Santiago de Cuba to be exact. If you would have asked me a year ago if I would be visiting the island where my mother was born, I would have wondered deeply inside if it was something that could be reality. Was it a mental block? For sure it was a resource block and most obviously a political one. I wanted to see for myself these realities. A few days before coming here, I fought feelings of shame for having never tried to witness this sooner. Was it a case of American amnesia?

Who can define, understand or truly empathize with the dual identity of our immigrant parents and therefore ours as daughters and sons of a complicated and rich history? I've always known I was an Isleña - whether a Staten Islander, a resident of Puerto Rico for a short time or a Cuban/Colombian-American. These are the stories for us as urban tropicals - unraveling - living and breathing these herstories...right now. ::DEEP BREATHES::

It will be months before anyone can understand what is being witnessed, why this matters, and what it will mean - I'm thankful to be part of the MANANA (www.mananacuba.com) squad, a non-profit festival working to build dialogue between electronic music artists and Afro-Cuban traditional music community here. What I've loved the most is talking honestly with the Cuban people, this dialogue. As a cultural advocate and social entrepreneur who moonlights as a publicist, my main goal is to amplify the voices of traditionally misrepresented and underrepresented voices.

So here I am, writing from the cradle of Afro-Cuban culture in Santiago de Cuba and also the birthplace of my grandfather Rene Amador Pulles. I'm proud to represent this dual experience as the only American part of a team of British and Cuban friends who came together with a simple mission of creating a musical dialogue. The legacy will be much louder than any noise we make here. Let us witness this together! 

More photos to come, though I'll be disconnecting even more after MANANA to travel to my grandmother's town and Havana, where my mother lived till the mid 1960s. So please bare with me while I connect in much deeper ways with myself and this place. Please check out some other news here too from artists I've been working with who are making their mark on the world and rebalancing it like Dio Ganhdih and El Bles. We'll talk in June! Nothing but love...

Extra Credit Reading:
Havana Rising. The Millennials Pushing Havana Forward [READ]
Cuba is Preparing For The Manana Music Festival [READ]