Cultura con Sabrosura
A cultural exchange through play
by Rubén Reyes, co-leader of GPB Latinamérica
This past November, twenty-seven playful people from El Salvador, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, the US, India, and Nicaragua gathered on Zoom to blend the unique flavors of Latin American culture. Global Play Brigade Latinoamérica's playshop, Cultura con Sabrosura – "culture with flavor" – was hosted by Edith (El Salvador) and Jorge (Mexico) with Spanish-English interpretation by Emily. Together, we sang, danced, and celebrated our cultural ties and differences.
I'm Rubén (Nicaragua) and I warmed up the group as if we were boxers training for a fight – with stretching and jabbing exercises. Then, Gustavo, a Cuban psychologist living in Nicaragua, took us to his homeland by singing Guantanamera, a classic patriotic Cuban song. “I am a sincere man from where the palm tree grows and, before I die, I would like to share poetry coming out of my heart,” the lyrics begin. Participants joined in the chorus: “Guantanamera, guajira guantanamera." ("The peasant woman from Guantánamo.").
Jorge and Roque (Mexico) shared the tradition of Calaverita literarias ("literary skulls"), light-hearted poems written for the Day of the Dead. These rhymes play with the character of Death and the truth that dying is every person's destiny. Participants wrote their own Calaverita literarias:
"Death reaches everyone, that we know, it kills celebrities and also the people unknown.”
“The brigadiers were dancing to Who's zoomin' Who, the Death joined the dance and its bones went boom.”
Vanessa then shared the Argentinian passions of tango and fútbol. They listened to tango music and explored the deep feelings it stirred. Some felt the music in their feet and had the sensation of dancing together as a group. Others reminisced of their happy childhood.
David (Nicaragua) spoke about the history of masks in rituals and celebrations all over Latinoamérica and guided the group to make their own masks using paper and other materials they had available at home. Vivi and Zé (Brazil) then taught the Zamba step-by-step, including the important role that Carnival plays in raising awareness around social issues. We then collectively donned our masks and danced to Carnival Zamba music.
We danced away our farewell with reggaeton song Pa´la cultura, a reggaeton that was sung and recorded by several Latinoamerican singers. At the end we all felt that we had visited several Latinoamerican cultures, and we had learned a bit of each of the ones that were present. Through this playshop we were able “to break down national borders, language barriers, and religious differences and strengthen our cultural identity, common heritage, shared values, and ethics. Building a circle of trust through play, it allows us to celebrate our cultural experiences without judgment, bias, or prejudice to one another”. Here we are quoting Rita from her speech saluting Cultura con Sabrosura.
