[Cubart] CUBARTE Newsletter
Resumen del Portal de la Cultura Cubana en Inglés
cubart en listas.cult.cu
Jue Nov 9 15:21:59 AST 2006
CUBART NEWSLETTER
CUBART Newsletter is a specialized weekly news service from the Portal of Cuban Culture. In our pages you will find the most outstanding aspects from national culture ongoing and its worldwide reflection, as well as opinion sections dealing with themes which today worry intellectuals.
AROUND CUBA
- Award from the National Arts Instructors Salon 2006
- Viengsay Valdés and Carlos Acosta: Diana and Acteon
- Compay Segundo: A place to remember him
- Lettres de Cuba: November, 2006
- First level artists on tour throughout Cuba
- Ducht Movie exhibition in Cuba
- A new center for the promotion of dancing in Cuba
- To open in Cuba an etching exhibition of Picasso
- Cuba and Belgium to Expand Bilateral Relations
- 2006 JoJazz is Nearing
- Maximiliano Guerra in Cuba
- Haitian writer Jacques Roumain, author of The Dew Governors, will be remembered in Cuba
CUBA IN THE WORLD
- Two Latin Grammies for Pablo Milanes
- Cuba Wins UNESCO Literacy Prize
- Cuban singer wins Baroque Contest in Belgium
- Sounds of the world
- Argentina Premiers Cuban Five Film
- Cuban holds abstract art exhibition at USM
CUBARTE PORTAL SUGGESTS YOU
- The Passion of the Dreamlike Look
- Today’s Cuban National Culture and Identity
- “La langue et le nombril” or the history of French language in Québec
- Informatics and New Technologies: US blocks Internet in Cuba
- Havana: more reverences to the great dance of the world
- Cuba is looking to rescue the Cristobal Colon
- Muñoz Bachs: the painter of a thousand posters
- Havana´s historical quarter. An unprecedented model to imitate
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Award from the National Arts Instructors Salon 2006
Havana, (AIN).- To teach visual arts and specially to the children is a stimulus and a vital learning exercise, declared Roberto Carlos Sánchez, one of the seven men awarded on the National Arts Instructors Salon Restituto Pérez Fernández 2006.
By the end of the awarding ceremony, which took place at the José Martí Memorial, the painter, who is 21 years old, told AIN that he has enjoyed many satisfactions as a member of the José Martí Brigade. This is an army of culture and humanism that came out of this space with two awards and one mention.
Sánchez, a winner with the piece De lo amargo y lo bello 1y 2 (From the sour and the beautiful 1 and 2), works on the Secondary Institute of Information Sciences Pepito Tey, in Santiago de Cuba, and he has participated in several personal and group shows at municipal and provincial requests.
His creations have also been exhibited in the “30 November” salons and in the one called by the Hermanos Saiz Association, during the 20th anniversary of the foundation of that youth association.
About the piece De lo amargo y lo bello 1 y 2, made with the technique of ink on card, he commented that it is part of his vision about the important role of women as a guide and fundamental being in procreation, apart from constituting a fundamental link for life, with a universal concept.
The National Art Instructors Salon also awarded the pieces El fruto deseado (The Desired Fruit), by Luis Enrique Rivera; La lanza más larga (The Longest Lance) by Julio César Junco; Falsas Cruces (Fake Crosses) by Osleidy Hernández; Serie Carrusel (Carousel Series) by Israel Dubois; Maquinaria cubana (Cuban Machinery) by Andrés Velasco and Meditación (Meditation) by Margot Rodríguez.
In this occasion, the artistic space that takes place every year to agglutinate creators from different generations will be open to the public until the 24th of November.
The awards and the mentions given constitute the intimate visions of their authors from their everyday life, translated into diverse iconography and particular poetics, through traditional and experimental techniques.
Zulema Armas, director of creation from the Consejo Nacional de Casas de Cultura (Nacional Council of Culture Houses) congratulated the award winners and recalled that there are already in the country around three thousand visual arts instructors, which demonstrates the validity of the pair teaching-artistic creation and its contribution to the spiritual wealth of the people.
Translation: Karen López (Cubarte)
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Viengsay Valdés and Carlos Acosta: Diana and Acteon
Havana, (AIN).- A most expected momentum of the 20th International Ballet Festival of Havana: Central figures of Cuba´s Ballet Company BNC Viengsay Valdés and Carlos Acosta danced the Pas de deux of ballet Diana and Acteón in García Lorca hall of the Gran Teatro de la Habana.
It featured Alicia Alonso´s choreography version on A. Vagánova´s original ballet with music by Riccardo Drigo. The Pas de deux of Diana Acteón is based on Esmeralda ballet (1844) by Jules Perrot inspired by Víctor Hugo´s novel Nuestra Señora de París, (Notre Dame de Paris) and music by Cesare Pugni.
In 1886, Marius Petipa produced a new version with music by Drigo, who added some dances such as the said pas de deux showing rivalry in hunting among best known mythological figures.
Famous partners Viengsay Valdés and Carlos Acosta certainly delighted both viewers and critics with their virtuosité et talent.
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Compay Segundo: A place to remember him
Havana, (Cubanow).- Havana has a new museum, not a big one, but, as Minister of Culture Abel Prieto put it, certainly a place to revere one of the most famous Cuban musicians, Francisco Repilado.
Maybe, said in such a fashion, you won´t know who I am talking about, but, of course, everything will be clear if I say Compay Segundo, the name he took so proudly to every corner of the world.
The place is one of the first actions to pay tribute to the great singer-composer in his centennial, next November 2007 and including building a family tomb in Santiago de Cuba cemetery.
Fame at full scale was a late event in his life, but this does not mean that this charismatic guy, always with a Havano in the mouth, was an unknown artist.
Compay began as a musician playing the clarinet with a concert band in 1929 in his birthplace, Santiago de Cuba, and worked with celebrities like Miguel Matamoros or Reinaldo Hierrezuelo, much before he achieved world fame with Buenavista Social Club, in 1997.
And he made Havano cigars a trademark to such an extend that he was made Havano Man of the Year during the International Havano Festival in 2001.
It was not that he was a hard smoker, making him the very symbol of typical Cubans as the world sees us, but for his dedication to humanitarian deeds linked to that national product.
At two of the International Havano Festivals he donated his trademark hat for auction to contribute Cuban health programs.
During the opening ceremony, Minister Prieto, after cutting the ribbon, said the Compay Segundo Casa de la Música Tradicional Cubana at the musician´s home, will have thousands of visitors.
"This house will be visited by Compay´s fans and lovers of our huge musical heritage", said Prieto while touring the place with Abel Acosta, his deputy and President of the Cuban Institute of Music, relatives, and other personalities.
Meanwhile, Salvador Repilado, his son and successor as director of the band, said in the opening ceremony that this was an old wish by his father.
"Once he said to a group of intimate people that whenever he died he wanted his memory to be perpetuated in this house so friends could remember him through his photos and personal belongings", noted his son.
Salvador remarked that his father, amid a lot of virtues "had a well-known modesty and generosity and, that´s the reason why he never thought his dream could become real to widen more his artistic deeds".
This museum in the house he lived will make us "remember him with all love that he achieved while he was alive", he noted, and is "the tribute to an artist working all the time for the people, and to the beloved and dear friend".
The museum is just showing some of the photos and personal belongings, including his platinum and golden records, and other awards in Cuba and abroad.
Amid document in exhibition is a certificate about his beginnings as a clarinet musician in May 1929, for a concert band in hometown Santiago de Cuba.
It is also on display the Grammy award achieve by Buenavista Social Club record, in 1997, and photos with Pope John Paul II when he performed at Nervi Hall in Vatican, or with Fidel Castro, during Havano International Festivals, in 2001 and 2002.
During those festivals auctions of his hats reached 17 500 in 2001 and 20 000 dollars in 2002, all for children´s cancer fighting programs.
At the opening ceremony for the museum singer Elianne Ramos performed "Flowers of Life", one of Compay´s favorite songs, and a poem by Olga Navarro, specially written for the occasion.
The poem talks about the life of an artist that "worked with Matamoros, with Hierrezuelo and the world from Francisco Repilado turned him into Compay Segundo".
Another fragment describes that "with his permanent hat, his Havano cigar and his smile, he went out to crop success for which he wasn´t in a hurry, Buenavista Social Club presented him with proud as he knew that life should reward him".
The poem concludes that Compay "had a commitment he could not dodge since he was born he knew he had to fulfill/and he made a contract where they won´t let him go so everybody is telling in heaven that everybody is dancing Chan-Chan".
His son and successor, Salvador, noted that "Compay will be remembered alive by musicians that worked with him along his artistic life".
"Right now –he added- we have just recorded a record, "Siempre Compay" (Always Compay) to paid him tribute and it has been nominated to Latin Grammy awards. His music is still alive and that´s the way we will remember him".
Salvador noted daily work with Compay was hard as he liked to rehearse constantly, as he was a perfectionist, specially with tuning of musical instruments.
He always wanted the singers to be heard during the performances and that they had a good spelling, so, he was constantly mending them, in short, he was very demanding with his songs and the way to perform them", he recalled.
About the new museum, Salvador explained that "the house will be essentially for exhibitions and maybe the group will play here sometimes at special dates".
We must decide if it is possible to make a plan for performances as it can be seen, the house is not big, but here everybody will have a space", said Compay Segundo Group´s director.
Compay Segundo, Casa de la Música Tradicional Cubana is a dream come true keeping the son musician live forever.
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Lettres de Cuba: November, 2006
Havana, (Cubarte).- The third year´s eleventh issue of “Lettres de Cuba” is already on line and can be read at our <a href=>http://www.lettresdecuba.cult.cu/website.</a>
The 20th Havana International Ballet Festival, that began on October 28th and continues in November, is among the relevant cultural news. This cultural event attracts the attention of a big audience, specially integrated by young people that attend the Festival to enjoy and applaud the different dancers´ performances. This Festival´s edition opened with Alicia Alonso´s choreography “Mozart Divertimento”, which was a big success.
There will be other cultural events during this month, such as:
-the Encounter of Son groups, that will take place from the 6th-9th, at Mayari, in the eastern province of Holguin, a land where the Son has a tough tradition; -the Children´s Improvisation National Festival, from the 14th-19th, at the Havana National Theater, where children and young people improvise, recite poems and sing. The public will not only have the opportunity to watch the children improvise, but also enjoy the best of Cuban traditional music like: Sones Montunos, Guajiras and Guarachas; -the Festival of Magic “ANFORA”, from the 20th-27th, at Las Tunas, an encounter where the magicians develop manipulation techniques and small and big illusions. There will also be theoretical events; -the Cuban traditional Danzon Festival, from the 21st-23rd, at Sauto Theater, in Matanzas. There will be pictures´ projections regarding this topic, Danzon dancings and encounters among the Danzon´s followers; -la semana del autor -the author´s week-, from the 21st-24th, at Casa de las Americas, a yearly meeting with a prestigious writer of the Latin American Literature and with his work´s connoisseurs; -JO JAZZ Encounter, from the 23rd-26th, considered one of the most important genres of the Cuban music program, devoted, this time to the Cuban outstanding virtuoso Frank Emilio, who was the first president of this contest´s award Jury; -finally, a jewel within the Cuban cultural program: The International Jazz Festival “Jazz Plaza 2006”, from November 30th-December 3rd, that will count with the prestigious Cuban virtuoso Chucho Valdes. Jazz Plaza has achieved an important tradition and international repercussion of the Latin American and Cuban Jazz, where relevant musicians and jazz followers stand out by their virtuosism and talent. On this occasion there will be Groups and Solo performances, colloquiums and debates.
November, a month characterized by cold fronts, wind and stormy sea, will be full of events and celebrations that will allow us to share our cultural richness with the world.
Lettres continues this month with its new section “Leer a Marti” -Reading Marti-, this time with a Letter of the Apostle to Manuel Mercado, that goes back to July 6th, 1878, translated and commented by Jacques-François Bonaldi, who will be a columnist of this section, since his ample work of translating Marti´s writings into French became him a rich source of consultation of Marti´s texts, which we will be offering you. This letter is characterized by its intimate nature, by the familiar worry and Marti´s own worry towards Cuba´s future. It is a document that depicts an epoch, that is at a time, that can be applied to all.
A selection of interesting texts is also present in this issue, among these: an article about mental slavery written by Mali´s Ambassador to Havana, on the occasion of the Colloquium on Slavery that will take place in the capital city. Besides, there will be a text by Eliades Acosta about the 105th Anniversary of the National Library; an interview to French singer Charles Aznavour during his stay in Havana, accompanied by a photo gallery; a writing by Martinez Fure on Mali´s millennial culture, and an excerpt from the book “Los niños se despiden” -The children say good-bye-, written by Pablo Armando Fernandez, both translated into French and published by Jose Marti´s foreign language publishing house. Armando Cristobal will post an article about Hemingway, while Mercedes Santos Moray will do one on Gérard Philippe. Finally we will be offering you a text about Chucho Valdes, that talks about the duet Aznavour-Chucho, during their recently performance in Havana. There will be then two articles that the reader will enjoy through our section Encuentros -Encounters. The first one, as we mentioned above, is entitled: Towards the mental slavery emancipation and the re-establisment of the historical true, by Fidèle Diarra, Ambassador of the Republic of Mali in Cuba, who recently participated in the Colloquium devoted to the topic of slavery and the rebel slave. This text is published in French. The second article talks about the centenarian Cuban National Library, written by its Director, Eliades Acosta, appearing under the title: The National Library: 105 years at Cubans´ disposal.
The Arts section has an article entitled: Chucho Valdes: a miraculous pianist, written by Damian Donestevez, a journalist at Radio Havana Cuba International. Damian tells us in detail about the meteoric career of this star of the Modern Cuban music. It is a timely work within the context of Charles Aznavour´s visit to Havana and his duet with Chucho. We will also be enjoying of “Gérard Philippe, la beauté du diable” -Gérard Philippe, the evil´s beauty-, a chronicle by Mercedes Santos Moray, about the passion that provoked and still is, that famous actor of the French Movies, Gérard Philippe, a man of highly performing and ethical values.
We can´t forget to mention the interview with the mythic singer of the French chansonnier Charles Aznavour. Our journalist Rafael Lam made it through during the press conference that took place at the Hotel Nacional, on the his arrival to the Island, and the result was a text entitled: Aznavour in Havana, accompanied by a 5 pictures-gallery taken during that memorable day in which the city of all Cubans sang: Buen Aniversario! -Happy Anniversary! In Letras an excerpt of the book Los ninos se despiden -The children say good-bye-, La Habana, 1998, translated by Marcela Kawa and written by Cuban writer and Literature National Award 1996, Pablo Armando Fernandez. In there, Pablo takes us to those areas of our memory where we are all children and to which we want to come back to explore our identity. There´s another work by Rogelio Martínez Furé: Malí and Songhaï: two ancient African civilizations; a chapter of his book Dialogos Imaginarios -Imaginary Dialogues-, La Habana, 1998, (translated by Maria Carmen Nazabal), about the culture of a country, that imposed a strong identity in the Western Africa, to which all Cubans are partly due to. Both books were translated and published by Jose Marti´s foreign languages publishing house.
Tesoros -Treasures- offers us a text about Hemingway´s interaction with the city of the Malecón -the big ocean -, by our columnist Armando Cristobal. This outstanding US intellectual, of Cuban origin, lived in our country for 30 years. He confessed to a local journalist, that he was a “cubano sato” -a common Cuban- right after knowing he has been prized with th Nobel Literature Award...
This 11th issue is illustrated with Santiago Olazabal´s work, a Cuban Academic painter, born in Havana, in 1955. A comment made by the criticist Iris Cepero states: “Even before his work was known, by 1983, Santiago Rodriguez Olazabal had persistenly worked the Afro-Cuban religion topic, the santeria or Regla de Ochoa, or, as he prefers to call it, the cult theme or the orishas´ devotion...and he pretends to continue working on this, since, as he confesses, has a lot to express about it and each day new ideas come to his mind”. His work has been shown in so many collective and personal exhibitions, that this page will be filled by only mentioning them. They have been collected in different countries...
The cultural events continue increasing in number this November and will go on in December..There is no doubt: In Cuba culture doesn´t bore, it adds dynamics to our lives and aims them at the future. Remember, dear reader: you can be sure that we will return next month, as usually, to bring you new fragments of our culture that will make you know us better. ´Till December´s issue, then!
Translation: Roxana Marquez Herrera (Cubarte)
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First level artists on tour throughout Cuba
Havana, (Cubarte).- Different places from the Cuban archipelago will benefit from the tour programm throughout the country, organized by the Cuban Music Institute that on the last two months of the year 2006 includes X Alfonso, the Manguaré and Sierra Maestra bands, Liuba María Hevia and the Charanga de Oro.
In this same way, the bands Aceituna sin hueso and Azúcar Negra are added to that. The later one will open their tour with a concert in Guantanamo and will finish it with a performance in the City of Havana, in the Anti-Imperialist Tribune.
The Sierra Maestra band will multiply the festivities for their thirtieth birthday with concerts in Holguín, Camaguey, Sancti Spíritus, Villa Clara, and they will end in Cárdenas, the province of Matanzas, next 16 of December.
X Alfonso will be heard in Santiago de Cuba on the next 15th and he will then perform in Holguín, Camaguey, Ciego de Ávila, Sancti Spíritus and the City of Havana.
Several theaters and pediatric hospitals from Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba, Granma and Holguín will receive in December the Trova singer Liuba María Hevia, with a work that she has maintained for children.
The Manguaré band will leave their print on the eastern and central part of the country while the bands Charanga de Oro andará will be in Pinar del Río, Matanzas, Sancti Spíritus , Villa Clara and Cienfuegos.
Santiago de Cuba will be the first stage of the Aceituna sin hueso band in this tour which will end in Camaguey after performing in Granma and Holguín.
Translation: Karen López (Cubarte)
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Ducht Movie exhibition in Cuba
Havana, (Granma).- Ten significant short and long metrages of the Modern Dutch film making can be seen from November 1st-11th at the Cuban movie projection room Charles Chaplin.
The outstanding film maker Eddy Terstall declared during a press conference that some of the selected pictures tackle current problems like the discrimination of sexual minorities and immigrants´ segregation, which show how the movies have flourished in the European country during the past years.
The comedy “Un amigo en alquiler” -A friend in rent- is a satire dealing with the consuming European societies. The film will be presented this November 1st by Terstall, as part of the movie cycle where pictures of the world film making like “Caracter” -Character-, directed by Mike Van Diem stand out. This last picture was awarded with an Oscar in 1997 for the best foreign film and also obtained the Public Award during the cinema´s week that was held in Cannes.
This heartbreaking melodrama -based on the homonym novel of Ferdinand Bordewijk- talks about father-and-son relationships and constitutes a reflexion of the human feelings.
There are other films like “Las Gemelas” -Twins-, nominated to the Oscars; “La novia polaca” -The Polish girlfriend- which was nominated to the Globo de Oro´s, and winner of the Award for the best European Film during the Los Angeles & Simon´s Movies International Festival. The Polish... is an intimate story that took part in the last Latin American International Movie Festival.
The films´ exhibition opened with “Grimm”, Tropico de Esmeralda” -Esmeralda´s Tropic-, “Sin Dios”-Without God-, “Todos Estrellas”-All Stars-, “El extrano vengador”-The odd avenger-; and the short metrages “Bite”, “Notice”, “Shelter, “Long Distance”, “If The Shoe Fits", "League Of Legends", "Sale, Heritage", "Pizza Di Mario", and “11:59”. The entrance requires an invitation ticket. They will be subsequently projected at 2, 5 and 8 PM.
This movie cycle coincides with a Cuban movie week exhibition that is being held in Amsterdam. According to the organizers of the event, this could develop future exchanges with ICAIC -the Cuban Movie Institute.
Furthermore, it is a unique opportunity to know firsthand the social situation of the land of famous painter Vincent Van Gogh, and a good omen for the next Latin American International Movie Festival.
Translation: Roxana Marquez Herrera (Cubarte)
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A new center for the promotion of dancing in Cuba
Havana, (Cubarte).- A new center to foster the collaboration projects among the Brownstone Foundation, the Cuban Ministry of Culture and the Cuban Cultural Institutions and Councils has just opened. We are talking about the Video Show and Projection Room "NOEMI". This place is located at the Havana Dancing Center. It will soon become a referential and promotion center of the best of the Cuban and international dancing.
After the Brownstone Foundation launches its appeal, outstanding artists from the United States and Europe donated their works in VHS and DVD formats. The French choreographer and dancer Mathilde Monnier, Director of the French Choreographic Center in Montpellier, sent us about twenty pieces that gather a twenty year-period of work and research. Famous US artist, Bill T. Jones with his Arnie Zane Dance Company, as well as the French Daniel Larrieu, Catherine Bay and Christian Rizzo Association Fragile, also donated several materials to the Video´s collection. Besides, there are works of paradigmatic artists within the history of dancing, such as Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey and Merce Cunningham, which will be freely available to the public.
This collaboration project between the Brownstone Foundation and the Cuban National Council of Performing Arts (CNAE, in Spanish) is part of a new era that involve research, production and artistic promoting centers of the world. Henceforth, the institutions that promote the exchange among the professionals of dancing will carry out highly beneficial actions for all.
NOEMI´s projection room has conceived a program that covers theme cycles, master lectures, stages, etc, which focus their attention on the body practices, movement and dancing. To this add registering art work, video-dancing and works of Cuban authors, the funds from the South American Dancing Network, the Mercosur´s Video Dancing Circuit, and the ITAU Cultural Dança (from Brazil), among others, that show the high development of the artistic expressions in our Continent.
Taking into account the respect to the author´s right and to the intellectual property, the films that make up the funds of NOEMI´s Video room, as well as its corresponding exhibition, are carefully cured and protected.
During the opening ceremony, Sr. Gilbert Brownstone expressed his "loyal dedication and satisfaction for contributing with social benefit projects in Cuba". He also asserted that the Foundation will continue donating materials to increase the archives of the new facility.
With the presence of Gisela Gonzalez, Vice-President of the CNAE; Santiago Alfonso, Dancing National Award Winner; Olga Beatriz Perez, Director of the Havana Dancing Center, and some artists, critics, researchers and students, the doors of the place were opened to the public. Without any doubt, Havana counts, from now on, with a more desire and necessary conquest.
NOEMI´s Projection Room
Program
Seminar: El cuerpo como huella -The body as a path
Professor: Susana Tambutti (from Argentina)
November 13th, 14th and 15th, at 10 AM
Correspondence Cycle
Introduction to the work of Mathilde Monnier (French Dancer, Choreographer and Director of the National Choreographic Center Languedoc-Roussillon in Montpellier, France)
Selected Works:
-Ecstasy (1985), Mort de rire (1987), Chinoiserie (1991), November 21st, 22nd and 23rd, at 3 PM
Address: Havana Dancing Center, Prado, No. 111, b/ Genio y Refugio, Old Havana.
(The Video show room has free consultancy services from Mondays to Fridays, from 10 AM-4 PM, by previous appointment).
Translation: Roxana Marquez Herrera (Cubarte)
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To open in Cuba an etching exhibition of Picasso
Havana, (PL).- An etching collection of the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), was opened at the National Museum of Fine Arts in this capital city.
This exhibition, inaugurated as part of the events for the 20th Havana International Ballet Festival, collects engravings that belonged to the La Celestina (The Procuress) collection, (Suite 347, the property of Bancaja) and they are exhibited together with photographs by Isabel Muñoz.
Both collections were brought to Cuba under the auspices of the Secretaría de Cultura, Educación y Deportes (Culture, Education and Sport Department) of the Generalitat Valenciana (Autonomous Government of Valencia) and the Museum Consortium of the Valencia Community.
Eroticism, irony, humor and social criticism fill the small works of art that as a curiosity were also used to illustrate a special edition of La Celestina (The Procuress) by Fernando Rojas, during the 1970´s.
The original works by Picasso are very important, and that should not go unnoticed by any art lover in the country.
On the other hand, the photographic set by Isabel Muñoz, who captured the images of the Cuban dancers on the Malecon, patios and streets from Havana, also move the interest for a different aspect of her artistic work.
The photographs in the Malecon are especially impressive, with the dancers dancing with the Caribbean Sea as a background together with the clouds at dusk.
Carlos Alonso Zaldivar, Spanish Ambassador in Cuba, Concepción Gómez, from the Secretaría de Cultura de la Generalitat Valenciana (Culture Department at the Autonomous Government of Valencia) and Luz Meriño, the director of the National Museum of Fine Arts will be present at the opening ceremony among other personalities.
Translation: Karen López (Cubarte)
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Cuba and Belgium to Expand Bilateral Relations
Havana, (AIN).- Cuba and Belgium signed four agreements last week to expand scientific and cultural cooperation relations.
Belgian officials are visiting Havana to attend the Havana International Trade Fair and are heading a delegation of business people, scientists, executives and representatives of several of that country’s institutions.
The documents signed on Thursday are part of a bilateral cooperation agreement in the fields of education and culture between the Cuban National Conservation Center (CENCREM) and the Belgian Royal Institute of Artistic Patrimony.
Included in the documents are a memorandum on the ecological and Systematic fields, a memorandum of understanding between the Cuban Natural History Museum and Belgium´s Royal Institute of Natural Sciences and a declaration of understanding between the national archives of both countries.
The documents,were signed at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, on the initiative of Belgium’s Minister of Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade and Scientific Policy, Marc Venwilghen.
The ceremony was attended by Cuban Minister of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Marta Lomas, Marc Venwilghen and the Belgian ambassador to Havana Claudia Maessechalck.
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2006 JoJazz is Nearing
Havana, (Cubasi).- The 9th International Contest “JoJazz”, important gathering for young jazz players, will run November 22nd-25th at its usual venue of Havana´s Amadeo Roldán Auditorium Theater. The event is sponsored by the Cuban Music Institute (ICM) and the National Center of Popular Music (CNMP) and is dedicated to maestro Armando Romeu this year.
Jo Jazz Contest has become one of the most relevant events for the new generation of Cuban musicians. The event emerged as a festival, mainly dedicated to the students from middle/higher-level Art Schools in Cuba, so that they have a space where to show their unquestionable talent.
Throughout its history, the contest has brought together performers and music figures from countries such as Canada, Italy, Colombia, Trinidad &Tobago and U.S., among others interested in exchanging music and theoretical knowledge, either as contestants or guests.
JoJazz´s OC, presided over by outstanding Cuban musician Chucho Valdés, winner of four Grammy Awards, decides the prize winners in the composition and performance contests. The event also includes a colloquium in which Cuban music researchers and other experts of the genre participate.
Sources informed that the closing date for entries will be November 1 and that those interested can write to the e-mail mp en cubarte.cult.cu for further details. Among the prizes presented in each edition stands out the Recording of a CD with maestro Chucho Valdés’s production.
JoJazz will return in November with its international contest, exceptional chance to get to know the new jazz stars and to disseminate the contributions of Cuban musicians to that genre.
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Maximiliano Guerra in Cuba
Havana, (Cubasi).- "Before dancing I played football and in those days maybe I though of becoming a football player. I love playing football and still do but I believe I was born being a dancer; a childhood vocation and I feel very happy with what I do". Aged only 10, Maximiliano Guerra noticed people dancing while seeing her sister, a dance teacher, at work. Then the boy decided to try it and soon his attraction and curiosity turned into passion.
The athlete’s skills improved in training sessions taken in his native Buenos Aires what soon caught the attention of both ballet audiences and personalities in different parts of the world. " Technique and performance complement one another since the dancer is a wordless storyteller. It’s his / her body and technique that speaks out. Hence the importance to get a very clear technique as much as an actor’s speech; clear, precise and explicit. That’s pure technique but it should not be on top performance, no matter it’s for example, the pas de deux from Corsair or Quixote or any other. We have to keep on telling the story by playing as Basilo and Kitri until the last minute. It should never be forgotten we’re responsible for telling a story to hearten people apart from pleasing the viewer with an acrobatic jump. The latter goes by, but the story that makes us laugh, cry and feel moved is never forgotten".
Since long ago, Maximiliano dancing captivated Havana public. In Moscow his dancing also packed theatre halls with enthusiastic followers. Asked about a momentum in his career he hesitated for a moment and then said; " I might not mention only one, thy are many: Varna Gold Medal; when Vasiliev created Romeo and Juliet choreography for me; when John Neumeier called me; dancing with Maya Plisetskaya; being the first non-Soviet dancer to play as Spartacus; also when the NASA told me they had given a star my name. Each day of my career is something very special".
In the 1980´s he successfully danced with the Colon’s Theatre Ballet in Buenos Aires, guested with Los Angeles Ballet and the English National Ballet of London. In 1991 he received the principal dancer title with the Deutsche Opera of Berlin, Germany, and a year later he became a guest star at the Milan Scale Alla Theatre, where perhaps he had spent more time. Guerra enjoys the liberty of dancing everywhere being subject to no professional ties: " despite my position as my Company’s director/choreographer I dance with MERCOSUR Ballet in Buenos Aires and as permanent guest dancer with the Milan Scale Theatre. I have no a steady company".
Likewise he dances with Kirov Ballet of Saint Petersburg; Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow; Het National Ballet of Holland; the companies of Sofia Opera Ballet, Bulgaria; Munich and Ljubljana; Stanislavsky Ballet Theatre, Rome Opera, Saint Carlo Theatre, Naples; the Great Warsaw Theatre and has performed at numerous international festivals in Europe, Asia and America being the sixth time he takes part in the Havana Festival, where he said he would gladly return. " Sure, because we come here to fete dance for what it is; art. And I think it’s much more important because it’s not remunerated. This is not a place where one is called on account of a cashé payment but of celebrating dance in itself and experiencing the atmosphere; the feeling of art you get here is marvelous. I wish I could infect every one with the same spirit".
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Haitian writer Jacques Roumain, author of The Dew Governors, will be remembered in Cuba
Havana, (Cubarte).- "Haitian writer and fighter Jacques Roumain, author of "Gobernadores del rocio" -The Dew Governors- considered one of the best Caribbean romans of the 20th Century, will be remembered in Cuba next June, on the occasion of his centenary" -revealed to Cubarte Yolanda Wood, Director of the Casa de las Americas´s Caribbean Studies Center.
The Cuban researcher also referred to other Cuban institutions that are working on Roumain´s centenary, a key figure within the development of the Caribbean litterature and culture.
Likewise, she mentioned the Center she directs, founded in 1979, and having a long standing work of promotion, information and relations with the cultural life of the region. The center also has the magazine publication "Anales del Caribe" -Annals of the Caribbean-, that counts with 20 issues.
Yolanda made reference to the recently concluded Colloquium: "The Caribbean through the glance of modern Visual Arts artists", which placed the rebel slave not only as a figure that responds to concrete historical circumstances, but also as the incarnation of a rebellious and resistant spirit that goes beyond him.
As regards to the isolation in which the Caribbean countries live, Wood stated that this has to do with the historical segmentation of the region that hasn´t an immediate solution. In this sense, she made a call towards creating bridges through the culture and common feelings.
Jacques Roumain was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on June, 1907. He was of a bourgeois origin. In 1927, Jacques published his poems at the "Revista Indigena" -Indigenous Magazine, and two years later, he was brought to prison for his revolutionary actions. He also wrote scientific works as "Contribucion al estudio de la etnobotanica precolombina en las Antillas Mayores" -A contribution to the study of the pre-discovery Etnobotanics in the Greater Antilles. He published as well his story book "La presa y la sombra" -The prey and the shadow, and the romans "La montaña embrujada" -The bewitched mountain- and "Fantoches" -Puppets.
In 1934 he founded the Haitian Communist Party. He was sentenced to three years of imprisonment, where he died in 1944. That same year his roman The Dew Governors was published.
Translation: Roxana Marquez Herrera (Cubarte)
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Two Latin Grammies for Pablo Milanes
New York, (PL).- For the first time, Cuban musician Pablo Milanes, one of the founders of the New Troubadour Movement, has won two Latin Grammies, including for Best Singer-Songwriter.
Milanes triumphed in that category for the CD "Como un campo de maiz" (Like a Corn Field), in which he included songs written when he was 18-21 years old; a reflection of his happiness, illusions and frustrations at that time.
The artist also won in the category of Best Tropical Traditional Album with "AM PM Lineas paralelas" in collaboration with Puerto Rican Andy Montanez.
Another Cuban, Gonzalito Rubalcaba, was awarded recognition for the Best Latin Jazz Album with "Solo."
Cuban musicians are a permanent presence in the Grammy nominations since the very beginning, and have always been the most absent from the award ceremonies as the US government insists on denying them entrance to that country.
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Cuba Wins UNESCO Literacy Prize
Havana, (PL).- Cuba´s project "Yes, I Can" will be awarded the 2006 UNESCO Literacy Prize next Friday in Paris, France, its general director Koichiro Matsuura announced.
The UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize, the highest recognition for worldwide teaching, will be granted to the Latin American and Caribbean Pedagogical Institute in Havana, where the valuable project was conceived.
The three-year-old method has been successfully applied in over 15 countries from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, benefiting nearly two million people.
To monitor the project, UNESCO chose Argentina, Haiti, and New Zealand. With the award, a prestigious jury of experts from the US, Ecuador, South Korea, China, Senegal, and Syria are recognizing the impact of the Cuban educational system by providing free assistance to other countries.
The experts highlighted the Cuban teaching method is innovative, flexible and can be effectively adapted to diverse geographic, cultural, and ethnic situations.
The King Sejong Prize has been awarded to outstanding institutions and personalities since 1990.
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Cuban singer wins Baroque Contest in Belgium
Havana, (PL).- Cuban singer Yetzabel Arias Fernandez won the International Baroque Singing Contest of Chimay, Belgium that ended recently, according to information provided to Prensa Latina by persons close to the artist.
The awards won by Arias were the First Prize, the Public Prize and the Printemps des Arts of Nantes award that allows her to present a concert in the next edition of these baroque music french language festival together with other prestigious performers.
Yetzabel Arias Fernández, was born in Havana, and in 1993 she obtained the Choirs Conductor diploma at the Amadeo Roldan conservatory and in the year 2000 she achieved the laureate in the singing specialty at the Higher Institute of Arts ( ISA ).
She also continued her studies at the International Music Academy of Milan, the Laboratory of Italian Music of the 17th Century and attended the Singing class of Master Vincenzo Manno.
Among her most relevant performances are the Cycle of J.S. Bach Profanes Cantatas at the Milan Verdi Auditorium with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra of Turin and with the Ensemble I solisti della Scala di Milano.
She also performed the Motete Exultate Jubilate and the Mozart Requiem,as well as Haydn´s Stabat Mater, Rossini´s Petite Messe Solennelle, Vivaldi´s Magnificat, and Henry Purcell´s operas The Fairy Queen and Dido and Eneas.
Translation: Roxana Marquez Herrera (Cubarte)
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Sounds of the world
Malaysia, (The Star).- "I sometimes envy people who can just enjoy music in an easy communal way," says Nick Gold. “They’ll have an album on in the background at a dinner party, and they’ll genuinely enjoy it. I can’t do that. For me, listening to music is an intense activity.’’
Gold’s career is a testament to how far you can go on simply knowing how to listen to music. Currently celebrating 20 years in business, his World Circuit label has established itself as the market leader in world music, enjoying multi-million sales with the Buena Vista Social Club and winning three Grammy awards – two for the late, great desert-blues guitarist Ali Farka Touré. Yet, while it all comes back to Gold’s instinct, not only for a great performance and a classic arrangement, but for the whole style and feel of the sound that conveys them, he doesn’t wear these skills lightly. In fact, he agonises over every last note and beat.
I’ve known Gold, 45, for years, have visited his studio in a north London backstreet innumerable times, and when I call, he and recording engineer Jerry Boys only ever seem to be, well, listening to music. As they are now, with Cuban crooner Ibrahim Ferrer booming from the speakers. Ferrer, the surprise star of the Buena Vista phenomenon, who died last year aged 78, wrote to Gold on his deathbed, begging the producer to complete his life’s great work – an album of songs in the mellow <em>bolero</em> style.
While Gold had already recorded some tracks, Ferrer had prepared his own demos in Havana, but with no real producer at the helm. That’s what we’re listening to now: Ferrer’s voice wrapping itself round beautifully-judged piano phrases, while the hiss of brushed drums adds the warm feel of old vinyl. While Gold has added percussion and guitar, he is now, after painstaking re-listening, taking it off again.
The music simply didn’t need it.
“There are two kinds of producers,’’ says Gold. “The Phil Spector kind, where everything, even the artiste, is subordinate to his vision. And there’s our kind – where we’re simply trying to bring out the essence of what’s already there. A lot of it is to do with really knowing the artistes and their material. When you’ve spent time watching a band rehearse and play live, you start to see levels of intensity the musicians may not be aware of themselves. That’s what we’re trying to capture in the studio.’’
Gold began developing his listening powers young, introduced to jazz by his father, the film director Jack Gold. As an adolescent, he was constantly in and out of London’s jazz and blues record shops searching for rare pressings of Charlie Parker and Lester Young.
“I’d sit in my room listening to five or six takes of the same song, trying to work out what made each special, and picking out tiny moments that I’d play over and over.’’ This must have been invaluable experience when he was thrust into the role of producer.
After completing a history degree at Sussex, he was offered work experience with a small live-promotions agency called Arts Worldwide. It was 1986, there was an upsurge of interest in world music, and when Arts Worldwide decided to take one of its acts – Kenya’s Shirati Jazz – into the studio, Gold found himself in the role of supervisor, despite never having been behind a mixing console before.
World Circuit became an entity in its own right when Gold bought out his former employers. He achieved his first real production credit with Ali Farka Touré, the Malian singer and guitarist who was to be a huge influence on him, right up to Touré’s death earlier this year. Touré introduced World Circuit to several of its most important artistes, including West African divas Oumou Sangare and Dimi Mint Abba, kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté and, most significantly, guitarist Ry Cooder, who produced the Buena Vista Social Club.
“Ali was a constant presence for 19 years,’’ says Gold. “I learnt an incredible amount from him. His death has left a huge hole. To be honest, I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet.’’
Gold’s career parallels the development of the world music phenomenon. He was present at the meeting in 1987 where the term was devised as a marketing tool (though he claims not to have said anything). Indeed, by championing more mature artistes in defiance of our youth-obsessed mainstream, in extending the highest production standards to artistes from poor countries and in flouting musical fashion, while remaining prepared to experiment, World Circuit might be said to represent the best of what world music has been about. Yet Gold is ambivalent about the concept.
“As a way of getting records into shops, ‘world music’ has been fantastic. But it would have been nice to have got beyond it – if, say, African and Cuban music could have become established as genres in their own right. There’s something about lumping 90% of the world’s music together as one thing that seems fundamentally wrong.’’
Whatever you choose to call the music, though, his formula for a great album remains simple: “Find good musicians, get a good engineer and press go! It is all down to the artiste. You can’t make an Ali Farka Touré album without Ali Farka Touré – no matter how good a producer you are.’’
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Argentina Premiers Cuban Five Film
Buenos Aires, (PL).- Sold out and with a standing ovation, an Argentinean documentary on the Five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unfairly imprisoned in the US was premiered in this capital.
The one-hour film gathers testimonies by Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon, who makes a detailed analysis of the trial, irregularities and violations.
It also includes legal arguments by Roberto Gonzalez, lawyer of the cause and brother of Rene, one of the Cuban Five, as well as statements by relatives of Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino and Rene Gonzalez.
Fernando Kirchmar, director of the documentary "Por los Cinco," highlighted the beautiful political experience of the Cuban Revolution and expressed gratitude for the help given by his movie industry to go ahead with this project.
Kirchmar especially acknowledged collaboration by Lazara Herrera, producer and widow of worldwide renowned Cuban documentary maker Santiago Alvarez, who facilitated archival footage.
Cuban ambassador to Argentina Aramis Fuentes talked of the labor carried out by Kirchmar and the "Insurgente" Movie Group to reveal the truth of the Cuban Five case to the world.
Fuentes termed the documentary historic and expressed his hope that many people see it, to get the true idea of what is happening and break the wall of silence that has been built up around the case.
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Cuban holds abstract art exhibition at USM
Malaysia, (M8).- An exhibition featuring 22 paitings by Cuban artist Gilberto Frometa is currently being held at Gallery Adiwarna (Centre for Art Studies) at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang.
The ¨From Cuba: Following my Own Trail¨ exhibition includes some of the latest abstract works by the internationally acclaimed artist.
Cuban Ambassador to Malaysia, Pedro Monzón Barata said USM was the only University in Malaysia that has a collection of Cuban art works.
¨We are very happy to be working so closely with USM especially in the field of art¨, he said at the launch of the exhibition last week.
He said there were many exciting collaborative projects in the pipeline between USM and Universities in Cuba in the fields of biotechnology and arts.
Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said the state recently sent two delegation to sign Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Havana to identify areas of collaborative potential.
¨ We hope to continue this close working relationship and the exhibition is definitely a step in that direction¨, he said in a speech that was read out by Penang Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Committee Chairman, Lau Chiek Tuan who represented him to launch the exhibition.
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