Roberto Reyes and his blog ¨La Trastienda Musical¨

His day starts when everyone is asleep, and after a few hours of sleep, returns to continue his adventures in the same hours as all get up. At 9 in the morning you can see it go more than five miles – the distance between his home and the station – on the same route of university students. He says he has lost several glasses and sometimes those who know him shout: Roberto,I saw you hanging on the bus !

It comes everyday to Stereo Centro with the expression on her face the reality of Santa Clara residents, and then feed in the program “Latidos de la ciudad ” , a newscast that runs with the same intensity that lives the author of ” Trastienda Musical

Backroom musical ” , another of his creations . A digital site suggesting a nearly forgotten room in which are exchanged views on alternative Cuban music , artists , concerts , trivia , and where they offer up recordings.

“It’s the back room where is the best music. It is obvious that in the front room are ephemeral and bombastic works, the art fair. The page name can be interpreted as a metaphor for the state in which the music is the Cuban nation, in which the works and most valuable musical creators are being relegated to the back room, “Roberto defines the meaning of all the publications.

As a “night owl ” who characterized until recently woke up the entire neighborhood with the ” tac tac  ” of an old typewriter, until her daughter , saying how it was that in the XXI century someone wrote in that mechanical device , gave a laptop , now intertwined with the stories of ether Cuba radio center of the world and through his personal blog .

With Roberto you can talk about music, literature, and the arts in general, but also transportation, economy, sports and much more. About he could say many things, but you always have the feeling of not having said all of that language fails to do justice to their years of experience and his encyclopedic knowledge.

For his unlimited wisdom , as excessive is also his humility and his passion for the environment, the Portal of the Cuban Radio decided to go in to his small studio and office at the Stereo Centro, the local radio station of Santa Clara , in central Cuba .

A blog tests the ability and intelligence of whoever created, but also a challenge to the will and patience to face human connection problems in our country , the treatment to photography, the problems with the source code and own hypermedia language . How could you overcome these barriers and keep in cyberspace for so long uninterrupted?

I work with much dedication. The first thing I did, after learning how to turn on the computer and open a document, it was Google search How to blog? Ufffff and nothing more difficult than that. I could not understand what I was told: no IP address, the template, codes, nothing. So I was migrating from one platform to another for more than three months. It was a challenge. I asked for help at the computer station, Vanguardia newspaper reporters and received, but not always in the best way, because I’m not of pleaded with people.

You cannot imagine how those first steps were. The text was messy, if the photo is going up or too large. At six months , and I have at least some of what he wanted, in terms of structure , size, design , colors, etc. . In short, there were many hours of delivery. That has been the formula to address all these problems that are used.

You’ve been more than 15 years as a writer for a radio you had difficulty moving from one language to another?

Not many, but certainly there are notable differences between the Web and traditional radio. This I have learned as an autodidact, researching on the Internet how to do one thing or another. Look, the script demands a lot calls for.If you talk to in the first paragraph about a singer, repeat the name in the third. The ephemeral nature of the medium requires it. However, the digital world is similar to the flat press, where it is not necessary to repeat that the reader can return to the beginning of the text and recognize the central idea.

The website claims a direct writing with short paragraphs. When you open a page and see an item too long do not read because they get tired, however good you are at work.

The web has hyperlinks, embedded in the text, that allow a jump to another page.

What do you prefer the radio or the website?

Why do I not stay with the two? I really like the site because it has made to have many friends in various countries, such as Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, among others, interested in the trova, rock and alternative music in general Cuban. Even many of them have been to Cuba, and have passed through Santa Clara. It’s amazing interactivity that occurs. The world becomes the size of a web page.

I ‘m also on traditional radio by the magic that makes it different and unique compared to other media. He said he was going to disappear and instead has been transformed and adapted to modern times. Are very popular right now online radio transmissions or through mobile devices. I seduce the kind of radio where the announcer is not hardbound , makes the listener believe everything he says, by , effects , sounds, sound images . It is pure imagination and that fascinates.

What do you think of the current state of the Cuban blogosphere?

From my own experience I tell you I like to publish works of opinion, and although it is very difficult to achieve, always try to do. It really hurts when some professionals have a website to copy and paste the same as other Cuban and foreign sites. A blog is a personal space to express judgments, standards, assessments, and all from a personal perspective.

It is the mirror of the journalist, student, or professional webmaster behind him. Through the site know how you think, do not you like, what causes you pleasure, ideology, and professional interests, among others. The update should be constant, according to the possibilities of each person. I do it myself every week and sometimes up to twice as long at the beginning and the end: one on Monday and one on Friday. There are things concerts, news, among other things that require immediate release, but the other items the cook slowly.

Writing about music must be knowledgeable. Some consider it a specialty. What do you do for doing your work?

Continuous links to sites that promotes Cuban alternative music as ” The Jiribilla ” , ” El Caiman Barbudo  ” , ” Esquife ” , ” El Taburete ” and institutional sites such as page Hermanos Saiz Association (AHS ) , CubaDebate , Cubarte , section Los que sonamos por la oreja by  Joaquín Borges in Juventud Rebelde newspaper, and other blogs that rope walking . There are also social networks Facebook and Twitter where artists updated on their presentations, albums, tours, and concerts abroad and in the country.

I am aware of the publications that are related to Cuban music, although this is sometimes difficult because I live so far from Havana, which usually is the best and most current literature. Still, thanks to the friends I have acquired some of them.

What do you recommend to those starting out in the digital world?

Do things with passion, because when you do the final product does not work and people perceive. Not doing to fulfill certain mission, order, but it leaves your desire to express and communicate, because in the end, that page will speak for you. The things that are done without passion die disappear in time and in memory.

Translated by: Daysi Olano

 

 

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