The smallest of the set of
three Batá drums, it serves primarily as the
timekeeper.
omele
Other name of the batá drum Okónkolo.
oriente
The East region of Cuba, the
Oriente, developed and preserved the specificity of its
culture, and was a serious rival of Havana, the capital,
which is a thousand kilometers away. It was the scene of
the first clash with the Spanish conquistadores on the
Cuban land, which, following the Christophe Colomb's
steps, invested the island at the early 16th century.
They made a harbour base in Santiago of Cuba for the
arrival of the slaves, deportees from Africa, and imposed
Santiago as first capital of the island.
But quickly, Havana succeeds in taking supremacy, while
becoming the natural port of call for the Spaniards in
departure to Mexico and South America. Nevertheless,
Santiago and Oriente maintained an intensive economic
activity for several centuries. During the 19th century,
the area grew rich by a massive arrival of thousands
French colonists with their slaves, running away from
Saint-Domingue where Toussaint-Louverture led an
anti-slavery and anti-colonial revolution. Let us add few
traces of Indians Tainos and Siboney having survived at
the violence of the conquistadores, and we are in
presence of a land rich of a great interbreeding, with
multiple traditions, irrigated by Spanish, African,
French and Amerindian cultures.
The Oriente, " Tierra Caliente ", sheltered the
first rebellions of slaves in Cuba, thanks to its
mountainous areas (Sierra Maestra and Sierra de Cristal),
before being the scene of decisive battles in the
independance wars during the 19th century. Later, the
region will protect the years of fight for power, in the
Revolution of Fidel Castro and his barbudos.
Proud of its rebellious traditions, more colored with
Africa that Havana, the Oriente aera knew to preserve its
cultural traditions alive and fertile, and invented
several major musical forms, whose son and bolero are the principal pearls.
orisha (orichas)
Deities of the pantheistic
Santeria and other African, Afro-Latin and Afro-Caribbean
based religion.
orquesta tipica
A Cuban musical group used
to perform the contradanza. Orchestras that were the
traditional interpreters of the early forms of the
various Danzas. Their instrumentation consisted of
woodwinds, brass, strings, the guiro and the traditional
European tympani.
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