Look at these beautiful musical instruments.

Greetings dear friends who love music. Come with me to a small museum and you will see what wonders you will find here. It turns out that my co-worker and professor at the University of Pinar del Rio invited me to a conference with our students at the Documentation Center "Argelier Leon". Center that bears the name of a prestigious Cuban researcher and musicologist.

What I thought was a place to look for information appeared before us as a real museum of objects and musical instruments. A place of unseveral rooms with photos, scores, instruments, reproduction equipment. All this in very good condition.

What I thought was a place to look for information appeared before us as a real museum of objects and musical instruments. A place of several rooms with photos, scores, instruments, reproduction equipment. All this in a very good state of preservation.

We were welcomed by the director of the place, a very wise man named Elpidio. He, passionate about music, was telling us about the creation of the place, the reception of equipment and all its important pieces. Many photos of orchestras of our territory, both male and female. He told us incredible anecdotes to get every object they pose and some pieces are worth millions of pesos.
Where I was pleasantly surprised was in the musical instruments room. With several walls with instruments: percussion, strings, wind instruments. How beautiful and well cared for, they all work. Here is the "water stick" instrument used by the famous Cesária Évora, a Cape Verdean singer known as "the diva of bare feet".

Just out of respect I didn't touch any of them with my hands but it was really an invitation to look at them. Then I leave even more surprising. A collection of music reproduction equipment. Gramophones, victrolas, organs, these equipments do not need electricity. They are string operated and have recorded music on a very interesting system of punched cards. There they worked for us.

It reminded me of my grandmother talking about the victrolas. She said that in some homes of very wealthy people in the first half of the twentieth century there were vitolas and also in pharmacies and bars. The boys dedicated songs to the girls.

Then other record players, radios and players that work with acetate discs. There we saw a lot of very rare, old, but working equipment. It is special the care with which they take care of them and repair them if necessar.

There is also a room to study and retrieve information. Special for researchers doing their thesis on the subject. I tell you it was a wonderful visit. There is also a piano. My students were delighted with the place and made an appointment to come back.

We really didn't want to leave that place. After listening to the explanations. We asked permission for photos and further questions. Every day I discover more interesting places in my city that I didn't know existed. I hope you like this visit and I send you my best regards. Best regards.

The images used in the publication are my own taken with my Xiaomi Redmi 12C cell phone. English translation by Deepl Translate.
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