HAMILTONS ABROAD & AT HOME: CUBA Part II: December 2011

International Havana Jazz Festival

We were very excited to arrive back in Cuba, this time to enjoy the famous jazz festival and to learn more about the Methodist Church in Cuba.

So, first, the Jazz Festival: The dates were December 15-18, 2011. There was a lot of excitement in the city and large crowds at the performances. Late afternoon and evening concerts were held in a couple of different theatre venus, then jazz groups continued to perform over the city until “all hours.” We attended the evening programs at the Teatro Mella (Mella Theatre). These concerts featured a number of jazz groups each evening. Musicians and groups were from Cuba, of course, but also from other countries, including Europe, Asia and the U.S. The event featured world class jazz, and this year the theme featured jazz in relation to classical music. The final concert at the Mella Theatre featured a 40 piece Afro-Cuban jazz orchestra, and the last performance that evening was a magnificent presentation of “Rhapsody In Blue.” Maestro Frank Fernandez was featured as the pianist.

Following the evening concerts in the theatre, we attended ongoing jazz music at our hotel each evening. These presentations were an official part of the festival.

The quality of the music was outstanding. It was a thrill to be there and to share in the festival and to hear and see amazingly high quality musicians perform. I (Don) was able to video the music that we heard, and the recordings turned out quite well. There is also some music from the festival on UTube.

We have a few pictures in addition to the video (which I cannot seem to add to the blog).

The official International Havana Jazz Festival 2011 poster

Crowds on Havana walking streets, including people who were in Havana

for the Jazz Festival

Our friend, Alan Schuyler from Roberts, Montana was with us in Havana in December.

At this point we were relaxing on an afternoon and, of course, listening to some live music.

Don & Nancy enjoying the afternoon in Havana

Evening jazz performance

Pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and his combo performing at the Mella Theatre.

Standing ovation and long applause for the conductor, the featured

pianist, and the orchestra at the conclusion of the "Rhapsody In Blue" at the end of

the final concert of the 2011 Havana Jazz Festival

Chuco Valdez, famous Cuban pianist and chair of the festival organizing committee.

Valdes is Cuban, but he lives in the U.S. most of the time.

Colorful jazz festival poster

Sweet sounds of the trumpet....

Roberto Fonseca and his fantastic Cuban jazz combo

Jazz music - and crowds of people to listen

Another festival poster

Methodist Church in Cuba

Proclamando las maravillas que Dios esta haciendo en la Isla...

Proclaiming the wonders that God is doing in the Island.

This sign or similar signs, can be seen in various places around the country. At this point over 90% of the municipalities in Cuba have a Methodist church or a Mission Community that includes preaching and other activities. The Mission Communities are started with the intention that they will transition into an organized Methodist Church. Though there were tough times during the early years of the communist era, free religious participation is now much easier. Thus, a lot of people are taking advantage of this opportunity to join, or at least attend, a Christian Church. The Catholic Church is still the largest denomination, but the Methodist Church has been growing at the rate of about 10% a year for more than a decade. Over 60% of the new members are under the age of 35!

The Methodist Church in Cuba was born in the 19^th century, the result of the work of Methodist missionaries, mostly from Florida. Though the Cuban church is now autonomous, i.e., independent, it remains closely related to the United Methodist Church in the U.S. and elsewhere. Many United Methodist churches in Florida have a sister church relationship with a Cuban Methodist church. It is now easier for the church people in Florida to have regular contact with Methodists in Cuba as well as offer support in a variety of ways. Groups of 15 to 20 persons frequently travel to Cuba to meet with pastors and lay people, to attend district meetings and other special gatherings. Sometimes a group goes as a Volunteer in Mission group to help with a needed project in Cuba.

Since there is not much in the news about this sort of subject, we want to give at least a bird’s eye view of this dynamic and positive, indeed exciting, “happening” in Cuba today. On our visit to Cuba last December we had the opportunity to visit one of the many Methodist churches located in Havana. We attended the University Methodist Church that is near the university in Havana. This church has a membership of about 2,000 (and is not the largest Methodist church in Havana) plus participating constituents. The church sanctuary was completely full for the worship service when we attended. Plus, their fellowship hall in the basement was full as well – with a large video screen enabling those people to share in what was happening. Seats were reserved for us and for Don’s brother, Ray, and our friend, Alan. The pastor had also arranged for a lay person, Rudolfo, to sit with us and translate parts of the service. We were surprised that a United Methodist pastor from Angola was also visiting. He, and our group, were introduced and given the opportunity to speak briefly. We later learned that the Cuban Methodist Church has a small number of missionaries serving in Angola.

The worship service included a lot of music. They had a Cuban style band that played, and the people sang, and danced, and smiled with joy. The music was certainly Christian in content, yet it maintained the musical spirit of rhythm and movement that we encountered all over Cuba. The service included a sermon, of course, and some moments in which the pastor recognized and individually blessed persons recovering from surgery or other illness or who were facing surgery. It wasn’t over dramatized but, rather, was supportive. The minister read a remark that was made by the Cuban bishop in a talk in the U.S.. He said that the people come to church to worship, that it is a vital time of the week when there is a strong sense of community and belonging. He said that the people will stay for 3 or 4 hours without hesitation – week after week. The service that we attended was 4 hours long.

Here are a few pictures: