After hearing the news of the death of Cuban conga player Tata Guines, I decided to hunt up some old video footage as my small contribution in memorium.
In July of 1993, my friend Greg Rolle, publsher of the Wheat Street Independent in Ithaca, NY, and myself, an activist especially concerned with the deleterious effects that the U.S. blockade of Cuba has on free cultural exchange, borrowed a Video 8 camcorder from our good friend Jean Finley, who produced a public access TV show, and traveled to Toronto, Canada for the 5th annual Beaches International Jazz Festival to hear and document the Cuban music that our government was denying us at home.