WILLY, THE CUBAN IN SPAIN

One summer, a few years ago, I was looking to animate a disco bar in Aguilas, MANDRAGORA and a small hotel SUITOTEL LAS COLINAS where I work, located in San Juan de Los Terreros, Almeria, Spain with live music. By accident I met Willy, a Cuban who has been living in the South of Spain for the last 10 years.

I listened to his music during the Carnival of Aguilas which takes place in the month of february, the third largest carnival of Spain which last for a entire week, and the whole town including the nearby villages come to celebrate the event. It is a real experience to see people enjoying themselves day and night where the atmosphere is impossibile to describe in words; One has to live the event.There are 60 presentations for the Aguilas Carnival all with their incredible costumes, decorated chariots and their proffessional presentations. Each presentation has mor or less 60 to 70 participants who work all year to make their costumes, decorate their chariots and rehearse their presentations. They have no sponsors and pay for everthing amongst the participants; Quite amazing. During the festival week which is a day and night affair people are drinking, eating, dancing and generally enjoying themselves without any real problem of security.

Willy's group is a 18 piece band, the kind of music they play is a mix of Cuban and latino pop; I don't think I have ever seen a band which electrifys a crowd of 2000 with their music and their way of performing a show interacting with the public; It gets to a point where the audience is participating with the musicians dancing the samba and salsa on stage or within the seated area, moving the chairs and converting the whole show into a huge dance hall.

LATINO MUSIC IN ALMERIA, SPAIN www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBJQ8g2x-8M

Many Cubans, Colombians. Peruvians and many more from Latin America immigrated to Spain as their lives in their own countries gave them no future hope for having a better life; In the case of Willy, his story is amazing; He comes from a family in Cuba who have been musicians over the last 2 generations; He went to school and university in Cuba where he was qualified as a chemical engineer; He was sent to East Germany on a exchange program 15 years ago when the Castro of Cuba was in mesh with the communists in Eastern European block of Countries ( East germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia etc.). As he saw no future for his proffession in his native country of Cuba, he took off from East Germany ending up in Holland as a illegal immigrant , until by sheer luck, he met a dutch lawyer who fell madly in love with the guy and got married to him; This marriage was a bizarre affair as the well to do Dutch lawyer put conditions in that she did not want him to work nor have any contact with others without her being present. Can you imagine a musician being closeted in this way....... Willy is fellow with alot of patience, he endured this strange relationship for a couple of years, until such time he realized there was no way to convince his Dutch wife come lawyer to change her ways. Once again, he took off to the South of Spain, still a illegal immigrant, with the only difference he was married to a European citizen giving him the right of residing in any European country. Finally he obtained the divorce from his Dutch wife and married a Spanish girl from Murcia and as the story goes is "lived happly after...".

When in Spain, Willy met other Cubans who were more a less like him escaping their privilege of visiting Eastern Europe due to their proffessional status in Cuba, ending up as illegal immigrants working as helpers on the farms in the area of Murcia and Almeria, Spain. With patience and faith they slowly obtianed the permits enabling them to live legally in Spain. To get by they used their musical skills to form bands to give concerts in the various spanish towns; Most of the Spanish towns have their own annual festivities which is a major event and the local authorities provide entertainment inviting famous and less famous musicians to give concerts; Apart from these festivities there are several important national, state and local days of festivity where it is normal to see concerts.

Willy and his friends over the years have performed in many concerts by which they could make supplementry income so as to live more or less decently; They also with their income help their families in Cuba or other latin american countries where the lives are miserable and any help they receive is a salvation.

As my disco bar and hotel are not places to cater for a full sized band of 18 musicians, Willy plays in my outfits with four musicians which he calls "El Cuarteto el Farandula". They are a big success as all the foreign tourists and local Spanish crowd loves their music and their way of interacting with the customers teaching them how to dance the real samba and salsa. Willy also acts a a DJ in the MANDRAGORA DISCO BAR where we have nicked named him, JOMO KENYATTA as he really looks like Jomo when he began the Mau Mau movement in Kenya

They write and compose their own songs which leads me to try and find someone who is a proffessional in the music business to see whether they can get a break to register their work and have a larger international audience; I am also going to put them on the internet social network sites to give them the exposure they deserve; If you the reader has any ideas they will be well apreciated.

ALMERIA AGUILON WORLD

I have been living in the area of Almeria known as the levante almeriense for the last 18 years; I find this area to be one of the most fascinating and enjoyable areas of Europe as it is a mixture of all kinds of cultures; Historically the area of Almeria being in the state of Andalusia has been heavily influenced by the moorish culture as the moors controlled large parts of Spain for nearly 700 years; In terms of the modern era, Almeria and Andalusia has seen a influx of all kinds of people from Latin America, Northern Africa, and Eastern Europe ; These countries have created legal and illegal immigration for the Spanish farms producing on a mass scale all kinds of vegetables and fruits being exported to Northern Europe and for many other industries and service businesses. www.almeriaguilonworld.com

THE NEW DESTINATION TO RETIRE, TAKE HOLIDAYS OR TO RELOCATE

You also have large populations of Northern Europeans who have been visiting Almeria and Andulusia as a vacation spot due to its near to perfect climate in the winter months and the dry summer season. We also have many who come to retire in the area of Almeria as some of the geographical spots are still unspoilt in terms of mass and comercialized tourism, yet there are all the services one can normally require; The cost of living is reasonable and probably cheap when compared to the UK, France, Germany and Italy enabling anyone retiring here a comfortable life. Quite a few people from Northern Europe are coming to live and work in the area of the Almeria Levante as it provides a very balanced life for any couple with young children; The weather, the seaside, the ease of communication, the services whether it be schools, hospitals and the future prospects of living in a healthy environment are all present.

I decided to write this article with the objective of telling a story of a particular area and a musician which might interest the reader; I am sure everyone has stories to tell based on their experiences which has always attracted my curiosity as it gives me insights to how other people in so many parts of the world can share their experiences, stories and the cultural aspects of their geographical location tempting me at times to say to myself , " next time I am going to visit a place where I have heard some personal account ".