Fabulous country, nice people, great music — Della Hayes
She managed to say in Spanish that she was a Ghanaian singer visiting Havana, before breaking into ET Mensah’s famous All For You song with backing from a Cuban band led by Quisvella Silva at the La Zorra y el Cuervo nightclub.
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Silva only had a brief chat with Della to enable him catch the drift of the Ghanaian highlife piece during a break in the band’s performance.
He was, however, able to direct the instrumentalists to treat the song with a delightful Salsa feel that highlighted Della’s voice and drew big applause from patrons in the club.
“The band added its own flavour. It was jazzy and the feel was so sweet and different. I really enjoyed it,” said Della in Accra after her recent 10-day cultural exploratory trip to Cuba.
Della is the lead singer and leader of the Women of Colour band. Despite what she already knew about the largest island in the Caribbean before setting off, she somehow still expected to meet a typical European atmosphere.
“I realised the people are very much like us. They are lovely and look like folks you would meet around the corner at Adabraka or Maamobi in Accra. I noticed the old cars most people drive and several building looked old. I kept telling everyone I met how beautiful Ghana is,” said Della.
Being into music, what really swept her off her feet was the variety of music on the island and the number of professional women instrumentalists she encountered.
The music of Cuba, including its instruments, performance and dance, comprises unique traditions with strong influences from West African and Spain. Due to its pleasant mix of genres, Cuban music is often considered one of the richest and most thrilling in the world.
“I met the Cuban ambassador in Ghana, H.E. Pedro Luis Despaigne Gonzales, before leaving so some arrangements were laid on for me to meet musicians.
“I also obtained a letter from the Musicians Union of Ghana(MUSIGA) to the main music union there so I was able to visit places where I could hear music and meet musicians.”
She was, for instance, at a concert at the world-famous Buena Vista Social Club where stars like Flora Max, Yanko Pizako and Juana Bacallao, also called Juano la Cubano, performed.
Juano is 95-years-old but still performs every night. After the show, Della met her and got invited to her (Juana) show the next day at Café Concert Gato Tuerto at the ungodly hour of 1.00am.
“Cuba starts late and closes late. I did an improvised performance with her and had a good applause
“I met her for lunch the next day at El Aljjbe restaurant. When she entered the very large restaurant, there was silence. People looked at her and wondered whether she was indeed the one. Juana looked at everybody and loudly said: “Yes it is me, Juana Bacallao. You can clap.”
And that’s what the crowd did. She took a graceful bow before they settled to eat. Della said she had an insightful two-hour chat with her.
Della also visited the Dominica Restaurant where Orchestra Son Damas, one of Cuba’s all-women bands performed. She explained her mission and was allowed to perform a few songs with them, pulling applause from the dining guests who noticed it was a different voice in the house that night.
Della was invited to watch a recording of jazz singer Zule Guerra at Tv Canal Havana and was introduced to some well-known musicians who gave her the names of some jazz clubs to visit.
Havana’s top jazz club, La Zorra y el Cuervo was where she performed ET Mensah’s song with the band led by Quisvella Silva.
“It was a memorable, educative trip and I’m hoping Ghana-Cuba ties would be further strengthened to enable exchange visits of all-female bands.
“ It has always been my desire to see women musicians thrive and Cuba showed me how it has been doing that for many years,” Della said with a smile on her face.
