00:00:53.236 --> 00:00:55.822
I found these images from the eithies.

00:00:58.241 --> 00:01:01.453
They were taken by a photographer
from Santiago: Gloria Figueras.

00:01:05.123 --> 00:01:08.376
I imagined her using her camera
in the middle of the night,

00:01:08.794 --> 00:01:10.545
the sweat and the rum.

00:01:14.049 --> 00:01:17.260
Gloria doesn’t live
in the Island anymore,

00:01:17.385 --> 00:01:19.304
but I managed to track her down.

00:01:20.347 --> 00:01:23.058
I wanted to know how it
felt in the middle of a conga.

00:01:26.478 --> 00:01:28.772
She wrote back:

00:01:29.314 --> 00:01:30.982
I wanted to go inside

00:01:31.399 --> 00:01:34.861
the alienation,
selecting the images

00:01:35.529 --> 00:01:37.697
like a hunter
chasing its prey.

00:02:56.151 --> 00:03:00.197
MAFIFA

00:03:08.788 --> 00:03:12.876
In every journey I start,
I look for an opening door.

00:03:15.795 --> 00:03:18.381
I want to leave this
old planet that is myself.

00:03:21.843 --> 00:03:25.013
To arrive in an unknown
place and become another,

00:03:26.973 --> 00:03:29.726
someone new that won't
forget who she was.

00:03:52.332 --> 00:03:55.001
Even though I prefer
to travel alone,

00:03:55.418 --> 00:03:57.963
Leila came with me this time.

00:03:58.255 --> 00:04:01.967
Can you hear the truck?
- It´s all I can hear.

00:04:03.551 --> 00:04:05.887
I´m tormented by it.

00:04:06.304 --> 00:04:08.723
But, you’re never more alone

00:04:09.933 --> 00:04:12.102
than when you’re making a movie.

00:05:01.067 --> 00:05:03.236
The road separating
the old from the new

00:05:04.195 --> 00:05:05.739
is very long.

00:05:06.197 --> 00:05:07.907
The change is barely noticeable.

00:05:36.978 --> 00:05:40.523
Jennifer couldn't stop moving
since she got in the truck.

00:05:42.525 --> 00:05:47.072
But in a 15 hours trip, it was the most
entertaining thing I've ever lived.

00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:56.539
I asked Jennifer
where she got off...

00:05:59.959 --> 00:06:02.379
Now.
- Wait a minute, get over there.

00:06:03.296 --> 00:06:06.174
... but I didn't understand her answer.

00:06:09.928 --> 00:06:12.680
You're very close, I can't
hear through

00:06:13.056 --> 00:06:15.141
the camera, I hear with my eyes.

00:06:15.642 --> 00:06:18.478
People soon realize
I have a hearing problem.

00:06:19.020 --> 00:06:20.313
I speak just as I hear.

00:06:21.856 --> 00:06:24.359
Ok? Now tell her to see
if she understands you.

00:06:27.404 --> 00:06:29.823
Hey, lower.
- She can't hear me.

00:06:31.574 --> 00:06:33.868
Leila told her I could read her lips.

00:06:35.745 --> 00:06:38.665
Did you understand?
- Before all that...

00:06:39.082 --> 00:06:42.419
Where?
- Tell her.

00:06:43.586 --> 00:06:46.005
Girl...

00:06:49.968 --> 00:06:52.720
Girl, can't you hear?

00:06:56.307 --> 00:06:58.309
Hey, you.

00:06:58.601 --> 00:07:02.647
I told Jennifer I had
a progressive bilateral hearing loss.

00:07:05.984 --> 00:07:09.028
That I couldn't hear her
high-pitched voice,

00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:12.323
or the sound of birds,
or whistling.

00:07:17.370 --> 00:07:21.166
My ear prioritizes low-pitched
sounds above all else.

00:07:23.626 --> 00:07:25.920
I even got hungry.

00:07:26.629 --> 00:07:29.382
With time, my hearing gets
used to it.

00:07:33.261 --> 00:07:36.306
But my body wants to get out
of the infinite tunnel,

00:07:36.681 --> 00:07:40.351
repeating itself in the middle of the dark.

00:07:51.863 --> 00:07:54.908
In the night I find relief,

00:07:55.408 --> 00:07:58.953
eyes start to weigh.

00:08:33.112 --> 00:08:35.949
I was told about the
heat of Santiago.

00:08:36.407 --> 00:08:39.911
About its hills and the party
during the carnivals.

00:08:40.703 --> 00:08:43.915
But it was the energy of the conga
that grabbed my attention.

00:08:50.838 --> 00:08:54.259
The Los Hoyos conga is the most
known in Cuba,

00:08:55.385 --> 00:08:57.845
and also the oldest in the city.

00:09:02.767 --> 00:09:06.020
I went looking for Félix Banderas,
its director.

00:09:06.729 --> 00:09:09.524
I wanted to know
if women played there.

00:09:09.774 --> 00:09:12.402
No, look, from here
two bell players arisen.

00:09:12.735 --> 00:09:15.280
The first one was called
Ana Limonta.

00:09:15.488 --> 00:09:18.825
Before Gladys.
And...

00:09:19.492 --> 00:09:22.996
Ana Limonta played the bell
like two or three years here.

00:09:23.621 --> 00:09:27.250
And Gladys was learning,
like she were her apprentice.

00:09:28.001 --> 00:09:32.255
Gladys joins after
Ana Limonta retires from the conga.

00:09:33.590 --> 00:09:37.260
And it's been, well, the bell player…
most renowned,

00:09:37.760 --> 00:09:40.221
the one with the most popularity.

00:09:40.471 --> 00:09:43.391
She came here and...
and people reacted

00:09:45.059 --> 00:09:48.313
Here's Gladys, here's Gladys.
That is, the enthusiasm...

00:09:48.855 --> 00:09:52.317
of people was to see the
woman bell player.

00:09:52.525 --> 00:09:54.652
She was our supervisor.

00:09:55.570 --> 00:09:57.655
When we were arguing, she said:

00:09:58.156 --> 00:10:01.576
What's going on?
What are you arguing about?

00:10:01.993 --> 00:10:04.370
And then everybody
would go like this.

00:10:04.537 --> 00:10:07.999
There were no thugs or cowards
that would stand up to her,

00:10:08.207 --> 00:10:09.959
because she was a woman of…
respect.

00:10:10.376 --> 00:10:12.879
Was she short?
- Yes, shorter than you.

00:10:13.421 --> 00:10:16.424
Shorter than me?
- Yes. Stand there.

00:10:18.843 --> 00:10:21.054
About your height.
- I'm short.

00:10:21.888 --> 00:10:24.599
I have a picture of her,
you haven't seen her?

00:10:27.310 --> 00:10:30.355
Then I knew of Gladys,
the bell player.

00:10:32.649 --> 00:10:34.442
She was called Mafifa.

00:10:37.445 --> 00:10:39.072
She died 40 years ago.

00:11:09.977 --> 00:11:12.397
Haven't you tried to rescue the tradition?
- No.

00:11:14.482 --> 00:11:17.485
Because to look for one like that
is very hard.

00:11:18.444 --> 00:11:22.073
We've tried three, but they're not
of Gladys' character.

00:11:23.908 --> 00:11:25.952
Gladys was an irreplaceable woman.

00:11:27.078 --> 00:11:30.039
The musicians of that
time took care of her.

00:11:31.124 --> 00:11:33.042
They called her The Girl. The Girl.

00:12:31.768 --> 00:12:35.354
I wanted to know more about Mafifa.
I wasn't sure why.

00:12:38.608 --> 00:12:40.693
Banderas told me where she lived.

00:12:43.696 --> 00:12:45.948
I was hoping to find a family member,

00:12:46.949 --> 00:12:48.743
but nobody answered the door.

00:12:49.494 --> 00:12:51.746
What?
- How did that house use to be?

00:12:52.163 --> 00:12:54.749
Like you see it,
that's how it was.

00:12:55.082 --> 00:12:59.712
Child, tell me. Why are you
asking so many questions?

00:13:01.339 --> 00:13:04.175
We're making a documentary
about Gladys.

00:13:04.425 --> 00:13:06.844
Gladys, Mafifa, was a little shit.

00:13:07.053 --> 00:13:09.138
Of height and body she was nothing,

00:13:09.347 --> 00:13:11.557
but with the bell.

00:13:12.016 --> 00:13:16.354
Hey, no man here
in Cuba, well, not the world

00:13:18.147 --> 00:13:20.316
has been able to get that big bell

00:13:21.984 --> 00:13:24.403
To..., look,
- To start

00:13:24.821 --> 00:13:27.615
Wait, Santiago, yeah.

00:13:27.824 --> 00:13:30.660
To all Santiago de Cuba
to go tin-ti-ti-qui-tin, hey!

00:13:31.244 --> 00:13:35.248
Even in other countries.
- Even, shit, the Los Hoyos Conga.

00:13:36.999 --> 00:13:39.335
So you remember
her, did you meet her?

00:13:39.585 --> 00:13:42.839
Of course I remember, if…
- She was a neighbor of the area.

00:13:43.506 --> 00:13:48.928
Look, there, look there, we
were raised here.

00:13:49.262 --> 00:13:52.723
My mom's alive,
and why don't you ask

00:13:53.099 --> 00:13:56.227
a few questions to my mom?
- Well, lets go, yes.

00:13:56.435 --> 00:13:57.687
Come, so you see.

00:13:58.145 --> 00:14:00.606
That was the greatest bell player...

00:14:06.654 --> 00:14:09.073
Look where I live, look.

00:14:09.282 --> 00:14:11.450
That's... that's my mom.

00:14:11.784 --> 00:14:14.370
Hello, we were
talking with him

00:14:14.579 --> 00:14:17.665
and so he told us that
he more or less remembers Gladys,

00:14:17.874 --> 00:14:20.042
Mafifa, the bell player.

00:14:20.418 --> 00:14:23.504
Of course, my darling.
- You see, you see?

00:14:24.088 --> 00:14:27.341
So, well,
you've been here all your life,

00:14:27.550 --> 00:14:29.635
have you always lived here?

00:14:30.136 --> 00:14:33.055
A whole life here, in
this New street.

00:14:35.057 --> 00:14:37.560
You met the family
across the street.

00:14:38.060 --> 00:14:41.230
Of course, darling, everyone,
even family, because Rafaelita

00:14:42.189 --> 00:14:45.484
was my mom's first sister.
-They're even family.

00:14:45.860 --> 00:14:48.696
Gladys' family, Rafaelita...

00:14:49.113 --> 00:14:51.908
A good family, never
a fight,

00:14:53.701 --> 00:14:57.580
and in that house there were forty,
forty people there.

00:14:59.415 --> 00:15:02.376
In that house lived
over forty people, didn't I tell you?

00:15:03.085 --> 00:15:04.670
Hold on, Fernando...
- What?

00:15:04.921 --> 00:15:08.174
She was a shoe shiner,
she was a shoe shiner,

00:15:08.925 --> 00:15:11.344
She started shining boots.

00:15:11.594 --> 00:15:15.181
carrying a little box in her shoulders,
working for pennies,

00:15:15.389 --> 00:15:18.684
because they were poor,
my child, very poor

00:15:18.935 --> 00:15:21.020
it was a damaged big house.

00:15:21.228 --> 00:15:23.898
It had wooden floors,
when they'd go in

00:15:24.190 --> 00:15:27.234
they'd step on a plank and
the whole house would tremble.

00:15:27.485 --> 00:15:29.946
You think it's a lie.
The house would tremble,

00:15:30.196 --> 00:15:32.615
my child, it wasn't any good.

00:15:32.823 --> 00:15:36.243
Until she got that bell, well...
The greatest bell player, now.

00:15:37.119 --> 00:15:40.623
Hear me out, nobody could play
the bell like that.

00:15:41.499 --> 00:15:44.210
Very skinny looking like
a little matchstick

00:15:44.502 --> 00:15:46.379
with a bell that weighed so much.

00:15:46.837 --> 00:15:49.131
Around the globe she´d go...
- All of Santiago.

00:15:49.674 --> 00:15:51.968
... playing that bell.
- All Santiago de Cuba.

00:15:52.259 --> 00:15:56.055
I'm going to the mess…
- The Los Hoyos Conga.

00:15:56.472 --> 00:15:58.849
... hey it's me, I'm going
to roll you over

00:15:59.141 --> 00:16:01.268
That's the Los Hoyos conga.

00:16:01.560 --> 00:16:04.605
But she would go round
Santiago and nobody...

00:16:04.855 --> 00:16:07.400
she wouldn't give
that big bell to anybody...

00:16:07.566 --> 00:16:09.944
To nobody, on her own,
I don't know, really

00:16:10.695 --> 00:16:13.572
And she was very skinny,
- Yeah, skinny, like this.

00:16:13.823 --> 00:16:15.741
Look, how my mom is
now, look.

00:16:16.075 --> 00:16:19.203
Skinny like a little root.
- Even I, little like that.

00:16:19.537 --> 00:16:22.289
She never had a partner...
-No relationships, my child.

00:16:22.581 --> 00:16:24.959
Wait there, of love
and all that, no, no, no...

00:16:25.167 --> 00:16:26.585
But she was respected.

00:16:26.836 --> 00:16:29.380
 
I never knew of a man with her. What?
- No.

00:16:29.714 --> 00:16:31.507
Or nobody. Nah.
Nothing at all.

00:16:31.716 --> 00:16:34.593
She dominated men.
- Ah, you're crazy.

00:16:34.844 --> 00:16:37.179
When she said enough
nobody could fight her.

00:16:37.471 --> 00:16:40.516
And then, she never
wore shorts nor pants.

00:16:41.517 --> 00:16:44.186
Do you know what she wore?
- What?

00:16:46.897 --> 00:16:49.817
Those big dresses,
old ones.

00:16:50.026 --> 00:16:52.403
What did she wear?
- A little dress like this,

00:16:52.611 --> 00:16:55.197
like if she were a little cook,
she had a...

00:16:55.364 --> 00:16:57.575
Yeah, a tie
- The little knot here.

00:16:57.992 --> 00:17:00.453
There
- It's true, she never wore shorts.

00:17:00.661 --> 00:17:02.747
Nor pants.
- And pants even less.

00:17:02.955 --> 00:17:05.291
The little dress.
Always her little dress.

00:17:05.499 --> 00:17:08.002
Ah, so you won't think...
- Yes, sir.

00:17:08.294 --> 00:17:10.629
But she never dropped the bell.
- Never.

00:17:10.921 --> 00:17:13.049
Never got in trouble
with anybody.

00:17:13.257 --> 00:17:15.509
No, never
- She was very good, very good.

00:17:15.843 --> 00:17:18.429
She had a good heart.
- No, never, never.

00:17:18.721 --> 00:17:21.015
Not with men...
- I admired the drinking,

00:17:21.265 --> 00:17:23.726
and she was never on the floor.…
And never.

00:17:24.060 --> 00:17:27.146
She never cursed, nothing.
- No, nothing, at all.

00:17:27.313 --> 00:17:30.441
And she would tell men:
hey, we're done for today,

00:17:31.025 --> 00:17:32.610
let's keep going tomorrow.

00:17:32.943 --> 00:17:36.489
And that's it,
the men, would rap up.

00:17:36.906 --> 00:17:38.991
They listened to her,
it wasn't easy.

00:17:39.241 --> 00:17:42.078
They obeyed her. I've never
seen such a thing.

00:17:47.333 --> 00:17:51.003
I started to build
a picture of Mafifa.

00:17:51.796 --> 00:17:55.674
Was her voice high-pitched,
like the sound of her bell?

00:17:58.010 --> 00:18:02.014
If that were the case,
I would barely be able to hear her.

00:18:05.351 --> 00:18:08.270
We don’t choose what to
remember from a person.

00:18:09.438 --> 00:18:12.399
Their voice, their looks, their energy.

00:18:15.820 --> 00:18:17.738
What do we remember and why?

00:18:18.781 --> 00:18:21.534
How much did they really
know Gladys?

00:18:24.286 --> 00:18:27.998
When I film the others,
I forget about myself.

00:18:28.666 --> 00:18:31.752
Maybe Mafifa felt the same
playing her bell.

00:19:07.830 --> 00:19:11.167
I don’t see happy people
in the middle of the party.

00:19:14.336 --> 00:19:16.672
What is happiness?

00:19:29.560 --> 00:19:31.979
There is a promise of
stillness in movement,

00:19:38.694 --> 00:19:41.363
the body looks for
itself in repetition.

00:19:47.244 --> 00:19:49.872
What happens if it finds itself?

00:20:10.226 --> 00:20:13.395
A trail disappears
when sound wears out,

00:20:15.022 --> 00:20:18.192
but almost immediately a
new one appears.

00:21:25.467 --> 00:21:28.304
Nobody's afraid of the camera.

00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:32.474
They hold their gaze

00:21:32.766 --> 00:21:36.145
as if they were setting their step
before that slow fever

00:21:36.353 --> 00:21:38.105
that is oblivion.

00:21:42.026 --> 00:21:44.361
I want to invest in that look.

00:21:45.154 --> 00:21:47.573
To find refuge in the
other for an instant.

00:21:48.324 --> 00:21:49.950
And see myself.

00:21:52.578 --> 00:21:54.997
What I see of myself…

00:21:55.205 --> 00:21:57.833
might fixate myself in time.

00:22:57.559 --> 00:22:59.853
July. Is it July?

00:23:00.938 --> 00:23:01.939
1980

00:23:11.698 --> 00:23:15.077
This is hard.

00:23:21.291 --> 00:23:24.002
How old was she when she died?
- The 11th or the 12th.

00:23:24.420 --> 00:23:27.798
How old?
- You have to look well for it because…

00:23:39.143 --> 00:23:42.604
Sale in drinks.
- They teach us how to deepen

00:23:42.980 --> 00:23:46.400
the history of the Motherland.

00:23:49.611 --> 00:23:52.281
Look, it says: there is the offer of the

00:23:52.614 --> 00:23:55.409
80th Santiago de Cuba´s Carnival,
from the 18th to the

00:23:55.826 --> 00:23:58.745
27th of this month,
and while we overcome

00:23:59.455 --> 00:24:02.624
the material preparation
of this unique celebration

00:24:02.875 --> 00:24:05.210
our people gets ready to
enrichen culture.

00:24:05.669 --> 00:24:07.963
On the other hand, the carnival
will have 120

00:24:08.422 --> 00:24:10.632
musical groups...120!

00:24:11.049 --> 00:24:14.303
Artistic show on Saturday,
and aquatic carnival on Sunday.

00:24:24.271 --> 00:24:26.857
Look, see, look, I found it!
- Oh!

00:24:28.817 --> 00:24:32.821
We found it.
The 15th of July.

00:24:33.655 --> 00:24:34.656
You found it?

00:24:34.948 --> 00:24:38.660
Yes, it’s like three days later.
- Ah.

00:24:44.958 --> 00:24:48.962
The bell player from Los Hoyos
passed away, the soul of the parade.

00:24:49.379 --> 00:24:51.757
People said goodbye with the
endearing feeling

00:24:52.090 --> 00:24:54.009
with which they guard
their traditions.

00:24:54.218 --> 00:24:56.386
An endless procession followed her

00:24:56.678 --> 00:24:59.097
through the streets of Marti´s
neighbourhood

00:24:59.473 --> 00:25:02.392
where 25 years ago
Gladys Esther Linares Acuña

00:25:02.809 --> 00:25:05.521
started to play the magic iron
of the conga,

00:25:05.896 --> 00:25:08.065
amongst those in the know, the male bell.

00:25:08.273 --> 00:25:10.317
Last time she was heard
was last Saturday.

00:25:11.026 --> 00:25:14.154
Gladys was happier than ever
showing her proverbial good spirits

00:25:14.530 --> 00:25:16.907
that made her treat everyone
as an equal.

00:25:17.115 --> 00:25:20.536
The players speak of her with
admiration and deep respect.

00:25:20.744 --> 00:25:22.412
She was our girl.

00:25:24.081 --> 00:25:27.000
How nice.

00:25:31.588 --> 00:25:36.218
The article didn’t cite Mafifa’s ideas,
about women,

00:25:36.718 --> 00:25:38.887
even less about personal
realization.

00:25:41.139 --> 00:25:44.726
Mafifa was remembered like
a monument, a building,

00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:48.564
but with no furniture,
no pictures,

00:25:48.897 --> 00:25:50.816
no memories.

00:25:51.400 --> 00:25:53.569
Alba, I need…
- What?

00:25:53.902 --> 00:25:56.154
Because they’re looking for…
- Who?

00:25:56.738 --> 00:25:59.283
Gladys, the bell player from Los Hoyos.

00:26:00.450 --> 00:26:04.413
The archive workers read
she was buried July 14th, 1980.

00:26:06.915 --> 00:26:11.753
Gladys, Santiago de Cuba,
at 44 years old she died. Oh, girl.

00:26:12.379 --> 00:26:15.465
How old?
-44. Single.

00:26:15.882 --> 00:26:18.927
Cause of death, acute myocardial
infarction.

00:26:20.220 --> 00:26:23.807
Santiago de Cuba’s Civil Registry,
14 - 7 - 80.

00:26:25.851 --> 00:26:28.770
They say you had to listen to that
lady playing that bell.

00:26:30.647 --> 00:26:32.983
You had to respect her
in her playing.

00:26:35.485 --> 00:26:38.530
She was possibly
one of the best,

00:26:39.865 --> 00:26:43.243
if not the best that
played the bell in that conga.

00:26:46.163 --> 00:26:48.999
For the rumba let’s play
the quinto drum and the bell.

00:26:49.416 --> 00:26:51.960
And after quinto drum and bell,
WAM, the conga.

00:26:54.379 --> 00:26:56.840
Whenever you want my love,
we’ll do it with music.

00:26:57.799 --> 00:26:59.968
Straight, cha-qui-ti-qui-chan,
only.

00:27:00.552 --> 00:27:02.638
Let’s align, let’s align.

00:27:14.191 --> 00:27:15.901
Now?

00:27:16.234 --> 00:27:18.737
Mayte is a choreographer for
one of the children’s

00:27:18.945 --> 00:27:19.946
congas in Santiago.

00:27:20.322 --> 00:27:22.532
Come on, let’s give it some
conga, Jonathan.

00:27:36.463 --> 00:27:38.965
Her and her daughter
play the bell.

00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:57.859
Mayté started to play in
the conga because

00:27:58.443 --> 00:28:01.238
her director wanted
to include a woman bell player.

00:28:04.449 --> 00:28:07.744
But that tradition was born in Los Hoyos,

00:28:10.205 --> 00:28:12.999
where they haven’t managed
to find a player like Mafifa.

00:28:16.211 --> 00:28:19.548
When I asked Mayté
what she enjoyed to do more,

00:28:20.215 --> 00:28:22.926
she told me that working
with the children.

00:28:23.969 --> 00:28:26.596
I think Mafifa would answer
to be in the conga,

00:28:27.055 --> 00:28:30.350
to play the male bell,
to drink rum with her friends.

00:28:53.707 --> 00:28:57.085
The only thing that brought
the tree bell players

00:28:57.544 --> 00:29:01.631
closer inside me...
- Three, four, five.

00:29:02.048 --> 00:29:04.926
was to believe that they felt special
playing the bell.

00:29:36.583 --> 00:29:38.627
I use to complete with memories,

00:29:39.002 --> 00:29:41.671
some sounds from the world
that come to me.

00:29:51.640 --> 00:29:55.685
I imagine the singing of the
birds, the sound of the bell,

00:29:56.269 --> 00:29:59.856
to reconstruct those I cannot
manage to listen.

00:30:18.834 --> 00:30:21.628
They call her The Indian
because of her hair,

00:30:23.421 --> 00:30:26.007
but her
name is Gladys, like Mafifa.

00:30:33.014 --> 00:30:36.017
Gladys Linares Acuña started
to come to the Los Hoyos conga,

00:30:38.019 --> 00:30:41.481
The Cocoyé, at fifteen,
and she wasn’t a

00:30:42.107 --> 00:30:44.818
bell player yet or anything.

00:30:45.902 --> 00:30:48.029
Her friend Salchivo would bring her,

00:30:48.446 --> 00:30:51.032
because her parents would only
give that consent

00:30:51.575 --> 00:30:55.245
to Gladys, with Salchivo,
it was her family’s trust,

00:30:55.662 --> 00:30:58.832
and from then on him,
The Girl, the Girl and the Girl,

00:30:59.207 --> 00:31:01.042
and suddenly the Girl
got a bell

00:31:01.251 --> 00:31:02.752
and started playing.

00:31:02.961 --> 00:31:05.714
Gladys… do you have any idea how

00:31:06.172 --> 00:31:08.675
the other Gladys felt in the conga?

00:31:08.842 --> 00:31:10.886
Aw, my child, that was explosive.

00:31:11.094 --> 00:31:12.554
She played very seriously

00:31:13.430 --> 00:31:15.640
but she finished them all playing,

00:31:16.474 --> 00:31:18.894
because men
couldn’t play like her.

00:31:19.269 --> 00:31:21.313
Because there are three
ways of playing,

00:31:21.521 --> 00:31:23.815
there are three bells,
and her bell was

00:31:24.149 --> 00:31:25.942
the one with the most…

00:31:26.318 --> 00:31:28.278
they would call it
the male bell,

00:31:28.612 --> 00:31:31.740
the way Gladys played it…
she would move her head,

00:31:32.157 --> 00:31:34.868
I don’t know how she did that.
-What would she do?

00:31:35.285 --> 00:31:37.621
That she would move it
when she played,

00:31:37.913 --> 00:31:40.332
not always, but when she
got excited that…

00:31:42.083 --> 00:31:45.086
That was a conga!
To be respected, there it was…

00:31:45.545 --> 00:31:47.380
Glayds knew how to play the bocu,

00:31:47.589 --> 00:31:50.508
knew how to play
the drum, the side conga drum,

00:31:50.717 --> 00:31:53.637
she could dance rumba,
played rumba,

00:31:54.095 --> 00:31:56.306
among all those men,
because when rumba played

00:31:56.681 --> 00:31:58.558
there were hundreds of men.

00:31:58.767 --> 00:32:01.937
She was the first one to give
money for the money pool

00:32:02.145 --> 00:32:05.148
the money pool is for drinking,
you know all those

00:32:05.357 --> 00:32:09.694
things are connected,
rumba, with rum.

00:32:10.779 --> 00:32:14.282
She drank rum, more than
men, and would surpass them too.

00:32:15.325 --> 00:32:19.120
They were generally ugly-faced,
but they played

00:32:19.245 --> 00:32:22.248
with their nappy hair,
with the body,

00:32:22.666 --> 00:32:24.960
with the face, with the…

00:32:25.210 --> 00:32:27.462
everything, that they felt
that music,

00:32:27.796 --> 00:32:29.798
they made faces,
and things like that

00:32:30.006 --> 00:32:31.925
that would fill me with emotion.

00:32:32.342 --> 00:32:34.636
So this is the picture
of Gladys Linares

00:32:35.261 --> 00:32:37.889
that she was in the carnivals
with Neno

00:32:40.475 --> 00:32:43.144
they were intimate friends,
along with Salchivo.

00:32:43.269 --> 00:32:47.607
I never saw her with girlfriends,
there were always guy friends,

00:32:48.608 --> 00:32:51.152
all the men in the
conga, older men

00:32:51.277 --> 00:32:53.738
and contemporary with her
adored her.

00:32:54.406 --> 00:32:57.826
For me it was so common to see her
amongst all those men,

00:32:58.451 --> 00:33:01.329
but she was like a princess,
like a light.

00:33:01.538 --> 00:33:04.165
She would walk around with
low heeled shoes,

00:33:04.332 --> 00:33:06.710
as you can see she dressed
with a wide skirt,

00:33:06.918 --> 00:33:09.045
didn’t use a purse,
she would say to me:

00:33:09.421 --> 00:33:13.675
I have pockets in my shirts
so I don’t have to hold a purse.

00:33:14.092 --> 00:33:16.720
Because she said it bothered her.
And I said to her:

00:33:17.178 --> 00:33:19.431
Gladys, is your hair curly like that?

00:33:19.639 --> 00:33:22.058
She said: Do you think I
have the heart

00:33:22.392 --> 00:33:24.769
to style it with a hot comb?

00:33:25.270 --> 00:33:27.355
She was hilarious,
she didn’t speak much,

00:33:27.814 --> 00:33:30.525
but very, very funny,
very nice.

00:33:31.192 --> 00:33:33.737
This is a picture where
Salchivo is,

00:33:34.738 --> 00:33:36.823
because I don’t have any
picture with her,

00:33:37.365 --> 00:33:40.076
her great friend,
the one who named her The Girl.

00:33:41.494 --> 00:33:44.414
And nobody called her Gladys,
Mafifa here and Mafifa there.

00:33:46.624 --> 00:33:51.087
This picture is from July ‘86,
and this one is Africa in Los Hoyos

00:33:52.338 --> 00:33:54.382
that’s the name the conga
had that year,

00:33:54.591 --> 00:33:56.718
that is, she had already
passed away.

00:33:56.926 --> 00:33:58.636
How was the funeral? How…?

00:33:59.345 --> 00:34:02.307
Oh! Thousands of people.
It was the first funeral

00:34:02.515 --> 00:34:05.143
in Santiago de Cuba
with the conga playing.

00:34:05.435 --> 00:34:08.563
Until it was time to bury her,
until then they played for her,

00:34:08.980 --> 00:34:12.067
those men cried, screamed,
Salchivo hit trucks

00:34:13.777 --> 00:34:16.529
with the stick,
and I told him: Salchivo, no,

00:34:16.946 --> 00:34:19.949
but he was desperate,
they were desperate.

00:34:20.241 --> 00:34:22.994
She was a very mourned woman,
greatly appreciated,

00:34:23.369 --> 00:34:25.830
very respected.

00:34:25.997 --> 00:34:28.333
And well, there are things
I shouldn’t say.

00:34:28.541 --> 00:34:31.544
Why?
- Because she was very slandered.

00:34:31.878 --> 00:34:35.256
Slandered by some people,
because they didn’t see her

00:34:35.465 --> 00:34:38.885
with a boyfriend,
she didn’t marry or anything, you know

00:34:40.053 --> 00:34:43.556
But slandered how,
in what way?

00:34:44.015 --> 00:34:48.520
Well, there were people who said that
she wasn’t a woman,

00:34:48.853 --> 00:34:50.730
she was something else.

00:34:50.939 --> 00:34:52.148
You know?

00:34:53.149 --> 00:34:55.318
I would say to her:
Ay, Glayds…

00:34:55.527 --> 00:34:57.737
I don’t care what they say about me,

00:34:57.946 --> 00:34:59.948
when I die
I’m going to die alone.

00:35:01.366 --> 00:35:03.868
Good point.
- I lived what I had to live,

00:35:04.285 --> 00:35:06.287
I enjoyed what I had to enjoy,

00:35:06.746 --> 00:35:11.167
I’ve been loved,
I have "loved"

00:35:11.668 --> 00:35:13.711
because I love a little weird

00:35:14.129 --> 00:35:16.464
like I fall in love
I fall out of love

00:35:16.881 --> 00:35:19.592
I fall in love every day.
Just so you to know.

00:35:22.846 --> 00:35:24.472
Mafifa banished love.

00:35:25.849 --> 00:35:28.601
The Indian made it an
interchangeable animal.

00:35:30.311 --> 00:35:33.189
I’ve done what I wanted,
I don’t care what anybody says.

00:35:33.815 --> 00:35:36.317
No, I’m the queen of my kingdom.

00:35:38.486 --> 00:35:41.239
When we got there,
The Indian was in the dark

00:35:43.658 --> 00:35:45.994
with cottons in her ears,

00:35:47.871 --> 00:35:51.541
like she was trying to banish the
street and the people,

00:35:51.916 --> 00:35:54.210
to be more alone.

00:35:57.463 --> 00:36:00.758
When she opened the windows
for us to film

00:36:01.342 --> 00:36:03.428
she was eager to talk.

00:36:11.936 --> 00:36:14.230
I told her I would come
back to visit her.

00:36:15.148 --> 00:36:17.358
A few months later, she died.

00:36:45.220 --> 00:36:46.888
Daniela.
- What?

00:36:47.555 --> 00:36:52.602
Are you looking for the school?
- No, we’re looking for Gorgojos street.

00:36:53.144 --> 00:36:55.855
The Gorgojos?
On the other side of the line.

00:36:56.231 --> 00:36:59.609
On the other side of the line?
- Yes, over there

00:37:03.488 --> 00:37:05.698
What?
- Don’t you want to ask him…

00:37:05.907 --> 00:37:08.993
where that man lives?
But, don’t you want to film it?

00:37:22.215 --> 00:37:25.426
What are you doing?
- Hello, excuse me, and do you know

00:37:26.094 --> 00:37:29.555
where… Lorencito… the brujero, lives?

00:37:29.806 --> 00:37:31.724
Lorencito?

00:37:31.975 --> 00:37:34.018
Or Lorenzo.

00:37:34.227 --> 00:37:36.479
He lives over there…
and I’m Lorencito.

00:37:36.813 --> 00:37:38.564
Eh?
- I’m Lorencito.

00:37:38.856 --> 00:37:41.067
The what?
-I’m Lorencito.

00:37:41.359 --> 00:37:45.196
You’re Lorencito?!
Eliecer’s dad?

00:37:47.198 --> 00:37:49.450
Ah… we came looking for you.

00:37:49.951 --> 00:37:52.620
we came here to San Luis
looking for you.

00:37:53.454 --> 00:37:55.164
Me? What for?

00:37:55.456 --> 00:37:56.332
Oh, excuse me.

00:37:57.709 --> 00:38:01.170
Give me some time, give me ten mins,
wait…

00:38:16.019 --> 00:38:18.855
That’s funny, we were walking next
to you all this time.

00:38:19.480 --> 00:38:21.357
Well, we’re making
a documentary…

00:38:21.858 --> 00:38:24.485
about Gladys, the bell player
from Los Hoyos.

00:38:24.694 --> 00:38:27.488
Ah, no, come over here
to my house, that’s better.

00:38:27.697 --> 00:38:29.490
Ok

00:38:35.830 --> 00:38:38.833
Don’t mind my house,
it’s a mess.

00:38:45.048 --> 00:38:47.717
Come on in.
- Ay, sorry for coming...

00:38:47.925 --> 00:38:50.678
... filming like that
- No, it doesn’t matter.

00:38:50.928 --> 00:38:53.890
We were just filming
the streets and the neighbourhood

00:38:54.057 --> 00:38:56.768
we didn’t know it was you.

00:38:56.976 --> 00:39:00.229
Yes…, because you were asking,
well, and got here.

00:39:00.563 --> 00:39:03.191
Well, nothing, we got to
Eliecer through Luisito,

00:39:03.399 --> 00:39:06.319
the one who played at the
Los Hoyos conga?

00:39:06.527 --> 00:39:09.113
Yes.
- And he was the one who told us…

00:39:09.364 --> 00:39:11.741
that Gladys’ bell
was handed to you.

00:39:11.949 --> 00:39:14.077
Well… I started as a
kid, very young

00:39:14.827 --> 00:39:18.915
I was like eighteen,
and I learned with the late Gladys,

00:39:22.710 --> 00:39:25.713
and I stayed as first bell player.

00:39:27.757 --> 00:39:30.134
Bebé! That dog is the neighbour’s.

00:39:31.260 --> 00:39:35.056
He sleeps here and I give him food.
Come here Bebé, come take this!

00:39:37.433 --> 00:39:39.727
Hey, not you!

00:39:44.565 --> 00:39:46.943
Yaqui, go away!

00:39:55.076 --> 00:39:58.079
Come in and sit down.
- Thank you.

00:40:01.416 --> 00:40:03.459
How was Gladys? Do you remember

00:40:03.876 --> 00:40:06.212
how she
was like, her personality?

00:40:06.671 --> 00:40:10.299
Small, but pretty
brave, that she was.

00:40:11.676 --> 00:40:14.011
She would go out and
wouldn’t rest, and when

00:40:14.595 --> 00:40:18.641
I said: Teacher, give me, she
said: I’m not tired.

00:40:19.016 --> 00:40:21.352
Indeed, she when she
was in the conga

00:40:21.602 --> 00:40:24.814
she wasn’t afraid at all,
and that was the only great woman

00:40:25.022 --> 00:40:27.650
that we all felt her absence

00:40:28.401 --> 00:40:31.821
and any time they talk about her
we still feel it.

00:40:32.447 --> 00:40:35.908
I’m going to show you a picture that…
- Okay, let’s see.

00:40:36.117 --> 00:40:39.620
… that we managed… ow.
- Look.

00:40:49.672 --> 00:40:53.384
That there is her playing,
look at her, that’s her.

00:40:57.346 --> 00:41:00.057
We all became fond
of her, the only woman

00:41:02.226 --> 00:41:04.312
to give strength to that conga.

00:41:06.647 --> 00:41:08.941
That’s me,
that’s her and there’s me

00:41:11.402 --> 00:41:15.239
And how was the relationship
of you all with her?

00:41:15.948 --> 00:41:18.868
How do you think she felt…?
- She was my mother.

00:41:19.869 --> 00:41:21.871
What?
- She was my mother,

00:41:22.246 --> 00:41:24.081
everybody said that…

00:41:24.457 --> 00:41:26.834
she was my mom,
and I said: That’s my mom.

00:41:27.293 --> 00:41:31.839
I went to her house with Salchivo,
who plays the requinto drum,

00:41:34.217 --> 00:41:37.553
the old man who plays the requinto drum,
we went there,

00:41:37.762 --> 00:41:40.681
then we stayed,
went to a corner,

00:41:40.890 --> 00:41:44.143
I brought the bell,
he brought the requinto drum and

00:41:44.685 --> 00:41:47.480
we sat on the corner,
to have a few drinks,

00:41:47.939 --> 00:41:50.608
and there we rehearsed,
and she crashing there,

00:41:52.860 --> 00:41:55.279
that’s the rhythm we have
in a conga to give

00:41:55.488 --> 00:41:56.989
strength to the conga.

00:41:57.448 --> 00:42:00.826
And before she played alone,
she had no substitute, she had nobody,

00:42:01.035 --> 00:42:04.705
and then the substitute now was me,
how I liked it

00:42:05.331 --> 00:42:08.084
I liked playing a lot,
and the excitement

00:42:09.168 --> 00:42:11.879
and all that,
I said: No, give me that, give me that

00:42:12.296 --> 00:42:15.550
and she sometimes said:
You’re going to be the greatest

00:42:16.050 --> 00:42:17.843
bell player in the world,

00:42:18.386 --> 00:42:21.222
and I said: No, no, no way,
I can’t surpass you.

00:42:21.722 --> 00:42:24.850
She says: No,
you’re not going to surpass me,

00:42:25.142 --> 00:42:27.520
you’re going to be the
better bell player

00:42:27.812 --> 00:42:30.648
And isn’t it true?
That she died and I stayed.

00:42:33.025 --> 00:42:35.570
I’m thinking…
- Do you wanna know how to play?

00:42:37.446 --> 00:42:41.075
Is that something you can explain?
- The bell is easy,

00:42:41.492 --> 00:42:45.162
but it has its rhythm,
tan-ti-tin-quin-tan-tin-quin-tan.

00:42:45.538 --> 00:42:49.584
It’s a three and two, that’s the middle
bell, Gladys’,

00:42:49.792 --> 00:42:52.920
that’s the main bell,
the one that calls;

00:42:54.547 --> 00:42:57.758
the peanut seller one, the one
that accompanies Gladys’,

00:43:00.094 --> 00:43:05.391
you understand?
The one-hit is the one that sounds

00:43:05.891 --> 00:43:09.478
like a church bell.
But the middle one is the one that

00:43:10.021 --> 00:43:12.481
comprises everything,
the one that calls…

00:43:13.190 --> 00:43:16.861
that makes the conga, is the one that
closes the conga.

00:43:17.403 --> 00:43:19.989
I was thinking about
the weight of the bell...

00:43:20.781 --> 00:43:23.534
Oh! It weights a bit.
- ... and in the Sun and everything

00:43:24.785 --> 00:43:27.330
In the Sun, with that bell,
we had to put

00:43:27.872 --> 00:43:31.083
ice inside the bell,
because it burnt

00:43:32.209 --> 00:43:35.630
all our fingers,
but when you have a couple of drinks

00:43:36.881 --> 00:43:40.176
that people hand you,
you forget your finger is burnt

00:43:40.593 --> 00:43:43.387
you forget about everything,
it’s forward until you die,

00:43:44.347 --> 00:43:48.517
if you died on the way, that’s it,
but if it’s forward, then forward

00:43:49.560 --> 00:43:51.062
You understand?

00:43:51.437 --> 00:43:54.273
Until what year were
you playing?

00:43:54.607 --> 00:43:57.318
I stopped playing
around ten years ago

00:43:57.902 --> 00:44:01.989
Yes, ten years I stopped
playing in the conga,

00:44:02.198 --> 00:44:05.576
I stopped playing, I played before,
and then later it died,

00:44:05.826 --> 00:44:09.955
they died after Gladys,
the best players there died

00:44:10.331 --> 00:44:13.834
the old ones,
I went downhill, and I said,

00:44:14.210 --> 00:44:16.629
well… I went to look for my corner

00:44:16.921 --> 00:44:19.548
like old people do,
to wait for Nature

00:44:19.757 --> 00:44:21.550
to finish me.

00:45:41.964 --> 00:45:45.301
The moto-taxis of Santiago
scared me the first time.

00:45:48.554 --> 00:45:51.182
Then they seemed an
extremity of my body.

00:45:59.774 --> 00:46:05.070
The speed put pieces of
something forming

00:46:05.279 --> 00:46:07.031
at the same time that
it disappeared.

00:46:44.985 --> 00:46:47.571
Where would you be more
comfortable to start?

00:46:48.322 --> 00:46:51.242
Where you ask me.
- Well then let’s start with...

00:46:51.700 --> 00:46:54.995
... let’s start with Gladys.
- Gladys Esther Linares,

00:46:57.164 --> 00:46:59.416
who was my aunt,
had the nickname Mafifa,

00:47:01.168 --> 00:47:05.297
that until now I’m looking for the
meaning of Mafifa and can’t find it,

00:47:05.506 --> 00:47:09.510
somebody named her Mafifa in one
of those parties they had,

00:47:09.718 --> 00:47:12.721
when they got together to
rehearse for the conga,

00:47:13.347 --> 00:47:15.891
and they named her that way,
something happened

00:47:16.100 --> 00:47:18.853
that they named her
that way, as Mafifa

00:47:19.061 --> 00:47:23.023
and like that, she was very relaxed,
very fun-loving,

00:47:23.232 --> 00:47:25.442
she liked to drink…
Go the table, come on.

00:47:27.570 --> 00:47:30.072
So there was a very nice thing
between her and me,

00:47:30.489 --> 00:47:33.534
that we talked to each other,
but with the letter A,

00:47:33.868 --> 00:47:37.454
we never talked perfectly,
everything we said,

00:47:37.621 --> 00:47:40.207
everything we said
was with the letter A.

00:47:40.624 --> 00:47:44.336
I said to her: Haw ara ya,
and she´d go: gad, avarathang gad,

00:47:44.837 --> 00:47:48.257
and then it was always like that,
never, we never had the chance,

00:47:48.465 --> 00:47:51.635
except when we were going to sing.
When we finished the song

00:47:53.053 --> 00:47:56.181
she said: avarathang gad, and like that,
and that was

00:47:57.141 --> 00:47:59.810
a very nice thing
between her and me.

00:48:00.185 --> 00:48:02.479
And do you remember
is she played any

00:48:02.771 --> 00:48:04.481
instrument besides the bell?

00:48:04.857 --> 00:48:07.443
She played all the instruments,
she knew of all

00:48:07.818 --> 00:48:12.448
the conga instruments,
but specifically the bell,

00:48:12.823 --> 00:48:15.075
that’s what she played in the conga.

00:48:15.284 --> 00:48:17.244
And how did she learn how to play it?

00:48:17.578 --> 00:48:20.706
She was born with that, that, that gift,
that strength,

00:48:21.081 --> 00:48:23.542
that vitality that movements have
are yours.

00:48:24.084 --> 00:48:27.212
Someone can say show you
how it´s done but you provide the soul,

00:48:27.755 --> 00:48:31.091
and like that, you can’t teach that,
you’re born with it,

00:48:31.425 --> 00:48:34.345
that´s in the blood,
like singing, dancing, playing.

00:48:34.803 --> 00:48:38.098
Because nobody taught me
how to sing.

00:48:38.557 --> 00:48:41.143
That is born with you.
- Don´t you sing anymore?

00:48:41.602 --> 00:48:44.730
Not sing anymore…?
Not like before, but I sing…

00:48:44.939 --> 00:48:48.108
I sing, of course.
Come up, Chiquito, look at the kitten,

00:48:48.317 --> 00:48:53.572
Berta… you told us that
Mafifa had a boyfriend…

00:48:53.906 --> 00:48:56.283
She never wanted to talk
about that issue.

00:48:57.117 --> 00:48:59.578
She did tell my mom,
well… because us

00:49:00.120 --> 00:49:02.748
and why hasn’t my aunt gotten married?
kids’ things

00:49:03.248 --> 00:49:06.126
In her younger days, of youth,
she had a boyfriend,

00:49:06.293 --> 00:49:09.338
but she was disappointed,
a betrayal,

00:49:11.382 --> 00:49:14.343
and she was in love,
and because of that betrayal

00:49:14.843 --> 00:49:16.845
she decided
not to fall in love again,

00:49:17.763 --> 00:49:19.723
never again,
she had a boyfriend,

00:49:19.932 --> 00:49:22.142
never again,
and she passed away like that

00:49:22.351 --> 00:49:24.603
a virgin,
because she never married,

00:49:25.396 --> 00:49:29.149
that’s what they told my mom,
that she was a child

00:49:29.984 --> 00:49:32.653
and she died being a child, that is,
she was never

00:49:32.861 --> 00:49:35.656
touched by anybody,
and she can’t be criticized

00:49:35.864 --> 00:49:38.033
because nobody could make
her do anything.

00:49:39.159 --> 00:49:43.914
Mafifa concentrated all the noise
and chaos of her life in a conga.

00:49:45.165 --> 00:49:48.794
She decided to save herself,
protect herself.

00:49:49.294 --> 00:49:52.715
Chulo! He’s bell-behaved, see?
See how quiet he is there?

00:49:53.173 --> 00:49:56.218
I got him from a little egg that fell,
he fell from the nest,

00:49:56.677 --> 00:50:00.305
I started to feed him with
crunched eggshell

00:50:01.640 --> 00:50:05.019
and like that I gave him his little food
from the palm of my hand

00:50:05.602 --> 00:50:09.523
and he started to grow, until
the stubs started to come out,

00:50:10.190 --> 00:50:12.192
the feathers and that’s it.

00:50:20.868 --> 00:50:24.204
Berta’s pigeon is 17 years old.
He was born there.

00:50:29.918 --> 00:50:33.505
It doesn’t fly, now he wants to fly.
Stay there for a while.

00:50:34.214 --> 00:50:36.633
Look, look at the girl.

00:50:37.217 --> 00:50:39.595
Look at the girl, daddy.
Look at the girl, kid.

00:50:39.803 --> 00:50:42.473
I wonder why he has never
flown away.

00:50:44.516 --> 00:50:47.644
Now to finish… can you sing us
part of a song?

00:50:47.853 --> 00:50:49.938
It’s just that I’ve never
heard you sing.

00:50:51.148 --> 00:50:54.985
Then, all sweaty,
all shiny, and all disgraceful looking

00:50:55.235 --> 00:50:58.572
because of you,
I sing to you.

00:51:02.242 --> 00:51:08.832
I’m black, the black slave,
born in the jungle,

00:51:12.711 --> 00:51:16.799
humble I’ve always been,

00:51:17.424 --> 00:51:19.843
I work non-stop.

00:51:22.763 --> 00:51:27.476
And alone I go through life,

00:51:27.935 --> 00:51:32.272
singing not to cry.

00:51:35.275 --> 00:51:40.697
Ekkue.
You tricked me.

00:51:44.868 --> 00:51:50.791
Give me freedom.

00:51:55.546 --> 00:51:58.382
Oh, I’m black.

00:54:21.024 --> 00:54:24.194
Whenever I play
and I start to get tired

00:54:24.903 --> 00:54:28.907
I claim to her, I ask for her,
because she always tells me:

00:54:30.492 --> 00:54:34.121
even if I’m gone…
… you should always claim for me.

00:54:35.247 --> 00:54:37.249
You call me, and I will listen

00:54:38.834 --> 00:54:42.170
and then I screamed,
and when I screamed, Mafifa

00:54:42.629 --> 00:54:45.674
my spirits would lift,
my strength would lift

00:54:46.341 --> 00:54:48.677
What does that mean?,
that her spirit

00:54:48.885 --> 00:54:51.471
would attach itself to me,
and I wasn’t just me,

00:54:51.638 --> 00:54:54.016
it was the two of us.
That’s why I say

00:54:54.516 --> 00:54:57.561
that she was unique,
there’s no one more unique than her.

00:54:59.313 --> 00:55:01.940
Mafifaaaaaaaaa

00:59:33.336 --> 00:59:36.840
I went back to the house.
I was told of a picture

00:59:37.841 --> 00:59:41.636
where Mafifa is in the middle
of a group of friends,

00:59:41.845 --> 00:59:43.763
playing a drum.

00:59:50.854 --> 00:59:53.690
There’s no one there!
- Did they go out?

00:59:54.441 --> 00:59:56.568
Because he said he
was going to shower.

00:59:57.235 --> 00:59:59.821
Look at him there,
look at him there!

01:00:00.155 --> 01:00:02.198
Thank you.
- Yeah, you’re welcome kid.

01:00:02.532 --> 01:00:05.410
We’ve come several times.
- Yeah?

01:00:05.619 --> 01:00:09.497
but we couldn’t find you,
they told us you were always around.

01:00:09.831 --> 01:00:13.960
What is your relation with…?
You´re the great grandson, nephew…?

01:00:14.419 --> 01:00:17.297
Let me… see…. I’m..

01:00:20.592 --> 01:00:24.137
She was my mom’s aunt.
You see? She was my mom’s aunt

01:00:26.931 --> 01:00:29.059
And you live here then?
- Here, yeah.

01:00:30.143 --> 01:00:33.229
And is there any chance that
you could show us the house?

01:00:33.605 --> 01:00:35.857
Yes, of course, yeah.

01:00:36.441 --> 01:00:39.110
I was hoping to find
a sign left for me

01:00:39.319 --> 01:00:41.321
by Mafifa.

01:00:41.655 --> 01:00:43.865
What’s he saying? For us to go in?

01:00:58.380 --> 01:01:01.841
This was the… the living-room.
Come in, Niña.

01:01:38.712 --> 01:01:42.674
Yoandry remembered the picture,
but cannot find it.

01:01:46.636 --> 01:01:49.264
It was a picture where she
was sitting like this,

01:01:49.764 --> 01:01:52.308
but you know…
but that didn’t…

01:02:19.544 --> 01:02:21.796
That picture must have
deteriorated…

01:02:39.397 --> 01:02:41.941
Look at my mom there too,
married.

01:02:44.444 --> 01:02:47.489
A picture of Berta,
look, when they were younger,

01:02:47.822 --> 01:02:50.533
my mom, Berta, look at Berta.
- That’s Berta?

01:02:50.742 --> 01:02:53.703
Look at Berta there.
- Ah, yeah, those are her eyes

01:02:55.079 --> 01:02:57.499
Were all of them family,
or where there…?

01:02:57.707 --> 01:03:00.376
Yeah, family, they were family.

01:03:01.586 --> 01:03:04.380
Here, Berta, my dad, my grandmother,

01:03:05.256 --> 01:03:07.342
when they were young,
my grandfather…

01:03:09.844 --> 01:03:12.305
In that house lived
a big family.

01:03:16.100 --> 01:03:19.979
There was furniture, bustle,
weddings, birthdays.

01:03:25.360 --> 01:03:29.405
I can evoke the sounds of a party.
Glasses tinkling,

01:03:30.532 --> 01:03:33.076
or the sound of cutlery
against ceramics.

01:03:36.246 --> 01:03:38.081
Sounds I can’t hear anymore.

01:03:49.884 --> 01:03:53.429
When I close my eyes,
Mafifa’s features

01:03:53.638 --> 01:03:55.807
start to appear.

01:03:57.433 --> 01:04:00.186
They stop…
and the image goes back to white.

01:09:36.647 --> 01:09:39.358
Mafifa brought me to the conga.

01:09:42.361 --> 01:09:45.281
I could feel her in every image.

01:09:49.869 --> 01:09:52.914
But I could barely
access a part of her.

01:09:57.668 --> 01:10:01.464
The woman as a whole
remained absent.

01:11:55.494 --> 01:11:58.205
Every detonation of a drum
deprived me

01:11:58.622 --> 01:12:01.375
of another sound.

01:12:03.669 --> 01:12:06.547
Every roar imposed more darkness
around me.

01:12:22.355 --> 01:12:25.524
What was I looking for in the limits?

01:12:53.677 --> 01:12:56.722
Some sounds have vanished.

01:12:57.598 --> 01:12:58.599
The cornet...

01:13:00.309 --> 01:13:03.104
the rain, the whispers.

01:13:07.274 --> 01:13:09.235
Only their trail remains.

01:13:21.330 --> 01:13:24.834
The bell sounds like a far
away reverberation.

01:13:35.886 --> 01:13:37.680
At the top of the mountain,

01:13:39.014 --> 01:13:41.183
in the silence,

01:13:41.892 --> 01:13:44.228
is where I’m less alone.

01:13:49.775 --> 01:13:54.071
Where in the end there’s plenitude.

01:14:00.369 --> 01:14:02.621
My ear rests.

01:14:03.747 --> 01:14:06.292
It ceases wanting to listen.