Portland performance series explores Cuban filin music

The Civic's Education Initiative, a statewide program sponsored by the Oregon State Capital Foundation. They help Oregonians learn how our government and democracy work and how you can get involved and make a difference. Grant applications to help nonprofit and educational organizations support civics education programs throughout Oregon are open now through September 30th at Oregoncapitalfoundation.org. This fall, let Curiosity lead you to Newport. The Newport Festival of Arts and Culture brings together music, arts, markets, culinary experiences, and community celebrations on the Oregon Coast. From September through November, take in world-class performances, explore the historic Bayfront, and discover the stories that make Newport unique. Unlock exclusive lodging offers for OPB listeners at DiscoverNewport.com slash OPB. The Newport Festival of Arts and Culture? where creativity is in the water. This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I'm Jeff Norcross. We're going to spend some time with an art form that is yet another argument for nations to listen to each other's music, even or perhaps especially when their governments are against each other. Feline is a style of music that combines the slow, romantic Cuban style known as Bolero with American jazz and blues. It's like... Caribbean balladeering combined with intricate harmonies and a yearning for a better life. Vocalist Jesse Marquez will explore the genre in a series of conversations and performances at El Centro Milagro in Portland over the next month beginning this Saturday. And Jesse Marquez now joins us in the studio. Jesse, welcome to think out loud. It's good to have you. Great to be here. Thank you for having us. You are here with your guitarist Ben Graves and let's hear a song. Yeah, we're going to play Realidad and Fantasia.

When I could. Tendet in my brazos, I'm up to my pecho, to say things that I need to say things that I need to be that you. When my labios, beces in the tues, at least they'll can crystallize the locus, fantas in my mind. I know that you, you know, you'll know what I'm not to express it. When I'm looking, I'm

The infinite, will be small. I know that you, you know, you'll know what I'm saying what I'm not to express. When I'm when I'm looking, I think, I'm The infinite will be small compared with the duchess of my

That's a song called Reality and Fantasia. Jesse Marquez is the vocalist, and she specializes in a form of Cuban-American music called Filene, and she's here with her guitarist, Ben Graves. Jesse, that was beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. What is feeling music? I think feeling is kind of at the center of it. It is. It's feeling music. And it's, you know, in Cuba, they spell it F-I-L-I-N, which is the way it sounds in Spanish or how it's... Yeah, how it's spelled in Spanish. And feeling music comes from, well, it was, you know, originally the Cuban bolero, which, you know, came about in the late 1800s in the eastern provinces of Cuba with, like, the troubadours, with the guitars. And then in the 40s and 50s, people in Cuba were listening to a lot of cinema music, and they were listening to a lot of jazz and blues. And so they took... those sounds, they took those harmonies and they created something new, a new genre, and they called it feeling. And it was such a, you know, it was so, such an important kind of moment musically in Cuba that they actually called it the movimento, the feeling movement. And so... Yeah, that's a very, you know, I like to think of it as a conversation between people, between music, musical styles. This kind of inhabits this place somewhere in between traditional Cuban music and American or North American music. And in that way, it speaks to me personally. Why? How are you exposed to it? And why did it speak to you? Well, my father grew up in Cuba. He was about 13 when the revolution happened. And his family, they were immigrants to Cuba. My grandfather was Spanish, and my grandmother was Italian, but Spanish-speaking Italian. And so they were there raising their family. They were, you know, middle class had a small business. And so, you know, the revolution was coming, coming. And when it happened in 1959 and New Year's Eve. It was very exciting, very exciting time. And... You know, the Barbados, the revolutionaries, yeah, the Castro's. Exactly. Came to the neighborhood where they were living because there were some military installations there. And so, you know, they all partied together that first night, and my grandmother ended up, you know, making pots of soup for the Barbudos over the coming weeks. And, you know, so I grew up hearing these stories about Cuba. And it was all very, you know,

interesting and exciting, but it wasn't until I actually went to Cuba with my dad in 1996 that it really hit home. Everything looked, of course, very different, kind of exotic, but I recognized the way that people moved. I recognized their gestures and their sense of humor. And so that made a really big impact on me. And so I kept going back to Cuba. I spent 10 years making regular trips. And I ended up collaborating with members of the Afro-Cuban All-Stars. I recorded a CD down there. I, you know, performed in various venues. During those travels and during those experiences, I became really exposed to feeling music and heard all these great stories and anecdotes about different artists. And I think for me personally, it speaks to me because it is a genre that is... in this in-between place. And so I kind of, I can relate to that. You know, it's not purely Cuban. It's not purely North American. And, um, uh, I feel like I can sort of inhabit that place. What parts of the North American part of Phileen music are actually present? What does Phelene draw from blues and jazz? Well, the harmony, definitely, jazz harmony, above all. And... Yeah, I think it's speaking the harmonic language. Yeah. You connected with the notable feeling composer Enrique Cardenas. What was that experience like? Well, for a couple years, I performed in the Boleros de Oro Festival in Cuba, which is a, it's a bolero festival that travels around the whole island. And they send artists from Havana. on buses, planes, we go to different provinces. And so I went to Santa Clara, I went to Olguin, I went to Santiago de Cuba. And in each of these places, you perform, you collaborate with local artists and perform with them in theaters or street parties, whatever the venues that happened to be there. And so when I was in Santa Clara, I met... Enrique, he accompanied me on a lot of the songs that I did and played me his own compositions and I was very moved by them. And the next year I went back to Santa Clara to the festival and, you know, we spent more time together. I learned more of his songs and I think I am.

I like to sing songs by composers who are, you know, lesser known, who I like to sing songs that I feel like maybe need to be sung or that have not been heard and to, you know, to give voice to those songs. And then also just on a practical level, you know, Cuba has been... It's a really, really hard time to be in Cuba. I mean, it has been for many years. It's, you know, kind of this cyclical thing where there was a special period where, you know, the economy just fell apart after the fall of the Soviet Union. And, you know, over the past few years, things have just been really deteriorating on the island. And the power grid is just completely unstable. And people are just living under really very dire conditions. And so another part of my motivation is to support musicians there, you know, with resources and technical support. You know, I've sent, you know, computers or, you know, funds or, you know. food, things like that. Yeah, and we'll talk more about that in a bit, but I think we should hear another song. Great. Do you have something for us? Yeah, so we're going to play another song. This one is by Enrique Cardenas. It's called Varadero Mulata, and this Varadero is a beautiful... beautiful beach in Cuba with white sand and crystal blue water. And there are lots of hotels with cabarets and women, dancers, rum, and cigars, palm trees. Everybody wants to go to Varadero. Oh, you set quite the scene for me there. Yeah. Yeah. And so this song compares the beach to a beautiful mulata woman and also to Yemaya, the Orisha or goddess of the sea.

In your cadetraise the sun. For your cintura, corle the mar. Playa Antigiana, full of amores, morn, that inviata, mrs. Morena, that invita, sonia. Your majestousa inmencide. You're surging the horizon, like a goddess of an equal. Varadero pretentious amulata, Boca-Lata, Ojo's Café. Asul vestib for your Noches of Plata, you know, you're the magic of pleasure. Baradero of a morrom and palmeras. It's the primavera in your littoral.

to live on madrigal, varadero, baradero, baradero. In your cadres, I ve'er the sun. For your cindura, core the mar. Playa Antigiana, full of amores, mornia, that inviata, mrs. Majestousa, immensity. Vienessurring the horizon, like a goddesses in a while. Varadero pretentious amulata, Boca-lata, Ojo's coffee, coffee.

For your Noches of Plata, you have the Maya of Pleasure. Varadero of a morrow and palmeras, it's the primavera in your littoral. You've been listening to Portland and Estrella. You've been listening to Jesse Marquez and guitarist Ben Graves. Jesse is a Portland vocalist, and she performed in our studio. Thank you so much for listening to Think Out Loud on OPB and KLCC. I'm Jeff Norcross. Have a great weekend. Think Out Loud is supported by Steve and Jan Oliver, the Rose E. Tucker Carlson Charitable Trust, Michael, Kristen, Andrew Kern, and Anna Sanford, and the Jackson Foundation.

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