Professor Juanamaria Cordones Cook will screen the documentary film Rogelio Martínez Furé: A Cuban Griot, followed by a Q&A session.
This film presents the life and work of Rogelio Martínez Furé (born in Matanzas, Cuba. 1937), Afro-Cuban writer, Africanist, scholar of folklore and religion, and founder of the National Folkloric Ballet of Cuba. Through conversations with Martínez Furé and other prominent Afro-Cuban intellectuals-- Georgina Herrera, Nancy Morejón, Manolo Micler, Roberto Zurbano, as well as images and performances of religious rituals and dances of the National Folkloric Ballet and the Olurum Group, this film discloses layers of Cuba’s rich African legacy and cultural heritage. It portrays Martínez Furé as a contemporary griot, a repository of oral tradition who recovers and guards Afro-Cuban and Caribbean silenced memories and true identity.
Event sponsors: Juanamaria Cordones Cook and Adriana Méndez, on behalf of MU's Afro-Romance Institute.
