I Shall Overcome

Early this morning I had the opportunity to watch “Oprah’s Master Class,” to put into words what that program did for me will be difficult, but I will try. It all began earlier this week. On Tuesday I was in an intimate Bible Study with my pastor and my mother, at the end of the study my mother proceeded to tell me how had I done the “right” things in life I would have been in a position to replace Oprah. The statement caught me off guard a bit, as we were not on the subject or even near it. My pastor then told me that she looked at my heart and there was huge deep scar on it, and she perceived that it was a wound from my childhood. I knew what my pastor was talking about, because for sometime now I have been attempting to get over some hurdles in my mind, but it seems when I get to a particular point my brain just freezes and I feel this block, and I explained that to them. Instantly, my mother assumed that the issue came from some interaction I had with one of her sisters. I could not confirm or deny, as I truly could not remember any one incident that would cause that kind on mental reaction.

However, all day Wednesday I pondered, talked to God, and searched my body for shifts in my feelings indicating emotional triggers. And what does the good book say, “Seek and ye shall find.” And what I found filled me with shame as the feelings of intense hurt surfaced, but like always it never seems like the time or place to deal with my issues. Plus my uncle was coming from Trinidad, and we were going on a family trip to VA Beach to see my brother who is serving in the military. During the night I was awake struggling with how to correctly deal with what I was feeling. I turned on the tele and happened across “Oprah’s Master Class.” I watched the show riveted as her words ministered to my very soul. I watched the show and felt like I could overcome, I am a child of abuse.

My sisters and I have had the talk with my mother about the abuse, but she dismisses it as figments of our imagination, and then offers an insincere apology. I was touched by Oprah because she said she had not really let all of it go until her forties, but I don’t want to go into my forties still carrying the weight of this abuse in my head, heart and body. I am gifted and blessed beyond measure, but I will not get anywhere until I overcome.

Stay Blessed!

kam

The Rhythm is Gonna Get You!

Last night I had the relished opportunity to watch PBS’s, Latin Music USA. As a music lover and someone from the Caribbean I was extremely proud of this program as it chronicled the flow of Latin music in America. Although Jimmy Smits narrated the documentary it featured the thoughts of artists like Gloria & Emilo Estefan, Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, Daddy Yankee, La India, Shakira, Juanes, and my music and brain crush Lin-Manuel Miranda. He wrote In the Heights which won the Tony for Best Musical in 2008.

It was great to see how our traditional music, the salsa, meringue, bachata, kompa, plena soca, bomba, married and produced offspring in rock, pop, reggae, and hip-hop. Our colonial and emigration roots are extremely visible in our music, and for that my ears and soul are grateful. Just as the Caribbean Sea laps upon our shores it brings with it the feeling of family, a closeness that is undeniable, that never changes but evolves deeper and deeper. When I listen to artists like Tego Calderon and Don Omar, I marvel at how artists can create for the world a sound that reflects their truth, hoods aren’t just in Brooklyn and poverty is not limited to Africa. All truths are universal.

Speaking of Africa, as encompassing as the documentary was, I thought that they would have delved more deeply into Afro Latin music, like Afro Cuban Jazz. Recently jazz legend, Wynton Marsalis, travelled to Cuba and hosted some extraordinary and historic jazz concerts. The visit was met with much fan fare from the Cuban people and government. However for us with long memories, we could not help but think about the 1990 defection of Arturo Sandoval. The recollection serves as a reminder that music is sometimes the only escape. And from those who stay you can get some haunting melodies like with The Buena Vista Social Club. As a result of this one album I got very heavy into Afro Latin rhythms.

During the “Latin Explosion,” I cringe at using that term, my room-mate and I were Living La Vida Loca as we Bailamosed Whereever and Whenever. However being purest and quite possibly music snobs, we went back to their old stuff favoring, Shakira’s Dónde Están los Ladrones?, and Enrique’s Cosas del Amor, and despite my lack of Spanish speaking skills I learned every word of these albums. I even had Enrique escort me through some life changing experiences. Oh the memories!

The dance ability of the music is just intoxicating I have never heard a Latin beat that I did not want to dance or sway to. My family would salsa and meringue in the narrow hallways of our Brooklyn brownstone. I even broke out a salsa with a complete stranger at a Dunkin Donuts parking lot just because of el ritmo. Remember when the Fugees remixed Guantanamera, making Celia Cruz known to a whole new generation, and you just got into the beauty of the music. For me it was a poignant reinforcing of the familial nature Caribbean music as you had this Haitian-American hip-hop group paying such homage to this great Cuban artist. Aside from the parang music played during the Christmas season in Trinidad, I remember falling in love with “Oye Como Va,” by Santana. Who I am still in love with, as he continually seduces with that guitar.

As I listen to Shakira singing over Lebanese rhythms that have been coupled with Latin instruments, and Devanni using her love of Indian music to create her own distinct Latin sound, and of course the many who incorporate African rhythms, or rock, or hip hop or reggae, I cannot help but be engrossed in and wowed by the complexity of Latin music. How it can permeate the very core of who we are, make us dance, laugh, cry, and feel a range of emotions that is all sincere and powerful. Because wherever you are the rhythm is gonna get you!