Tony Evora
My life has always moved between two powerful streams: the visual and the musical. Although I had learned music while at school, concentrating on percussion,
I went on to study graphic design and then painting in Havana. Between 1962-65 I was in Prague studying typography and printmaking. I returned to Cuba but after
a few years working long hours as art director of the state publishing institute I went back to Prague for a much needed rest only to be confronted in August
1968 by the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, which counted with Castro's support. I decided to leave Cuba altogether and escaped to Austria in awful circumstances.After travelling through Italy and France I somehow ended up in London where I first worked as a book designer for Longman and later became an art professor. I then realized how much I enjoyed teaching. In 1977 I got a master in printmaking from the Chelsea School of Art and by 1983 managed to finish my studies of musicology at London University. My last post in Britain (seven years) was as Director of the Department of Visual Arts, Music and Publishing at Oxford Brookes University, a job that fitted my best aspirations. But in 1992 I left a wonderful job to move to Spain to continue researching on Spanish and Latin American music. And I never looked back. Here in Spain I have published four books in the last twelve years and in 2005 will appear La Santería y otras creencias afrocubanas, an essay that my editor regards as perhaps my best contribution to a better understanding of the Caribbean world. I have written a number of short scripts for television productions and during two years I introduced live shows of Latin American music at Casa de America in Madrid. I now live in Daimus, a small beach some 50 miles south of Valencia, 5 minutes walk to the Mediterranean. Rather than an apartment, my home is a workshop: besides studying specific music aspects I continue painting and have an etching press that takes most of a room. The place is full of books, ideas, sketches, records and musical instruments. I keep a few good friends in several countries and to relax I enjoy travelling, cooking... and playing my drums, of course. Too often I complain that I lack enough time to read, write or draw as much as I would like to. In fact, a few years ago I began writing fiction and finished a play, a novel and a book of short stories, all fortunately unpublished as they are not as good as I would like them to be. But being rather stubborn I keep trying to improve them. I have three children: the oldest is Cuban and a famous actor in Mexico. From a second marriage I have two English daughters, one is a teacher and a mother of a smashing baby and the youngest a mezzosoprano opera singer. They are the best thing that have ever happened to me.  Resume (PDF file, Size: 14KB)
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