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Well, because the 1998 trip to Canada for Los Primos was so well received, we were excited to have them come again. We tried in 1999 but things got too complicated and we had to put it off for a year. Meanwhile, the instrument donations just kept coming in and we were planning a trip for my students to go to Cuba for the first time.
There was a lot of interest in Nova Scotia about Cuba and people were starting to go there for their winter vacations. Dartmouth High School had made a couple of band trips to Cuba with Terry Hill and in 2000 Nathan Beeler was set to make his first band trip to Havana with CP Allen High School students. They had instruments to take with them and some of my students were on that trip. I believe that Terry Hill had his group in Santiago that year at the same time. Correct me if I am wrong.
Amara and I decided to go to Cuba and meet up with the CP Allen band who was hooking up with the Los Primos 2000 and were preparing for performances at the Jazz Festivals in Toronto and Montreal, and then to Nova Scotia. We headed to Montreal with Royal Airlines to connect with Cubana Airlines but somehow the flight was overbooked. We had about 15 instruments for donation with us (including 4 trombones) and the only way we could get to Cuba was through Mexico City. It was quite an ordeal to look after all the instruments through the airports in Montreal and Mexico during some very long layovers but eventually, we arrived in Havana exhausted. We met up with the CP Allen band in St Antonio de los Baños, and Los Primos 2000 was there, all set to play for a Nova Scotia audience in Cuba. It was quite a reunion because there were a lot of CP Allen students who already knew some of the Los Primos members from 1998.
Image #1 - Los Primos 2000 on stage at Las Yasgrumas Hotel in St Antonio de Los Baños
Image #2 - Los Primos 2000 after the show
Image #3 - Thommy, Adrian inspect the trumpet donation
Primos 2000 almost didn’t make it to Canada because that was the year that the U.$. government confiscated the money raised by Nova Scotia school band programs which we sent to Cuba to buy the reserved plane tickets. Scotiabank mistakenly sent it through New York and it went no further (“trading with the enemy” you know!). Amara and I were waiting in Toronto waiting for them to arrive because we were booked at the Toronto and Montreal Jazz Festivals. Tony Rodriguez was the only one able to get a ticket on the original flight. The story made international news, “ Uncle Sam Steals Bake Sale Money ” (thanks Al Jeffers). There was a picture of Amara meeting Tony at the Toronto airport in the National Edition of the National Post. But… we missed the Toronto Jazz Festival date. CBC T.V. also filmed the arrival of Tony at the Toronto airport and interviewed Amara and me.
So off we went to Montreal to meet the rest of the students who were booked to fly directly there to play at The Montreal Jazz Festival. The plane was late and after it arrived, someone at the airport made a 911 call and the place was a circus for about an hour as fire engines and police tried to find out where the problem was. As a result of this fiasco, we missed the Montreal Jazz Festival date.
We were thankful that Scotiabank did everything they could to help us out, including replacing the $7,000 seized by The US Government because a young employee had ignored my instructions not to send the money through New York. They rented a private plane for us in Montreal to fly to our next date which was Canada Day 2000 in Charlottetown. Imagine the scene on a private plane filled with Cuban school-aged musicians as we flew from Montreal to PEI. We got things back on track and had a great tour and everyone went home with new instruments.
Image #4 - Los Primos 2000 at Halifax Parade Grounds appearing in “Drum”
Flying was different back then pre-911, and I was able to bring a lot of instruments to Cuba as excess baggage. I flew quite a few times with Aero Cubana from Montreal or Toronto making my connection usually with Canada 3000 or Royal Airlines (remember them?). My record was in December of 2000 when I arrived in Havana with 650 pounds of baggage. I had gotten special permission from the airlines to take the donated instruments and I was met at the airport in Havana by ICAP who would prepare all the paperwork necessary to receive them. However, the looks that I received as I made 6 trips from the elevator to the check-in at the Toronto airport with baggage carts stacked higher than me were “jaw-dropping” to say the least! Here is a picture of all those pounds, as we get set to leave the airport in Havana.
Image #5 - 650 pounds of excess baggage. Thank you, Royal and Cubana Airlines
With more than 800 instruments delivered, we are anxious to get the 100+ instruments in our attic repaired and delivered to Cuba. We also have 20 computers in the garage all ready to go. Please be a part of this project by contributing through our online 50/50 Raffle at https://rafflebox.ca/raffle/losprimos Proceeds from the June 3rd draw at the Cottage Café in Dartmouth will go towards the Los Primos Instrument Campaign. www.losprimos.ca
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