Cuban through and through, Chucho Valdés also knew how to pay homage to one of our most sacred institutions: unpunctuality. It had been a while since the time previewed to begin his press conference,1 and the only “chucho” (swearing) being lavished in the Salón de los Embajadores of the Habana Libre Hotel was that of us journalists, impatient and with no coffee…. At last he appeared, gigantic and smiling, donning his perennial Bolshevik cap, a psychedelic shirt, and that placid face that only those who are above good and evil can have. He gave us, affable, a “thank you for being here,” which should have been “thank you for waiting,” or “thank you for not leaving.” As if he needed to apologize…. If it had been someone else perhaps no, but we forgave Chucho. And we did it not just because we recognized the great man who propped Cuba up in the map of the world of contemporary jazz, but because we sensed that each second we had waited would be worthwhile, that we were about to get a master lecture about music, but also about life. By his side, two aces of the genre, Christian McBride and Terence Blanchard,...

Everything is ready for the Guillermo Barreto in Memoriam Percussion Festival, a drum party in which the rock is absent by choice. That said its main organizer, Giraldo Piloto, when presenting the 14th edition of the event that worships the backbone of Cuban music: percussion. Piloto, drummer and leader of the group Klimax, denied that the program marginalize some genres in detriment of the rumba, jazz and manifestations of Iberian and African folklore. In particular, he noted that the Fiesta del Tambor (Drum Party) tried to set a bridge with the Cuban Rock Agency, and were rejected, although bands like Synthesis participated in this event. "We are not spiteful, we prefer to join forces: the rock has been and probably will be in the Fiesta" said Pilot, who recalled the performance here last year of Swiss Jojo Mayer. Regarding Danzon, national dance of Cuba, Piloto praised it as musical treasure of the country, although it does not seem effective to capture the attention of new generations, one of its objectives. In fact, he announced an all-star concert with groups of salsa and timba that prevailed during the "boom" of the 1990s, in an attempt to rescue more indigenous dance rhythms....

It is impossible to be indifferent to Havana; the former gateway to the New World still has the almost mystical enchantment of being the window on a whole new universe of humanity and its heritage, seducing those who are looking for more than sun and sand. For those of us who come from “the provinces,” or other corners of the world, entering the Villa de San Cristóbal de La Habana (the Cuban capital’s colonial name) is like docking at a port where everyday marvels leap to our view, or lie in wait to be discovered during an urban excursion or in the frank speech of its people. People say, and rightly so, that Havana is the mecca of magical realism. Strolling down its streets, you discover a city of multiple colors, nuances and history, autos that should be in a museum and not on the road at all hours, and architecture that stands purely on the basis of columns and imagination. For foreigners, Havana is an ideal starting point to learn about the country. One reason is that in the “capital of all Cubans,” as it is known, Havana natives live side by side with people from the provinces who...

This morning the top floor of the Calzada and K funeral parlor seemed too empty to the importance of the deceased: when I learnt that they will hold a vigil for Celina González in the hall reserved to important dead, I assumed there would be no room for a soul, between intimate mourners, artists, reporters and fans of the Queen of Punto Cubano ... But it was not like that, or at least at the time I was there, just were three journalists, and about thirty people, including relatives and friends. I assumed that their brothers in faith had already met the funeral rituals of their religion, or maybe then more people came. In his chapel, a picture of Celina and Reutilio Domínguez crowned the imposing coffin, between respective floral crowns sent by Fidel and Raul Castro. I spoke with Barbaro Reutilio Dominguez Gonzalez, son of one of the most popular couples in Cuba arts, and he shared with OnCuba some considerations about his famous mother, whose death last February 4, at 85 years of age, shocked those of us that knew her music and enjoyed her singing. "It is an irreparable pain, but we were expecting it for a...

The bad news found the bulk of the Cuban cultural press, that interesting wildlife that we are in a press conference for the coming Book Fair. There we were, copying more numbers than a bookkeeper, getting smoke in the vapors of a nearby grill when a friend told me softly, "Celina died. This morning. It will be announced shortly ". I confess that the news surprised me: I hadn’t heard of her in a long time and sometimes I suspected she had already left, and perhaps I was the confused one. It has happened to me with others, the Indio Naborí, for example. But after the surprise wore off, I felt sincere regret ... For her death, and generations from now, for whom this will be another death that says nothing, it does not affect them; they do not feel it... I, everybody knows it, was born in Santa Clara, and although through the Vidal Park not oxen´drawn carriage goes or guateques (peasants parties) are assembled in the square, I am half-peasant. I grew up in that era when Cepero Brito was the host at Palmas y Cañas program, Justo Vega and Adolfo Alfonso engaged in memorable fights   using only...

Those who had the privilege of covering the Tour of Cuba, the ascent to the Gran Piedra (Big Rock) seemed somewhat scary, heroic, longed and prohibitive: the iconic stretch of the Cuban classic cycling race until 1989, the demanding ascension was never done again, as it was feared that the event would run out of cyclists in the second or third stage. Therefore, given the announcement that the Big Rock would host again a competition, the lovers of road cycling feel a mixture of surprise, joy and hope; surprise because nobody believes that now the bikes to be better; joy because the race becomes more rigorous now; and hope because if the Big Rock already came back, we can dream that sooner or later the Cuban Tour will return. The good news was reported Joel Garcia, chronicler and historian of the Cuban Tour. As reported in at Trabajadores newspaper, the second stage of Guantánamo-Havana Cycling Tour, scheduled from February 11 to 22, will consist in ascending this A category mountain pass, once one of the most demanding in the world. Veterans told me that in some sections the ascent is almost vertical, that not just experienced riders dismounted, that the...

The ruins of the ancient Pedro Borras pediatric hospital, in Vedado neighborhood, have their hours counted. After years and years of decay, abandonment, illegal occupation and eviction, the former emblematic Havana Art Deco building is coming down to become parking -and park- of the health centers that surround it. For several days the heavy machinery gradually demolishes the famous brick towers of this entity, the first children's hospital of Havana, built in 1933 with capacity for 500 beds. Its architects were Felix Cabarrocas Ayala and Evelio Govantes Fuertes, who also bequeathed another jewels to Havana's architecture, such as the Capitol, Palace of Fine Arts, the now House of Friendship, the Freyre Andrade hospital and the Civic Plaza, current Revolution Square. That hospital was renamed Pedro Borrás Astorga in 1961 in honor of a medicine student who died at the Bay of Pigs. In the early 1980s, while continuing to provide service, the facility underwent preventive maintenance. In 1988, major repairs began that, if anything, worsened the constructive state of the work. When I landed in Havana in 1998, the Borrás already seemed irretrievably doomed. It is said that at the beginning of this decade, the construction of popular tunnels and...

“Now, out of this turmoil that is a new experience in my life, I return to my manuscripts, my personal work, like a convalescent that comes out of disease unscathed, but who has been out of himself for over 40 days¨ That was written by Alejo Carpentier on the December 28, 1954 in his personal blog that he had for years in Caracas referring to the First Latin American Music Festival, an old dream that became a reality in November that year, a forerunner enterprise, very successful but that left him truly exhausted. As his described it in his personal diary, well-kept by his widow Lilia, there was a time when he felt his mind and body were yelling at him: ¨enough¨ Only when the festival was over could the prolific writer return to his literary work. When I read that confession on the book published last year by the Alejo Carpentier Foundation, I understood a little better why Maestro Leo Brouwer decided to end the festival that bears his name and that for the last 6 years brought true legends of universal music to Cuba. Thanks to the Leo Brouwer Chamber Music Festival, Cubans could enjoy live true stars...

When Juan Formell died, Cuba no doubt lost the greatest musical narrator of everyday life on this island in the last 45 years, a chronicler through-and-through with a unique sensibility. In fact, one of the great merits of his band, Los Van Van, was to make people dance by singing stories that the news media touched on timidly, if at all. Moreover, the vast discography of the so-called “Cuban Music Train” included notably graphic chronicles marked by local customs, characters, and phrases that are part of this country’s cultural legacy. With their lyrics, the band addressed everything from the migration phenomenon (“La Habana no aguanta más”) to the loss of values (“Se muere de sed la tía”) and the craze for building “barbacoas,” or lofts within apartments. Behind it all was the vision and desire to do something different of Formell, the illustrious son of Havana’s folkloric Cayo Hueso neighborhood, and the creator of rhythms like the changüí-shake and the songo. From their first album, Los Van Van amazed people with their conceptual irreverence: it was an unclassifiable groove that clearly had airs of charanga, but also of funk, filin, pop rock and ballad. All of it a blessed heresy…....

Six months after its opening, La Fábrica de Arte Cubano (in English: “Cuban Art Factory”), is a reality, a symbol of these new times, and perhaps the closest thing to the idea of real culture also being profitable. However, it’s not easy; if it were…what would be the fun? Easy to spot from a distance with its enormous brick chimney, this former cooking oil factory, known simply as La Fábrica, is different. That’s part of its appeal for habitués. It costs more than a museum, but less than the cover at a reggaeton or salsa club, for example. Concerts, art exhibitions, video screenings, plays, fashion shows, and more—there’s a place for all of it in La Fábrica’s spacious galleries, where art of all kinds can be found in every nook and cranny: from conceptual to figurative, winks at pop art, and even a self-service bar where you can dish up the ideology of your choice, from Gramsci to Marley, for example. Another incentive for going to La Fábrica will be its internal Wi-Fi, an “intranet” with a database of Cuban artists, from which you will be able to download music, cultural listings, and related information, according to X Alfonso, who emphasized...

Diana Fuentes took some time from her busy life as a mother and a singer to answer OnCuba’s questionnaire as a scoop of the presentation of her album Planeta Planetario (Sony Music) that will take place next august 29 at the National Hotel in Havana. Simple and sweet –I never sensed a drop of bitterness in her—Diana explained some of her reasons for going back to the recording studios, as well as her motivations and musical preferences, her husband’s creative mark and her expectations on the reunion with her Cubanaudience. Planeta Planetario will be released for sale on September 9 and will be available in every format. It comprises 12 tracks, including her successful single Sera sol and La ultima vez, which is already playing on the Puerto Rican radio stations. How did you come up with this album? Planeta Planetario results from the need of a second album. Amargo pero dulce (2009) brought about many good things and I have special love for it because it is my first one, but in 2012 I realized –and I think my fans did too—that we needed some new music. When I moved to Puerto Rico I started writing a few songs...

The Cuban writer Reina María Rodríguez received from the president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, the coveted Latin American poetry prize Pablo Neruda, who for the second year is won by a Cuban. Last year José Kózer, who is a member of the jury this time, won it. The Mont Varas hall in the historic Palacio de la Moneda hosted the ceremony during which Bachelet, back as a president after a while in front of the UN- Woman, recognized the "articulator of voices" talent of the author of Para un cordero blanco and La foto del invernadero, Casa de las Américas awards winners. A few months ago, after learning of her triumph, Reina María had said she dedicated the award to the writers of her generation, who had to leave Cuba, and now said that Cuban literature is primarily of poets, and defined her writing as the act of deploying in every verse "the miracle of the living."... In turn, Bachelet said she was a privileged witness "of talent, the depth with which it is written in our America, the beauty that remains, nonetheless, singing its song to be heard by men and women in the future. " Established in 2004,...

Who would say that Cuba, a country renowned for clichés such as tropical land of sun, salsa and mulatto, could become a stronghold of heavy metal? Well, French David Chapet not only says it, but argues it... According to the French music promoter, guilt seems to be for the Brutal Fest, the festival created four years ago with the support of the Cuban Rock Agency, to shake the baffles with the music of the hardest metal bands. And it was so much acceptance that the organizers have had to make a winter and a summer edition. With the summer release almost around the corner, Chapet OnCuba spoke about the peculiar taste of Cubans for the most raucous rock trends. Worth clarifying here there is also a festival dedicated to extreme rock, and many "provincial" groups bet on the death and black, with unintelligible vocals. In the early 1990s groups that embraced alternative rock, with influences even from the country proliferated. Some made progressive rock, but most performed and shook manes in places like the patio de Maria or the Ganuza camping site, which hosted the first festival Metal City, back in 1990. The twenty-first century began with much nu-metal, especially...

Ernesto Daranas has shown in his first two feature films a face unknown to many, everyday for others, of a Havana that is more Sordid than Old. So, it is strange that his next film is a comedy set a century ago in... Viñales. He made the announcement in Ecuador, while presenting his film Conducta in the Cuban Film Sample in that country. He did not advance many details, only that he was determined to make the effort of filming away from home, away from his neighborhood, away from Havana... "I'm working on a new film, which I prefer not to talk much about. I'll just say that it is very different from the previous, is a comedy set in the 1920s in a rural setting, " Daranas told the press in Quito. Speaking of the successful (and wrenching) story of Carmela and Chala, which also triumphed in New York and Malaga, the filmmaker celebrated the luck he has had at the festivals where it's been. For the director who tackled pimping in Broken Gods, Conducta is an urgent call to retrieve things that are lost, such as ethics and dedication of the teachers. In fact, he said the final...

Still not a month has gone by from Vladimir Putin´s visit, and now the greatest circus of Russia and the world is here, the famous Rosgoscirk, which, by the end of next August will fulfill 95 years of existence. They didn’t bring lions or bears, but their presence is seen here with great expectation by those who once enjoyed the monumental Soviet circus... "Nothing is impossible. Difficult yes, but not impossible, " director of the Russian State Circus Company, Vadim Gagloev, told OnCuba when asked what are the chances that he brings the entire show, with animals and all. "The main issue would be transport, ensure that the animals do not suffer and to conform to the Atlantic crossing. It would be something that would take a survey, but I hate to give up too soon, "said Gagloev, who said he was proud to be a jury member at the international festival Circuba-2014 on his first visit to Cuba. He didn’t rule out either the eventual hiring of Cuban artists in Rosgoscirk, which respects the circus tradition of drinking from multiple cultural sources; put together a show from numbers learned through exchange with "trouppés" in different countries. For example, the...

In addition to all the heat and late nights, the past Caribbean Festival announced that its next edition could be attended by a Dominican merengue singer that was a total success during the 80’s: Johnny Ventura…Johnny who?! Juan de Dios Ventura, better known among merengue dancers as the Caballo Mayor (Big Horse), is the interpreter of hits Cubans my age will hardly forget such as “Patacón Pisao” or “Capullo y Sorullo”. His possible performance in Cuban stages by the former major of Santo Domingo would be a part of the cultural group La Gallera, a band devoted to rescuing Dominican music, specially the work by accordionist Tatico Henríquez. According to Jochy Sánchez, musical producer of La Gallera, this project also includes Maridalia Hernández, former member of 440, who already performed in Havana last November, and interprets songs by Fefita la Grande. However, the highlight of next year’s event would be the attendance of Jhonny Ventura, who at the age of 74 is a strong defender of this musical genre declared Cultural heritage of the Nation, which is enjoyed in Cuba ever since it was much more than a catchy and commercial proposal by Juan Luis Guerra. Back then the Cuban...

When Roi Casal ended a concert in Buenos Aires, which he described as “tremendous”, his representative in Cuba announced him that he would not only perform in Havana but he would also be presented an International Cubadisco award, which is not a Grammy, but is also a recognition and this Spanish harpist knows that. Roi Casal is an obstinate sponsor of that ancient music, who is determined to preserve it by adding contemporary elements and making it shine, by taking it to the youth not in conservatoriesbut in night clubs. “Through music I can learn about the way of thinking, walking, living, eating, and feeling of a people. It is the sum of many cultures that were caught up in Galicia, between the Atlantic and the mountains, filtered by means of a osmosis barrier that allows other elements to enter but not to get out, generating a mixture that makes up Galician music”, explained Casal to OnCuba, a few moments before his concert. He was born in 1980 in the small town of Catoira, but he came out in the world at the age of 19 as a member of the mythical Spanish band Milladoiro. As teacher he had legendary...

In one of Cubadisco 2014 most awaited performances, the Spanish band Chambao will interpret two songs by Carlos Varela and the mythical Gnome will sing two songs by the famous group from Malaga. María del Mar Rodríguez, better known as La Mari, is ashamed of saying Varela will perform with Chambao, because sharing the stage with this urban poet is an honor for her band. So far, she stated she will interpret Varela’s Habaname and Bendita lluvia, a song that she described as “joyful”, though it is hard to relate that word with the work by the author of Guillermo Tell. In addition, Chambao will be accompanied by the legendary Cuban tres player Pancho Amat, which is a pleasure and a surprise for La Mari, who loves this instrument thanks to Cuban Oliver Sierra. MusicianOliver Sierra usually takes part in her album; he played the tres in the track Roe por la escalera, in the album Pokito a poko (2005), which pays homage to Spanish band Tobleton. La Mari told OnCuba that the tres has the leading role in that song, and an Argentinean musician imitates the Cuban way of speaking, something that came up during the recording of the...

Cuban pianist Rubalcaba Gonzalito will receive one of the six special awards of the coming CUBADISCO - 2014 for the musical excellence of his album Volcan ( 5Passion Productions) , in which he gives us his art with virtuosos like Puerto Rican percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo , drummer Cuban Horacio " el negro Hernández" and Havana’s bassist Jose Armando Gola. With this award , the organizers of the largest Cuban disc trade fair wanted to highlight what they described as " an enviable trajectory from the Diaspora " and a product of first level, which as Special Prize is excluded from the rest of the official competition of the event , with 46 categories. It is expected that even Gonzalito also comes to Cubadisco , dedicated this year to percussion , with tributes to Tata Guines and Arsenio Rodríguez , and Trinidad and Tobago as a guest country of honor. The event will meet from May 17 through the 25, with concerts and theoretical panels , exhibitions and trade show. Besides Volcan, the jury decided to award the Prize to productions like Encuentro. El tres y el cuatro (Pancho Amat and Cabildo del Son), Colección 30 Años (Liuba María Hevia), the...

The first time that I saw my son smile, I broke into tears. He was 51 days old, and he was looking at me with his big curious eyes from the bassinet in the hospital where he had just undergone surgery, as if to say to me, “Easy, Dad, I’m your little champ….” My baby had an inguinal hernia, a common condition that is easily cured with a simple operation. But nothing is simple when you’ve just come to this world and you’re already on your way to an operating room under general anesthesia. That night I learned about fear, but also about a father’s love, which is not just any love, as they say…. Paternity has completely changed me, even though I’m basically still the same, with more bags under my eyes and somewhat unshaven. All of a sudden, I’ve become someone with a one track-mind. I used to argue about baseball, journalism and food, but now everything comes back to the baby. And when people ask how he’s doing, I tell them that he’s “out of this world,” even though he’s barely arrived…. Now that my son is here, I’ve discovered that there is nothing more painful and...

For the second year in a row, a Cuban writer wins the Pablo Neruda Ibero-American poetry award, which is even best paid than the coveted Queen Sofia award. We are talking about Reina Maria Rodriguez, whose work was recognized with the 2013 National Literature Award in Cuba. The Chilean Minister of Culture, Claudia Barattini, made the announcement from the museum La Chascona, Neruda’s home, where a jury gathered to make the verdict. The jury was made up of the last winner of the award, Cuban Jose Kozer; Argentinean Graciela Aráoz, Peruvian Julio Ortega and Chileans Pablo Brodsky and Malú Urriola. Chile instituted this award in 2004 for recognizing great Spanish Americanpoets. Rodriguez is considered to be one of the most important voices of Cuban poetry from the 20th century, with more than 20 books translated into several languages. This award is granted by the National Culture and Arts Council along with the Pablo Neruda Foundation, offers 60 thousand dollars –two thousand dollars more than the Queen Sofia Ibero-American Poetry award--, plus a certificate and a medal. Cuban Fina García-Marruz won it in 2007. Some of the most famous winners of this recognition are: Mexican José Emilio Pacheco, Argentinean Juan Gelman,...

If anyone doubted it, there is documentary evidence that Alfredo Guevara died convinced of ICAIC’s obsolescence. He said it, weeks before he died, and did it with the moral authority that gave the founding of the institution whose reform they demand today vehemently and although may be uncomfortable , many good people of Cuban cinema. Above the right and wrong, Guevara revealed his position in an interview filmed by Xavier D' Arthuys and Ariel Felipe Wood last year. The editor Miriam Talavera took several fragments and put them together a audiovisual exhibited on Monday in the Festival House, where they presented the book "Homage to Alfredo Guevara ". The text included the transcription of these fragments, which are breathtaking just a week after a heated discussion in the Congress of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) with regard to a long longed Film Law. Proponents of the legislation considered it urgent, while the government estimated that the country has other legislative priorities. Anyway, Guevara argues that technological revolution, especially the digital revolution resolved wonderful many of the most complex film production problems, and requires a new structure, a new design of the role of the state in...

Silvina Fabars just received the Dance National Award. A teacher urbi et orbi , she learned the news in Camaguey , where she teaches with the same fervor and love for a discipline that has put her in charge of classrooms in half the world, from England and Japan to Iraq ... The choreographer Iván Tenorio headed the jury that awarded the first figure of the National Folkloric Ensemble of Cuba , ahead of the prestigious dancers Maria Elena Llorente ( National Ballet of Cuba ) , Marianela Boan ( Contemporary Dance ) , Marisel Godoy ( Codanza ) and Clara Luz Rodriguez. Upon learning of her election, in the event Rumbatéate , Silvina started to sweat more than if she were teaching classes , or embodying a Yoruba deity in her frenzied dancing ... No irreverently of her skills as a dancer, Tenorio emphasized that this award recognizes mainly the great teacher , always willing to share her knowledge . In fact, she currently trains both professional dancers of the Maraguán group in Camagüey, and children of the local House of Culture. She takes on that perhaps with that militant faith of the ideals she grew with in her...

"We are a little tight," Master Jesus Ortega said to 12 performers that surrounded him guitar in hand, almost thrusting their headstock into the noses of their neighbors ... But it is actually worse riding in buses and Ortega students started with astonishing synchronicity, involving the ALBA House in Havana with the Cuban Serenade by Ignacio Cervantes, having cords do their talking... Thus began the presentation of the Festival and International Guitar Competition in Havana: 15 young talents will fight over a one-year fellowship at the German Robert Schumann University of Music. Some of them were among the musicians of Ortega, who led them with soft gestures, indicating quibbling entrances away from the caricature scruffy orchestral director of epileptic gestures. Ortega chairs this event since 4 years ago that his student Joaquin Clerch rescued him from the ostracism he had plunged in for a decade. It is the continuation of an event dating back to 1978, at a meeting of Latin American and Caribbean guitarists organized by Casa de las Américas. Through it pass the monsters of the six strings, like Paco de Lucia, Leo Brouwer, Vicente Amigo, Manolo Sanlúcar and many more. Until it could be not more... “Keep...

The Low-Budget Film Festival returns next week to Gibara, the White Village, famous in days gone by for its stained-glass windows, its Portuguese consulate, it fishing environment, and now for this eventfounded by late filmmaker Humberto Solás, who almost took the festival with him but fortunately he didn’t… In fact, in the presentation of the Festival’s 11th edition, producer Lester Hamlet pointed out that continuing with the Festival is encouraging news, that makes him proud and happy and eager to work harder for enhancing Humberto’s legacy. The Fresa y Chocolate Cultural Center hosted the official presentation of this year’s event, which will screen 47 pieces out of the 208 submitted, plus 11 short films shot during the previous edition, an exercise that will continue this year. The irreverent Jorge Molina is among the usual participants. The director of a film that could be catalogued as underground like Molina’s Feroz, and a film many people consider educated given his approach of a different country life commented to Oncuba he is thinking about shooting a “prequel”of Molina’s Borealis, a 27-minute long film he shot last year at the White Village. “I go back with my actors to invading spaces in a city...