I composed this piece for the 9th annual International Electro-Acoustic Music festival in Havana, Cuba in 2002. My sister, Ana María Alvarez (OC ’99), performed her own choreography for the piece at the festival in Havana.

sides/lados is an exploration of the pushes and pulls, internal as well as external, which result from a bi-cultural identity, and more specifically a Cuban-American identity. The decades old economic, political, and philosophical tension between Cuba and the United States has harbored not only numerous social effects but also tremendous personal effects for Cubans and Cuban-Americans. More and more Cuban-Americans who were born in the United States and have restricted access to learning about and traveling to Cuba, are coming of age artistically and otherwise. This is a generation of varying viewpoints but similar struggles. I composed this piece for my sister who shares perfectly my experience and struggle of rediscovering a side of oneself so guarded and restricted by one’s own society. The piece is bilingual and multi-stylistic. I’ve used the medium as a way to collage and depict the conflict and harmony that comes out of a distinctly split cultural heritage. Many of the samples have come from various interviews and field recording in Cuba and the United States.