Electroacoustic Music of Cuba

Juan Blanco was the first Cuban singer to make an electroacoustic piece in the year 1961. It is the first composition, titled Musica Para Danza that was produced with just an oscillator and three common tape recorders. As the result of the huge scarcity created by the Cuban Revolution since its foundations in 1959, access to the necessary technological resources to produce electroacoustic music was always very small for anyone interested. For this reason, it was not in circulation until in n1969 that another Cuban composer Sergio Barroso devoted himself to the making of electroacoustic musical compositions.

source of picture: www.larevista.ec

In 1970, Juan Blanco started to work as a music advisor for the Department of Propaganda of ICAP (Instituto Cuban de Amistad con Los Pueblos), in this capacity he made electroacoustic music for all the audio-visual materials produced by the ICAP. After nine years working without payback, Blanco finally obtained financing to set up an electroacoustic studio to be used for his work. He was later appointed as Director of the studio, but under the condition that he should be the only one to use the instrument. And after a few months and without asking for any help, he opened the electroacoustic studio to all singers that are interested in working with the electroacoustic technology, thus, making the ICAP electroacoustic music workshop (ITME), where he provide training to all participants in 1990, the ICAP workshop changed its name to Laboratorio Nacionale de Musica Electroacoustic (LNME) and its main purpose was to help in the promotion of the work of Cuban electroacoustic singers and sound artists.

 After some years, another electroacoustic music studio was established at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA), the Estudio de Musica Electeroacutsica y por Computadoras (EMEC) that is currently named Estudio Carlos Farinas de Arte Musical (Carlos Farinas Studio of Musical Electroacoustic Art), which intended to help electroacoustic music training to the composition students during their last years in school.

After 1970, the Cuban singers like Leo Brouwer, Jesus Ortega, Carlos Farinas and Sergio vitier started making electroacoustic pieces and fin the 1980s a group of singers which include Edesio Alejandro, Fernando (Archi) Rodriguez Alizar, Marietta veulens, Mirtha de la Torre, Miguel Bonachea and Julio Roloff began receiving instruction and working at the ICAP Electroacoustic Studio.  A list of Cuban singers that have utilized the electroacoustic technology such as Argeliers Leon, Juan Pinera, Roberto Valera, Jose Loyola, lleana Peraz Velazquez and Jose Angel Perez Puentes. The Cuban composers living outside the country had an edge and more direct access to the necessary technology to produce the electroacoustic works that peers in the Island.