In one of the halls of the multilateral organization’s headquarters, decorated and animated with samples of the art and tradition of that picturesque part of the planet, Cuban music scholar and researcher Dominique Roland gave an hour-long lecture on the Son, a popular musical-dance genre that is a candidate to become part of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

The French expert, who directs the Center for the Arts in the city of Enghien-les-Bains, shared testimonies, results of his research and film materials, accompanied by performances of the Son mío quartet and the couple of dance teachers formed by Yalily Rodríguez and Iván Martínez, who gave a special touch to the event.

Roland offered, with his characteristic passion, a journey through the roots, origin and development of Son, a centuries-old process closely linked to the identity of the Cuban people.

It is a complex of music and dance nourished by transculturation and miscegenation, a main element of the island’s identity, he stressed in the conference, in which he detailed to the large audience the contribution of African and Spanish cultures, among others, in its genesis in colonial times.

He also explained some of the instruments that mark the genre, such as the bongo, maracas, claves and tres.

The presentation at Unesco also served as a tribute to Son’s culturists who in the last 100 years have made millions dance in Cuba and the world, such as Trio Matamoros, the Aragon Orchestra, Benny Moré, Miguelito Cuní, Ignacio Piñeiro’s Septeto Nacional, Los Van Van, Adalberto Álvarez y su Son, Pancho Amat and Son 14.

The introduction of the third day of the Latin American and Caribbean Week was given by Cuba’s ambassador to UNESCO, María del Carmen Herrera.

Shortly after the Son party, the music of the Antillean nation and its mojito warmed up the atmosphere in the always quiet Unesco headquarters, where El Salvador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Venezuela also raised the temperature with their tastings of typical drinks and dishes.

abo/ro/wmr