Buy one of three special Una Corda pianos, restored by our Cuban colleagues, and you’ll be helping to fix broken pianos in the music schools in Havana…

Alexis Sanchez hones his tuning skills in Ciaran Ryan's workshop in Galway

Alexis Sanchex and Ernesto Ortiz were already skilled piano technicians when they arrived in Ireland last winter to train with Una Corda. Part of their training involved the complete restoration of three very special pianos which were donated to the project by our friends.

These pianos are now for sale. It’s a great opportunity, not only to acquire a fine, fully resotred instrument at a bargain price, but also to support the ongoing work of the project – all the money raised from the sale of the pianos will be added the Una Corda coffers and go to help restore broken pianos in the schools and colleges of Havana.

Ernesto Ortiz getting hands on experience in Jeffers workshop in Bandon

All three pianos have been restored to the very highest standards, supervised by Alex Jeffers and his team in Jeffers of Bandon, and by Ciaran Ryan at his workshop in Galway. They’re ready now for free delivery to anywhere in Ireland, and will be installed by one of Una Corda’s expert tuners.

Click here to reserve the piano of your choice now.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE DETAILS OF THE THREE PIANOS ON OFFER…

Challen & Sons, London

CLICK HERE to see a full res picture of the Challen

Rudolmeyer “Upright Iron Grand”

CLICK HERE to see a full res picture of the Rudolmeyer

P. Putz, Dusseldorf

CLICK HERE to see a full res picture of the Putz

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE THE PIANO OF YOUR CHOICE NOW

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Havana, March 2011

Una Corda’s headquarters in Cuba, the National Workshop of Instrument Repair, was one of the venues for Havana’s first Irish Cultural Week. Organised by the Irish embassy in Mexico, which is also accredited to Cuba, the week of cultural events featured concerts of Irish music and a season of Irish films. Habaneros turned out in numbers to check out Irish culture, and many new friendships were forged during the week. Journalist Cormac Larkin was there, and you can read his Irish Times report on the week here.

The concert in the workshop featured a programme of Irish piano music, played by students from the Escuela Elemental de Musica Manuel Saumell, one of the leading music schools in the city, whose pianos have been cared for by the workshop. Watch the video here to see the Una Corda team collecting a grand piano from the school and bringing it to the workshop.

While Ireland has a history of cultural links with Cuba, and in recent years the Embassy has hosted a number of cultural events in Cuba, this was the first time an event of this size was staged in the Cuban capital. In recent years, the Embassy arranged for the “International Joyce” exhibition to be displayed in the José Martí National Library in Havana, book donations to universities and libraries, film series’, musical events, and has assisted in organising “CeltFest Cuba”, a week-long Celtic music festival in Havana in April 2010.

The “Jornadas Culturales con Irlanda” also included a concert in the sixteenth century Basílica Menor del Convento de San Francisco de Asís in Old Havana. Renowned pianist Mícheál O Súilleabháin and sean nós singer Iarla O’Lionaird performed traditional music and song from Ireland to a large and appreciative audience. A group of musicians and dancers from Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann performed at the prestigious Cuban National Theatre, and the week also featured an Irish film series. There was a round table discussion on Irish literature and its influence in Cuba at the University of Havana, and the Ambassador of Ireland also made donations of Irish literature to two Cuban libraries.

Ireland and Cuba

A number of Irish men and woman have played prominent parts in Cuba’s history over the last five hundred years and on both sides in Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain. One of the more famous Cuban families descends from Ricardo O’Farrill, a native of Montserrat but whose antecedents came from Longford, who ran a slave trading company in Havana in the early 1700s. His grandson built a private residence on the corner of Cuba and Chacon Street, what is now known as the Hotel Palacio O’Farrill. In Havana today, there are streets in the La Vibora district named O’ Farrill and another called Alcalde O’Farrill, named after a descendent who was Mayor of Havana at the turn of the 20th century.  The jazz trumpeter Chico O’Farrill who died in New York in 2001 was perhaps the most recent well known bearer of the surname.

O’Reilly Street in the centre of Old Havana was named after General Count Alejandro O’Reilly, a native of Baltrasna, County Meath, who organised the defences of Havana in 1763.  Throughout the 18th century, descendants of the Wild Geese occupied positions of military, commercial or political power in Cuba. One of the more colourful characters who fought for Cuban independence in the late 19th century was Captain John Dynamite O’Brien, who successfully ran guns and ammunition from the US to the independent Cuban forces. Revolutionary journalist and poet Bonifacio Byrne and writer Richard Madden were very much involved in espousing the cause of Cuban independence.  One of the founders of the Cuban Communist Party was Julio Mella, whose mother was an Irishwoman, Cecilia McPartland

Another possible Irish Cuban historical connection is whether Eamon De Valera’s father came from Cuba or Spain.  Historians to date have been unable on the basis of existing records to confirm his father’s birthplace but many Cubans believe he was born near Matanzas, east of Havana, and later emigrated to the United States.

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UNA CORDA TRAINEE’S BLOG

Alexis Sanchez and Ernesto Ortiz getting hands-on experience in Ciaran Ryan's workshop near Spidall, Co. Galway

Alexis Sanchez and Ernesto Ortiz are the first trainees on Una Corda’s training course. They will spend 6 months in Ireland, getting hands-on training under some of Ireland’s leading tuners. They started their training with a few weeks in Galway with Ciaran Ryan, and now they are in west Cork, working in the workshop at Jeffers of Bandon.

Check out their blogs below to find out how their training is going, and what Ireland looks like through Cuban eyes. Newest posts first:

ALEXIS 14.04.2011 / Cork & Galway

Nuestro tiempo aqui en Irlanda ha pasado de una manera muy rapida pero al mismo tiempo muy intensa, hemos seguido trabajando en proyectos de restauracion que han sido complejos y que han requerido de todos nuestros conocimientos, los ya establecidos y de los aprendidos aqui en irlanda. En mi caso particular he continuado trabajando en el piano Gulbransenque les comentaba en el reporte anterior, este es un piano norteamericano. Estilo pianola o autopiano que data del ano 1925 aproximadamente Este es un piano que se encontraba realmente en en un estado funcional malo, debido a los anos de explotacion sin mantenimiento, y a la humedad que pudo estar expuesto sin duda estaba en peores condiciones que mi anterior proyecto. Este requeria, primero desmontar todo el mecanismo de fuelles que generan el aire comprimido que pone en funcionamiento del autopiano. despues de desmontar dicho mecanismo, procedimos a limpiar el instrumento, y a valorar las areas mas afectadas del mismo, en este caso eran la accion o maquinaria, el teclado, el bastidor o cama del teclado, asi como la reparacion de uno de sus pedales, que se encontraba roto.

En general se necesitaba un trabajo en focado en la funcionalidad del piano, o sea en lograr un reacondicionamiento del mismo, y devolverlo en el ,mejor estado funcionalmente hablando, o sea darle una nueva vida. A este piano se le relijaron los martillos. o sea fueron restaurada su forma original, se le reemplazaron los muelles de los apagadores, los muelles de repeticion de los martillos, se le sustituyeron las bridas y despues de reacondicinada la accion, procedimos a trabajar en teclado es importante destacar que el teclado original que presentaba este instrumento esta elaborado en marfil, y hay que tener en cuenta el cuidado que se debe tener al trabajar este delicado y prrecioso material. La cubierta de este teclado se encontraba muy sucia cubierta de polvo, churre y restos de pintura y pegamento y sus teclas negras o sostenidos estaban muy descoloridas. Se procedio a restaurar el teclado, primero lijando la superficie de las teclas blancas o naturales para remover las rayaduras y la suciedad que presentaban en el mismo, despues se pulieron de manera que estas recuperaran el color y el brillo natural del marfil,despues de logrado este objetivo se continuo en el rescate del color de las teclas negras o sostenidos primero fuen limpiadas y luego fueron pintadas con una tinta negra especial para rescatar el color de las mismas despues se le aplico un barniz para resaltar el brillo y se finalmente se pulieron logrando un gran resultado, tambien se procedio a reemplazar el fieltro de troneras del teclado ya que se valoro que el original estaba muy deteriorado, todo este trabajo fue valorado a medida que este se desarrollaba por etapas, siempre consultando a los supervisores y profesores encargados de nuestro adiestramiento, este proyecto ya se encuentra en su fase final o sea detalles en su acabado, pronto estara terminado.

Mientras tanto tuvimos que viajar a galway nuestra primera parada al llegar a irlanda especificamente al taller de nuestro amigo y profesor Ciaran Ryan, alli nos esperaba otro reto, reacondicionar dos pianos en el menor tiempo posible, una prueba de valoracion objetiva de la situacion del instrumento y ponerlo en las mejores condiciones posibles o aceptables en el menor tiempo posible, todo un reto, a mi personalmente me toco un piano, Challen, baby cola,que presentaba una condicion regular sus problemas mas serios consistian en regulacion, nivelacion,afinacion y mantenimiento general y en la sustitucion de algunos de sus apagadores que se encontraban en mal estado, algunos de ellos estaban duros y despegados,  Cuanto antes nos dimos a la tarea de de brindarle mantenimiento primero, o sea limpieza y acondicionamiento del mismo, despues se trabajo en factores objetivos, como el lijado de martillos, chequeo de sus centros y del funcionamiento de los mismos, lubricacion, regulacion y nivelacion de la maquinaria, asi como en la limpieza, regulacion, nivelacion y pulido del teclado, consegido estos objetivos procedimos con la afinacion general del piano. Todo esto en menos de 3 dias y medio, puedo decir que fue todo un reto que exigio de todos mis conocimientos y me sirvio para valorar de que manera puedo solucionar este tipo de problemas tan recurrentes en los pianos en el menor espacio de tiempo sin poner en riesgo la calidad del trabajo, sinceramente debo decir que me tomo un tiempo la regulacion y afinacion de este piano, y estoy convencido que es algo en lo que debo seguir trabajando y mas cuando de calidady tiempo se trata, ya nos queda poco, nuestro tiempo aqui se acaba pero el trabajo las nuevas experiencias y el aprendizaje no terminan.

[Translation] Our time here in ireland has flown by, but at the same time it has been very intense. We hard at work on our restoration projects, which have been hard and complex, and they have called on all of our knowledge. In my particular case, I am still working on the Gulbransen American piano that I wrote about in my last report. This pianola or autopiano, from aproximately 1925, was in really bad condition, and after years without proper maintenance and exposure to humidity, it is without doubt a bigger challenge than my first restoration project. First, we had to dismount all the machinery involved in this kind of piano, and after that we proceeded to clean and prepare the piano to start to work on it. We carried out an evaluation on all the functional problems that it has at that moment and we found that the main areas affected were the action, the keyboard, the key bed, and the restoration of one of its pedals which were broken.

In general it needed work on the functionaly of the piano, in other words, a whole reaconditioning of the instrument to give to it a new life.  OK, back to the work. We started with hammer reshaping, changing of hammers repetition, springs, dampers springs, butt felts, jack rest, felts, tapes. After work on action reconditioning, we went to work on the keys. In this case, we must pay particular attention to the keys, because the keys are made of ivory, and we must work with special care because this is a fine material. The surface of the keys was very damaged, with scratches, dirt, residues of glue and paint, and its black keys were very faded and had lost their shiny black color. With the white keys, we sand them up first, to take off all the dirt and scratches away,  and after that, we buff the keys and finally we restore the white shiny finish. We do pretty much the same thing to the black keys – we clean them first, and we paint the black keys with a special black ink to restore the black color, and then we aplly varnish. We buff them and we achieve a great finish, restoring the original black colour. All this work was made with the advice and instructions of our teachers. Also I worked on replacing the key bushings. After that this project is on the way to being finished very soon, always trying to achieve a great result.

Meanwhile we returned to Galway, our first stop here in ireland. When we arrived at the workshop of our friend and mentor Ciaran Ryan, there he has a particular surprise waiting for us. A great challenge: two pianos waiting to be reconditioned, but we were given just three and a half days to work on them, its an objective valoration test, to have  proper vision of the problems when we are facing a new job, and more if that job must be done, in the less time possible. For me, it was a British Challen baby grand which needed some work, in regulation, leveling, general maintenance, hammers reshaping, amd some hard and falling dampers felt. Right away, we got to work: first, general maintenance; then hammers reshaping, centre pin replacement and checking, lubrication, regulation, hammers spacing, traveling, leveling, set off drop. I also did keys cleaning, buffing, regulation, leveling, and tunning and replaced the falling dampers for new ones. All this in less than three and a half days ! I can honestly say that it was  hard work, to do it all in that time, paying special attention to ensuring the quality of the work. It was a great exercise to test the limits of the knowledge that we are acquiring here, and to see how far we come in the main objective – the improvement of our skills as piano technichians. Also I must say honestly that the regulation and tunning took me some time on this piano, because that is something that I really need keep working on, to achieve a good result in less time. Our time here is almost over but the work and the learning process never ends.

ERNESTO 08.04.2011 / Cork & Galway

La semana pasada estuvimos 4 dias en Galway y en esos 4 dias reparare un piano C. Bechsteinenpese haciendo una limpieza a toda la meseta el vastidor y la tapa harmonica despues retire los martillos para lijarlos. Grafite los wippen y cambie le muelles de repeticion que estaban partidos. Retire el tecla do para limpiarlo y pulir les taclas y los cabrestantes cuando termine me occupe de niveler el teclado, blancas y sostenidos. al terminar montelos martillos ala maquina y la monte en el vastidor y empeze a centrar los martillos y el es paciado ala cuerda despues continue con toda la regulacion: altura delos martillos,escape, altura, repeticion, calado y atrappa. Terminada la regulacion empeze la afinacion subir de tono estaba muy bajo. Hasta que termine y cerre el piano.

ALEXIS 21.02.2011 / Cork

Trabajo dedicacion, compromiso es algo que todo los dias esta presente, en nuestro entrenamiento aqui en irlanda, estos meses han sidos determinantes para mi, ya que las experiencias han sido muchas, desde el punto de vista profesional desde el primer momento que enfrente mi primer proyecto de restauracion,pude confrontar mis conocimientos con los de los profesionales de aqui, que me han demostrado la variedad de vias, y metodos para lograr el mismo objetivo. siempre teniendo en cuenta, la funcionalidad, la calidad y la consistencia del trabajo.

Ejemplos hay muchos, uno en especial, el lijado de martillos, en cuba, la mayoria de los tecnicos, lo hacen en el interior de la accion o maquinaria, utilizando diferentes tecnicas basadas en los metodos usados por los diferentes fabricantes, siendo el norteamericano y el aleman los mas conocidos, aqui hemos aprendido que sacando toda la seccion de los martillos fuera de la accion o maquinaria, y tomandolos en secciones de 5 a  8 martillos y alineandolos uniformemente uno al lado de otro, logrando un cuerpo unico entre ellos y colocandolos en un tornillo de banco,usando varias tiras de papel de lija de diferente grosor se logra un exelente  esultado,logrando uniformidad y consistencia en el trabajo, el lijado de martillo  tiene como fin remover  las estrias o zanjas causadas por el constante golpeo del martillo contra la cuerda, una superficie libre de estas estrias o zanjas le otorga al instrumento un sonido mas claro y brillante.

Aqui tambien se trabaja teniendo en cuenta la relacion trabajo, presupuesto, calidad ninguna puede poner en riesgo a la otra. Es  decir dependiendo de el tipo de trabajo que sea, siempre el resultado final debe ser el mejor, tambien ha sido fundamental el esfuerzo que se ha hecho por darnos los conocimientos correctos en la afinacion de pianos ya que constituye una parte importante de nuestro entrenamiento , comenze refrescando conocimientos y habilidades un poco olvidadas de mi curso basico en cuba,despues de refrescar lo basico mis maestros empezaron a exigir mas de mis habilidades hasta llegar hasta lo que constituye la afinacion profesional de un piano, es honesto decir que sin el asesoramiento de mis profesores en este caso Ciaran ryan, Alex Jeffers y en especial Leo guedan hubiera sido imposible, cada dia gran parte de mis esfuerzos son encaminados hacia la afinacion y creo que lo estoy logrando. Hemos participado en varios trabajos de alquiler de pianos para diferentes ocasiones ya sean conciertos, recitales, galas y ha sido de gran ayuda para nosotros ver de que manera se logra un maximo de calidad con un esfuerzo no minimo pero si moderado, siempre teniendo en cuenta que la calidad genera prestigio,confianza y ingresos, y creo que eso motiva a todos y cada uno de los que ejercemos este oficio.

Alexis with his first completed restoration project, a German Rudolmeyer, in the Jeffers Workshop in Bandon

Ya vencido mi primer trabajo de restauracion que fue un piano aleman de estudio vertical de marca Rudolmeyer que fue, como se dice mi primer escalon aqui em irlanda y el cual en honor a la verdad en ocasiones pense que no terminaba por que a un determinado problema seguia otro sin mencionar que debi cambiar sus bridas mas de una vez y una vez terminado afinarlo para su acabado final, fue como el primer trago el mas amargo pero ver como se transforma de un estado a otro ese paso como del dia ala noche vale la pena seguir intentandolo, son muchas las experiencias y tratare de contarselas todas imaginense ahora tengo otro piano para reparar y esta en peores condiciones que el primero asi que habra mucho que contar.

De nuestra vida por aqui les contare que que nuestro gusto por las papas ha crecido ya que esta es muy consumida por aqui que ya casi nos acostumbramos al frio, ya que determinadas bajas temperaturas son normales para nosotros, yo creo que el nivel alto de profesionalidad aqui motiva a todo el mundo ya que todos los dias es una prueba a vencer en este oficio pero hay que seguir descubriendo y les seguire contando. Alexis.

[Translation] Work, dedication, compromise – these are things that we have seen everyday in our training here in ireland. These months are important for me because all the knowledge I learn here will help me achieve my goals as a piano tuner technician. Since the moment that I began my first project of restoration, I was able to measure my knowledge with the Irish technicians, and they have shown me that they are many ways to confront a technical problem, using differents techniques and methods to achieve the same result, always with the quality, funcionallity and consistency of the work in mind.

We have many examples: one in particular, hammers reshaping. In Cuba, the majority of technicians do inside of the action, using different tecniques based on German and American methods, but here we learn to do it using another way. We learnt that if we take out, off the action all the hammers section and take them in small ammount of 5 or 8 and making sure that they are well, in line one side by side making a uniform body, we can put them on the preassure device on the work bench, and using different strips of sand paper, with different sizes of thickness, and reshaping the hammers, making sure that we remove all the damage part of them, always pay attention that we leave them with the original egg pointing shape we achieve a great result. The point of reshaping hammers is to remove the deep grooves, caused by continuous contact with the strings. A hammer surface without these grooves give to the piano a clearer, brighter sound.

Here, everybody’ works to find the balance between work, budget and quality. None of these can put at risk. Always the final result must be the best. It is important that all the effort that our teachers are putting in gives us proper knowledge and skills in piano tunning, because this constitute an essential part of our training here in ireland. The skills that i have are little bit rusty from my tunning basic course in Cuba, so  I have started to refresh my skills, and my teachers are encouraging me to get them to a professional standard. Its important and honest to say that none of it would be possible without the support of my teachers Ciaran Ryan, Alex Jeffers and specially Leo Guedan. It has been a great experience for us to work on gigs and venues, and to see how it all works. We are discovering that with a little effort, you can achieve a great result, always remembering that quality generates prestige, confidence and incomes. These are the things that motivate tuners.

I have already finished my first restoration work – a German Rudolmeyer. To be honest, many times I thought I would never finished it, because it just seemed to be one problem after another, not to mention that I had to change bridle strips around 3 times for differents reasons. Once time tunning finished i say at last,was like the first drink the bitter one, but when you see the transformation of regular piano an a good piano worth all the work,they many stories i will try to tell you all , you can imagine I have another new projest and honestly this is worst than the first one.

About our life here, I must tell you that our taste for the potatoes is increasing, because here potatoes are a way of life !  And we have almost got used to cold, so we feel half Irish. Work usually takes up almost all our time here, but we are fine and excited, and looking forward to more new experiences, which I will keep telling. Alexis.

ERNESTO 07.02.2011 / Cork

Llevamos 4 meses en Irlanda y personalmente he aprovachado mucho esta gran experiencia he aprendido mucho sobre la afinacion de pianos. De reparar una tapa armonica totalemente de coinstruir un clavijero barrenarlo con el angulo. Barrenar un flame de reencordar un piano la regulacion de pianos y la colocacion de nuevas covertura de teclas cosas que no se hacen habitualmente en Cuba. Tambien he conocido muchas salas de concierto en los movimientos de pianos que hemos realizados tenqo mucho que contar a mis amigos y companeros de trabago de esta gran experiencia.y de la nuevas amistades que tenqo. Personas maravillosas con muchas qenas de ayudar al proyecto para mejorar la situacion de los pianos en las escuelas de Cuba.

ALEXIS 07.02.2011 / Cork

Estas navidades fueron totalmente diferentes para un par de cubanos, que fueron testigos del arraigo y del respeto que tienen por estas tradiciones en esta parte del mundo. Fue toda una experiencia nueva y exitante ver el espiritu festivo que se apodera de todas las personas, y es dificil no darse cuenta del arrivo de esta temporada preparativos, decorados, todo el mundo se prepara para pasar en familia estos dias y desearse unos a los otros lo mejor para los 365 dias que han de venir.

Elarbol de navidad, la comida  familiar, las compras de navidad son rituales a cumplir en estos dias,en que el ano viejo dice adios. Este espiritu festivo se contagia facilmente y mas para aquellos que no lo han vivido antes. Nosotros fuimos parte de estas navidades y es algo bello para compartir, recordar, y tratar de rescatar en nuestro pais las navidades es ese momento magico del ano para pensar, compartir y crecer en familia. Alexis.

[Translation] This Christmas was totally different for us two Cubans who where witnesses of all the respect that the people show for these special days, full of love, commitment, and tradition in this part of the world. It was a new and exciting experience, to see all this Christmas spirit in action. It’s that spirit which takes over all the people around here and its so hard not to be part of this.

Lights, decorations, trees, everybody getting prepared to share in family these days to wish to each other the best of the world for the next 365 days. The Christmas tree, the family dinner, the Christmas shoppings they are rituals to accomplish in this days when the old year says good bye, this Christmas spirit its too contagious and more for that people who haven’t experienced it before. We were part of this and its something to share, to remember and try to rescue in our country. Christmas is that magical moment of the year, to share, think and grow in family.

ALEXIS 30.11.2010 / Cork

El pasado viernes como parte de nuestro entrenamiento fuimos a prestar servicio a clientes fuera del taller que nos sirve como escuela y centro de entrenamiento situado en el pueblo de Bandon a las afueras de la ciudad de Cork al sur de Irlanda, somos parte temporalmente de la prestigiosa conpañia Jeffers of Bandon encargada de servicios de reparaciones,  alquiler, ventas y mantenimiento de pianos y de instrumentos en general pero especialistas en pianos, su director general Alex Jeffers es parte de la junta Directiva del Programa Una Corda. Con uno de nuestros profesores tutores el Frances Leo Guedan salimos a varias ciudades vecinas a hacer entregas de pianos y servicios de alquiler de los mismos para conciertos, durante el agitado dia ya libres de trabajo nuestro profesor nos dio una gran sorpresa al llevarnos a uno de los escenarios naturales mas espectaculares que haya podido ver en mucho tiempo, Los acantilados o farallas de Moher, un paisaje indescriptible uno de esos lugares que se te queda clavado en la retina para siempre, pero no seria la unica sorpresa que nos aguardaria ese fin de semana.

Alexis' first snow fall in downtown Bandon !

El domingo ya tarde en la noche a eso de las 12 ya acostado miro a traves de mi ventana y cual seria mi sorpresa al darme cuenta que nevaba enseguida llame a mi colega que dormia en la otra habitacion y nos dispusimos a salir hacia la calle a vivir esa increible experiencia, imaginense lo que puede signicar para dos caribeños, dos Cubanos vivir ese espectaculo de la naturaleza de cerca fuimos testigos de algo que no por ser corrient en estas latitudes deja de ser maravilloso. Esta parte irlandesa de nuestras vidas se presenta muy exitante muy llena de nuevas experiencias de nuevas caras , de nuevos sabores, es esa oprtunidad de aprender algo a cada minuto y tratar de ser un poquito mejores, todavia queda mucho por contar y mucho que decir, seguiremos relatando todo lo vivido aquí. Alexis Sanchez.

ERNESTO 19.11.2010 / Galway

Desde que llegamos a irlanda todo a sido un mundo nuevo para mi aqui encontre bellos paisajes y ciudades hermosas con una arquitectura muy tipica todas las personas que hemos conocido son alegres cordiales siempre dispuestas ayudarnos nos ha chocado el clima frio pero nos vamos acostumbrado, con respecto al trabajo en el poco tiempo que llevamos aqui hemos aprendido muchas tecnicas para la reparacion regulacion y afinacion de pianos que me eran desconocidas y espero perfeccionarlas, por otra parte la comida es muy sabrosa y variada espero esta sea una experiencia inolvidable para cuando regrese enseñar todo lo aprendido a mis compañeros  de trabajo. Ernesto Ortiz.

ALEXIS 15.11.2010 / Galway

Irlanda un gran pais quien no lo sabe, la primera impresion que un caribeño, que un cubano puede tener es que Dublin es de esas grandes capitales de europa capaces de deslumbrar a cualquiera que no conozca el primer mundo y todo lo que esto conlleva, por esta razon la primera impresion que personalmente me dio este pais fue muy grande, por que en mi caso ya conocia algunos aspectos de la historia de este pais y de las grandes similitudes historicas que nos unen, pero si a eso añadimos la voluntad de varios hijos de esta tierra por coolaborar con la cultura cubana y si a esto sumamos que ellos han logrado involucrar a una parte significativa del pueblo irlandes identificada con tan noble proposito es de inmaginar que todo esto son motivos para valorar, pero cuando estas aqui cuando vives la escencia de una cultura nueva, cuando eres parte temporalmente de ella, cuando la vives  diariamemte saliendo a ver sus paisajes, su gente, sus costumbres sus tradiciones, es esa magia de lo sencillo de lo bello de lo simplemente natural que por muy moderno que sea el presente el pasado para ellos es motivo de orgullo. Irlandeses y Cubanos tenemos esa magia de ser unicos de tener algo que nos distingue. Ahora cuando el estudio y el trabajo se combinan en tierras tan lejanas de cuba solo queda cumplir con tan exelentes anfitriones y ser merecedpres de esa confianza depositada en nosotros, unas de las cosas que mas nos ha deslumbrado es la amabilidad, la cortesia, la gentileza, la educacion y el buen humor del pueblo irlandes, por que tristemente de eso ya queda poco en el mundo, todavia queda por vivir muchas experiencias, pero ya hace mucho que valio la pena luchar por ser parte de esta historia entre Irlandeses y cubanos. Alexis Sanchez.

Ernesto Ortiz restoring a piano in the Jeffers workshop in Bandon, Co. Cork

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The Ireland-Cuba piano project passes a major milestone this month, bringing two of our Cuban colleagues to Ireland for six months of hands-on training in Irish workshops.

Ernesto Ortiz, one of the key technicians at the National Workshop of Instrument Repair, gets to work on the action of an old upright

Alexis Sanchez and Ernesto Ortiz, from the project’s workshop in Havana, will become the first official students on the Una Corda training programme. They will spend six months in Ireland, getting hands on training from some of Ireland best and most experienced tuners and technicians. It is the culmination of a lot of hard work and planning, and we are grateful for the help and patience of everyone involved, from the Cuban Ministry of Culture, from the Irish diplomatic service, and our many friends and supporters in the Irish music community.

Una Corda has been working towards this moment since its inception in 2007. First came the project’s unique courier programme – still ongoing – in which Irish holiday makers carry vital supplies to Cuba to fix the pianos in Havana’s music schools. Then Una Corda set about restoring the  city’s National Workshop of Instrument Repair, to provide the infrastructure to carry out major repair work. Now, after long months of careful planning and painstaking negociations, technicians from that workshop are coming to Ireland to continue their training, and to bring back to Havana the expertise they and their colleagues need.

As part of this exciting new development, Una Corda will be making a unique offer to Irish music lovers – to get their pianos repaired and restored by the experts at extremely competitive rates. The work will be carried out under the supervision of some of Ireland leading technicians and tuners, uncluding Ciarán Ryan of Ciarán Ryan Pianos in Galway, Feena Lynch of the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin and Jonathan Smyth and his expert team at Jeffers of Bandon in Cork, and all repairs will be guaranteed.

Alexis Sanchez, instrument technician at one of Havana's busiest music school, has been involved in the Una Corda project since the beginning

The project is also appealing to those who have pianos they want to donate, to contact them, and they hope to recover some lost gems. As well as giving a piano a new lease of life, music lovers be making a major contribution to the future of Cuban music.

Alexis, Ernesto and their tutors will be posting blogs documenting their training. Click here to see the latest updates.

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An Exhibition of photographs of the Una Corda project, taken by leading Cork photographer David Creedon, is now running in the Irish Arts Centre, New York.

David has been following the project for a number of years, and his stunning, large scale photographs of the workshop in Havana are not only marvellous examples of the art of the photographer but also vivid testimony to the ravages of time and decay on Cuba’s pianos. To see some samples of David’s photographs, including shots from the forthcoming exhibition, click here.

The exhibition, entitled ‘Una Corda – the Soft Pedal’ is taking place in the Irish Arts Centre on 51sy Street in Manhattan. Founded in 1972, the Irish Arts Center is an arts and cultural center dedicated to projecting a dynamic image of Ireland and Irish America for the 21st century, building community with audiences of all backgrounds, and preserving the stories and traditions of Irish culture for generations to come. For more, visit their website here.

Una Corda, the exhibition, runs until 9th January 2011. The gallery is open from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday to Friday, and you can get more information by calling +1 212 757 3318 ext. 203

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The core of the Una Corda project is our team of tuners. With more that 100 years of experience between them, and strong connections with all the leading piano manufacturers, they represent the very best piano tuners and technicians in Ireland, and share between them a client list that includes most of Ireland’s leading orchestras, recording studios, concert halls, arts organisations and third level institutions.

The Una Corda tuners are responsible for implementing the Una Corda education programme, which is training the next generation of Cuban piano tuners and technicians. That means they are the hosts and principal tutors when the Cuban trainees visit Ireland, and each works closely with us and with the National Workshop of Instrument Repair in Havana to maintain the highest possible standards and to ensure that our trainees in Cuba  have the tools and supplies they need to carry out their work.

All Una Corda tuners are volunteers. As well was giving their time and expertise to the project, all Una Corda tuners pay their own flights, accommodation and living expenses while in Cuba.

Alex Jeffers

Alex was born and bred in Bandon, West Cork, where the Jeffers family have been at the heart of  the town’s business community for the last 4 generations. After training as a piano tuner/technician during the 1980s, Alex took over the piano department  of the family business – Jeffers of Bandon – and developed it into what is now one of the leading piano companies in Ireland.

Not content with this, in 2000 Alex took up flying as a hobby. He is now a fully qualified commercial pilot and when he’s not tuning pianos, he works as a captain with Aer Arann, Ireland’s regional airline. Alex enjoys competing in triathlons, playing squash and learning Spanish. Although not a fluent Gaelgoir, he enjoys improving his Irish, and he is very involved in his local church. He lives in Bandon with his wife, two daughters, one dog and two cats.

Feena Lynch

Born in Dublin, Feena is one of only a handful of women tuning pianos in Irleand. She began her piano studies in Edinburgh before going to London where she worked as a concert tuner for Bosendorfer pianos. In 2001 she was appointed as the in-house piano tuner at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, one of Ireland’s leading third level music conservatories, where she is responsible for the maintainance of the Academy’s many Steinways and Yamahas.

Away from the Academy, Feena is usually to be found sailing in Dublin bay or attending Spanish classes. She is, by common assent, the best Salsa dancer in the Una Corda project (though the competition, it must be said, is not exactly fierce).

Ciarán Ryan

Founder and coordinator of the Una Corda project, Ciarán was born in Dublin but grew up in New Zealand, where he acquired his antipodean accent. He returned to Ireland in the 1990s and began his training as a piano tuner, with regular working visits to London, where he learned at the elbows of some of the finest tuners and technicians in Europe. Based in Galway, in the West of Ireland, Ciarán is now one of the leading piano providers for concert and recital work throughout the country, and works out of a small (but perfectly formed) workshop overlooking Galway bay, where he undertakes everything from minor repairs to full restoration.

With his New Zealand upbringing, it’s not suprising that much of Ciarán’s spare time is taken up with rugby, and when he’s not on the road with one of his precious Steinways, he can be found shouting himself hoarse from the touchline at one of the youth teams he coaches in Galway.

Paul Wade

Dubliner Paul Wade trained in the leading Irish piano shop, McCullough-Piggots during the 1970s. Since then, Paul has risen steadily through the ranks and is now regarded as one of Ireland’s top tuners, in constant demand at concert venues and recording studios. His main responsibility is for the pianos in Ireland’s foremost classical concert venue, the National Concert Hall in Dublin.

When he’s not tuning pianos, Paul may be found with his family on the beach in Wexford, working on his tan.

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THE NATIONAL WORKSHOP OF INSTRUMENT REPAIR

Tucked away in a back street of Havana Centro, the National Workshop of Musical Instrument Repair is the Cuban headquarters of Una Corda, and the heart of  piano work in the country’s capital city. This atmospheric building has been central to Cuba’s piano trade since before the revolution. It’s earliest use was as an assembly station for pianos being shipped to Cuba from North America. The instruments would arrive ‘flat-packed’, and be assembled in the workshop before being delivered to the  hotels, casinos, nightclubs and the houses of the well-heeled Havana party set. After the revolution in 1959, all trade with the US stopped and that included pianos. However the Soviet Union with its own distinguished piano tradition, helped the Cuban administration to run the workshop, keeping it well stocked, and training new tuners and technicians to look after the nation’s precious stock of instruments.

Wth the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s, Cuba entered what was called ‘el periodo especial’, – the special period, when critical shortages of  basic daily provisions were experienced throughout the island. The end of Soviet financial support, and the ongoing trade and travel blockade by the United States put the Cuban economy under extreme pressure, and as a result the workshop fell into disrepair. The materials required to maintain pianos became scarce or ran out entirely. The very specific tools of the trade became broken or unusable, and the tuners and technicians found it increasingly difficult to carry out their work. The once thriving National Workshop of Instrument Repair began to look more like a disused warehouse.

This is how we found it in 2007, when we began to look for a long term strategy to help Cuban musicians. Following discussions with the Ministry of Culture about how to revive the piano trade in Cuba, the National Workshop was identified as a crucial resource for the country’s hard-pressed tuners and technicians. With responsibility for hundreds of pianos in Havana’s music schools, it was realised that any improvements to the worskhop –in terms of the building’s fabric, its facilities and its stock of spare parts – would have an immediate and lasting effect on the musical life of the city.

A detailed assessment of the building was made,  a plan of work drawn up, and in 2009 an agreement was signed between Una Corda and the Cuban Minstry of Culture to restore the workshop to the standard required for full time piano repair and restoration. The workshop needs new electrical wiring, lighting, ventilation, water, sanitation, and proper storage facilities, as well as a number of new windows, repairs to the roof, and even a new front door. Funds raised by Una Corda and donated by members of the music community in Ireland will purchase the materials, and our Cuban counterparts will supply the labour.

This work already started, and the workshop now contains a very useful store of materials, every ounce of which have been transported to there by friends of Una Corda as part of our courier programme. Work on the fabric of the building is also underway, though the sourcing materials in Cuba has been made more difficult after Hurricanes Ike and Gustav in 2009, when the government quite understandably prioritised all building materials for the reconstruction of people’s homes.

Despite the setbacks and the challenges, the workshop proudly repaired its first piano for many years in February 2009, when it collected an old American concert grand piano from the Escuela de Musica Manuel Saumell, a specialist secondary school in downtown Havana for gifted young musicians (click here to watch a video of the day). Extensive work was carried out to the action and  keyboard of this paino, and the treble strings – rusted and brittle – were replaced. That piano is now back in the classroom, with a new generation of Cuban musicians learning at its keyboard.

Keep checking back here for updates on the restoration of the workshop, and follow this link to David Creedon’s photographic exhibtion of images of the workshop prior to it being repaired. http://unacorda.org/188/

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“Una Corda is a very beautiful idea. As soon as they told me about it, I told them they could count on me. I have only 10 fingers, but if I had 20, they could also count on 20″

“Thank you to all our friends in Ireland. Together, we are helping to train not just tuners, but also mechanics and technicians, specialists in repairs and tuning. It is a tremendous contribution that will secure the future of Cuban music.”

Pianist and Afro-Cuban jazz master Chucho Valdés has been a friend to the Una Corda project since the beginning. He was one of the key contributors to Ellen Cranitch’s documentary, 88 Strings Attached, and when Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs visited the Una Corda workshop in Havana, Chucho very kindly came along to welcome him. (For more on Chucho’s meeting with the Minister, click here)

It was a momentous day for the project, and it was made even more special when Chucho announced that he would be coming to Ireland in the summer of 2009 to play a series of concerts, with all the proceeds going to fund the restoration of the workshop and to further the work of the Una Corda project.

Chucho’s first port of call in Ireland was to the Cork School of Music, where Minister Martin repaid the compliment by welcoming Chucho to Cork and introducing him from the stage. Chucho then played a solo concert in the auditorium of the school that had the capacity audience in raptures. And they weren’t the only ones – when Chucho heard the recording of the performance, made by Lyric FM, he was so pleased that he decided to release it as a solo record. More news about that release when we have it.

Chucho then travelled to Dublin where he met up with the rest of his band at Vicar Street, one of Dublin’s premier music venues. Long before the doors opened, the concert had been sold out, and the thousand or so friends and suporters who crowded into Vicar Street weren’t disappointed. Over nearly two and a half hours of non-stop music, Chucho and the band gave a masterclass in Cuban jazz. It was a night to remember, and the fact that every cent raised on the night was going to save Cuba’s pianos, and to support the education of a new generation of Cuban pianists, just made it all the sweeter.

Read Sunday Tribune Music Columnist Cormac Larkin’s profile of Chucho below

CHUCHO VALDÉS – CUBA’S JAZZ MAESTRO

Appropriately for someone who is regarded as the messiah of Afro-Cuban music, his birth certificate declares him to be Jesus. Like many with that name in Latin America, the pianist, who towers over modern Cuban music, is known to his friends and to fans around the world as Chucho. But in his home town of Havana, they have another name – maestro – and they mean it. In a city that has more than its fair share of musicians, Chucho Valdés is the most revered and the most treasured. Not only is Maestro Valdés the standard bearer for modern Cuban music, but he is one of only a handful of senior Cuban musicians who, despite the lure of international fame and fortune, has stayed in Cuba and supported the revolution.

The Cuba of today and the island Valdés was born into are two very different places. In 1941, Cuba had an almost feudal economy based on the exploitation of the rural peasantry, while Havana was a glittering mercantile centre for the land owners and a playground for rich, corrupt Americans. Chucho’s father, Bebo Valdés, himself a pianist and band-leader, was enormously influential in Havana’s nightclub scene during the forties and fifties, playing classic Cuban dance music in the famous Club Tropicana and accompanying visiting singers like Nat King Cole and Sarah Vaughan. But Bebo was also down in the barrios of old Havana, where African influences were still very strong checking out the rhythms that were happening there. This heady blend of Cuban Son, American jazz, and African rhythm is the formative musical influence on modern Cuban music, and no-one has distilled its essence more succinctly than Chucho Valdés.

Chucho was a young man of seventeen when Fidel Castro and Che Guevara made their famous entrance into Havana in January 1959. By that time, the young pianist had a classical musical education at the Municipal Conservatory in Havana behind him and was already leading his own jazz trio. The following year, like so many musicians in the coming years, Bebo fled Cuba never to return. But Chucho remained, earning a living playing in hotels and theatres, all the time listening to jazz and developing as a player. In 1967, at a time when musicians in Cuba were under severe pressure from the closure of the nightclubs, he was part of a coterie of Cuban musicians drafted into the Orquestra Cubana de Musica Moderna, which included the saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera and trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, both destined for exile and international fame. The name of the group was a coy reference to jazz in a country where American words were now taboo, but ironically, it was this nationalisation of Cuban music which led to the development of the island’s unique brand of jazz.

In 1973, Valdés, D’Rivera and Sandoval left to form their own group and the name which they chose for their new venture – Irakere – was significant. It was a west African word meaning the forest groves where Yoruba percussionists played and signaled a defiant Africanism which gave pride of place to the rhythm section and linked Cuban jazz with the traditional Santeria religions of black Cubans. With Chucho as its principle arranger and musical director, Irakere developed their own unique fusion of jazz and Afro-Cuban music, quite independent of the salsa that was emerging in New York amongst Cuban and Puerto Rican exiles. When the band eventually toured internationally in 1978, it had an immediate impact and, long before the Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon, won legions of followers for Cuban music around the world, among them influential American jazz musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz.

The group found a particularly congenial home away from home in Ronnie Scott’s famous jazz club in London and in the mid-eighties made a celebrated recording there which captures the excitement and sheer energy of the band live on stage. The Legendary Irakere in London (Jazz House, 1987) finishes with The Duke, Dave Brubeck’s tribute to Duke Ellington and in a jaw-dropping display of sheer invention, Chucho plays his own tribute to Ellington, drawing on influences as diverse as Art Tatum, George Gershwin and Rachmaninov. It is a display of virtuosity which puts Chucho in a very elite group in world jazz.

But jazz is too small a word for what ChuchoValdés does. He is a conduit for all music, a lightning rod for the cultural history of the small but incredibly vibrant nation he proudly represents, channeling music and spirituality from Africa, from Europe and from America. To hear him is to hear a new language emerging which, though entirely spontaneous, immediately resonates with our own experience. What more could we ask of a musician ?

From The Sunday Tribune, 12 July 2009

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Minister Michael Martin Visits Una Corda in Havana

In February 2009, Una Corda were delighted to welcome Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin to the project’s headquarters in Havana. Minister Martin, on the first official visit by an Irish Foreign Minister to Cuba, said that he regarded the Una Corda project as “a good example of the cultural bonds existing between the two nations, which can be developed even more, particularly in the sphere of music”.

While there, Minister Martin met with Sr. Felipe Vázquez, director of the Centre of Coordination for International Collaboration of the Cuban Ministry of Culture and also with the legendary Cuban pianist Chucho Valdes, who is a supporter of the project.

Read news reports on the visit below:
RTÉ News A television news report from Ireland’s national broadcaster

Cuba News Report from the Cuban News Agency

Havana Times Article by Havana-based Irish journalist Bernie Dwyer for Cubarte

Earth Times “Old Pianos help forge closer ties between Ireland and Cuba”

CubaMinRex Report from the Official Web Site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba

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In the coming weeks, we will be posting photographs of all our mules (or at least those that send us a photo) here, so check back soon. We are also encouraging our supporters to use this site to share their tips about holidaying in Cuba. See the Insider’s Guide to Cuba for more.

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