Anima Mundi & Surprise

By Irina Echarry, photos: Caridad

HAVANA TIMES, July 6– Havana’s Maxim Rock café is the meeting place for rockers eager to hear their favorite music.  Racket and jubilation generally fills the locale, where the red walls act like a mechanism that burns adrenaline. But last Thursday night, just the opposite happened. The well known group Anima Mundi played.

In a tranquil setting, with just a few seats and twenty or so people, we were captivated by the serenity of their songs.  Invisible Earth is a theme that talks about the doors we have in front of our eyes and that we sometimes don’t see, not realizing that it’s only necessary to pass through them so that the universe receives us.

The sonority of the group allowed one’s memory to take a brief trip through the senses. The band’s melodies suggested a journey toward human spirituality, toward its more luminous corners, forgetting the dark side of life.

Representing such a positive tendency it’s hardly surprising that the group is becoming a kind of facilitator for other non-professional groups to introduce themselves.

For that reason they invite friends who have common interests but few resources.  So this night we had the strange pleasure to hear Quantum, a group that formed in 2006 and has battled against the material shortages they face to achieve what they want.

I used the phrase “strange pleasure” and that’s not simply talk. The music of Quantum hypnotizes and catches, acting like a spider web that clings to its prey and doesn’t let go until its victim is devoured.

With a more conscious tone, these musicians work on what can be called “brain music.” We only heard four songs: one was “Jagged Vagina,” which had to do with the Freudian world and male nightmares.  Likewise, “Area 12” was inspired by a student dorm in the Alamar housing projects, where they had to sleep after one of their presentations was frustrated. “Nsongonya” was about murderous African ants that eat everything, while “Yendo hacia ningún lugar” (Off to nowhere), was a more poetic number that spoke about uncertainty.

It was a different kind of night.  I would still like to interview these guys so that the readers of Havana Times can learn more about them. I hope to do that soon.

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