Marta Rojas

WE used to live close to the Tumba Francesa and I would often go and watch the dancing, in the style of the African cultures of Congo and Dajomé, interwoven with a French Versaille culture. There, Consuelo -Tecla- Dangel, the Tumba-s queen singer, who had been born in Buenavista and was now 30 years old, invited me to join the line of black dancers, almost all of them descendants of Haitians, and the choir danced in a chain. I learned both things, and in those days came to sing with the famous José Batalla: -I feel honored by the invitation from the Mayora of the Plaza-, I told Mom, because in Los Hoyos it was known that blacks and mixed race Cubans belonged to the Tumba Francesa Society, famous patriots like the Maceos, Guillermón Moncada, Quintín Banderas...and some of Santiago's streets, the most popular ones that started in Los Hoyos, were named after those illustrious patriots.-

-I remember perfectly how the first time that I went with my Robert to the Tumba Francesa, he immediately put his little hands on the tumba skins, the catá and the tambora, and the Mayora of the Plaza had him dance some little steps with her. He carried the rhythm wonderfully, and there was applause when the Mayora let him go: My son was a marvel!-

This is an excerpt from my novel, Rey Spencer's Swing, a love story based on the presence of Caribbean culture in Cuba, especially Jamaican and Haitian, and its French roots in eastern Cuba. It was published two years ago by the Chilean Cuarto Propio publishing house, and soon after by Letras Cubanas.

At that time I never imagined that the Tumba Francesa, and especially La Caridad de Oriente, in Santiago de Cuba, would be officially declared a Master Work of the Oral and Non-Material Heritage of Humanity, along with the carnaval in Baranquilla, northern Colombia; the world vision of the Kallawaya people of Bolivia (a community that lives in the Andean mountains); the Mexican indigenous holidays dedicated to the dead and the oral and graphic expressions of the Wajapi people in Brazil.

The photo illustrating this article reflects the faces of two people who dedicated their lives to the Tumba Francesa. The Mayora of the Plaza in 1988, Yoya, can be seen together with her mother: the queen singer of La Caridad de Santiago, Consuelo - they called her Tecla. She was born free in 1896; at the time Oller took her photo she was 92. In 1988, the Mayora was also an institution; she was 70 then. It's a tradition that parents pass on to children and relatives. José Rufino Benet, Tecla's father, was a slave who bought his freedom. He had a small farm where Tecla, and also Yoya, were born, close to the city of Santiago. He fought in the War of Independence. Yoya-s name was Gaudiola Benet Dangel.

One of the places where the Tumba Francesa was most famous was the house on Paseo de Martí, in Los Hoyos. It's completely true - that is, itìs not a product of fiction - to state that Quintín Banderas, Guillermón Moncada and also Antonio Maceo as an honorary member, belonged to the Society of the Tumba Francesa, since independence supporters were welcomed to the bosom of this fraternity of mutual aid and ceremonial and festive projection.

The proclamation of the Tumba Francesa in Santiago as a Heritage of Humanity should be welcomed by all Cubans as a symbol of pride in a living tradition that deserves to be much more promoted and extolled in our culture.

www.granma.cu       December 24, 2003

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