Collaboration, Havana Style

HAVANA —  What happened here this week, in a mint-green room on the second floor of a crumbling apartment building in the once-luxurious Miramar neighborhood, should not be called a collaboration. It was a music lesson. The teachers? Three outstanding Cuban musicians. The pupils? Two visiting musicians, including former Police guitarist Andy Summers, who were awed by the overpowering talent of their conservatory-trained Caribbean “peers.”

The musicians were brought together under the umbrella of Music Bridges, the realized dream of Woodland Hills songwriter Alan Roy Scott to close cultural gaps between Cuba and the U.S. through music--specifically by teaming members of the U.S. contingent and Cuban musicians in small groups for one week to write new songs. It marks the first time in nearly 40 years that American and Cuban musicians have written new music together.

For Scott, who has organized five similar events in other nations, the unexpectedly high quality of the Cuban musicians is what sets this Music Bridges event apart from those in Ireland, Romania, the former Soviet Union and elsewhere.

“In those other countries, the musicians were intimidated by the Americans,” Scott said this week, as he sat in a hallway at the Hotel Nacional outside six makeshift practice spaces where some of the 48 visiting and 45 Cuban musicians worked.

“Maybe in Ireland it was pretty equal,” Scott continued. “But here, it’s exactly the opposite. This is the first time the American musicians have come into contact with musicians who are just as strong, if not stronger, who know who they are and are really proud of their culture.”

In Cuba, talented musicians are channeled at an early age into conservatories, and even the nation’s top pop musicians are technically polished, with extensive knowledge of music history and theory.

Many of the American musicians here are self-taught, with little theoretical knowledge beyond the simple chord patterns and scales of mainstream pop music. The discrepancy was not lost on R&B; singer Brenda Russell, who, along with Summers, was teamed Tuesday with NG La Banda flutist Jose Luis Cortes and saxophonist Lucia Huergo.

“You scare me,” Russell said in English to Cortes as he complained in a booming voice that the song they were making was “boring, but then that’s American music, right?” Cortes gulped some dark rum, then set down his flute in order to teach Summers the chord progression he wanted, writing it note by note on staff paper and ordering Summers, “Don’t forget it this time, OK?”

Russell sighed and stepped onto a small balcony to escape the pervasive cigarette smoke; every Cuban in the jam session smoked constantly, including Huergo, who managed to play her horn and smoke at the same time. Sucking on an herbal cough drop, Russell observed, “My thing is this: These guys are so amazing that I think it’s best to just sit down and shut up.”

This is not to say that none of the invited American musicians can hold his or her own against the Cubans. At one impromptu jam session on the patio at the Hotel Nacional, L.A. R&B; singer Montell Jordan demonstrated enough vocal power--and humor--to win the Cubans over. Unfolding his nearly 7-foot frame, Jordan stood up and announced that he wanted to sing a ballad his mother taught him, then broke into the theme from “The Brady Bunch.”

“I couldn’t believe it, but the Cubans sang along,” said Jordan. His conclusion: “ ‘The Brady Bunch’ is universal.”

Composer Burt Bacharach is highly respected by the Cubans--Valdes stammered nervously upon meeting him. Bonnie Raitt has been asked for autographs. And cutting-edge R&B; singer and bassist Me’Shell Ndegeocello is, according to organizers, one of the most sought-after musicians for collaborations with the Cubans. “They love her,” Scott said. “She’s brilliant, and they know that.”

Musical Collaborators Prove ‘Somos lo Mismo’

In one of the most impressive collaborations so far, “smooth jazz” alto saxophonist Dave Koz and R&B; singer N’Dea Davenport have created with some of Cuba’s top musicians a clever, funky Latin-pop-jazz song.

Davenport sang in English, while Rene Banos sang in Spanish. Banos is a founding member of the a cappella group Vocal Sampling, and is routinely referred to as the Bobby McFerrin of Cuba. The lyrics speak of supposed differences, such as preferring fried chicken and french fries to rice and beans, and the chorus sums up the musicians’ sentiments about politics: “Que importa? Who cares? Somos lo mismo, We’re all the same. No hay diferencia for you and me.”

The song is so catchy and poppish it is hard not to imagine it as a crossover hit in the States, where Cuban music has captured national attention in the past five years. But as of yet it is unclear what will happen to the songs created this week. Scott compared them to children whose custody and guardianship are in limbo. “We have the permission to make the babies,” he said. “What we don’t know is what will happen to them.”

Joel F. Geldermann, the millionaire real estate developer from San Ramon, Calif., who financed Music Bridges in Cuba, seemed to have some clearer ideas about what might happen to the songs after the event, however.

With a gleam in his eye, Geldermann spoke of plans to create “an educational documentary” about Music Bridges, and said plans were also being made to release “an educational soundtrack to the educational documentary.”

When asked if such a documentary might run on PBS, Geldermann shrugged and said, “You know, HBO has a quota of educational programming they have to run.” He urged a reporter to use the terms “educational documentary” and “soundtrack to educational documentary” in print. “That’s how we have to say it,” he said.

Educational Recordings May Be Only Recourse

With current laws in the U. S. and Cuba, the only way to sell recordings of the songs being made this week is to package them as “educational” in order to stay within legal limits dictating that Cubans and Americans not collaborate artistically for profit, but only for the cultural exchange of ideas.

If an “educational documentary” and “soundtrack” for said documentary get made and sell well, it is unclear who will get the publishing rights and royalties from the songs; it is clear, however, that the Cubans will not profit financially in any way.

“We can’t pay them now,” Geldermann said of the Cubans. “But we have set up the Music Bridges Foundation to collect any monies, to send to the people in the hurricanes in Central America and what not, and that’s not to say we won’t set something aside for the Cubans in case things change later on.”

Cuban and American musicians asked about the plans for the “educational documentary” and “soundtrack” seemed surprised by the news. “They didn’t tell us anything about that,” said Banos. “I don’t think they can do that without asking us, can they?”

“I haven’t heard anything like that,” Koz said. “I was under the impression we were here just to communicate through music.”

Scott said there were no plans to release such a soundtrack, and said that any filming and recording taking place was purely for “archival historical reasons.”

Cubans Are Unaware of Music Bridges Project

The coded language and misunderstandings are not limited to the American side of this event. Also in question is the seeming absence of information about Music Bridges in the Cuban media. While a few Cubans have said they heard about the event on national radio broadcasts, most say they’ve heard nothing about it.

Juan Hernandez Asen, the North American specialist with the Cuban International Press Center, said Wednesday that announcements about Music Bridges had been made on national radio and television, and said that the nation’s only newspaper, the state-run Granma, would run an article today about the concert Sunday.

“We were surprised the Americans were paying so much attention to it,” said Hernandez, referring to the more than 300 foreign journalists here covering Music Bridges. Then, demonstrating how narrow the official Cuban view of the United States continues to be, he said, “We thought Miami would have pressured you not to be here at all.”

Scott said he was disappointed by the lack of publicity given to Music Bridges in the Cuban press. “I don’t understand it,” he said. “We worked so hard to show them that we’re not about making money, that what we’re about is peaceful collaboration and communication. I thought they understood that about us. What are they afraid of?”

Sunday’s concert is supposedly open to the public, but at least one citizen who has attempted to purchase a ticket has been told this is impossible. “My friend who works at the theater told me it was invitation only, for Communist Party members,” said a mechanical engineer and rock fan who asked that his name not be used. “They’re not going to let any of us in.”

Scott, when informed of this, looked upset.

“Why are they doing this?” he asked. “We’re doing this for the musicians, but we’re also doing it for the Cuban people. Wouldn’t it be awful if they made the concert invitation only, and then just invited all of the privileged people here? That’s exactly what we’re not about.”

Back in the mint green room in Miramar, meanwhile, Andy Summers struggled with one passage, his brow knit in concentration, and made suggestions in broken Spanish about lengthening the verse.

“It’s just the introduction,” Cortes said, rolling his eyes.

Summers blushed. “The introduction? Oh. I thought it was the song. Sorry.”