“The world is in a really shitty place right now. Here, we are trying to do something different.”
Artist Marina Abramović silenced the crowds for 7 minutes to reflect on the current state of the world, wearing a peace sign-shaped dress on ‘Pyramid Stage’, the main stage of UK’s most important music festival, which included Latin American side-bar Glasto Latino.
The biggest music festival in the world took place over the last weekend of June at Worthy Farm, Somerset, in the South West region of England, with Dua Lipa, Coldplay, and SZA among the headliners of this years’ edition, which welcomed over 240,000 people.
As usual, Glastonbury was tinted by political statements. Idles’ show on Friday night featured an inflatable life raft holding dummy migrants, launched across the crowd. It was later found out that world famous street artist Banksy was behind it. Only days before the UK’s election, signs with the word ‘VOTE’ could be seen across the field. as well as dozens of Palestinian flags.
‘No Human is Illegal’ at Terminal 1
Throughout its history, Glastonbury festival has established a proud tradition of supporting travelling communities, finding space for marginalised people to meet, trade and forge new alliances.
Miguel Hernando Torres Umba is a Colombian actor and director living in London since 2007. This was his first time at Glastonbury, and he didn’t attend as a festivalgoer, but as the performance director and actor of Terminal 1, a space that offered an immersive art experience, a nightclub, a print shop, and a formal garden. In Terminal 1, an international cast of artists reinterpreted the airport experience to reflect modern issues. Upon entering, visitors met two stern immigration officers who loudly interrogated them before passing through security control, offering a glimpse of the treatment some migrants receive at the British border. The site was built using salvaged parts of London Heathrow airport’s demolished Terminal 1.
“Terminal 1 aspires to celebrate the current wave of migrants. It’s important we gather to celebrate the idea of migration, the fact that we get to know other cultures, enrich ourselves, and connect with others,” said Miguel to the Herald.
“Terminal 1 was a wonderful opportunity to bring together much of my own experience both professionally and personally, my migrant story, my political connection and social commitment. It was so important to connect with a very diverse team — a rich mix of Britons, Europeans, Latinos, Africans, Asians… all of us connected,” he adds.
I bet you look good on the Latin dance floor
One could argue that Glastonbury is the most complete performing arts festival in the world, and its diversity goes beyond music. Cabaret, theatre, circus, spiritual fields, themed spaces, and exclusive areas for children are some of the other offerings.
But the only place in the 485-hectare site with a dance floor was Glasto Latino, Glastonbury’s home for the spice and fire of Latin music, dance and culture. There are salsa, samba and reggaeton dance classes in the day and at night festival-goers can show off their steps to world-class bands and late-night Latino parties.
“One of the best things about Glasto Latino is seeing top international talent having the best possible time along with their audiences; spontaneous moments during the late-night parties, with the whole tent moving together; and people with no previous experience discovering how much they love Latin music and dance,” said Alister Sieghart, founder and co-organiser until 2016. “My favorite part is bringing new people to Glastonbury, seeing their excitement and wonder,” added Yolanda Iseley, Alister’s daughter, who has co-organised the area with her father since 2016 and fully took the reins this year.
After working at the festival since the 1970s, Alister felt that Glastonbury’s nightlife needed a boost, and hence created the Glasto Latino space in 2007. The spot was a success from the start and over the years moved to a more central location on the site.
“Salsa and Latin dance parties and classes have increased throughout the UK since we started, and I think we’ve contributed towards that,” said Sieghart.
Introducing a bridge to the Latin world in British culture, he says, is essential to provide new perspectives to the public. “I think this encourages Britons to be less insular,” he says.
“We are not one culture, we are many”
On Saturday night, once the shows on the main stages have ended, Eliane Correa and her orchestra ‘La Evolución’ took over Glasto Latino stage with their fusion of Cuban timba, modern urban and world music. The band is joined on stage by a couple of dancers to fire up the party.
Half Cuban and half Argentinian, Correa studied classical music while living in Cuba, but took up composition after suffering from tendonitis at age 13, and diversified her musical style by blending in the local sounds. She moved to Europe to develop her music career and once in London faced the challenge of breaking the British stereotypes about Latin music.
“Until recently, Latin music existed as a homogenized element seen from a very imperialist perspective of scantily clad women, feathers, tropical fruits, little salsa, ‘la vida es un carnaval,’ and as if Cuba were only Buena Vista Social Club,” she said. She has often been asked to play commercial hits like reggaeton artist Daddy Yankee’s ‘Gasolina.’
“Latin culture in London is now booming, bringing a fresh and new angle to what people understand by Latin music, which I think is great,” she says.
“Before, you didn’t see the variety of Latin American, South American, and Latin-Caribbean music and culture we have. We are not one culture, we are many.”
