Last Tuesday was a very important day in Gustavo Mendoza’s life. He stood before a United States Immigration judge in Newark to pledge his allegiance to his new country, a little more than a year after finally fleeing his native Cuba to play the music he created with his violin.
“I never expected any of this to happen,” Mendoza said through his interpreter, his older brother Ruben, also a Cuban refugee. “I’m going to be able to stay here. I’m so happy.”
Mendoza, who now calls Guttenberg home, defected from Cuba on June 2, 2002, after playing in a concert in Mexico. He knew that his brother, a former renowned painter and artist in Cuba, had already made a life for himself and his family in the United States, settling in Guttenberg. His parents were also being brought to Guttenberg from Cuba.
“After 12 years, it was my best chance to leave,” Gustavo Mendoza said. “I was actually planning on going back to Cuba, but I then thought of the retribution I would get for my parents leaving, so I managed to get out.”
There were mixed emotions about leaving his homeland. After all, it was where the 28-year-old Mendoza was taught to make beautiful music with his violin, which he played since he was only 7 years old.
“But I knew I had to leave,” Mendoza said. “Especially if I wanted to play my music.”
Music was always a part of the Mendoza family’s life in Cuba. Their grandfather, who was a perfume maker in Cuba, was also a devoted music fanatic, introducing the Mendoza boys to all forms of classical and Latin music.
“My grandfather’s hobby was to play music, and the house was constantly surrounded by music growing up,” Ruben Mendoza said. “He had a big music collection and listened all the time. So growing up, we knew about music from him and were encouraged to learn to play by him.”
Mendoza first started out learning to play the piano, like his older brother Ruben.
“I went to a music school tryout and the teacher there said I had an amazing ear,” Mendoza said. “He thought I could play the violin. I wasn’t happy with it. I didn’t know what the violin was all about. I wanted to play the piano. But the teacher said that there were a lot of piano players and not many violin players. So I played the violin.”
Mendoza was able to attend the Escuela de Cartula, a renowned music school in Havana. Once Gustavo took to the violin, it became an obsession.
“I remember the early years, when he first started playing,” said Ruben Mendoza, who is seven years older than Gustavo. “I used to laugh at the long hours he put in. He wasn’t exactly great right away. In fact, he was hard on the ears. But he kept playing.”
“My parents took me to concerts, so I could see how the violin was played,” Gustavo Mendoza said. “Once I saw it, I started to love it.”
He was asked by his teachers at Cartula if he wanted to switch back to learning the piano, and he thankfully declined the offer.
“I was a violinist,” he said.
Brother fled
In 1991, Ruben Mendoza fled Cuba, after appearing at an art exhibition in Mexico.
“I just packed up my things and never went back,” Ruben Mendoza said. “Gustavo was in elementary school at the time. But because I left, he wasn’t able to attend school during the day anymore.”
To continue to study the violin, he had to go to adult school at night.
“Because I was talented, there were people who took care of me,” Gustavo Mendoza said.
However, because his brother was a defector, there were many doors that were closed to Gustavo.
“I had opportunities to play, but people passed on me because of my brother defecting,” Gustavo Mendoza said. “I was forced to pay for my brother leaving. But I made a life as a musician in Cuba.”
To make money, Gustavo had to learn to become an auto mechanic, an idea that angered his older brother.
“I told him that his life was his hands,” said Ruben, who came to Guttenberg in 1991. He abandoned his life as a painter and became involved in Spanish advertising for radio and television. “I told him to stop being a mechanic. He had to take care of his hands. I told him to think about coming to America.”
“The situation in Cuba was bad and getting worse by the day,” Gustavo Mendoza said. “I couldn’t be patient. It was getting worse for the professional people, like artists and musicians. I was forced to do so many things to survive, but I wanted to play music. I wanted to be a professional musician.”
Realizing that his older brother had made a better life for himself in the United States, Gustavo Mendoza planned his strategy to flee Cuba. It came in the form of a concert in Mexico.
“I knew I was coming to a free country,” Gustavo Mendoza said. “Whether I made it in America was up to me. I had to work hard. But I knew I was going to be free. That was the bottom line. It was mostly about freedom.”
With his brother’s guidance, Gustavo Mendoza played in the concert in Mexico last June and never looked back. He came to Guttenberg, where he was reunited with his brother for the first time in 12 years. His parents were also there.
“After 12 years, it was a happy time for all of us,” Ruben Mendoza said.
Soon after he arrived in the United States, Gustavo Mendoza wanted to play his music, anywhere and everywhere he could. He quickly received regular playing gigs at Las Palmas Restaurant in West New York, where he continues to play three days a week, at El Paladar in North Bergen, where he plays Fridays, and the Spirito Grill in Weehawken, where he plays Sunday brunches.
He also recorded a CD of his music, entitled “Cuerdas Latinas,” a compilation of Latin-American music that was produced by Ruben’s wife, Geraldine, who is the music teacher at St. John Nepomucene School in North Bergen.
“The response from the CD has been very good,” said Ruben Mendoza, who is acting as his brother’s agent. “People have been asking for the CD and ordering copies. We’ve received some good responses from recording labels.”
Ruben Mendoza said his brother is also learning American contemporary music as well.
“He’s a quick learner,” Ruben Mendoza said. “He’s getting more American songs into his repertoire, like Sinatra. He understands his market.”
Gustavo Mendoza has also been busy, working with children in Secaucus, teaching them the violin. One of his students is his nephew, Ruben’s son.
“My son is doing very well,” Ruben Mendoza said.
So after a year in his new land, Gustavo Mendoza is making a name for himself, as well as a permanent home.
“I never expected to enjoy it this much,” Gustavo Mendoza said. “People have accepted me so well here. I’m working hard. I’m happy. I’m still a Cuban, no matter what. But I’m learning about both cultures. I’m very happy.”
“We’re Cubans, but Cuban-Americans,” Ruben Mendoza said. “It’s a great country here. We’re free.”