of a violin or the guitar is one of the unique forms of perare you vaifian dance and brought with the african slave trade in the 16th century. the spaniards started it and not only as a form of social dominance but ways of enforce their ideology and with the footwork and done individually or in a group. >> (speaking spanish).

>> so we started with a certain type of dance until at least two dance we challenge each other, yes. >> (speaking spanish). (applause).

>> (speaking spanish) (applause). >> this type of patterns that he just performed are called this and this is a communication with the son and the mother and when we die, and the second one is

with the hint he just showed. >> (speaking spanish). >> most of the instruments that werwere performed by the africas in p purrue and the different

groups and they spoke different languages so it was very hard for them to communicate. >> (speaking spanish). >> so the communication will be done by sign. >> (speaking spanish). >> they didn't talk but they could communicate each other. >> (speaking spanish). >> and the form of communication and many of the movements were -- they were used in the dances that we have today. >> (speaking spanish).

>> this movement -- >> span spanish. >> are >> >> (speaking spanish). >> are here and it means soul. >> (speaking spanish). >> and when we go to move our bodies -- >> (speaking spanish). >> they mean the essence. >> (speaking spanish). >> when they go to work the earth -- >> (speaking spanish). >> is the contact with our mother nature. >>nature -- >> (speaking spanish). >> that will live us food, take care of us and receive us before we die.

>> (speaking spanish). >> we also have this and movement of work. >> (speaking spanish). >> or conversation. >> (speaking spanish). >> which is the key to receive love. >> (speaking spanish). >> and all these type of movements were followed by this style of dance with its own co n coring on gravy.

>> >> (speaking spanish) (music).

(applause). >> can you play the music please? >> i want to dance with everybody. >> well, he's not there.

(music). >> okay do you have any questions? we need to have some minutes and would like to answer some questions. yes? >> (inaudible). >> is it hard to dance? >> (speaking spanish). >> it's not difficult. you just got to put a lot of effort into it. and okay so we're teaching classes at the cultural center on saturdays from two to three we teach cajon and three to four we teach dance. >> (speaking spanish). >> (inaudible).

>> (speaking spanish). >> yeah it does. >> (speaking spanish). >> (inaudible). >> (speaking spanish). >> but it will change, yes, of course if you do that. >> (inaudible). >> well, -- (speaking spanish). >> (speaking spanish). >> it's a type of plywood, so this one in particular -- yeah. >> (speaking spanish). >> (inaudible).

>> (speaking spanish). >> in the language it's called dulo. >> (speaking spanish). >> yes? >> (inaudible). >> (speaking spanish). >> yeah. >> (speaking spanish). >> (laughter). >> yes. >> (inaudible).

>> in the 16th century, about 1500. yeah. >> (inaudible). >> no. no, no, just you have to leave this room thinking we did not kill anybody for that. yes, you had a question? >> (inaudible). >> yeah. well, yes, there are -- in cities like the northern part and lima there are certain districts like -- certain ones

and the capital and to the south of lima the district there and to the south almost border to chile there is a community that is unknown that we are doing research right now on it. yes, the value there and with chile and all of that area. yes? >> (inaudible). >> no -- you know what it is. it's a rubber stamp of the tube that is heating it. you can -- >> (inaudible). >> no it's a tube. somebody had a question. i don't know if we are running out of time or we have to go or -- >> (inaudible).

>> (speaking spanish). i think it was done two years ago. it's peru veian. >> (inaudible). >> (speaking spanish) the style in the music to hit all those notes back and forth and then the guitar which is a spanish instrument and the lyrics are from spain and the type of song is indigenous and the type of percussion can is african. >> (inaudible). >> yeah, you could hear in the music. it has that pitch and

that sadness to it. >> (inaudible). >> okay. so can you play the first song? we will show you a little bit and then you guys can come up and dance. (music).

(applause). (music)

. >> thank you and thank you to all of you for being here today in such a fantastic day, beautiful, sunny bay area.

also i want to thank you, hilary flynn, the director of the irish festival for this invitation. let's celebrate the irish in the americas. i put a title to my conversation with you today, take the journey with me, and i wanted to read you an irish proverb that i like it very much because it's the way the history of myself, the history of my family. the longest road out is the shortest road home. and so travel with me and let's go to havana, cuba, and to know a little bit about the irish, the few irish that went to cuba, in particular to havana. i want you to know that on the

left side of the entrance to the havana harbor, there is a well-known fortress, el moro. there is a lighthouse there and the moro has become a image of cuban nationality and in particular havana. in that lighthouse you find, you read an -- when you enter the havana harbor, you find an irish name. that lighthouse was known for many years as the odono lighthouse. who was this person, odono the man that oversaw the project of the lighthouse in 1844 and he was a governor of

cuba from 1843 to 48, but he was a spanish man of irish origin and irish ancestry, a descendant of the -- chieftan of the ticanelles. he is spanish and irish together. if we look at the history of the irish in cuba, most of the irish to went to cuba in the 18th and 19th centuries arrived from spain, some of them with the spanish royal armies; other irish influx arrived from the u.s. for the construction of railroads used to transport sugar cane to the sugar plantations. that was at the end of the 19th century.

and then at the beginning of the 20th century, we're talking 1902, 1910, before odono that i mentioned before, this man who gave his name to -- he was very proud of this lighthouse. the cubans offer hospitality to general alexander alejandro o'reilly. he rose through the ranks of the spanish army. the spanish sent alexander o'reilly to cuba to form a militia.

he was appointed governor of louisiana and head of the army later on. he arrived in august, 1769, and took formal possession of louisiana for spain. think of new orleans and cuba, in particular havana, governors there were also in cuba so there was all this traveling from one city to another because later when i got my ph.d. from tulaine university and i went to the irish channel. it's interesting, the irish history connected with new orleans. so the o'reilly family has been

in louisiana for centuries. in cuba, nobody remembers him but it was the street of calle oreilly, famous until the 50's for its banks and bookstores. it was one of the favorite streets of (inaudible) secretary of the spanish count of fernandino, my grandfather, another irish man feeling at home in havana. there, at the busy corner of calle street and oreilly was a cafe bakery owned by a catelan. it was described by many foreigners, in particular british and irish who lived in havana at the time, as one of

the best order and most elegant cafes in the world. its large door led to a main floor with a fantastic stone floor. i saw it in the 50's, i was very little but i still was there in the 50's, and have a fountain that all that water really produce a refreshing sound that drown the patrons' loud conversations. but what made dominica famous, according to some foreigners and historians, was its ice cream of countless flavors and its famous fruit ices: guava and other flavors were served according to an irish traveler. and he wrote, that all these

ice creams were served in an overgrown wine glass. on the plate under each language a long brown coil, paraquillo looking like a cigar and tasting of brown sugar, well-beaten eggs and flour. this is the sign, according to the traveler, of the spoon used it eat the towering cream. we used to eat these big ice creams in cuba, used lots of cream. most dominica patrons were male but a few foreign women venturing to the famous establishment in the company of men from the court. one of these women was my grandmother,