To the migration of Caymans and Jamaicans to Cuba was dedicated in its premiere, the event Confluencias caribeñas (Caribbean Convergences), organized by the Centro de Estudios del Caribe (Centre of Caribbean Studies) de la Casa de las Américas

To the migration of Caymans and Jamaicans to Cuba was dedicated in its premiere, the event Confluencias caribeñas (Caribbean Convergences), organized by the Centro de Estudios del Caribe (Centre of Caribbean Studies) de la Casa de las Américas and, in this occasion, with the prescience of several creators who have maintained alive in our country the influences of the neighbors islands: the painter from Camaguey Rodrick Dixon Gently, the filmmaker Gloria Rolando and from Isla de la Juventud the musical group Sonny Boy y su banda.

In this first edition of Confluencias caribeñas, an event that is trying to promote and explore the rich and intense cultural patrimony among the countries in the area, the program started with the exhibition Entre mis aliados y mis cómplices (Among my allies and my accomplices) by Rodrick Dixon Gently a Jamaican descendant who lives in Camaguey and who has already more than three decades work in the plastic arts.

Dixon Gently, who also is dedicated to teaching, has received important awards as the one obtained from the Salón Internacional de Pequeño Formato (International Hall of Small Format) (1995 y 1996) and from the Salón Internacional Afro-Anglo-Caribeño (Afro – Caribbean International Hall) (1999).His work has been in 13 personal exhibitions and 40 collective exhibitions. Some of his paints are part of private exhibitions in Cuba, Jamaica, United States, Nicaragua, Spain and Italy.

Confluencias caribeñas also included a discussion with Gloria Rolando, director, screenwriter, producer and researcher who in 20 years of work has been specially interested in the popular culture and, inside it, to the African roots and other tendencies that have an influence in the Cuban culture.

In this occasion, she presented some interviews that are part of the documentary Historias de cubanos y caimaneros (Story of Cubans and Caymans), currently in production process and that will add to a filmography that has other titles, such as: Oggun: un eterno presente (Oggun: an eternal present), that revises the yoruba culture and its main singer - Lázaro Ross; Los hijos de Baraguá (The sons of Baragua), in the Caribbean immigrants communities in Cuba; El alacrán and Los marqueses de Atarés (The Scorpion and The marques of Atares), on the Havana dancing groups; Las raíces de mi corazón (The roots of my heart), on the massacre of the Independent of Colors in 1912 and Nosotros y el jazz (We and the Jazz), Jazz dancers in Havana in mid 20th Cntury.

The day ended Sonny Boy y su banda, a group of Jamaican and Cayman descendants who live in the Isla de la Juventud and who obtained the Special Price at the resent International Cubadisco Fair 2006.

A clear exponent of the culture mix that mark the Caribbean cultural identity, this band, of jazz band format add chords from the reggae, calypso, round dance and several Cuban rhythms. Its director, Sonny Arnold Dixon Robinson, was born in Nueva Gerona in 1932; his father was from Cayman Island and his mother from Jamaica. For decades he has maintained the effort for keeping alive and as pure as possible, a musical tradition that gathered the airs of the Caribbean English islands with the Cuban genre that he know from his childhood, specially the pinera version of the son called sucu-sucu, that he also has in his repertoire.

Source: Casa de las Américas