by Thomas Altmann » Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:33 pm
To whom it may concern ...
I finished my research report with an e-mail I received from Dr. Ivor Miller in February 2009 that read like an answer to all questions. Miller submitted an excerpt from interviews he made with Adriano Rodríguez in 1999 and 2002 in his home in Havana. I convey my English translation of his complete quote as follows:
Adriano Rodríguez: "My brother Barbaro José Giraldo Rodriguez Bolaños, known as Giraldo, was one of the finest percussionists of his time. He was born on the 4th. of December, 1920.
In January 1959 I had a chance to go to Mexico, and I talked to Luis Trápaga (a famous Cuban dancer, now deceased) to bring Giraldo and Jesús <Pérez>, and he agreed.
In Mexico we worked in a show that Luis Trápaga had brought <there>. The show had two parts; one of them was called "Oba Kosó Batá" (the king of the batá is not dead), a name given to it by Jesús, and the show was folklore; the other show was called "Gran Tour", which, as its name indicates, included various styles. It had Cuban music for me to sing, as well as music from other countries for the dance section.
We recorded; a disc in Mexico, because the owner of the record company came to the cabaret, and he liked the show very much. He asked me to sing "Drume Negrita" with the tambores of Jesús, which was what I did in the show. On the record, I am singing for Eleguá in the beginning, for Oggún, and for San Lázaro. Jesús is singing for Yemayá, for Changó, and for Eleguá at the end, and my brother ... for Ochún. Moreover, we were all together singing coro. The batá were played by Jesús, Giraldo and Gabino Fellove, who is the brother of composer Francisco <Fellove> who is still <living> in Mexico." *
When I mentioned the discrepancy between the date given by Tomás Jimeno (1954) and his own figure being 1959, Dr. Miller replied that "it is significant ... that Adriano was very specific about January 1959, then returning to the Revolution, and this is convincing."
I edited my article accordingly.
Thomas