An Alley with a Feeling

Seventeen years ago, artist Salvador González started painting Afro-Cuban motifs on the walls of a run down alleyway in Havana. That is essentially how the Callejón de Hamel, or Hamel's Alley, was reborn, transforming into a place of colour and feeling. This was appropriate because in the 1940's and 50's, one of the houses in the area was owned by the famous Cuban singer Tirso Diaz. His home was a meeting place for singers and songwriters who, together with Tirso's sons, founded a new style of Cuban music called filin. This passionate and emotional way of singing was named after the English word "feeling" and has produced several classic songs known around the world. It may even be that this small street has the power to inspire. Salvador González certainly believed that.

As a dreamer, he says that he was following the Yoruba saying: "Unhappy is the man who does not listen to the rocks whistling to him." "I listened to the whistling and the singing of this alley," said Salvador.

He shows his work - a mixture of cubism, expressionism, surrealism, baroque and primitive styles - at his studio-gallery named "Merceditas Valdés" located in the alley. He is not worried that people will think that he is kitschy. "As a creator, I am self-taught and didn't study in any academy. I mix and I have created my own style. I used to work with leather and metals but I needed another way to express my art and I decided to start my work on the walls of the alley in April 1990."

His international career blossomed after