Carlos Aldama's Life in Batá: Cuba, Diaspora, and the Drum

3. Batá in the Revolution

65 * Umi * In 1959, Cuba began to reinvent itself under the direction of Fidel Castro ’s revolutionary socialist government. Historically in Cuba, poor people–especially Afro-Cubans–were marginalized. Now after centuries of colonial and neocolonial rule, poor people and blacks gained access to the delights of the nation. The debate has raged since Cuba’s first independence struggle (from 1868 to 1878) about whether blacks are mere beneficiaries of white benevolence who should be thankful for their freedom, independence, education, opportunities, and so on, or co-authors/owners of all of Cuba’s revolutionary history–as soldiers, thinkers,andperhapsthetruestcarriersofthespiritoffreedominCuba. Carlos’s grandfather was a mambí (rebel soldier in the Cuban War of Independence , 1895 to 1898) and his father was a founding member of the CubanStateSecurityaftertherevolutionof1959.Despitesomeimprovement in conditions for black Cubans, the denigration and repression of Afro-Cuban religions has persisted even under the new Castro regime. The revolution has passed through several moments, each with its own consequences for Santería and batá. During the earliest revolutionary period at the beginning of the 1960s, religion was largely left alone. Afro-Cuban folkloric music was actually promoted (including batá and other drumming styles with ties to religion). This was the period that saw the creation of the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional, of which Carlos was a founding member. The increasingtensionbetweenCubaandtheUnitedStatesthatculminatedin Batá in the Revolution 3 Carlos Aldama’s Life in Batá Umi 66 theBayofPigsinvasion(whichCarlosdescribesfromhisperspective),as well as ideological shifts within the revolutionary leadership, altered the regime’spositiononreligion.Religiousgroupsweresuspectedofharboring anti-revolutionary agitators or cultivating worldviews and behaviors among the people that were incompatible with the new revolutionary culture. Conflicts with Christians surfaced quickly, in part because of the close ties between Catholicism and the social elite. This group was seen as a direct political threat. Tensions with Afro-Cuban groups surfaced somewhat later, stemming from long-standing prejudices in middle -class Cuban society against African-derived culture and aggravated byMarxistphilosophy.1TherevolutionarygovernmentconsideredAfroCuban religions to be obstacles to constructing a modern, technically oriented socialist society. They were remnants from the past that had to be removed. Although all Cuban governments from the nineteenth centuryonhaveconsistentlysuppressedAfro-Cubanreligiouspractices, the most organized and articulated policy of repression came from the early revolutionary government itself.2 As of the mid-1960s, officials required celebrants to apply for a permit in order to hold a toque de santo, as had been the case during the pre-revolutionaryperiod.Applicationsinvolvedsubmittingformsthirty days in advance with lists of all participants, information on how much money would be charged by the drummers, a photo of the person, if any, “making their saint,” and an explanation of why they wanted to do so.3 Carlos mentions how the state confiscated the animals that he had bought for use in his Santería initiation ceremony in 1971. Singer Merceditas Valdés, who worked closely with Ortiz performing alongside JesúsPérezandCarlosAldamainthe1950s,andwhohadbuilthercareer performing the music of Santería, found herself unable to perform this repertoire publicly for decades because authorities maintained strict limits on the quantity of religious music on the radio and television. In the book Afro-Cuban Voices, a batá drummer named Juan Benkomo from Havana recalls that “If you were religious, you couldn’t be in the [Communist] party . . . [and] to be singled out as religious was to be socially ostracized.”4 Batá drummer Felipe García Villamil refused to join the party because he knew that his religious practices were contrary to revolutionarydoctrine.5ThehostilityCarlosseesinfellowpractitioners’ Batá in the Revolution Umi 67 eyes when he unwittingly enters a ceremony with his government-issue militaryuniformonreflectsthetensionbetweenthereligiouscommunities and the revolutionary authorities. In Cuba, arts like batá drumming are studied, preserved, shaped, and promoted as what is called cultura (culture), which entails government controls, commercialization, and the reframing of Afro-Cuban religion as entertainment and/or the object of academic study rather than as living spiritual practice.6 Groups like the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Grupo Afro Cuba de Matanzas, and others were supported or created to valorize elements of traditionalculturewhilesimultaneouslypursuingideologicalinitiatives. They aimed to “elevate” folk expression, professionalize it, and make it more intelligible to urban, and indeed international, audiences.7 These troupes and their events are organized and coordinated within an impressive state mechanism. The folkloric companies coexist with communities of actual believers . Within those communities, people variously appreciate, detest, or even study the stage versions of the tradition. Many feel that the folklorization of...