Los Van Van (of Cuba Plus)

By Kiro

Unmistakable for its melodic sounds and inimitable way of portraying Cuban everyday life, Los Van Van is celebrating its fourth decade, proud to know they are at the top of the hit parade.

The orchestras history goes back to September 4, 1969, when Juan Formell created the group; revolutionizing the song lyrics and rhythm of Cuban dance music, adding to it the bass, electric organ, electric guitar, violins and a meticulous vocal arrangement characteristic of quartets at the time.

Read Full Post »

David Calzado and the Charanga Habanera (of Cuba Plus)

By Sahily Tabares

Sweaty from the avalanche of rhythmic energy, dancers improvise a chorus for the popular band of violinist and composer David Calzado (born in Havana in 1957).

Since its debut in the Cuban capital in 1993, the band has introduced rap effects, eccentric styles of wardrobe and choreographies that have created change in the aesthetic of dance music.

Read Full Post »

Buena Fe (of Cuba Plus)

By Alexander Machado Tineo

Among the latest generation of bands from the Nueva Trova, a movement mainly promoting ballads, there is a pair of youngsters, outstanding not only for their musical arrangements and lyrics but also for their massive following who learn their songs by heart and anxiously await new releases.

Buena Fe, a duo started in 1998 by Israel Rojas and Yoel Martinez, both from Cuba´s easternmost province of Guantanamo, offers timely songs, varied and sharp, appealing to an ever growing and loyal following.

First playing together at local festivals in Guantanamo, Buena Fe (Spanish for Good Faith) soon caught the attention of the national record label, Egrem, which invited them to Havana to record “Dejame Entrar,” and they have never stopped climbing the heights of Cuban popularity. Named best pop act for several years running, they have released four other CDs “Arsenal” in 2003, 2004’s “Corazonero,” “Presagios” in 2006 and “Catalejo” in 2008.

I know lots of musicians whose lyrics constitute a barrier in their communication with the audience. This is not your case. Why? “We would need to ask the audience. We always say we are interested in reaching as many people as possible. That is fundamental for us. There are many ways to reach…

Read Full Post »

I will return (Antonio Guerrero´s poem)

I will return and say to life
I have come back to be your confidant.
From north to south I will deliver to the people
the part of my love hidden within me.

I will sprinkle the immeasurable happiness
of one who knows to laugh unpretentiously.
From east to west I will raise my countenance
with goodness forever promised.

For where the wind has whipped, harsh and strong,
I will go looking for the leaves on the path.
I will unite their dreams of such fortune

Read Full Post »

Cuban Culture Day

By LAGABY

Culture is the reflex and description of a nation expressions, its history and its perspective.  That´s why nowadays many people stand up for an inclusive cultural vision, that embraces every manifestation of the rich and peculiar reality; a reality which defines us and it is related to what we are or what we aren´t, because our culture is an unmistakable expression of our identity.

Read Full Post »

Cuba’s Youngest Cultural Ambassadors Make Rare U.S. Appearance

La Colmenita, an internationally acclaimed Cuban children’s theater group and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, is bringing its high-energy mix of theatrics and song to Washington, New York and San Francisco, with a private performance at the United Nations Oct. 24

The Oct. 15-29 tour, which is sponsored by the New York-based Brownstone Foundation, will give American audience an unique opportunity to meet some of Cuba’s most talented young people, a generation which has been raised in the shadow of a decades-long U.S. embargo.

Read Full Post »

Through every space, through any house

By Mónica Rivero Torres

Translated by Gretell Sintes Gómez

Silvio Rodriguez in Cuban neighborhood

Where, how …

La Timba, Cocosolo, El Fanguito, La Hata, Los sitios … I dare to say that they aren’t in the guidebooks of Havana, whose selection criterion disqualifies these corners of the city, for not being paradigmatic, worthy representatives of the architectural tradition, having apparently little or no fame … Nevertheless, being included in such guides is far from being a condition of existence for a particular place, for an entire neighborhood. They exist, of course, even “suffering” such absences, living the condition of being ignored also by many of the inhabitants of the city itself.

Read Full Post »