Photo By Emily McCamy | Army Sgt. 1st Class Rafael Roman uses a hammer to tune a steel drum at Phillips Dive...... read more read more
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GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba – Warning! A fever will soon break out at Guantanamo Bay. But don't worry just yet; this fever will be music to the ears of many base residents.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Rafael Roman, a member of the Puerto Rico National Guard assigned to Joint Task Force Guantanamo, is starting a band "Fiebre Boricua," or "Puerto Rican Fever." He has been working hard hammering steel oil barrels every weekend during February and March, turning them into finely tuned steel drums.
Roman's father inspired him at a young age, teaching him how to play steel drums.
"In the 60s, my father went to the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. He was supposed to play only one day – for four hours – but everyone liked the music so much that they kept him there to play for two weeks," Roman explained.
Roman played in a steel band with his father for about 40 years in Puerto Rico.
"We played all kinds of music," Roman said, "Bossanova, Samba, Merengue and even tunes like 'Hello Dolly' and 'New York, New York.'"
Steele drum bands are a staple of the Caribbean, with roots reaching into Trinidad when enslaved Africans began using drumming as a method of communication in the late 1800s.
"The steel barrels were donated by the Jamaicans here," Roman said.
Creating a steel drum is a process tough as the steel itself. With sledge hammers and capable hands, Roman and his troupe began sinking the end of the barrel, creating the lead drum and the tenor drums.
"We don't have the right tools here [to create the drums]," said Army Staff Sgt. William Cruz, a member of the band. "If you hammer too hard, you crack the drums. You have to hammer the whole surface little by little and keep it even because if you go too deep on one side, you'll crack the other side."
After two months of hammering, tempering the steel with fire, and tuning the drums, they have taken shape and are nearly ready to make music.
"The process of tuning the steel drums was not easy and took a lot of time," Roman said. "Each drum was tuned [to a specific pitch], and now we are ready to teach Troopers how to play steel band instruments."
In all, nine drums will make up the band with a lead drum, a double tenor, and six bass drums.
Roman put the band together as a way to bring Troopers together and share a little Puerto Rican culture with members of Guantanamo Bay.
"I wanted to teach and entertain [troopers] here," Roman said. "Everyone has music inside; I'm trying to unite everyone with a musical spirit during this mobilization."
"Fiebre Boricua" will begin practicing songs and entertaining base residents within a few weeks, according to Roman.
| Date Taken: | 03.27.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 04.06.2009 09:30 |
| Story ID: | 32062 |
| Location: | GUANTANAMO BAY, CU |
| Web Views: | 284 |
| Downloads: | 234 |
This work, Fiebre Boricua; band finds a new rhythm at Guantanamo, by Emily McCamy, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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