Suylén Milanés arrives at the PM Records room dressed in white and holding a small cigar between her fingers. After the usual introductions between journalist and interviewee, she starts letting out smoke all over the place. We spoke about Eyeife, the Electronic Music International Festival (with an Afro-Cuban accent) to be held in Havana from September 26 to October 1. At the stroke of keyboards, guitars and batá drums, combined with visual arts and dance, Fábrica de Arte Cubano (FAC) and the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) will be the scenario for the performance of Iván Lejardi, Djoy de Cuba, Greench, Wichy del Vedado, David Casas, D’ VazzBrother’s, Dj Reitt, Dj Pauza, and Dj Ryan, among other musicians. For the musical fusion, Eyeife has a poster of well-known figures and others from the more underground stage. Yasek Manzano, Rolando Luna, Eduardo Sandoval, Brenda Navarrete, Zule Guerra, Athanay, Mary Paz, Telmary and the Tesis de Menta group are some of the most well-known names on the Cuban scene. From abroad will come The Dirty Playerz (Spain), Alex Raouf (NY, United States), Tuff London (United Kingdom), Bishop (Mexico), among others. An heir to the Varadero Festival, where Pablo Milanés was able to...

Adidas officially got to Cuba in September 1998, José Miguel Pupo, the current representative of the brand on the island, affirms. That was a moment of splendor for Cuban sports. However, after almost 20 years Cuban sports no longer has the same yields. Now the brand is testing an artistic expression in Cuba, Pupo explains. How has it done this? Suffice it to visit the Fábrica de Arte Cubano to discover it through an exhibit of 23 local artists, led by Nelson Ponce, who intervened Adidas Originals clothes and footwear especially brought over for this collective work. Inaugurated on May 31, it includes mapping creative video to silk screen printing. “Here everyone knows that I wore out a pair of shoes, but the climate was not rigid,” Raúl Valdés (Raupa) jokes. “It has been unexpected,” says Michelle Miyares. “It was a process of experimentation and discovery,” Alejandro Romero Rosell describes it. They are three of the participants in the exhibition, and who together with Ponce are among the most renowned Cuban designers. Photo: Ismario Rodríguez Pérez *** Adidas Originals Public Relations Manager for Latin America Ana María Garzón said to OnCuba that the entire process began around a year ago....

“I have two knee operations because of kite surfing. They inserted two screws and a staple for the rest of my life; I’ve dislocated my shoulders several times and I also have many sprained ankles. I’ve broken my ribs four or five times. Bruises? Once in a while I look at myself in the mirror and I find some bruises and I say: oh, that was yesterday.” This is Antonio Lusson (grandson), one of the best Cuban kite surfers, but at 32 he no longer can compete. His compatriots don’t let him. He’s very sure of that: “Varadero’s Cuban Kite Surfing organized a competition last March 18. They invited me as a member of the jury. When I got there everyone started to say: I’m not going to compete against you. No one wants to compete against me because I’ve been sailing for 15 years and since I’ve practiced so many sports – swimming, skating, water polo, sailing, tennis, squash – I’ve acquired many skills which I apply to kite surfing,” says Lusson. Photo: Yaniel Tolentino But, from where does Lusson get that interest for the so-called extreme sports? Contrary to what one might think, he was not decanted by...

Cuba already has its own catalogue of art brut or outsider art, headed by Misleydis Castillo and Jorge Alberto Hernández Cadi, known as El Buzo. She, a deaf and mute and autistic, proposes pictorial images of strong men, body builders, with a repetitive effort of achieved minimalism. He, bipolar and a schizophrenic, has the habit of collecting pieces from waste material to then recycle them and turn them into art, once they adopt diabolic features. Both artists are exhibiting their works in the Spanish Embassy in Havana together with Spaniard Ramón Losa and U.S. Milton Schwartz thanks to New York professor and art critic Lyle Rexer, curator Daniel Klein and Juan Martín, coordinator and executive director of the National Art Exhibitions by the Mentally Ill Inc. (Naemi). “Encounters” exhibition of brut artists Misleydis Castillo, Jorge Alberto Hernández, Ramón Losa and Milton Schwartz. Photo: Yander Zamora. However, this is not the first exhibition of the brut artists on the island. “Works by Misleydis have been on display in galleries in France and the United States, and have been sold at high prices because they are well-liked,” said the also poet Juan Martín, a Cuban established in Miami, in an interview with...