{"id":48211,"date":"2021-05-03T09:49:49","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T16:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/?p=48211"},"modified":"2021-05-03T09:49:56","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T16:49:56","slug":"rhythms-of-resistance-africa-cuba-and-the-birth-of-bakoso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/rhythms-of-resistance-africa-cuba-and-the-birth-of-bakoso\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhythms of Resistance: Africa, Cuba and the birth of Bakos\u00f3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When it comes to hip-hop, particularly in Latin America, much is owed to Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for Isnay \u201cDJ Jig\u00fce\u201d Rodriguez\u2014a Cuban music producer and DJ whose blend of electronic, urban and African rhythms has come to be known as Afrofuturismo Tropical\u2014it was time to pay that debt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a debt that traces back to his own humble hip-hop beginnings growing up in Santiago de Cuba, more than 500 miles from Cuba\u2019s capital city of Havana where he now lives. It was Santiago\u2019s street music scene of the 80s and 90s that nurtured his hip-hop creative spirit, indoctrinating him first by breakdancing before mastering the turntables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with Havana dominating much of the island\u2019s coverage of culture, art and music, the story of Santiago\u2019s predominantly Black thriving and innovative urban music scene has never been told. Until now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cuban music producer Isnay \u201cDJ Jig\u00fce\u201d Rodriguez sits near the Monumento al Cimarr\u00f3n in Mina de Cobre, Cuba. Courtesy: Eli and Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The 2019 award-winning documentary film \u201cBakos\u00f3: AfroBeats of Cuba,\u201d directed and produced by brothers Eli and Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi, follows Rodriguez as he embarks on a journey tracing the spiritual and ancestral origins of a new genre of music from Santiago, Bakos\u00f3\u2014a synchronous amalgamation of African rhythms from Angola, Ghana, and Nigeria with traditional Santiaguero sounds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe story of what was happening in Havana was always told,\u201d said Rodriguez, the founder of Cuba\u2019s first independent music label, Guampara Music<\/a>. \u201cAnd the story of what was happening in other places like Santiago de Cuba was not told, which has always had a very rich cultural and musical history. And I always felt the need to tell that story. Now is the time of Afrobeat, the influence of African music, and it\u2019s the perfect time to pay off that debt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film, which premieres nationally on PBS on May 3, not only traces the musical origins of Bakos\u00f3, but examines Cuba\u2019s historical resilient spiritual connection to the African continent, one that is notably embodied by the Cimarr\u00f3nes, or Maroons\u2014Africans who freed themselves from enslavement by seeking refuge in the Cuban mountainside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film, which features various Afro Cuban musicians, includes scholar Dr. Ra\u00fal Miyares, an expert on African and Caribbean studies, who says that \u201cCuba embodies the spirit of the Cimarr\u00f3n…the ability to create a new culture that keeps its ancestral roots.\u201d   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you think about it, when you talk about our traditions, our customs, our spirituality, what we have today, it comes from those Maroons,\u201d Eli said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been through all these horrific things that colonization, that literally tried to outlaw drumming, tried to outlaw our language, tried to outlaw who we are\u2026And after everything we still have that. What an honor, what a legacy and what a joy to be able to hold that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Jacobs-Fantauzzi brothers, who are of Afro-Puerto Rican descent, the film is the culmination of a 20-year relationship with Cuba. It was during Eli\u2019s showing of his first documentary \u201cInventos: Hip Hop Cubano\u201d in Santiago in 2005 that he met Rodriguez. A friendship that resembles family blossomed soon after. But it wasn\u2019t until after Eli\u2019s second documentary \u201cHomeGrown: HipLife in Ghana\u201d (2008) that Rodriguez told him about what was happening in his hometown. African students who came to study medicine in Santiago de Cuba were gradually influencing the local music scene with Kuduro from Angola, Afro House from South Africa, and Azonto from Ghana. And from there came the idea of documenting the birth of a new genre, Bakos\u00f3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Still from the documentary \u201cBakos\u00f3: AfroBeats of Cuba.\u201d Courtesy: Eli and Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe see a huge reflection of ourselves in the images that we portrayed in the film,\u201d said Eli. \u201cWe\u2019re really interested in what it looks like to tell a just story. What does justice look like in storytelling, where it\u2019s non-extractive and you aren\u2019t mining stories from communities, but you\u2019re telling it alongside the community\u2026we\u2019re let into these spaces, where I wasn’t even sure a camera should be let into that space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such scene comes near the start of the film that shows Rodriguez visiting his grandmother Mama Cuca in Santiago. The film captures Cuca praying before her altar to the Yoruban goddess Yemaya and blessing Rodriguez on his journey after cowrie shell reading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aided by a film crew composed of locals, the film captures the magic of Santiago. The end result is something that doesn’t feel scripted or contrived, but rings of authenticity. And perhaps more importantly, the film visibilizes the often ignored and erased images of Black people not just in Cuba, but throughout Latin America. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something that we intentionally really wanted to focus on because historically it hasn\u2019t been part of the conversation,\u201d Kahlil said. \u201cWhen you look at news media outlets, and you take a look at people’s skin and the color of their eyes and the texture of their hair, it doesn\u2019t represent truly who we are as a people. And so those images have a profound impact on how we see ourselves and the way we see the world around us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rodriguez agrees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a responsibility that I think all people have, not just Afro-descendants. I think it\u2019s the responsibility of all people around the world to elevate, to feel proud, and to represent and teach their roots,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cFor many years, those in power\u2014white colonialists\u2014have tried to erase the histories of the community, of the people. Not only of Afro-descendants, but of indigenous people as well.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s right. For centuries, the histories, music and spiritual practices of people of Afircan and Indiegnous descent in the Americas have undergone multiple cultural assisanination attempts by the colonial powers that be. And when those histories and cultural practices are kept alive by sheer resilience, they are often buried beneath the dominant narrative pushed by political leaders and controllers of mass media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cuban music producer Isnay \u201cDJ Jig\u00fce\u201d Rodriguez (left) listens to Cuban rapper Ozkaro Delgado\u2019s music (right). Courtesy: Eli and Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But in the words of DJ Jig\u00fce: \u201cI feel that with Bakos\u00f3, we are contributing to that cause.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBakos\u00f3: AfroBeats of Cuba\u201d <\/em>premieres on PBS on May 3, check local listings for additional showtimes. San Francisco\u2019s <\/em>Museum of the African Diaspora<\/em><\/a> (MoAD) will host a virtual film club discussion with Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi on May 16, and the virtual Fist Up Film Festival will be screening the film on May 27, visit <\/em>fistup.tv<\/em><\/a> for details. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want to learn more about the featured artists in the film? See here:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youtube Guampara Music<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandcamp\u00a0 Guampara Music<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spotify <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dj Jigue<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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