Alejandro Falcon is a Matanzas man that after graduating from composition at the University of Arts of Cuba (ISA), just thinks of music. Twenty-four hours are not enough to appease the flood of impulses that make him a great jazz musician. His theory: the "constant evolution of music", has made this young man to become a one man band.

The latest album by Septeto Santiaguero has performed quite well in international markets, a news that doesnt amazes us considering that Vamos pa la fiesta (Let’s go to the party) edited by the Catalan label Picap includes essential rhythms of Cuban music like danzón, son, traditional trova, guaracha, changüí, and bolero. But its success rests on the excellence of the guests: Ruben Blades, Cheo Feliciano, Jose Alberto El Canario, Luisito Quintero, Edwin Colón Zayas and Jimmy Bosch.

Havana floods with jazz every year, as a gift for lovers thrilled by the imposing seduction of a trumpet chord, or because the piano appears to them as the “impossible love” between classicism and contemporariness; or because beyond all reasoning, the genre of the great ones entails feeling, vibrates, that “something” unknown some say we Cubans have. JoJazz, the contest for young jazz players, is already 15 years old, a celebration to meditate on its own existence and get a slight idea of other ways to remain vigorous, cheerful, iconoclast.

I have always heard that each corner of the planet has its essence, its own smell, its elixir. Cuba’s west could taste like the sea, like the good people who face the challenges of daily life, like the flat-topped hillocks that are typical of this region and make their inhabitants proud of it.

It’s not that my Pinar del Río essence is still amidst that green, but one of the largest outdoor frescoes in the world is located in the Viñales National Park, no less than in Cuba’s westernmost province. The pride of coming from Vuelta Abajo. The world famous Mural of Prehistory, declared World Cultural Heritage, draws the attention of all visitors; the lively sight of colors in the open sky makes the most incredulous let out a sigh.