The first people onto the stage were dancers. We grabbed a table and some mojitos, and waited expectantly. The music scene in Cienfuegos was not exactly hopping on a Sunday or Monday night, but we did manage to find one bar with a stage and speakers set up.
It would have been nice to enjoy this Caribbean sunset to the sound of Cuban jazz, rather than “Back in the USSR”. the band at a rooftop bar overlooking the Caribbean, who played covers of old-school Western rock songs), the musicians were wonderful. The quality of the musicianship was outstanding – even when the genre wasn’t really what I wanted to hear (e.g. And Chan Chan was the only song that they all had in common – we heard a wide variety of other songs from a multitude of genres, from rock to salsa to rumba to jazz. They each had their own version, of course, and different instrumentation, ranging from the standard guitar + mini guitar + drums to full seven piece bands with a stand up bass and a trumpet. Music was everywhere – you couldn’t step into a cafe, bar, museum, rest stop or onto a beach without there being at least one live band.Īnd almost every single one – literally, every band we saw except for maybe four – played Chan Chan.
The music was one of the things I was most looking forward to before we flew to Cuba, and I was not disappointed.
This is just as well, because we heard it an average of twice a day on our two week trip. Then Chan was shown on screen, heartily belting out the song of praise in front of a band in Kerobokan prison’s chapel.This is the song “Chan Chan”, from the Buena Vista Social Club album. Attendees belted out 10,000 Reasons, many swaying with their eyes closed and hands raised.
It was, said Febyanti: “The song that we sang on our engagement day, the song we all sang on our wedding day.”Īnd also, three times, at Chan’s funeral service. But, halfway through the second, the firing squad let loose their weapons. They all managed to finish the first verse of the song, she said. After they were tied to a stake, with Chan urging each to sing louder, they sang 10,000 Reasons. Entering the execution ground, Chan and the seven other condemned men sang Amazing Grace. “No-one could ever face death like him,” said Febyanti, revealing Chan had poor eyesight and hated wearing his glasses but did so on the night he died “because he wanted to look them in the eyes”.Īs he was led to the execution fields, she said, he asked God to forgive his executioners, and then prayed for Indonesia, a country and people he grew to love.
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