Recently awarded on the national radio network, the TV magazine ´´Buenos días´´ and on the YouTube channel of the Ministry of Culture, the video clip ´´Una Habana que danza´´, version flash mob by Telmary, Habana Sana and the rapper Frank MC. A production by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the Cuban Institute of Music and Productions Colibrí against the Helms Burton Law and as a meaningful tribute to the 500 years of the capital of all Cubans.
The audiovisual recreates the flashmob starring rappers Telmary and Frank Pedroso with some 150 dancers from the national dance and music schools, held in the afternoon of May 6th, at the Malecón habanero, from Prado street to Galeano street. A stretch filled by the works of the project Behind the Wall of the XIII Biennial of Havana and by the immense sea that surrounds it.
On the students’shirts phrases such as"we understand solidarity, not spoils"; "we understand love, not hate", can be read as relevant messages from Cuban youth to those who try to steal our happiness, tarnish and ballast the achievements of this people or with the implementation of absurd laws.
The video shows some passers-by and neighbors of Centro Habana who accompanied the students and the traveling musical scene, infected by the arará force of Telmary. However, we do not perceive the massiveness and spontaneity that qualifies a flashmob or "lightning multitudinous act" or "lightning mobilization".
It is said that the flashmob has its origin in the book Smart Mobs: the next social revolution, published in October 2002. There, its author, the sociologist Howard Rheingold, invites people to use new technologies to organize themselves. However, its practical implementation was facilitated by Rob Zazueta of San Francisco, when he created the flocksmart.com platform, in which for the first time the ´´MOBers´´ began to plan their meetings.
And in a natural flashmob the "snowball" runs and grows through virtual social networks: SMS, Facebook, Twitter, forums or virtual communities, email, blog, chat
Over time they have become a marketing and propaganda tool, used by companies and political movements. As a form of guerrilla marketing, they are based on ingenuity and creativity, with the intention of intervening in a space, drawing attention to some existing problem and impacting public opinion.
The first successful flashmob was held on June 17, 2003 in the sales department of Macy's store in New York. To prevent the store's public from finding out what was going to happen, its organizer Bill Wasik, junior editor of Harper's Magazine, met with the participants at preliminary meeting points - four bars around Manhattan - where they were distributed. The instructions with the information about what they were going to do and the place where the event would take place, just before its beginning. This ensured the surprise and the apparent spontaneity that must accompany this type of mass action.
In addition, it is committed to authenticity, emotional contagion and fun. They organize themselves in such a way that it seems that someone comes up suddenly. The protagonists must pass themselves off as normal passers-by before the show begins. And like a spark, in a combustible environment, good vibes expand.
Among the different types of this technique of animation or mobilization, the one performed at the Malecón, is a dance flashmob, one of the most popular interventions in the world and among the most played on Youtube.
It is worth mentioning that smartmobs are included among the different variants, with marked social or political purposes, such as the movements of the Arab Spring or the 15-M Spanish.
The staging of the audiovisual, made by the ConeXity team, is more in line with the concept of a video clip than with the videos that document the flashmob. Shorts that harmonize the imprint of the report, the reality show or the hidden camera. They start, generally, with a presentation of the normal state of the space to intervene and capture from different planes all the performance of the dancers, singers, musicians, etc., plus the reactions of the audience. Some are conceived as a sequence plane.
Little could be exploited by the filmmakers the "WOW effect", one of the ingredients that distinguishes a flashmob. However, they rescue the joy and the ´´cubanía´´ of the popular merrymaking.
´´Habana que danza´´ (flashmob video) is the third audiovisual production of ConeXity with Telmary as the protagonist. The first video clip was that of ´´Soy el verso´´, published last March, ´´an audiovisual full of diversity and social genres. More than two months of work and four days of photographic shooting´´, commented on his Facebook page those of ConeXity, following the publication of his opera prima.
´´Thanks to all those who were from dawn to night working to multiply the magic of the simple verses of Martí! ´´
Before, the ConeXity had been responsible for the making of the video clip ´´How to get Havana´´ from Telmary&HabanaSana. With this they reached the Lucas for the first time. «You know, one more step in our journey, a pleasant experience and a new challenge» - they shared with their followers.
The ConeXity audiovisual platform is made up of: Claudia García and Marina Alfonso, in the photography; Melissa Fundora in the sound; Ximena Holuigue in the production; all under the direction of Michel Pardo García and Luis Toledo.
´´Habana que baila´´ was originally recorded by Telmary along with Mc and musical producer Kumar Mora, and included in the album Libre (2015), the second record production of the "Que equivoca'o" performer. The album, under the record label of Bis Music and the musical production of Roberto Carcassés, Kevin Barreto and MaykelBárzaga Jr., won the 2014 Cubadisco Award in the Hip Hop category. Kumar also put the music to the single that opens the plate, "The power of the ancestors."
In ´´Libre´´ he feels the longing for his land after six years residing in Canada, but highlights the festive for the reunion with his Havana and his sea. "Cuba is my best muse, where creativity is exacerbated" he confessed.
It is expected that withthe participation in a legitimate project like this, Telmary will receive a thousand offenses for the dinosaurs that fuel hatred in Miami. A few days ago, she was attacked for protesting in Toronto, along with other Cubans living in Canada, for the closure of immigration services at the northern Embassy in Havana, a unilateral decision by the government of Justin Trudeau.
The former component of Free Hole Negro and Interactivo participated in the special Habana de Pie concert, dedicated to raising funds for the victims of the devastating tornado that hit Havana on January 27. "What enriches the culture of a country is its people and we as ambassadors of the arts have a duty to do everything possible for those people who need it so much, and what better way to do it than with music" -expressed exclusively Latin Press
Havana de Martí, Telmary, HabanaSana, Kumar, Frank and ConeXity will continue to claim their right to dream, dance and build.
Written by José ÁngelTéllezVillalón for CUBAHORA
Translated by Susel Esquivel
