On Cuba, everything has been said, the worst and the best, difficult to summarize in a few lines the soul of Cuba, which takes you to the heart when you find yourself on the Havana’s malecón whipped by the surf, damaged by the time … then scroll images of Compay Segundo, the beret of Che, the olive-green cap and uniform of Fidel, the fishing rod of Hemingway, the pink Cadillacs and the 10 cm cigars inches, clichés die hard … Anyway, go to Cuba is to travel to another space-time, drop the a priori and get caught up in a whirlwind of madness with a musical like no other.
Cuba program suggestions
Cuba at a glance
- Area : 110 992 km2, the largest island of the Antilles, and 3500 kms of coastline
- Population (approximately): 11 million 245 thousand inhabitants, the second most populous island of the Caribbean.
- Capital: Havana – two and a half million inhabitants
- Economy : based on tourism and sugar industry. Other major productions include tobacco, cigars Habanos and Cohiba are internationally renowned, coffee, rum Havana Club especially, honey, cocoa and citrus.
- Have read, seen and heard: (read) the poems on Cuban idendity of Nicolas Guillen, the poetry and political essays of José Martí, and the “magic realism” works of Alejo Carpentier, (read) Reinaldo Arenas and his autobiografy Antes que anochezca screened on movie, (seen) films on the mythical figure of Che and The Motorcycle Diaries, (seen) Fresa y Chocolate by Tomas Gutierrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabio with a tribute to the cuban writer José Lezama Lima, (seen) Yo soy del Son a la Salsa tribute musical directed by Rigoberto Lopez, and Nuestra Cosa Latina and Salsa by Leon Gast with anthology pieces of the Fania All Stars, (seen) the great classical ballets performed by the prima ballerina Alicia Alonso and the cuban folklore of the Ballet Folklorico Cutumba , (heard) and danced the cha-cha-cha in honor to cuban Enrique Jorrin its inventor, sung Guajira Guantanamera and Hasta Siempre famous trovas of Joseito Fernandez, Sindo Garay and Carlos Puebla, the incomparable Son Cubano of Buena Vista Social Club, the lyrics of Silvio Rodriguez and Pablo Milanes’s songs , (heard) the warm and unique voice of the Diva called Reina de la Salsa : Celia Cruz in solo or with the band Sonora Matancera and (heard) the incomparable Celina Gonzalez for her interpretations of music guajira, the Latin Jazz of Chucho Valdes, and the countless groups such as Los Van Van, Adalberto Alvarez y Su Son, and listened to the compilation of the Barbaro del Mambo Benny More.
- To read, see and hear these days: (read) Todos se van by Wendy Guerra, El bailarin ruso de Montecarlo by Abilio Estevez, Todos Mienten by Karla Suarez, La isla de los Amores infinitos by Daina Chaviano and the master of the thriller Leonardo Padura, (see) the film Viva Cuba directed by Juan Carlos Cremata, the musical cartoon with Cuban jazz atmosphere Chico and Rita, (see) Habanastation the same Cuba but two different Havanas filmed by Ian Padron, (see) the company Irene Rodriguez and her interpretations of flamenco, the double pirouettes of ballet dancer star Carlos Acosta, (hear) Yo the latest magical album of Roberto Fonseca, the Nueva Trova Santiaguera by Ludmila Merceron, the Cuban vocal sextet Vocal Sampling who interprets a cappella repertoire Cuban and other classics of the international music, and in another register the cuban rapper Pitbull in duet with the biggest stars of Latin and US time.