Thursday, March 08, 2007
Para-Norma-lly Yours
A portion of this article is excerpted from Dr. InaNorma Yanez' autobiographical book about her life in the world of entertaining. Julito Collazo is second from the right. This photo was taken in Brown's Hotel, Loch Sheldrake, NY aka = The Borscht Belt. :)
Hola From Normita, aka Ruby *o*
Last night we did our very best rehearsal music since I began playing again after many years of languishing.... We're beginning the process of becoming musically tighter. I have a set of claves, which exude a stunning, hauntingly sharp background rhythm to Latin and other kinds of music. But, I am not trained to play them. The tune we did was specifically begging for claves.
I have been visited from spirit quite a few times since my beloved music teacher passed on a few years ago.... He was BABA Julito Collazo, a famous Afro/Cubano BATA DRUM player for Santeria, and a BABALAWO (very high ranking) in that fascinating monotheistic Afro/Cubano religion. The BATA DRUMS are believed to house powerful spirits called ORISHAS, who are somewhat like saints. It is very nature based. Their music, dance, and rhythms are beyond exquisite. In fact, in all my musical career, I know of no other spiritually oriented sounds, frequencies, and energies to surpass or equal theirs' when a religious BEMBE ritual is being done with top notch musicians and singers.
Julio was also lead dancer with Katherine Dunham, and IMHO...... one of the finest percussionists I have ever known. He escaped from Cuba to New York City and ended up being hired by Felipe Yanez , my now deceased husband, to perform on timbales , bongos, congas, and American drums in our NYC-based orchestra....... It was Julito who threw the first soil over Felipe's grave on that dark, cold, and rainy day. This was the only time I ever saw the brave man bent over and crying. They truly were soul brothers.
Felipe asked him to teach me percussion because I was a rank amateur and had little training with Latin rhythm instruments at that time. As a favor to his friend and boss Felipe, Julio reluctantly took me as a student. I was a white Jewish green-eyed girl from Brooklyn, New York with a devout passion for Afro-Latino music since early childhood. At that time I had been a better than average mambo dancer, so the rhythms were already in place in my heart and soul, if not yet residing in my hands to play the required instruments. Believe me when I say, I DID NOT KNOW WHAT I WAS GETTING INTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My first class with this master drummer was something that up to today, I am still in awe of. Julito lived in an apartment on the west side of Manhattan. In order to be allowed into his home, I had to go through a ritualized cleansing before I could even step over the threshold. When I entered his apartment after the lengthy spiritual cleansing, the first thing I saw was a huge snake. It probably had been a python that the formidable man was skinning for a religious purpose. OMG...
I was frozen and petrified. Did I say I was frozen and petrified???????????
I honestly do not recall anything about my first music lesson after this encounter with a dead, partially skinned snake, nor do I even remember how I miraculously managed to safely get home to my own west side Manhattan apartment right near Lincoln Center.
Thus began a relationship with Julito Collazo which even in his corporeal death , still amazingly lives on through telepathy. I was at times afraid of Julito because of his powerful, stern, perfectionist energy. One did not make a mistake when playing music with him. His occasional angry look could kill and curdle you and your bloodstream with a real physical pain. YET...... His musical lilting laughter could lift you up to the heavens. And... Julito Collazo was also a master herbalist and healer. When he entered a crowd, the room would literally stop. Such was his intense and remarkable energy and physical appearance. ANYHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.......
I ASKED HIM TO SHOW ME HOW TO PLAY THE CLAVES LAST NIGHT AT REHEARSAL, AND HE SPIRITUALLY ENTERED BOTH OF MY HANDS. JULIO SAID, "DO IT LIKE THIS." WOW! IT SOUNDED GREAT! Far better than anything I knew how to play on claves.
He graciously thanked me for allowing him to feel what it meant to be in a material body once again to perform his joy-filled music. Oh how I pray I am given plenty of opportunity to learn from him, my mentor, as often as it is possible. Truly, he was and still is one of the greatest musicians yours truly has known. I do honestly believe my cherished friend and teacher is up there in heaven playing his magnificient soul out with the likes of Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, Beny More, and so many other departed greats in the field of Latin/Afro/Cubano music. Thank you God for this absolutely stunning experience. We all had so much fun ..... and the variety of music our newly formed rehearsal band is playing is sounding better and better. amen
Please visit my eclectic blog:
http://normasark.blogspot.com/
