{"id":311466,"date":"2024-10-17T19:17:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T23:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=311466"},"modified":"2024-10-17T19:17:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T23:17:54","slug":"a-photo-four-singer-songwriters-and-a-domino-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/culture\/music-culture\/a-photo-four-singer-songwriters-and-a-domino-table\/","title":{"rendered":"A photo, four singer-songwriters and a domino table"},"content":{"rendered":"

For days now, several Facebook profiles in my digital neighborhood have shared a photograph that has made me stop and look at it in detail. Although I have been feeling saturated by social media for some time now, from time to time these discoveries more than make up for the frenzy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The snapshot in question, which first circulated in a black and white version and then in color, shows \u2014 no less \u2014 Pablo Milan\u00e9s, Silvio Rodr\u00edguez, <\/span>Vicente Feli\u00fa<\/b><\/a>, and Noel Nicola around a table, immersed in a game of dominoes.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is a horizontal photo, taken from a slightly high angle, with <\/span>Pablo<\/b><\/a>\u00a0in the center, flanked on his left by <\/span>Silvio<\/b><\/a>, and on his right by Vicente, at whose side appears Noel Nicola, a spectator of the game. They all wear military uniforms, which suggests that the photograph was taken in the mid-1970s when the artists enlisted in the internationalist brigades that fought for the independence of the African colonies. Although there are several well-known images of the singer-songwriters in that conflict, this one, in particular, I had not seen.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was overcome with curiosity to know the details of the scene, so I went to Silvio, one of the protagonists of the table, who kindly shared information about the snapshot in a back-and-forth email.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was on Vicente and my second trip to Angola, which Noel and Pablo joined. We are in the basement of the Presidente Hotel, the official residence of all the Cubans who passed through there, always half-built. It must have been in the first days of December 1976, because we arrived in Angola on November 29, the day I caught up with Noel in his 30s. Pablo was 33 and Tinto* 29,\u201d Silvio specifies in his message.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you see how young they were, it is overwhelming to think that those who appear in the photo, sitting playing dominoes, already had songs behind them that would form part of the identity of an entire nation, and beyond. These lyrics and melodies would leave a deep mark on the lives, loves, heartbreaks and struggles of generations.<\/span><\/p>\n

That year Pablo published the album <\/span>Pablo Milan\u00e9s<\/span><\/i>, which included, among others, the iconic songs \u201cLa vida no vale nada,\u201d \u201cPara vivir\u201d and \u201cEl tiempo, el implacable, el que pas\u00f3.\u201d A year earlier, Silvio had released <\/span>D\u00edas y flores<\/span><\/i>, his first album, which contained famous songs such as \u201cSue\u00f1o con serpientes\u201d and \u201cPeque\u00f1a serenata diurna.\u201d He had already composed \u201cOjal\u00e1,\u201d \u201cLa era est\u00e1 pariendo un coraz\u00f3n,\u201d \u201cFusil contra fusil.\u201d Vicente Feli\u00fa had in his repertoire, among others, the heart-rending \u201cDetr\u00e1s del mar queda el soldado,\u201d and his hymn \u201cCr\u00e9eme\u201d was beginning to resonate. Noel Nicola had composed \u201cComienzo el d\u00eda\u201d and \u201cPara una imaginaria Mar\u00eda del Carmen,\u201d as well as \u201cEs m\u00e1s, te perdono.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the photograph, everyone is shown concentrating on the game, with their eyes directed at the pieces arranged on the table. Although the photo appears to have been digitalized from a paper copy deteriorated by the passage of time and the design of the pieces cannot be distinguished, they are playing with double nine because of the discarded pieces piled up in a corner of the table, between Pablo and Silvio. And from the body language of each of the players at that moment, it seems that it is the author of \u201cYolanda\u201d who has to place a piece.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of playing dominoes, both between civilians and soldiers. Some had just arrived from Cuba, like us; others were leaving for Cuba or on missions elsewhere in that vast territory. We had probably just had breakfast and waiting for someone or some transport to take us to an activity, a meeting or even to the airport. I remember that during those days in Luanda, we did several activities, especially a very emotional one in the hospital, for the wounded, sick and health personnel. Perhaps the photo is from that day,\u201d Silvio recalls.<\/span><\/p>\n

The scene denotes an ephemeral fragment of calm amid the turbulence and urgency of a war. \u201cThe truth is that I don\u2019t remember the domino table in the photo very well. In Angola, there were dominoes in all the Cuban units and I think they were used a lot to relax, to release tension,\u201d Silvio confirms.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the image, some details stand out, such as his right arm in a cast. \u201cthe fifth metacarpal, a classic fracture of someone who fights against a wall. I still have that hunched little finger,\u201d the singer-songwriter reveals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another curiosity of the photograph is the figure of a child, very subtle, superimposed on part of Pablo\u2019s body and the table. The author of the photo is still unknown, who could clarify some mysteries like this one; but the effect is probably due to a double exposure because of a frame error.<\/span><\/p>\n

In photography, double exposure occurs when the same frame of a film is exposed more than once. It was a common mistake in analog photography, especially when, having used a roll of film and left it undeveloped, it was used again, taking it for virgin. It is also possible that the photo was taken through a glass, capturing the reflection accidentally.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another mystery is the identity of the fourth person playing (and the rest of those present), who appears with his back turned and is paired with Pablo. Some comments on Facebook speculate that it could be the Cienfuegos singer-songwriter L\u00e1zaro Garc\u00eda. The author of \u201cSi de tanto so\u00f1arte\u201d was also in Angola in 1976 with other founders of the new song movement. However, Silvio points out that, due to the place and time in which the photo was taken, it must be of another person, since L\u00e1zaro was in the south and, given the date, perhaps on his way to Cuba.<\/span><\/p>\n

L\u00e1zaro, by the way, set to music \u201cAhora mujer que est\u00e1s lejos,\u201d a poem by the filmmaker <\/span>Jorge Fuentes<\/b><\/a>, written at that time in Angola when he was filming with his camera, amidst the whistling of bullets and the roar of cannons, the counteroffensive that stopped the South African invasion in 1976.<\/span><\/p>\n

Silvio himself wrote songs about his experience in Angola, the best known of which are \u201cTestamento,\u201d \u201cCanci\u00f3n para mi soldado,\u201d \u201cPioneros,\u201d and \u201cAngola es una.\u201d Pablo set to music \u201cHavemos de voltar,\u201d a poem by Agostinho Neto, the first president of Angola and president of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola. The song was included as the closing of his album <\/span>No me pidas<\/span><\/i> (1978).<\/span><\/p>\n