Fidel's Birthplace House Declared National Monument

Text and photo: Amauris Betancourt.

The plaque unveiled in the afternoon of February 5, 2008 marks the
official inauguration of Biran Historic Complex as a National Monument.Biran – birthplace to Fidel and Raul Castro Ruz, and the site where
they also spent their childhood- was opened as a museum in November 2002.The Spanish immigrant, Angel Castro Argiz, Fidel and Raul’s father,
founded Birán Farm after settling down in 1915 where he died in 1956.

The monumental complex includes eleven facilities at present, but it had
27 originally. The 16 remaining burned down in 1954.
Located 72 km away from the city of Holguín, capital of the homonymous
province, and approximately 844 km from Havana, at the municipality of
Cueto, it embraced besides a 10 000 hectares farming land, dedicated
fundamentally to the sugar cane harvest.

Hundreds of visitors from Cuban and abroad visit the site areas daily
from Tuesday to Saturday between 9:00 a.m and 4:00 p.m. and on Sundays
from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 m.
Main buildings:

Family burial ground: Burial site to parents and mother-side grandparents
from the Castro Ruz family.Rural Mixed Elementary School No 15: The school where Fidel and his
brothers received elementary education, transferred to the farm by Angel
Castro in 1920. Photos from the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro as well
as photos from the schools where Fidel made further studies (The La Salle,
Dolores and Bethlehem ), and pictures of his last visit to Biran are exhibited.Carts House: A 40 x 12 sqaure meters used to keep carts and others transportation
means.

Haitian Frame Houses: Replicas from huts used by Haitian immigrants
working as employees in the construction of the houses and in the sugar
cane lands.Butchery: Where meat was sold to the community then.

Fightingcock Ring: Replica of the original place to fight cocks between
the months of April and December.Cuban Royal Road: The Spaniards built it in 1862 to join the Nipe Bay to
Santiago de Cuba city, which brought about development and prosperity
for the community.The Telegraph House: Constructed in 1933, it keeps nowadays some of the
means used then for communication and a maquette with the image of the
farm in the 1950s.
House No 2. The Pigeon: It was made up of two floors and built in 1947. The ground
floor kept a billiard table, a bar, reserved places and a store; and the
second floor was built for lawyer Fidel Castro; however he never lived
in it.The family moved in to this house in 1954 when a fire destroyed the main
house. Some personal and technological objects from the 1950s are shown for the
public to see.

Birthplace House: It is a replica of the original house that burned down
accidentally in 1954. It was rebuilt under Celia Sanchez Manduley’s
supervision in the 1970s. It keeps nowadays some personal objects from
the Castro Ruz family.It has a Spanish and northerner architecture. It has 513 roof square
meters raised on 76 piles that make room for a basement used by the
family as a garage and to protect the cattle.

There is a lookout with the room shared by the Castro-Ruz parents, Angel
and Lina.

The Grandmother's House: Constructed for his grandmother in 1958, it shows
at present gifts made to Fidel by Cuban friends and from other parts of the
world.Motel: A wooden zinc-roof construction originally built for Angelita
Castro Ruz and finally used as a boarding house.

Frank Fernández, 50 Years Devoted to Art

By Amauris Betancourt.

Pianist Frank Fernández sticks out among the most genuine representatives of the musical art in Cuba. Born in the municipality of Mayarí, he will turn 65 next March, out of which 50 have been linked to music.

Frank, citing an interview granted to the young journalist Leandro Estupiñán for the weekly Ahora! “…I am convinced there’s nothing that can be done about the past and the future does not exist. The only important thing is the now.” It happened so during the concert at the Ismaelillo movie-theater in Holguín last January 31, as a way to start celebrations for this half a century dedicated to the study and interpretation of the piano.

People from Holguín could enjoy his interpretations of Schubert's Ave María; and The Waltz of the Minute, Sad Waltz, from Federico Chopin; A Memory, Invitation, Pecking, Bye to Cuba, and Three Blows from Ignacio Cervantes. And some others like the soundtracks from the TV series The Great Rebellion and the soap-opera Brave Farm, as well as Joropo Waltz, Noon Conga, Habanera and Zapateo. He played besides, to please the public's loud and insistent ovations, Sea Pearl, from Sindo Garay; The Comparse and Malagueña, from Ernesto Lecuona; Ritual Dance of the Fire, from Manuel de Falla and the musicalized poem Thanks to Life, from Chilean Violeta Parra.He thanks very much Altagracia Tamayo, mother and piano teacher, his first studies of piano in his natal town, where there was a rich cultural environment linked to art's prestigious Cuban personalities like Sindo Garay, a brilliant musician, one of whose relatives became his godfather.

His mother taught him, when he was three or four years old, the classical piano with works from Beethoven, Schumann, Litzt, Mozart, and Schubert. At the same time, he listened to the Cuban folk music in Sindo Garay's names and Manuel Corona, personally. He also heard from Pepe Sánchez, María Teresa Vera, Miguel Matamoros. And so he mixed vernacular music with the classical and universal that so much defines his present-day artistic duty.

He is acknowledged at present as one of the predecessors of the Cuban contemporary school of piano. Despite having studied at the former Soviet Union and fed his culture with influences of recognized figures ebbing into this prestigious worldwide piano headquarters – in addition to the renowned creative historical background from the nearby European school – he gives Cuban musicians a distinguished place from whom he benefited in piano playing and composition.His brilliant interpretations have won over the compliments from the public and the press in Cuba and abroad, and at the piano's mecca: The Moscow Tchaikostky conservatory. Thus he has toured the most important piano concert halls in the world from Tokyo to Paris and Madrid where he has been awarded worldwide recognitions as pianist and composer.

Frank Fernández is a living personality in the history of the Cuban music. Such a credit does not keep him from devoting himself to producing and rescuing the forgotten musical stars from the Island because “independently that we agree or not with a way of thinking” – he tells Leandro. “Art has no boundaries, artists do.”

Frank pleases himself too motivating young people’s accomplishments and promoting his natal province’s culture. He attended last year the interpretation of the 1812 symphony: He praised at that time the Symphony Orchestra of Holguín and now he has come back to perform in an artistic homage to the Cuban Eastern Army.Frank Fernández will enjoy an intense year, among homages and recognitions, in his 50 years doing art. Holguín can hardly hide the proud that Frank has been born here and has started his celebration precisely at his birthplace province.