Creole Choir of Cuba - Braithwaite Hall Croydon England, 2011.02.09 Hi-MD PCM FLAC master



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The Creole Choir of Cuba ceLebrate the stories of their Haitian ancestors, brought to Cuba to work in near slave conditions in the sugar and coffee plantations. With their music, they continue the tradition of the freedom songs passed down by their parents and grandparents. The sound is irresistible, and unLike anything else to come out of Cuba — with passionate harmonies, colourful meLodies and richly textured arrangements. Songs are sung in creoLe, Cuba’s second language.

Songs performed but not necessarily in the order performed - I confirmed this with one of the singers afterwards. My goodness they were such nice friendly people.

There are a few photos I took in the folder, all without flash - not easy as they were moving the whole time!!

MANGAJE — Recounts the disorientation felt by a symbolic figure of an African slave on arrival in Haiti,

EDEM CHANTE — A freedom song created during the dark days of the Duvalier regime. The cry ‘Edem Chanté’ means “Help us sing.”

MAWOULE — Tells the story of a drover who takes cattle through the mountains at night. The words tell of the loneliness of the long journey across rivers, avoiding cattle thieves, and of the wisdom that keeps him going.

PEZE KAFE — Offering a snapshot of the difficulties encountered in everyday life. Peze Café tells of a boy shouting for his mother after he
is robbed when taking the family’s coffee crop to be weighed.

KADJA BOSWA — A prayer to the protector looking after travellers on their way.

CHEN NAN REN — This song means ‘chains around the waist’ and is a defiant cry for freedom, protesting against the continued exploitation and suffering of the poor, from colonial slavery to modern neo-liberal times.

WONGOLO — Haitians singing to their long departed friend, Wongolo, where they tell him of the troubles they have been experiencing

MARASA ELU — Young children who have been orphaned, having lost their parents in a natural disaster befalling the island

TANDE — This freedom song denounces the misery and suffering of the Haitian people during the Duvalier government.

INTERVAL (at all venues except Celtic Connections)

NEG ANWO — A call to the richer members of the Creole population in Haiti to help their poorer counterparts

FEY — Fey means “Leaf” in Creole. The song tells the story of a mother who mourns the absence of her son, who has been deported as a political protestor.
LA NMOU RIVE — An unspoken love between two young people

OU PA NAN CHAJ — Humourous song that pokes fun at a man who has no luck with the women he tries to charm

LIJ MANE CASIMIR — Tells the true story of a young peasant woman with a beautiful voice who arrives in Port-au-Prince one day with a guitar under her arm. Although she becomes famous and loved by the people, at the end of her life she dies impoverished and alone back in her native village.

The show ends with a selection of Cuban songs, which the choir change every night.