10 havaneres per a corda Vol. II Op. 68 (1995)

The Habanera: from popular song to classical music
The ten habaneras for piano I wrote at the beginning of the nineties of the last century are a felt and emotive homage to my hometown, Vilanova i la Geltrú, which popularly is also known as the “Havana Xica” [“Little Havana”]. This is a place of emigrants, of “indianos”, families who came back from Cuba after having become rich –few of them– and who invested their wealth in building hospitals, schools and railway connections to Barcelona. Everything in Vilanova oozes Weat Indian flair: architecture; gastronomy; the carnival shawl dances, which were directly imported from the lounges of the Havana seigniorial houses; entities like the Foment Vilanoví, the gardens of the houses the “indianos” had constructed,

and, above all, a particular way of understanding life: a mixture of irony, kindheartedness and nostalgia of a lost paradise. The habaneras came with the troops, which, as the writer Xavier Garcia related, “defeated and cornered, at their return in 1898, not only brought misery and failure, but also a piece of Cuban soul, which was reflected in their song, to which that people had given life to as a very intimate expression of their cultural singularity”. These habaneras aim to be a little homage to this Vilanova of the xixth century with Cuban soul, but as well to my father, Josep Milà, who had the opportunity to get to know this musical reality on his many trips to Cuba during his youth as a musician on board of ocean liners, shortly before becoming a cellist of the Pau Casals Orchestra and, subsequently, of the Gran Teatre del Liceu. This is how these habaneras came into being, a musical divertimento full of melancholy, which against all forecasts became a little great success. Hence the idea, some years later, of making a transcription for string orchestra. The aim? To reach an even larger public who enjoys these pieces full of feeling, Vilanova’s sea scent and Cuban melody.

The Autor

 

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