no other than the famous Añabí, the first batá set on Cuba at all, and the only one that was not born from any other Añá, but created by Añabí and Atandá out of a religious vacuum, with the materials that the island provided. Its religious legitimacy and aché were confirmed by Olofi, while all other sets were practically born from its fundamento. Contrary to the information given by Fernando Ortíz, the set was not created 1830, but exactly in the year 1837. Reimundo claimed that there were no batá drums in Cuba before Añabí; "they played a lot of Bembe". (Up to further research.)

I was also invited to sit in on the tambor for two tratados. The iyá player was Humberto Oviedo "Película", who was just visiting his country from his current mainstay in Italy. It was thunder and lightning. The okónkolo's chachá was giving me a hard time and a blister on my left fingertips.

The current dueño, or aláña of the drums is Juanito Roche, the grandson of the legendary Pablo Roche, who had played this tambor until his death in 1957. Juanito is also known under his nickname "El Sucio"; I never found any reason why he was struck with this name. He is a knowledgable babalawo and Añá specialist, who helped me out with many an information on Añá that was missed out by my padrinos in Añá that I haven't seen since my juramento in 2005. He is also the most thoroughly friendly and innocent person I can think of. He dropped by the house of my padrino in Ifá quite often; only meeting appointments wasn't exactly his thing.

We couldn't take a picture of Reimundito, who was iyawó at the time, but here is a photo of me with Juanito Roche.

ta-juan.jpg
ta-juan.jpg (18.2 KiB) Viewed 11584 times


Greetings from Hamburg,

Thomas
Last edited by Thomas Altmann on Sun Dec 11, 2011 10:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Juanito Roche

Postby guarachon63 » Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:01 pm

Great work Thomas, thanks a lot for sharing that. Very interesting.

saludos
barry
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Re: Juanito Roche

Postby ABAKUA » Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:33 pm

What a beautiful experience that mustve been.
Congratulations and thankyou.
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Re: Juanito Roche

Postby windhorse » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:11 am

That is really cool! Very special and meaningful stuff you are sharing Thomas! Thanks so much!
Sorry the slap was giving you trouble on the Okonkolo.. :evil:
Dave
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Re: Juanito Roche

Postby Thomas Altmann » Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:29 pm

I'm happy to communicate my experience with people who understand what I'm talking about; I almost felt a need to tell somebody about it.

The thrill to be connected with the origin of the Cuban batá tradition came rather after the event, when the drummers undressed the drums. Just looking at them and touching them was dizzying. But in the actual playing situation I was struggling to get my sound across and make the rhythm groove, giving stability and flexibility at the same time, etc. The chachá skin was really dead. To provide that bell-like open tone on the enú, I ended up hitting it almost like a bongo, towards the edge. Other drummers have a way to play a kind of open slap on the enú, which can sound nice, but sometimes tends to dominate the ensemble. I can't do that, anyway. I was rather looking for a hammer to tighten the heads.

Thomas
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Re: Juanito Roche

Postby guarachon63 » Sat Jan 17, 2009 3:06 am

I can imagine how you must have felt! I am curious if it was possible or permitted to get a picture of that set of batá?
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Re: Juanito Roche

Postby Thomas Altmann » Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:38 pm

guarachon63 wrote:I am curious if it was possible or permitted to get a picture of that set of batá?


Barry: It is generally not permitted to take pictures of Añá, i.e. tambores de fundamento. This is why photos of juramento ceremonies are generally taken with in front of the banner of the fundamento. In the video "Añá - la magía del tambor" by Mundo Latino, Regino states that Añá must not be filmed or recorded.

Of course there are the usual deviations from that rule.

As omóañá I decided to not even ask for a permission.

Thomas
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Re: Juanito Roche

Postby Thomas Altmann » Tue Oct 29, 2013 8:41 pm

Hi,

this post is to correct some details; first: Juanito's second name is not Roche, but Gelaver. He is Roche's grandson, legally, but he did not assume his name. I found this out in 2012, because Juanito was one of the babalawos who worked in the igbodu of my Ifá.

Secondly, the one who states that "Añá must not be filmed or recorded" is not Regino but Armando Aballi. It's the two of them speaking, but Armando is the one who's uttering that. Both of them are in Ará Onú now - ibae!

By the way, just in case somebody has seen the video: Who is the okonkolero? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sja9ELTDASA ( f.i. 3:01-3:08)

Thomas
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Re: Juanito Roche

Postby tamboricua » Wed Oct 30, 2013 2:17 am

Thomas Altmann wrote:
By the way, just in case somebody has seen the video: Who is the okonkolero? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sja9ELTDASA ( f.i. 3:01-3:08)

Thomas


Hi Thomas, the okonkolero during Regino's and Armando's segment is José Del Pilar Suárez.

Hope this helps,

JG
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Re: Juanito Roche

Postby Thomas Altmann » Wed Oct 30, 2013 2:05 pm

Thank you, Jorge! I like to have a face in mind when reading a name.

Thomas
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Re: Juanito Roche

Postby tamboricua » Wed Oct 30, 2013 3:01 pm

No problem. Attached is a picture of him along with the lates Regino Jiménez Saez and Fermín Nani.

Saludos!!!

JG
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