Nicolas Guillen, poet

Nicolas Guillen's page at the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes with recordings, images, catalog.

Simposio Nicolás Guillén, Camaguey, 10/02

Some poems by Guillén

Bibliography

Guillen Festival 4/5 to 4/11/99

From the on-line magazine Habanera

Keith Ellis, Guillén scholar

Links

Nicolás Guillén, poet
(1902-1989)

One of Cuba's foremost poets. Wrote in many styles, many of which are traceable to the litterary styles in use in the old Oyo Empire, the Yoruba homeland, according to Olabiyi Yai, now Benin's ambassador to UNESCO and a Guillén scholar. Another Guillén scholar is Keith Ellis at the University of Toronto, who has written extensively on him.

In Havana, there is a Fundacion Guillén, managed by his grandson, which held several Guillén events in 2000 and 2001:

Celebracion del 98 aniversario del nacimiento, July 2000

III Festival y Coloquio de Música y Poesía "Nicolás Guillén", 4/16/01 - 4/21/01

The AfroPeruvian poet Nicomedes Santa Cruz Gamarra has his own site, he was a friend of Guillen: es.geocities.com/nicomedessantacruz/ingles/cronologiai

Simposio Nicolás Guillén, Camaguey, 10/02

24-26 October

Breve reseña:

Tiene como antecedente las celebraciones de las bienales de investigación socio cultural. Estos eventos se han llevado a cabo con la participación de especialistas e investigadores de Cultura y de otras instituciones y de organizaciones oficiales. Estos eventos han sido la antesala de este que es por el Centenario del Poeta Nacional.

Temáticas : Estudio sobre la poesía en Iberoamérica y el caribe. Estudios históricos culturales regionales e iberoamericanos. Arte y patrimonio en Cuba, Iberoamérica y el Caribe. Pensamiento e identidad cultural. Estudio sobre la educación.

Preside el Comité Organizador: DR. Sc. Luis Álvarez Álvarez

Pases invitado : Canadá México Francia

Sede : Centro Nicolás Guillén

Teléfonos : 032 29 8255 / 032 29 3706

E.mail: leaa@cubarte.cult.cu

Idioma oficial del evento: Español.

Actividades colaterales: Visitas a lugares de interés cultural e histórico; Actividades de bienvenida y Clausura; exposiciones de libros y manuscrito de Nicolás Guillén, así como de Artistas Plásticos; Función de Ballet y Música de Concierto.

Festival - Coloquio Internacional de Musica y Poesia "Nicolás Guillén", 1999

La Fundación Nicolás Guillén y la UNEAC desarrollaran del 5 al 11 de abril el Coloquio Teórico y Festival de Espectáculos, donde se debate y se muestra la obra de las temáticas que se vinculen con la obra y pensamiento teórico del poeta Nicolás Guillén.

Temas:

- Nicolás Guillén y la música.
- Música y poesía en Cuba, nexos y convergencias.
- La musicalización de la poesía en la cultura cubana: obras y autores.
- La poesía cubana en la música: obras y autores.

Cuota de inscripción:

Participantes: 80 USD y 80 M.N.
Ponentes: 20 USD y 20 M.N.
Estudiantes: 40 USD y 40 M.N

From the on-line magazine Habanera

Guillén: a man full of Nuances

Nicolás Guillén, Cuba’s national poet, was a universal man. Several universities around the world include his works in their literary studies programs; his poems can be read in more than 30 languages; but his success never dazzled him.

I saw him for the first time during one of our usual tours of our native province of Camagüey. I was twenty years old, and Guillén was over seventy. I approached him by surprise, to interview him about the honoris causa degree recently that had been awarded him by the West Indies University of Kingston, Jamaica. He had an adverse reaction, but after he refused, he invited me to lunch.

This was a golden opportunity to get to know a man full of nuances, who could be shy, ironical or witty, but always charming; he enthralled me in no time at all. And I was able to write my first interview with the poet. Hours later, Guillén reviewed my piece in our natural environment: the newspaper’s workshop...he became my teacher from that day on.

Nicolás used to say he had “been born in a printing house”. His permanent closeness to printed matter exerted a decisive influence over his poems and over his own brand of creativeness: “exas-peratingly thorough and absurdly whimsical”, according to his own words. He liked to ponder everything he said or did, that’s why he did not improvise. One day he stated: “I read what I write over and over again, and I write it al over again by dint of changes. To me it is like appearing neat, bathed and even perfumed—which I also like—before the people”.

I became acquainted with this habit of his when once I naively commented: It must be easy for you to write. He then laughed with that hearty laugh of his, took my hand and showed me “something that could be a verse”. I understood his laughter when I saw so many corrections in such a small piece of paper.

I always find something new in Nicolás; perhaps it is due to the intense life I led with him, to the experiences from which he nurtured me. Sometimes I surprised him in his own private cloud, immersed in creation. He then remained absolutely silent, absorbed, contemplating the landscape or the sky without seeing them as he toyed with a pencil. He said he felt “...inspired anywhere, I pick up a sheet of paper and I write, for one must not let ideas escape; one has to hold on to an idea and then find a place for it somewhere”.

From the on-line magazine Habanera
See rest of the article: http://www2.ceniai.inf.cu/cultura/revistas/habanera/1-97/art15e.html

Some Poems by Guillen

Canto Negro	Mulata	Negro Bembón

Canto Negro

¡Yambambó, yambambé!
Repica el congo solongo,
repica el negro bien negro;
congo solongo del Songo
baila yambó sobre un pie.

Mamatomba,
serembe cuserembá.

El negro canta y se ajuma,
el negro se ajuma y canta,
el negro canta y se va.
Acuememe serembó,
aé
yambó,
aé.

Tamba, tamba, tamba, tamba,
tamba del negro que tumba;
tumba del negro, caramba,
caramba, que el negro tumba:
¡yamba, yambó, yambambé!

Mulata

Ya yo em enteré, mulata,
mulata, ya sé que dise
que yo tengo la narise
como nudo de cobbata.

Y fíjate bien que tú
no ere tan adelantá,
poqque tu boca é bien grande,
y tu pasa, colorá.

Tanto tren con tu cueppo,
tanto tren;
tanto tren con tu boca,
tanto tren;
tanto tren con tu sojo,
tanto tren.

Si tú supiera, mulata,
la veddá:
que yo con mi negra tengo,
y no te quiero pa ná!

Negro Bembón

¿Po qué te pone tan brabo,
cuando te dicen negro bembón,
si tiene la boca santa,
negro bembóm?

Bembón así como ere
tiene de tó;
Caridá te mantiene, te lo dá tó.

Te queja todabía,
negro bembón;
sin pega y con harina,
negro bembón,
majagua de drí blanco,
negro bembón;
sapato de dó tono,
negro bembón.

Bembón así como ere
tiene de tó;
Caridá te mantiene, te lo dá tó.

From: Nicolás Guillén, Nueva antología mayor, Editorial Letras Cubanas, La Habana, 1979.
Nicolás Guillén, Tengo 2, EGREM, La Habana, S/F.

Links

Guillen site
www.cubaliteraria.com/autor/nicolas_guillen/index.html

Nicolas Guillén
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/8843/guillen.htm
Lists some poems, has an audio file.

Nicolas Guillén (1902-1989)
http://www.griffe.com/projects/worldlit/cuba/guillen.html
Lists a number of poems

Mexican site with some poetry
http://spin.com.mx/~hvelarde/Cuba/guillen.htm

Tropicana Mag article on Guillen
http://www.tropicanamag.cubaweb.cu/num_ant/trop17.html
Great mag...

Bibliography (more to come...)

New Love Poetry : In Some Springtime Place : Elegy/Nueva Poesia De Amor : En Algun Sitio De LA Primavera : Elegia by Nicolas Guillen, Keith Ellis (Editor), Nicholas Guillen	Booknews, Inc. , March 1, 1995 In 1966, Guillen (1902-1989), the National Poet of Cuba, wrote a book of 15 poems dealing with a rupture in his affair with Sara Casal, to whom he dedicated the book. This bilingual edition presents the poems and Ellis's commentary and notes. As an epilogue, Ellis includes a previously unpublished sonnet by the Cuban poet Eliseo Diego, "A Sara Casal." The volume is illustrated with 13 b&w drawings by the Cuban painter Ernesto Garc<';i>a Pena. Canadian call number: C94- 930761-0. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or. Put cursor on image or click for pricing & to order ==>
Cuba's Nicolas Guillen : Poetry and Ideology (University of Toronto Romance Series) by Keith Ellis	Put cursor on image or click for pricing & to order ==>
Por El Mar De Las Antillas Anda UN Barco De Papel/Through the West Indian Sea Sails a Paper Boat by Nicolas Guillen	Put cursor on image or click for pricing & to order ==>
Tengo by Nicolas Guillen, Nicholas Guillen, Richard J. Carr	Put cursor on image or click for pricing & to order ==>

"Algún días se dirá: color cubano" - Nicolas Guillén

"One day we'll all say: Cuban Color"

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Nicolás Guillén, poet (1902-1989)