VIDEO JOURNAL

Watch the five videos Cachao, Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos, Americas in Transition, ¡Cuba Va! Hecho en Cuba, and Buscando a Chano Pozo, and keep notes on some of the more subtle issues that come up, or that occur to you while you're watching these documentaries. Then write down three questions about each video that you think are interesting or perplexing.

Cachao, Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos pays tribute to numerous Cuban legends that we've mentioned. Do you recognize them?

Americas in Transition will probably upset you. But it is not productive simply to be smug about how horrible the US is!
Think deeper, these issues are more complex.

¡Cuba Va! will probably confuse you. There are so many opinions, so many possibilities. Watch carefully, this moves quickly.

Hecho en Cuba is a cultural tour of Cuba, looking at 18 Cuban artists from throughout the island.

Buscando a Chano Pozo is a documentary film produced by ICAIC (Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos), Cuba's prolific National Film Institute, for a Cuban audience. It is in Spanish without subtitles, but you can still get a lot out of this film by watching carefully. Chano Pozo was the famed drummer (from the Abakuá cult in Cuba) who moved to New York in the 1940's and transformed Dizzy Gillepie's band. Note the drummer (conga player) interviewed at the bar is none other than Tata Guines, the legendary congero who played on Cachao's Descargas Cubanas album from the 1950's that really set the tone for all conga players since then.