The Creole Choir Of Cuba - Santiman (2013) [Official Digital Download]

The Choir hails from Cuba's third city, Camagüey, an old colonial town which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 for its iconic architecture, where the singers have studied music to university level and are members of the Provincial Choir, which their leader Emilia Chavez directs. Desandann (the original Cuban name of The Creole Choir of Cuba) emerged out of this choir in 1994, a difficult time for Cubans when the economy fell into a black hole following the end of the USSR and of Soviet support for the revolution. Food was in short supply, while homes and work places often went dark due to lack of electricity. The singers decided to re-forge the resistance songs and laments of their forebears and to celebrate the history of their Haitian descendants.