sábado, 4 de abril de 2015
“CUBA is SEEN, FELT, NEEDED as the AIR”
(Consuelo Almaguer in Radio Mambi, Santiago
of Cuba )
All
roads lead to Rome .
So, one day she took one of them and woke opposite the Coliseum. The ancient
stones trembled with her heartbeat, her deep elf; but that’s her most recent
story. A little behind…
Late
1950s. We will have to enter the look of a girl who watches the flowers of
sugarcane in the modest neighborhood near America sugar mill, in the Cuban
East. And her ears to listen, quietly, the unmistakable tone of Violeta Casals
from the Mountain Range: “Here Radio Rebelde … from the Free Territory of
Cuba”.
The
magic eye radio will be yours, her father says.
This
is the story of a woman who conquered an entire city. Santiago de Cuba misses her. Her name is CONSUELO ALMAGUER.
Fears
and audacities
“My
mother always was accompanied by that radio, my mother whom I lost so early. In
that enormous apparatus I listened to songs of the time, and I sang when daddy
took me up the table of the house. I also really liked the lady who said, “Rina
lasts longer.” I did not know that she was an eternal masterpiece of spoken
information: Consuelito Vidal.
“Since
I learned to read I liked to receive the task of reading the newspapers or
books at my grandparents´ house. I was only eighteen when a contest was made to
form announcers, and I applied for it in Radio Revolucion. I took the test with
about two hundred applicants … and I passed. The teacher Andrés Houdayer and
Rafael Fabregas gave me strength to continue. I was pregnant and was very
afraid.
Let’s
review the studios, microphones, characters of almost three decades… your story
on Radio Mambi, the most popular station in Santiago de Cuba …
“In
the seventies, I was first aired on Radio Mambi, in the program Qué tal, gente joven, when Rolando Zacarias or José Antonio Llano, beloved
professionals on the station, couldn’t do the program. I was also called to
make the musical production of Radio Siboney, although I officially signed the
contract in 1972. I physically was in Radio Mambi for 28 years but I have never
ceased to feel myself of the house.
“I
created my first program that I called Esta tarde en Mambí (This afternoon in
Mambi), a space for workers. It was the embryo of what would be since 1982, Santiago en 26, my beloved
program in the heat of the activities of the territory by the significant date
(July 26th). It was a party, a party every evening. I am transported to that
time wherever I am in this world and hear very popular songs.
“There
I formed my view of life on solidarity; I got there a family that applauded me,
scolded me, even punished me; and yet I feel that some love me. I made a direct
transmission with Radio Progreso and Eduardo Rosillo, to make known to the
whole country the most popular songs in Santiago .
Right there I aired tracks by the groups me myself had taken to the radio as
Gloria Latina, Sur Caribe, Los Guanches, the Santiaguero Septet, and many more.
Promoting the music of Santiago
was always an important goal for me, not only because it was my land, but for
all the values that we had and still have. “
But
there were also television, theater, shows…
“I
suffered much as I enjoyed. I never had proper clothing, it was lent. And then
came the fear of flights; fear of the microphone and to the lights and cameras;
fear especially to that first moment-to-air or scene. It was amazing when
someone like Germán Pinelli told me he was also nervous before each
presentation. I can not fail to mention Amado Cabezas, when Tele Rebelde
channel broadcasted the space Desde mi cuadra I worked as leading presenter,
and shared with Mileydis Ochoa and Laritza Ulloa.
“I
was fortunate to be next to great announcers, my daughter Amor Almaguer, and in
different scenarios share with Marialina Grau, Hector Fraga, Lilia Rosa López,
Pastor Felipe, Antonio Pera, Joaquín Mulen, Germán Pinelli and Enrique
Santiesteban. Also with Navarro Cuello, Guzman Cabrales, Rolando González, José
Raúl Castillo, Ramòn Capote, Angel Miguel Alea, Lorenzo Ruiz, Gerardo Houdayer,
Yamile Gonzalez, Irma Shelton, Jossy Jimenez, Ana Margarita Gil, Ibrahim Apud,
Alarcon Santana, with many, many …
“I
was host of famous Cuban and international personalities in music, cinema or
theater. Figures come to my mind right now like Santiago Álvarez, Alicia
Alonso, Juan Formel and Los Van Van, Adalberto Álvarez and Son 14, Aragón
Orchestra, Elena Burque, Fernando Alvarez, Esperancita Ibis, Eva Grin, an
entire constellation of stars. I think, actually, I’ve been very lucky. “
Why
then the radio, why so insistently, why such loyalty?
“Because
it allowed me to feel love for the unity of Santiago and Cuban family, beyond doors and
windows. It made me believe that I was their best company. And so I made my
best”.
What
holds did you have, what springs did you move to attain that excellent communication
with your listeners?
“The
spoken information is for me a goal I still pursue. You and I know there must
be very sincerity to make people believe what you transmit. I have just counted
on that. “
The
writer Lezama Lima spoke of “concurrent chance”, of those surprising twists of
life. What sensations flooded your mind when you were at Radio Rebelde, the
station you listened to as a child?
“I
not only listened to it in midst of that clandestine atmosphere, with my father
and his companions from July 26th Movement; but when I was seven or eight, I
wanted to imitate Violeta Casals. I did it lower, under the bed of my mommy and
daddy.
“On
January 21, 1998, I travelled to Havana , and
four days later, I went on air with the news to Cuba and beyond, through Radio
Rebelde. Shortly thereafter, I worked throughout the programming of this
station, as fixed voice of the Cuban National Radio News and with Franco Carbón
on the popular program Asi, on cultural leads and in broadcast journalism,
under the direction of Guillermo Piñeiro. I also did voiceover in other
programs, and in Radio Taino. This peasant is careful not to be presumptuous,
but in those years I left there a lot of brothers
“.
In
the Eternal City
(Consuelo Almaguer with
his granddaughter Angelita and daughter Love at Fontana Di Trevi)
To
this point, who is Consuelo Almaguer Leon ?
“I
am a daughter, a sister, a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who would
have liked to have more time to devote to education and orientation of my home.
I had my first child early, Amor, from whom I received a beautiful
granddaughter, Angelita, who in turn already gave me my first grandson, the
Neapolitan Cristian Salvatore. My second daughter, Arianne, gave me two
granddaughters, Dalila and Carolin, who were born in the city of Novara , northern Italy . They are true loves”.
What
is your favorite place in the Eternal
City ?
“It’s
really hard to pick a reference site, no matter if you already walked on those
cobblestones more than twenty times. Of course, I threw coins in the Trevi
Fountain, back to it as tradition dictates, me and my family. I cried in front
of the magnificence of the Capitol, or against this universal symbol the
Coliseum is, that shakes you to the core, when so much history references come
to you.
“I
love the Piazza Navona, with its elliptical form, which is on the ruins of the
Domitian Circus. There is, among so much cultural diversity, the Cervantes
Institute; our emotions are multiplied there, when suddenly, the Cuban Embassy
in Rome celebrates
the presentation of a book by a Cuban writer or poet, or when an exhibition
opens. Such is the emotion that suddenly you think you are, there, in a bit of Cuba . “
How
is Cuba seen from Rome ?
“Cuba is seen,
felt, needed as air. Under its sun there is no room for nostalgia: it is always
the large smile, which never seems strange to you, because it is your people.
I’m in Italy
since 2009, and when an Italian or Italians know I’m Cuban, almost always ask
me lots of questions; but mostly I see they watch me with interest. And those
who have never been to Cuba ,
just want to know it.
“Here,
at home or in the computer, I am always with Radio Mambo, which broadcasts
Latin American music, especially Cuban salsa –as it is called here. Restaurants
and Cuban associations, where you eat and dance, are widely publicized in Italy . You
would not believe how many people want that little giant that my island is. “
“When
my husband is in Cuba , he
says he feels like if he was in Rome .
The Roman has an open personality, quite similar to the Cuban. If you go to the
bar for a coffee and do not greet, they do it and even discuss the day’s news
or anything else with you. They are extroverts. Even the sun is like that of Cuba . There are
places when suddenly I react as if in Havana
or in any Cuban city. And when I go through some narrow streets, with ups and
downs, resemblance with Santiago
appears before my loving eyes “.
If
you could make a wish right now … what would it be?
“I
would like being with my listeners, at least in a transmission for the 500th
anniversary of our town of Santiago de
Cuba . I am a daughter of that city, because although I
was not born into it properly; I never abandon the breast that took me as a
daughter. Knowing that, somehow, my modest work has remained in the memory of
my listeners, is one of my greatest joys.
What
do you miss the most about Cuba ?
“CUBA”.
♣ VERSION IN SPANISH. VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL :
ITALIAN:
“Cuba si vede, si sente,
si necessita come l’aria”
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