美国国家公共电台 NPR A Jazz Pianist Considers Fidel Castro's Music Education Legacy

A Jazz Pianist Considers Fidel Castro's Music Education Legacy 2

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The late Fidel Castro made music part of his mission to promote a Cuban identity. Conservatories 4 got a boost after the 1959 revolution, producing several generations of talented musicians and composers. Harold Lopez-Nussa is part of a new crop of jazz players making their voices heard outside Cuba. Betto Arcos reports that Lopez-Nussa was trained in one of the country's classical conservatories.

BETTO ARCOS, BYLINE 5: You can hear Harold Lopez-Nussa's training in his playing.

(SOUNDBITE OF HAROLD LOPEZ-NUSSA SONG, "LOBO'S CHA")

ARCOS: The 33-year-old pianist is reluctant to admit the classical influence on his jazz playing, but he's quick to acknowledge the education he and many others received.

HAROLD LOPEZ-NUSSA: All of those great pianists that we have from Cuba now - they came from the classical training because this is the school that we have to learn music in Cuba. It's classical. So I did all my stuff there from 8 years old until 25.

(SOUNDBITE OF HAROLD LOPEZ-NUSSA SONG, "LOBO'S CHA")

NED SUBLETTE: He had a level of training that - it's really hard to get anywhere else.

ARCOS: Ned Sublette is the author of "Cuba And Its Music: From The First Drums To The Mambo."

SUBLETTE: After the revolution in 1959, the new revolutionary government made culture a priority. And a system of conservatories has continued to this day. So you will meet Cuban musicians who have been trained from childhood to be competitive, professional musicians. And most of them have a conservatory 6 background.

ARCOS: But it's not just music school. Sublette quotes British musicologist Geoff Baker 7.

SUBLETTE: There are four main streams of influence on Cuban musicians - family, conservatory, street and religion.

ARCOS: Harold Lopez-Nussa certainly draws on the first two.

(SOUNDBITE OF HAROLD LOPEZ-NUSSA SONG, "FERIA")

ARCOS: His grandparents were musicians. His father is a respected drummer and music educator.

LOPEZ-NUSSA: Before I was born, I have the music in my body and my blood. Eighty percent of what I am doing today and why I am a musician is because of my family. I have a lot of support from them - my father, my uncle, my mother, who was a piano teacher.

ARCOS: As far as the last two streams of influence are concerned, Lopez-Nussa is not particularly religious, but he's certainly aware of the sounds of the street and Cuba's long tradition of popular music.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FERIA")

LOPEZ-NUSSA: (Singing in Spanish).

ARCOS: Lopez-Nussa started listening to jazz as a teenager with his friends at the conservatory. He says he's following in the footsteps of such great Cuban pianists as Ernesto Lecuona, Frank Emilio Flynn and Chucho Valdes. He remembers seeing Valdes up close when he was 10 years old.

LOPEZ-NUSSA: He came to my school to play for the kids. And I was so impressed by his playing, this kind of freedom that he have with the keyboard. And I always thinking this experience.

ARCOS: So it's no surprise that a tune 8 Valdes made popular with his band Irakere turns up on Lopez-Nussa's new album.

(SOUNDBITE OF HAROLD LOPEZ-NUSSA SONG, "BACALAO CON 1 PAN")

ARCOS: Harold Lopez-Nussa recently signed with an American label. He says improved relations between Cuba and the U.S. ushered 9 in by the Obama administration have opened new opportunities. He'd like to see more Cuban musicians coming to play in the U.S.

LOPEZ-NUSSA: And I also hope that more American musicians can come to Cuba and share with us his art and his music. I have a lot of hope about this approach that will be better for all of us.

ARCOS: Lopez-Nussa hopes this cross-cultural exchange can continue under the new administration in Washington. After all, he says, music doesn't just come from school. For NPR News, I'm Betto Arcos.

(SOUNDBITE OF HAROLD LOPEZ-NUSSA SONG, "AFRICA")