Dia de San Lazaro - Sancti Spiritus

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

On December 16, I was in Sancti Spiritus, relaxing, planning and showing my wife Susie where I’ve been hanging out for the past three years. I’ve got a lot of great friends there, including our buddy Sam. Sam knows a lot about the layers of humanity all around him. Cuba is a remarkable society, a blending and mixture of so many times and places. One of the most facinating things about Cuba is the remaining influence of the old African religions that came with the slave trade.

One of those religions is called Yoruba. Before they were arrived in Cuba, some African groups practiced a religion centred around the Babaoa tree. They made the harsh crossing to the Caribbean, and discovered another tree, the Selva. The Selva tree was similar in size, shape and texture, and so it became the centre of the new Afro-Carribean religion.

Slave men were not allowed to congregate. To allow that would be to allow the possibility of rebellion. The plantation owners ignored the women as unimportant, and in failing to recognize the transfer of the religious priesthood from the men to the women, they ensured that the African soul would never be erased and defeated from Cuba.

The Dia de San Lazaro is the high holy holiday for the Yorbua religion.

I sent my first video camera to Cuba so my friend William could work with it to document the punk scene in Sancti Spiritus. This is some of the first work that he has completed, and it makes me feel pretty good to see a collaboration like this work out. This is a video for Sancti Spiritus’ oldest running punk band Limalla.

Suenos Rotos

SOLIDARITYROCK.COM

Gatillo loves punk rock and camping. Sancti Spiritus, Cuba’s outdoor enthusiasts will blow yer mind and drink your questionable home brew.

This is an interview I did with my friend William Garcia. I have worked with William on Solidarity Rock for two years now. This was shot in July 2009, before the SLATES tour and right after the first bits of gear were delivered.

This is an interview I did as part of the SLATES Solidairty Rock tour. This is SLATES talking about the realities of Rock N Roll in Cuba from their own experience.

Dia de San Lazaro - Sancti Spiritus

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

On December 16, I was in Sancti Spiritus, relaxing, planning and showing my wife Susie where I’ve been hanging out for the past three years. I’ve got a lot of great friends there, including our buddy Sam. Sam knows a lot about the layers of humanity all around him. Cuba is a remarkable society, a blending and mixture of so many times and places. One of the most facinating things about Cuba is the remaining influence of the old African religions that came with the slave trade.

One of those religions is called Yoruba. Before they were arrived in Cuba, some African groups practiced a religion centred around the Babaoa tree. They made the harsh crossing to the Caribbean, and discovered another tree, the Selva. The Selva tree was similar in size, shape and texture, and so it became the centre of the new Afro-Carribean religion.

Slave men were not allowed to congregate. To allow that would be to allow the possibility of rebellion. The plantation owners ignored the women as unimportant, and in failing to recognize the transfer of the religious priesthood from the men to the women, they ensured that the African soul would never be erased and defeated from Cuba.

The Dia de San Lazaro is the high holy holiday for the Yorbua religion.

I sent my first video camera to Cuba so my friend William could work with it to document the punk scene in Sancti Spiritus. This is some of the first work that he has completed, and it makes me feel pretty good to see a collaboration like this work out. This is a video for Sancti Spiritus’ oldest running punk band Limalla.

Suenos Rotos

SOLIDARITYROCK.COM

Gatillo loves punk rock and camping. Sancti Spiritus, Cuba’s outdoor enthusiasts will blow yer mind and drink your questionable home brew.

This is an interview I did with my friend William Garcia. I have worked with William on Solidarity Rock for two years now. This was shot in July 2009, before the SLATES tour and right after the first bits of gear were delivered.

This is an interview I did as part of the SLATES Solidairty Rock tour. This is SLATES talking about the realities of Rock N Roll in Cuba from their own experience.