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Finding Aids to Collections Organized by Topic in the Archive of Folk Culture
CUBAN AND CUBAN AMERICAN COLLECTIONS
IN THE ARCHIVE OF FOLK
CULTURE
Acquired through 1995
Compiled by: Sarah L. Bryan and Kenneth G. Schweitzer Series
Editors: Judith Gray and Ann Hoog
Publication Date: August 2000 Series Number: LCFAFA
No. 25
ISSN 0736-4903
For additional information about Archive
of Folk Culture collections, contact the Folklife
Reading Room. To request copies, see our webpages regarding audio
materials and photographic materials.
Please refer to the AFC and/or AFS numbers when requesting information.
All indications of time duration listed in this finding aid are estimates.
Sound Recordings and Multiformat Collections
AFS 2735-3153: Four hundred nineteen 12-inch discs of instrumentals,
monologs, prayers, sermons, songs, and stories recorded in Alabama, Florida,
Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and
Virginia, by Herbert Halpert, March 15-June 23, 1939, for the Folk Arts
Committee of the WPA and the Library of Congress. The collection includes
one and one-fourth linear inches of articles, contact sheets, correspondence,
descriptions, interviews, lists, photographs, reports, and song texts.
AFS 3145-3146: Two discs containing performances by "members of
a visiting Cuban vaudeville group." Instruments include drums and traps,
gourds, and piano. Explanations and translations are provided for each
song. Recorded at the Cuban Club in Tampa, Florida, June 21, 1939. (Twenty-three
minutes; tape copy on LWO 4872 reel 209)
AFS 3145A: An introduction to the group and its repertoire by
manager Gilberto Delfino (translated by pianist Art Peller), followed
by a song sung by Estela Echezabal accompanied by drum and piano. (Four
and a half minutes)
AFS 3145B: "Guabina," sung with drums and traps, gourds, and
piano, by blackface comedian Carlos Pous. (Four and a half minutes)
AFS 3146A: "Mercé" sung with drums, gourds, and piano
by Adela Martínez. (Four minutes)
AFS 3146B1-2: "Nena" sung with piano by Ramón Bermudez
and Gilberto Delfino. (Three and a half minutes)
AFS 3146B3: Five Cuban drum rhythms performed by Ramón
Bermudez: bembé, conga, maní, rumba, and son. (One
minute)
AFS 3378-3395: Eighteen 12-inch discs of imitations, instrumentals,
riddles, songs, and tales of African American, Arabic, Bahamian, British
American, Cuban, Greek, Italian, Minorcan, Seminole, and Slavic cultures
throughout Florida. Recorded in Key West, Riviera, and Ybor City, Florida,
by Robert Cook and Stetson Kennedy, January 15-31, 1940, for the Florida
Music and Writers Projects of the Works Projects Administration (WPA). The
collection includes one-half linear inch of descriptions, lists, and song
texts. This collection is available online as part of the Library of Congress's
American Memory online presentations of the National Digital Library Program,
entitled Florida
Folklife from the WPA Collections 1937-1941.
AFS 3381A3; 3381A5-3383: Three discs containing ten imitations,
instrumentals, and songs performed by Cubans. Recorded in Key West,
January 18, 1940. (Twenty-seven minutes; tape copy on LWO 4872 reels
222B-223)
AFS 3381A3: "Papá, Mamá y el Niño" (Father,
Mother and the Child), sung by Rachelita Sánchez. (Two minutes)
AFS 3381A5: "Coocoo Bobo," an imitation of a train, performed
by Enrique Rodriguez. (One minute and a half)
AFS 3381A6: "Stars and Stripes Forever" (fragment), played on
a bazooka, an instrument made and played by Enrique Rodriquez. (Twenty
seconds)
AFS 3381B1: "Una Tarde en Mayo" (One Evening in May), sung by
Felipe Valdez, with guitar by Milton Esquinaldo. (Three and a half minutes)
AFS 3381B2-3382A2: "La Cucaracha" (The Cockroach), sung by Felipe
Valdez, with guitar by Milton Esquinaldo. (Five minutes)
AFS 3382B1: "El Caballo de Palo" (Wooden Horse), sung with bass,
viol, bongo, claves, and two guitars, by the Sexteto Encanto. (Three
and a half minutes)
AFS 3382B2: "El Sacrificio" (The Sacrifice), performed by the
Sexteto Encanto. (One minute and ten seconds)
AFS 3383A-B1: "El Sacrificio," performed by the Sexteto Encanto. (Three
minutes)
AFS 3383B2: Puntos guajiros, performed by the Sexteto
Encanto. (Three minutes)
AFS 3385A: One disc containing four songs sung by a class of
Cuban school children, and one song sung by Benildes Remond Isern, a
Cuban school teacher employed by the Cuban government. Recorded at San
Carlos Institute, Key West, Florida, January 22, 1940. (Five minutes;
tape copy on LWO 4872 reel 223)
AFS 3385A1: "El Ratón y el Gato" (The Mouse and the Cat),
sung by schoolchildren. (One minute and a half)
AFS 3385A2: "El Columpio" (The Swing), sung by Benildes Remond
Isern. (One minute)
AFS 3385A3: "Bayameses" or "Himno Nacional Cubano" (The Cuban
National Anthem), sung by schoolchildren. (Forty seconds)
AFS 3385A4: Duérmete mi Niéo" (Go to Sleep my
Child), a lullaby, sung by Alba Rodriguez. (Twenty seconds)
AFS 3385A5: "El Patio de mi casa" (The Patio of My House), sung
by schoolchildren while skipping rope. (Forty seconds)
AFS 3521-3536: Sixteen 12-inch discs of conversations, games,
interviews, riddles, songs, and stories recorded in Cross City, Tampa,
and Ybor City, Florida, by Robert Cook and Stetson Kennedy, August, 1940,
for the Florida Music and Writers Projects of the WPA. The collection
includes three-eighths linear inches of correspondence, explanations, song
texts, and translations. This collection is available online as part of
the Library of Congress's American Memory online presentations of the National
Digital Library Program,
entitled Florida
Folklife from the WPA Collections 1937-1941.
AFS 3530-3531B1: Two discs containing one birthday party and
seven games, songs, and stories, with explanations. Recorded in Tampa
and Ybor City, August 24, 1939. (Forty-six minutes; tape copy on LWO
4872 reel 229B)
AFS 3530A1: "Amamabrocha To," a children's singing game, sung
by Evelia and Ziomara Andux. (Four and a half minutes)
AFS 3530A2: Two renditions of "Miss Martínez Cockroach
and Mr. Pérez Mouse, first told by Evelio Andux, and then spoken
and sung by Evelia Andux. (Six and a half minutes)
AFS 3530B1: "Canto Jaujiro," a Cuban farming song, sung by Evelio
Andux. (Three minutes)
AFS 3530B2: ["La canión de pandería"], a song
that Evelio Andux used to sing when he worked in a bakery at Key West. (Two
minutes)
AFS 3530B3: A Cuban lullaby sung by Evelio Andux and Martín
Noriega. (Two minutes and twenty seconds)
AFS 3530B4: A love serenade sung by Evelio Andux. (Two minutes)
AFS 3530B5-3531B1: A recording of a birthday party. Esther
Andux, Evelio Andux, Martín Noriega, and Adelpha [?] Pollato are conversing,
joking, and singing. (Twenty-one minutes)
AFS 3531B2-3532: Two discs containing seven games and stories. Recorded
August 25, 1939. (Thirty-four minutes; tape copy on LWO 4872 reels 229B-230A)
AFS 3531B2-3: "The Devil and Ribbons" and "The Melon Game," explained
and played by Evelia, Orbito, and Ziomara Andux. (Five and a half minutes)
AFS 3532A1-B1: "The Story of Juan José, a Working Man,
and his Beautiful Wife," told by Martín Noriega, with explanations
by Ziomara Andux. (Five and a half minutes)
AFS 3532B2: A bawdy story about a woman in confession, told
by Martín Noriega, with explanations by Evelio Andux. (Two and
a half minutes)
AFS 3532B3-B5: A bawdy story ("San Blas"), an anecdote about
a man from Ybor City, and a fragment of another joke told by Martín
Noriega. (Five minutes)
AFS 3533: One disc containing eight rhymes, songs, and stories. Recorded
August 23, 1939. (Twenty-two minutes; tape copy on LWO 4872 reel 230A)
AFS 3533A1: Teasing game told by Zenaida Beuron and Victoria
Váldez. (Two minutes)
AFS 3533A2: "Duérmete mi Niño" (Go to Sleep, my
Baby), a lullaby sung by Zenaida Beuron. (One minute and a half)
AFS 3533A3: "La Buena Pipa" (The Good Pipe), a teasing story
told by Evelio and Ziomara Andux. (One minute)
AFS 3533A4: "La mata de higo" (The Fig Tree), a story about
a wicked stepmother who buries her stepdaughter beneath a fig tree, told
and sung by Ziomara Andux. (Five and a half minutes)
AFS 3533B1: "La Persima en el Cemetario" (The Persimmon Tree
in the Cemetery), a story told by Tony López. (Two and a half
minutes)
AFS 3533B2: Ghost story about a woman who fed her husband a
human leg which she dug up from a cemetery, told by Evelia Andux. (Three
and a half minutes)
AFS 3533B3: "Cachumbambé," a song sung while see-sawing,
by Evelia Andux, Ziomara Andux, Isabel García, and Tony López. (One
minute and twenty seconds)
AFS 3533B4: A counting-out rhyme recited by Dolores Noriega. (Two
minutes)
AFS 3534-3535A: Two discs containing ten riddles, songs, and
stories. Recorded August 26, 1939. (Thirty-three minutes; tape copy
on LWO 4872 reel 230)
AFS 3534A1: "Papá Sigallo," a children's story told by
Edith Kennedy (Stetson Kennedy's wife, a Cuban American). (Two minutes)
AFS 3534A2-4: Two riddles told by Edith Kennedy and one riddle
told by Evelia Andux. (Two minutes)
AFS 3534A5-3535A1: An anecdote about a bootblack who becomes
a bullfighter, and "Antonio the Woodcutter," told by Martín Noriega. (Sixteen
minutes)
AFS 3535A2: A love song learned in Key West and sung by Evelio
Andux. (Three and a half minutes)
AFS 3535A3-A5: "Se Encuentran dos Carreteros" (Two Carters Meet),
and "Trinaban los Ruiseñores" (The Nightingales Were Singing),
sung by Martín Noriega. (Five minutes)
AFS 3536: One disc containing eight songs and stories. Recorded
August 27, 1939. (Fourteen minutes; tape copy on LWO 4872 reel 230B)
AFS 3536A1: "Calinga," sung by Adelpha Pollato. (Three minutes)
AFS 3536A2: "La Cucaracha" (The Cockroach), sung with claves and maracas by
Edith Kennedy, Adelpha Pollato, and Amado Valdez. (Three minutes)
AFS 3536A3-A4: "Señora Santana" and "Para Subir al Cielo" (To
Ascend the Skies), sung by Adelpha Pollato. (Two minutes)
AFS 3536A5: "Chiquitín," explained and sung by Amado
Valdez. (One and a half minutes)
AFS 3536A6: Two renditions of "Tranquitró," a taunting
song about a resident of Ybor City who had a peculiar gait, first sung
by Amado Valdez and then sung by Adelpha Pollato. (Two minutes)
AFS 3536B: "Donde vas Alfonso Doce?" (Where Goest, Alfonso Twelfth?),
an old Spanish ballad, sung by Adelpha Pollato and Amado Valdez. (Two
and a half minutes)
AFS 8562-8567: Six 12-inch discs of drum rhythms of five Afro-Cuban
popular dances (columbia, comparsa, conga, guaguancó, and lucumí)
and one example of combined rhythms played by an ensemble of five musicians. Recorded
possibly in Havana, Cuba, by Katharine Beardmore, ca. 1947-48. The collection
includes eight pages of correspondence, descriptions, and lists. (Twenty-two
minutes; tape copy on LWO 5111 reels 121B-122A)
AFS 9076-9098: Twenty-three 12-inch discs of instrumentals and
songs recorded in New York City by Charles Hofmann, May 30-October 28,
1947, for the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library. The
collection includes forty-two pages of correspondence, lists, notes, reports,
and song texts. The following are performed and spoken by Carlos Toledo,
originally of Cuba.
AFS 9076-9077: Two discs containing eleven cradle and other
songs. Recorded October 28, 1947. (Sixteen minutes; tape copy on LWO
5111 reel 180B)
AFS 9084: One disc containing "Canción de la Vida Profunda" and
a narration. Recorded June 10, 1947. (Five minutes; tape copy on LWO
5111 reel 181A)
AFS 9085: One disc containing examples and explanations of castanet
rhythms as used in Spanish dancing. Recorded June 10, 1947. (Ten minutes;
tape copy on LWO 5111 reel 181A)
AFS 9907-9909: Three 16-inch discs of Cuban and Venezuelan instrumentals
and songs recorded by Juan Liscano before 1950. The collection includes
eight pages of descriptions and lists. The Cuban examples consist of claves,
drums, male chorus, rhythm stick, and solo male vocalist.
AFS 9907A3-B1: One disc containing two rumbas. (Seven minutes;
tape copy on LWO 5111 reel 278B)
AFS 9908B1-B2: One disc containing two Afro-Cuban religious
songs. (Seven minutes; tape copy on LWO 5111 reel 278B)
AFS 9909A1-A2, B2: One disc containing three rumbas. (Eleven
minutes; tape copy on LWO 5111 reel 279A)
AFS 11,589-11,602: Fourteen 12-inch discs entitled "Música
de los cultos Africanos en Cuba" (Music of the African cults in Cuba),
featuring instrumentals, prayers, salutes, and songs recorded in Agramonte,
Jovellanos, Pedro Betancourt, and Perico, Matanzas Province, Cuba, by Josefina
Tarafa, ca. 1955. Though the majority of these recordings are of the Lucumí cult,
the collection also includes liturgical songs of the Arará and several
Congo cults. The collection includes an article by Lydia Cabrera and one-half
linear inch of descriptions and lists. Unless stated otherwise all songs
are accompanied by a combination of drums, metallic idiophones, and shakers. (2E6KP
2469-2767 Musica de los cultos africanos en cuba)
AFS 11,589-11,591A: Three discs containing songs, prayers, and
instrumentals, mostly in praise of orishas, (gods and saints of
the pantheon worshiped by African faiths in the New World). Performers
include Miguel Santa Cruz, Gustavo Díaz, Marcos Portillo Domínguez,
Juan González, Domingo Hernández, Fernando Hernández,
Cándido Martínez, and Inés Sotomayor. (Two hours)
AFS 11,591B-11,592A: Two discs containing twenty-six songs sung
by Fernando Hernández, Inés Sotomayor, and group. The
first seventeen are led by Sotomayor, the remaining by Hernández. (Forty-eight
minutes)
AFS 11,592B: One disc containing twenty instrumentals (oro
de tambores) in praise of orishas, performed on batá by
Miguel Santa Cruz, Gustavo Díaz, and Juan González. (Thirty-one
minutes)
AFS 11,593: One disc containing twenty-four songs (oro)
in praise of orishas, sung by Antonio Alberiche and Cándido
Martínez with batá by Miguel Santa Cruz, Gustavo
Díaz, and Juan González. (Fifty-nine minutes)
AFS 11,594: One disc containing twenty songs used at funerals
performed by Augustín Diago, Florinda Pastor, and group. The
first twelve are described as Cantos de Palo Gangá Ñongobá,
and the remaining as Cantos de Palo, Congo Musunde y Ganga. (Forty-two
minutes)
AFS 11,595A: One disc containing six songs sung by Silvino Baró,
Martín Catalá, Sergio Rodríguez, and Rodolfo Viart. (Thirty-one
minutes)
AFS 11,595B: One disc containing seven Congo songs (mayimbi,
toque de palo) performed by Silvino Baró, Martín
Catalá, Sergio Rodríguez, and Rodolfo Viart. (Thirty-two
minutes)
AFS 11,596A: One disc containing twelve Lucumí songs
in praise of orishas, performed by the same musicians as AFS 11,595. (Thirty-one
minutes)
AFS 11,596B: One disc containing nine arará songs
performed by the same musicians as AFS 11,595. (Thirty minutes)
AFS 11,597A: One disc containing nine instrumentals, prayers,
and songs, performed by Petronila Hernández, Antonia Alberiche,
and Domingo Hernández. (Twenty-four minutes)
AFS 11,597B: Seven instrumentals performed on drums by Domingo
Hernández, Domingo Hernández Jr., Marcelo Carreras, and Ángel
Rolando. (Eighteen minutes)
AFS 11,598-11,599A: Two discs containing twenty-eight songs
accompanied with drums by Alberto Yenkins (Yin) and group. (Sixty-eight
minutes)
AFS 11,599-11,600: Two discs containing thirty funeral songs
(itutu) performed by Fernando Hernández and group. (Sixty-two
minutes)
AFS 11,601: One disc containing twenty songs in praise of orishas. (Forty
minutes)
AFS 11,602: One disc containing thirty-six congo songs (cantos
congos y gangas) performed by Florinda Diago and his family. These
are songs that would be sung at a wake or vigil "para llorar y despedir
a los muertos" (to mourn and say goodbye to the dead). (Forty-eight
minutes)
AFS 16,278-16,335: Fifty-eight 10-inch discs of instrumentals,
songs and stories recorded in the Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti,
Jamaica, and Martinique, by Laura Boulton, 1938. The collection includes
three-quarters of a linear inch of correspondence, description, and lists. This
is Part 10 of the Laura Boulton Collection.
AFS 16,329-16,335: Seven discs, including songs sung by Gibo Gerompe,
recorded in Cuba. (Eighteen minutes; tape copy on LWO 7551 reel 36A)
AFS 20,524-20,867: See AFC 1981/004
AFS 22,185: One cassette of interviews, narrations, songs, and
stories, including examples of Afro-Cuban, Bosnian, Thai, and Turkish music,
recorded at various locations by Karl Signell, February-April, 1981, and
assembled as a preview of the "Music in a New World" series for National
Public Radio. The collection includes twenty pages of correspondence and
descriptions.
AFS 22,185A1: One cassette containing an excerpt of a rumba presented
simultaneously with an interview. (Two minutes; RYA 2526)
AFS 23,019-23,155: Two 5-inch tapes, eighteen 7-inch tapes, and
one hundred seventeen cassettes containing various ethnic radio broadcasts,
recorded throughout the United States by Elena Bradunas, Theodore Grame,
and Alan Jabbour, 1977-78, project sponsored by the American Folklife Center. The
collection includes Grame's Ethnic Broadcasting in the United States and
nine and one-half linear inches of correspondence, manuscript material,
and tape logs.
AFS 23,061-23,062: Two tapes containing pop music and news, broadcast
by Angel Martín on WCMQ 1220 AM and on WCMQ 92.1 FM. Recorded in
Miami, Florida, by T.C. Grame, July 12, 1978. (Three hours; RYA 2920-2921)
AFC 1981/004: Ninety-nine 7-inch tapes, two hundred forty-five
audiocassettes, nine linear inches of black-and-white photographs, five
and one-fourth linear feet of slides, and two videotapes from the Chicago
Ethnic Arts Project Collection, a field survey of ethnic artistic expression
including community gatherings, crafts, dance, education, foodways, music,
and religious celebrations. Recorded in the Chicago, Illinois area by
various collectors under the direction of Elena Bradunas, February-November,
1977. Co-sponsored by the American Folklife Center and the Illinois Arts
Council. The collection includes a 561-page report on the project published
by the American Folklife Center in January 1978.
AFS 20,762-20,763: Two cassettes containing an interview with
Efrén del Castillo, a Cuban affiliated with the theater group "Círculo
Teatral de Chicago." Recorded by Phillip George in Chicago, July 1,
1977. (One hour and eight minutes; RYA 0773-0774)
B71987 #1-9: Nine black-and-white images of the garden of Mr.
and Mrs. Leval, a retired Cuban couple. Photographed by Jonas Dovydenas,
August 22, 1977.
176-Ch77: Sixteen color slides of the garden of Mr. and Mrs.
Leval, a retired Cuban couple. Photographed by Jonas Dovydenas, August
22, 1977.
AFC 1981/006: Eleven 10-inch tapes, one hundred ninety-four black-and-white
prints and negatives, and one hundred twenty color slides of performances
from the 1981 Neptune Plaza Concert Series sponsored by the American Folklife
Center and featuring the presentation of folk traditions from many cultures. Recorded
at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, May-October 1981. The following
lists materials from the July 2nd concert of Kubatá, an Afro-Cuban
music and dance ensemble from Washington, DC
RWA 0912: One tape containing the concert by Kubatá.
(Two hours)
Folder 6: Eight pages of concert notes, definitions of rumba,
internal correspondence, identifications of people in photographs, and
press releases.
Folder 7: Fifteen black-and-white images photographed by John
T. Gibbs.
Envelope 6: Fifteen black-and-white images photographed by John
T. Gibbs.
Envelope 7: Eighteen color slides photographed by John T. Gibbs.
AFC 1990/012: Twelve 10-inch and three 7-inch tapes, one hundred
eighty-two black-and-white prints and negatives, one color print, ninety-two
color slides, and two videocassettes of performances from the 1981 Neptune
Plaza Concert Series sponsored by the American Folklife Center and featuring
the presentation of folk traditions from many cultures. Recorded at the
Library of Congress in Washington, DC, April-September 1990. The following
lists materials from the September 20th concert of Otonowa an
Afro-Cuban group from Washington, DC
SR16-17: Two tapes containing the concert. (Two hours)
Folder 20: Eighteen pages of concert logs, a concert flier autographed
by the performers, unsigned concert fliers, descriptions and diagrams
of instruments, descriptions of Otonowa's music, maps of Africa and the
Caribbean, news clippings, press releases.
Folders 21-22: Seventy-one black-and-white images photographed
by David Taylor, and two black-and-white prints and one color print by
an unknown photographer.
Envelope 4: Sixty-eight black-and-white images photographed
by David A. Taylor.
Envelopes 5-7: Fifty-four color slides photographed by David
A. Taylor.
V2: One videocassettes of concert excerpts filmed by Terrence
Lisbeth.
AFC 1994/001: Four 10-inch and three DAT tapes, one diskette,
two hundred two black and white prints and negatives, ten contact sheets,
five color prints, one hundred twenty-four color slides, and five videocassettes
of the 1994 Neptune Plaza Concert Series sponsored by the American Folklife
Center and featuring the presentation of folk traditions from many cultures. Recorded
at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, May-October 1981. The following
lists materials from the September 15 concert of Cachao and his Latin All
Stars (Cuban mambo) from Florida, New York, and Puerto Rico.
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