"Cinco Changüiseros" - Part 4: Mikikí (tres player & singer - Grupo Changüí Santiago & others)

"Cinco Changüiseros" is a musical documentary about Changüí - the traditional dance party music of Guantánamo Province, Cuba. Today's Salsa music and dance branched out from the vibrant tradition of Cuban Son. It is said that Changüí is the mother of the Son.

This fourth of five parts of "Cinco Changüiseros" features another of the greatest living "tresero cantantes" (tres player-singers) of the Changüí tradition - Mikikí. Mikikí has played with Los Guaracheros de Perseverancia, Cambron Junior y su Changüí, Los Morenos del Changüí and many of the other Changüí groups in Guantánamo Province. Mikikí has performed in several national musical festivals and won the tres player competition at the National Changüí Festival several times.

In December of 2004, two novice filmmakers travelled to Eastern Cuba to study and document Changüí. By knocking on doors and making new friends, some of today's best Changüí musicians gladly gave interviews in their homes and performed in intimate settings. In this way, five central changüiseros shared their personal stories and illuminated the nature of this frequently mentioned, yet seldom understood music and dance form. The full length documentary film "Cinco Changüiseros" that resulted from this journey is an up close and personal journey to Guantánamo where the Changüí is alive and well.