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</style><table width="540" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td align="right" class="text" style="text-align: right">ISSN 1810-620X</td></tr></table><table width="540" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td height="64" align="right" valign="top" background="cid:5df166eb2856967fccb93ffac6b657ab" class="date"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td><a href="http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/eng" target="_blank"><img border="0" name="banner" src="cid:31f54d2735760833fa3c7881fedd33e8" width="68" height="64"></a></td><td align="right" valign="top" class="date">Year
4
Number
31
, <span>August 03rd, 2006</span></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><br><table width="540" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="text">CUBARTE Newsletter is a specialized weekly news service from
the <a class="text" href="http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/eng" target="_blank">Portal
of Cuban Culture</a>. 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.</td></tr></table><p><a name="top"></a></p><div><table width="540" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td colspan="2"><img vspace="10" src="cid:ae835c84793f01e69ef370ff82222b48"></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4750">We Shall Meet Fidel Next December</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4756">Dance Dream Comes True in Havana. By: Antonio Paneque Brizuela </a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4758">Intellectuals Denounce Aggression against Lebanon and Palestine</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4742">Commendable Work of Cultural Promoters in Granma. By: Martín Corona Jerez</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4737">Camagüey Readying for the Theater Festival</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4743">Great Vocational Workshops to Open to Theater in Havana.. By: Isachi Fernández</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4749">Rock in Havana. By: Rafael Lam </a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4754">Juan Marinello Special Essay Prize Back in 2006</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4745">The New Passion for the Conga</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4727">Benny More Film Worthy of Him</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4733">Jose Marti Center of Studies Awarded Cuban President and Intellectuals</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4755">Cuban Divas Honor Adolfo Guzmán</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4744">Cuban Cinema: The Take Off. By: Reina Hernández</a></td></tr></table><table width="540" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td colspan="2"><img vspace="10" src="cid:36e99e8e306508890727ba69369727f3"></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4732">Latin American Leaders Pay Homage to Ernesto Che Guevara. By: Debora Rey</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4702">Equis Alfonso: “I Am a Revolutionary of My Work and My Music”. By: Raquel Arteaga</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4746">La Colmenita Children Arts Troupe Touches German Hearts</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4757">Omara Portuondo, Roman Music Academy Flooded with Cuban Identity</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="#4735">Documentary Criticizing US Cuba Sanctions Screened in Miami</a></td></tr></table><table width="540" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td colspan="2"><img vspace="10" src="cid:4edfbbb9f8ca7961b8046e3d368c12d0"></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/eng/global/loader.php?cat=actualidad&cont=showitem.php&id=1036&tabla=entrevista&seccion=Cubarte Portal Suggests You" target="blank">Open the Schools to the Cultural Diversity.. By: Isachi Fernández</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/eng/global/loader.php?cat=actualidad&cont=showitem.php&id=1037&tabla=entrevista&seccion=Cubarte Portal Suggests You" target="blank">The Cuban People, the United States and the Republic. By: Fernando Martínez Heredia</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/eng/global/loader.php?cat=actualidad&cont=showitem.php&id=1033&tabla=entrevista&seccion=Cubarte Portal Suggests You" target="blank">I Do Not Want To See It (1). By: Luis Toledo Sande</a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/eng/global/loader.php?cat=actualidad&cont=showitem.php&id=1040&tabla=entrevista&seccion=Cubarte Portal Suggests You" target="blank">Leo Brower’s Innovations and Decisions. By: Pedro de la Hoz </a></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><img src="cid:cceccefa24737bae59fb272cfafdb69d" vspace="10" hspace="10"></td><td width="100%"><a href="http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/eng/global/loader.php?cat=actualidad&cont=showitem.php&id=1038&tabla=entrevista&seccion=Cubarte Portal Suggests You" target="blank">African Mythologies. By: Anadria Caballero</a></td></tr></table></div><p class="desc"><strong>Do you wish to obtain more information about interesting
topics ? <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/eng/global/loader.php?cat=acercade&cont=index.php&secc=3">Click
here</a></strong></p><hr align="left" width="540" size="3" noshade="yes"><div><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4750"></a></p><p class="title">We Shall Meet Fidel Next December</p><p class="desc"><p> August 1st, 2006 </p>
<p>Message of the Guayasamín Foundation to the participants in the event
for the 80 birthday of Fidel.</p>
<p>Friends:</p>
<p> You should have known about the "Proclamation to the Cuban People"
made public by Fidel a few hours ago. In that text, he refers to the event that
the Foundation promoted with your support in the following terms: "The
80 anniversary of my birthday, that thousands of personalities so generously
decided to celebrate next August 13th, I ask them to postpone it for the December
2nd of the present year, 50 anniversary of the disembark of the Granma yacht."</p>
<p> We must pay attention to the request of this dearest friend of Guayasamín
and of the world with all our love and therefore we will meet in Havana next
December 2nd to pay our tribute to whom deserves universal affection and admiration.</p>
<p>The news we have received are encouraging and we have no doubts about his recovery.
We must continue to work so our event will have even greater success in that
historical date the Commander Fidel has suggested.</p>
<p>Alfredo Vera</p>
<p> General Coordinator</p>
</p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> Fundación Guayasamín</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4756"></a></p><p class="title">Dance Dream Comes True in Havana</p><p class="desc"><b>Author:</b> Antonio Paneque Brizuela </p><p class="desc"><p> Havana, (Granma).- Dance performers and enthusiasts in the Cuban capital saw
one of their dreams come true over the weekend with the opening of the new Havana
Dance Center, in a ceremony led by Minister of Culture Abel Prieto and famous
dancer-teacher Santiago Alfonso.</p>
<p> The choreographer said that the Center is opening at a time when the city
has over 40 troupes ranging in diverse forms of dance from romantic ballet to
folklore and Spanish dance to hip-hop.</p>
<p> Also attending the dance center’s opening was Havana City Historian
Eusebio Leal who acknowledged the efforts of construction workers involved in
the project as well as others that helped make it possible.</p>
<p> The Havana Dance Center is located on several floors of a restored building
on Prado between Ingenio and Refugio in Old Havana.</p>
<p> Olga Torres, director of the center, told Granma that the investment is well
placed since half of the country’s dance troupes are based in the capital.
She noted that three companies —directed by Rosario Cardenas, Santiago
Alfonso and Guido Gali— will have their permanent headquarters at the
center and a dozen other groups will make regular use of the facility. </p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> www.granma.co.cu</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4758"></a></p><p class="title">Intellectuals Denounce Aggression against Lebanon and Palestine</p><p class="desc"><p> Havana, (Cubasi).- The Cuban chapter, part of the world network “In
Defense of Humanity” has called on intellectuals, artists, social activists
and all honest people in the world to denounce the Israeli brutal and genocide
aggression against Lebanon and Palestine through all means at their reach.</p>
<p> We must condemn the impunity the US government guarantees to Israel as well
as the European Union’s cowardice, most evident than ever before, the
inertia of the UN Security Council and the complicity of the great press media.</p>
<p> It is an urgent need to prevent entire populations from the mass extermination
supported by the White House, from the destruction of cities and from the flagrant
violation of their most elemental human rights. The ideas of justice, international
legality and the possibility of a peaceful coexistence between nations are in
danger of disappearing because of the present barbarity.</p>
<p> “As well as the monstrous outlook continues to impressing us, it is
not possible to accept that the world remains passively seeing the extermination
of the Palestinian and Lebanese populations. Let us raise a moral barrier against
insensitivity, terrorism of state and genocide.”</p>
<p> Translation: Ivette Semanat Negret (Cubarte)</p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> www.cubasi.cu </p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4742"></a></p><p class="title">Commendable Work of Cultural Promoters in Granma</p><p class="desc"><b>Author:</b> Martín Corona Jerez</p><p class="desc"><p>Granma, (ICRT).- Granma Culture Director Eddy Rodríguez confirmed local
entities won the First National Place in the corresponding emulation process
for the improvements on programs, implemented thanks to the commitment of cultural
promoters and activists.</p>
<p> The province of Granma with 1,050 cultural promoters holds the highest number
of graduates amid the country’s new development programs and a figure
guaranteeing their presence in the different neighborhoods and communities.</p>
<p> According to the official, the strengthening of ties among the territory’s
cultural institutions, the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists, the Hermanos
Saíz Association, gathering young creators, and some other intellectuals´
organizations have contributed to the success.</p>
<p> He stated that 2005 and the first half of 2006 were periods of consolidation
for the concert music bands, increased from three to 17, thanks to the efforts
of the first Cuban Concert Music School located in that territory.</p>
<p> That eastern province counts on 13 municipal bands, two of them made up by
children and another two by inmates, highlighted Rodríguez and added
that now they are working on the extension of the esplanade located on the General
Calixto García avenue, the transformation of the Bayamo Cinema into a
theater and the remodeling of the Homeland Square, what will contribute special
attractions to the spirituality of local citizens and visitors.</p>
<p> Unique in Cuba, the Homeland Square hosted the central ceremony for July 26th,
Day of National Rebelliousness, and since then on it will work as a cultural
complex that includes the Bayamo Theater, areas for political ceremonies and
people’s celebrations and a protocol hall among other facilities.</p>
<p> Translation: Ivette Semanat Negret (Cubarte) </p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> ICRT</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4737"></a></p><p class="title">Camagüey Readying for the Theater Festival</p><p class="desc"><p>Havana, (Cubasi).- Between next October 12th-22nd, the most excellent of Cuban
theater will get together in Camaguey and details are taken care already for
the party. The city has 5 theatrical headquarters: the <em>Teatro Principal
</em>(Main Theater), <em>La Edad de Oro</em> (Golden Age) ward, the <em>Guiñol</em>
(Puppet Theatre), <em>Tasende Ward</em>, and <em>Teatro del Viento</em> (Theater
of Wind), willing to open its doors to the large number of spectators that attend
the appointment.</p>
<p>The Main Theater is majestic, with a massive pit and enough room for big shows will be the venue for the awarding ceremony of Avellaneda Awards.
The Puppet Theater, as its name shows, houses the Puppet Theater of Camagüey
and all the proposals involving a marionette as main character. The Golden Age,
headquarters of the group of equal name, welcomes proposals for children and
young. Tasende Ward is the headquarters of the Dramatic Assemble. </p>
<p> Theater of Wind, away from the theatrical circuit was built by the actors
of the group which work there, and is one of the newest theatrical facilities,
characterized for welcoming the juvenile public. </p>
<p> The Organizing Committee of the Cuban Theater Festival already made public
the sample selected to participate in the competition that includes theater
for children and young, and theater for adults. The staging of groups who have
won in previous editions is expected like Charenton, from <em>Buendía
</em>Theater; The Bronze Little Virgin, of <em>Las Estaciones</em> Theater,
Stockman, of <em>Argos</em> Theater, and Puppet Theatre of Remedios, among others.
It’s worth outstanding the presence of Histories on the Road, of Theater
of Wind, the only proposal from Camagüey in the appointment. </p>
<p> In these days are being received the technical specifications of the participant,
with the objective of guaranteeing that each work is programmed in the most
appropriate space and that the technical conditions are those needed by each
montage. </p>
<p> It’s announced that in the opening night will go up on the stage of
Main Theater the Folkloric Assemble of Camagüey, with their show María
Antonia, a dance version of the homonymous tragedy of Eugenio Hernández
Espinosa, with the direction of Reinaldo Echemendía. </p>
<p> The Theater Festival of Camagüey is the most important theater event
in Cuba, the event where work approaches are exchanged and where the public
welcomes with passion the proposals on stage. </p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> www.cubasi.cu </p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4743"></a></p><p class="title">Great Vocational Workshops to Open to Theater in Havana.</p><p class="desc"><b>Author:</b> Isachi Fernández</p><p class="desc"><p> Havana, (Cubarte).- As a novelty for the forthcoming school year, the gigantic
Vocational Orientation Workshops towards Arts that attend 50 thousand children
from every municipality of the Cuban capital city, will open to the theaters,
announce to Cubarte sources from the National Ballet School.</p>
<p>The organizers of this contact with children and adolescents with the arts,
are answering in this way to a demand of the secondary students, who are offered
folklore as well as Physical preparation classes and in an optional manner choreographic
composition, corporal expression, plastic arts, ballet or traditional dances
such as the <em>danzón.</em> </p>
<p>Elena Cangas, sub-director of vocational workshops, from the National Ballet
School, pointed out that it is all about enriching the spiritual universe of
the young people, their family, and of every person involved (educational assistants,
relatives, teachers, directors...)</p>
<p>Apart from its venue, the National Ballet School, the workshops are not designed
to develop dancers, but to create a more exigent, fuller public, while they
help the young people to discover themselves and the arts, explained the employee,
who reminded that it is a task prioritized by the Cuban state.</p>
<p>Around the students demand that the workshop should open to theatrical representation,
Cangas reminded that many of them, whish to continue artistic teaching as they
finish their ninth grade and they choose the National Theater School, the San
Alejandro Academy, the National Circus School or the one for art instructors
for example. The workshops help them to discover their vocation and to ready
them for their entrance exams, she pointed out.</p>
<p>In the case that the young person could have the right conditions to be a dancer,
the professors on the workshop can orient him on how to channel on the specialized
educational system, stated the employee and she added that the recruitments
for the workshops are made yearly on every primary school of the Cuban capital
city and are directed towards children from seven years onwards.</p>
<p> Translation : Karen López (Cubarte)</p>
</p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> CUBARTE</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4749"></a></p><p class="title">Rock in Havana</p><p class="desc"><b>Author:</b> Rafael Lam </p><p class="desc"><p>Havana, (Cubarte).- Rock in Cuba resounded since the fifties. From the United
States came Bill Halley’s echoes, this had nothing to do with the spatial
comet. Elvis Presley with his sharp legend. In Cuba imitations and versions
surged rapidly. In 1955 the Llopis Dulzaide was a band considered as the Best
Band on the Show magazine survey, they were the diffusers of rock and roll in
Spain and Latin America.</p>
<p>As it happened during the 1960’s with Spanish pop, in which that new
wave reached us through the Spanish language, also during the 1950’s the
Spaniards receive the North American music through second hands.</p>
<p>Researcher Leonardo Acosta assures than in 1957 the first purely rock and roll
band was formed in Cuba, they were called the Hot Rockers, with the pianist
Raúl Ondina and the singer Tony Escarpenter. People also talk about others
such as Pretender and Los Jaguares, musicians such as Tony Taño, singers
such as Luis Bravo (Placa de Oro 1960), Dany Puga (1962). During the 1960’s
there were more than thirty bands, some of the most famous were: Los Dada, Los
Barba, Los Magnéticos, Los Kents, Los Gnomos and Los Bucaneros.</p>
<p>On this month of July, which is almost over, there was the second edition of
the Pop Rock festival in Havana, between July 18th and 22nd. « The aim
– as was announced by the president of the Organizing Comittee, Carlos
Carnero (director of Los Kents), - was projected with a sight that took in different
tendencies, on the voices and bands. We hope to celebrate it yearly because
on every festival we consider that there participate around 20 thousand participants
».</p>
<p>Among the bands who presented were Wena Onda, Los Kents, Hipnosis, Escape,
Ánima Mundi, Trampa Explosiva, Dimensión vertical, Congregation,
Tesis de Menta, Habana Blue, R-X, Clover, Trampa Explosiva, Killer the Fish,
Tenaz, Clover, Fundichely y Takson, Alberto Aguilera. There was also a special
presentation of Andy Gola and his band.</p>
<p>Cuban rock exists in Cuba, since 1969 when the Grupo de Experimentación
Sonora (Group of Sonorous Experimentation) from the ICAIC(GESI) was created,
directed by Leo Brower, with Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés,
channeled their music stimulated by rock. The recording Cuba va is considered
a guideline to follow on Latin rock, as the rocker Dagoberto Pedraja tells me.
During the 1980’s the band Síntesis merges rock with the Afro-Cuban
rhythms, a very successful and effective style in Cuba. Our country has always
been very good when merging foreign music with the popular feeling, making it
a system of our own. Cuba has a very strong musical power and it turns into
gold whatever it touches.</p>
<p>The festival was organized by the Music Provincial Center Benny Moré
and the Hermanos Saíz Association. The Anti-imperialist tribune served
as venue for the closing ceremony of the event.</p>
<p>Translation: Karen López (Cubarte)</p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> CUBARTE</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4754"></a></p><p class="title">Juan Marinello Special Essay Prize Back in 2006</p><p class="desc"><p>Havana, (Centro Estudios Juan Marinello).- Juan Marinello Memorial Library
and the Center of Investigation and Development on Cuban Culture with the same
name call for the 2006 Juan Marinello Special Essay Prize.</p>
<p>The objective is to deepen into the life and work of the communist intellectual
and pioneer of the Cuban culture as well as into the social context he developed
his fruitful career.</p>
<p>Works should be real essays in terms of content and form which should be in
correspondence with the rules and objectives of the prize.</p>
<p>Rules </p>
<p>1. Investigators, writers, professors, cultural promoters, university graduates,
students and public in general will be allowed to participate with works referred
to Juan Marinello´s life, work and epoch. </p>
<p>2. The jury will confer a unique prize consisting of $1 000 (national currency)
and a recognition diploma to the best work besides all mentions it considers
necessary.</p>
<p>3. Works should be presented anonymously, under a pseudonym, totally or partially
unpublished and they should not exceed 30 pages of be under 20. </p>
<p>4. Each work should contain name and surnames of the author, address, phone
number, work or study center, cultural or social institutions to which he/she
belongs to and a brief biography. This information should be written and sent
in a well-sealed envelope and with the pseudonym in the front side.</p>
<p>5. Works should be presented in original and two copies typed in computer or
typewriter at two spaces accompanied by a 3½ disk. Participants should
send them to the Juan Marinello Memorial Library located at 684 Loma Street
between Colón and Lombillo streets, Nuevo Vedado, phone number 881-0275.
The admission terms expires on October 20th.</p>
<p> 6. The prize and mentions will be given in public ceremony on date and place
opportunely informed by the media in occasion of the 108 anniversary of Juan
Marinello.</p>
<p>Translation: Ivette Semanat Negret (Cubarte) </p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> Centro Estudios Juan Marinello</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4745"></a></p><p class="title">The New Passion for the Conga</p><p class="desc"><p>Havana, (Cubanow).- From time to time Cuban music surprises; let’s say
that it winks at us and its vibration turns into a contagious outpouring of
humming sounds from which only a guru or a skilled babalawo would be able to
announce what is coming next. </p>
<p>The truth is that the <em>Conga</em> cycle has returned to Cuban dancing music.
Only that this time in its original expression, but adorned with symphonic elements.
To be more precise, it is a chamber rumba in Mozart´s purest style stemming
from Santiago de Cuba, from “Chago” as locals born amid its steep
streets by habit have come to name the city, a name now gaining supporters nationwide.
</p>
<p>This <em>conga</em> cycle originated on one distant afternoon late in the 19th
Century, when Luís Casamitjana, a Catalonian musician, came up with the
happy idea of transforming the <em>Cocuyé Conga</em> into a symphonic
motive, while delighting in one of Santiago de Cuba’s carnival parades.
By mid 1930´s, to show that a night could still be enjoyed while the great
depression lasted, everybody used to danced to the <em>Uno, dos y tres que paso
más chévere el de mi conga e</em> (One, two and three, what a
cool waddle the one of my <em>conga</em> is!) by Rafael Ortiz; aka « One,
two three… <em>conga</em> » The right leg was stretched out and
a pelvic waddle combined with a slight jump back. </p>
<p>It was absolute pleasure to watch male movie stars of those times seduce the
beauty of their dreams (and of our granddad’s) at the beat of this rhythm.
At the end of the endless-twisting dancing line, she usually appeared in his
arms and kissed under a rain of confetti and serpentines. And all this was happening
while the orchestra shifted from <em>conga</em> to a slow rumba, as the bolero
was euphemistically defined by the movie industry. </p>
<p>During the 1950´s this passion for the <em>conga </em>did not vanish;
it was camouflaged by the influence of <em>mambo</em>, choreography of which
owes a lot to this street ballet. But in addition to <em>mambo</em>, the<em>
conga </em>passion continued in the carnivals, mainly in Santiago de Cuba’s.
Once again there was Santiago and its <em>congas</em> and Federico García
Lorca´s ghost wandering around its streets, subdued by the surrealist charm
of this city, its people and the sound of the Chinese trumpet. </p>
<p>The <em>conga</em> has always been there. It is perhaps the most important
expression of our musical identity, as important as the son itself. It is also
an expression of the local chauvinism, which is typical in Cubans. </p>
<p>In the 1990´s, to keep its cycle, a another <em>conga</em> became vogue
again, this time it was a motive from the central Villa Clara province; it was
the ideal <em>conga</em> of unruly and fly-by-night men. Who does not remember..?
« <em>si tu pasas por mi casa y si ves a mi mujer tu le dices que hoy
no espere</em>, <em>que voy para la conga, que voy a echar un pie</em>…
» (« if you pass by my house and see my wife, tell her not to wait
for me today, that I’m going to <em>conga</em>, that I’m going to
dance away… »). More than enough to justify the absence from home
and money squandering. </p>
<p>Speaking about <em>conga</em> and chauvinism, right now early in the 21st Century
one <em>conga</em> is making way. From my modest point of view, it’s the
greatest expression of what has been called Easternship: « Passion for
<em>conga</em> ». </p>
<p> Side confession: Analyzed the aforementioned issue, it results that it could
not be more chauvinist, in other words: a) it was composed by a Santiago de
Cuba-born citizen; b) a Santiago de Cuba orchestra plays it; c) the video clip
was shot on Santiago’s streets – Where else if not there?; d) the
video’s central theme is a <em>conga</em> from Santiago de Cuba, the one
of <em>Los Hoyos</em> neighborhood, e) it tells the story of a woman from Santiago
de Cuba, living away from her town and whose only bond with her people is the
<em>conga</em>. More chauvinist, excuse me regionalist, it can not be. However
it became an absolute national passion since the first time it was broadcast
and just for one reason: beyond university titles, philosophical tendencies,
emblazoned family name references, or any other blood purifying requirement,
we are a culture where the <em>conga </em>runs in our blood like a sort of plasma.
</p>
<p>An illustrious “<em>Santiaguero</em>” friend was telling me that
for over a century intellectuals in that city have wasted hundreds of sheets
of paper in elaborating a coherent and organic philosophy to explain the nature
of Santiago de Cuba and its contributions to Cubanship. Surprisingly however,
there has always been an argument or an expert placing such undertaking in crisis.
And now, in just seven minutes Chaguism,( meaning everything dealing with Santiago
de Cuba) has been defined, has grown deep roots and has become the central study
issue. And thanks to what? To a <em>conga</em> ! </p>
<p>Conclusion: The <em>conga </em>has defined the other Cubanship of these recent
years and it has extended beyond the seas as a vicious habit. And so it has
that in the sophisticated and postmodern Barcelona it became fashionable. Why?
Because this new conga, the one that is starting to arouse passion has two things
on its side: It is quite easy to dance. Now, marking short steps, like those
taken when dancing amid a packed group in <em>Los Hoyos</em> neighborhood style,
with a glass of rum in hand next to a neighbor or a Cuban friend. </p>
<p><em>Sur Caribe</em>, the group promoting this <em>conga </em>fever, has imposed
and universalized it, and rather than concealing the drums, it has exalted them
in the Roldán or Caturla style. It has also conferred the <em>conga </em>certain
dashing touch by incorporating violins. Nonetheless, both in Europe and in Cuba
the substratum sound contains the beat of the drums, the African rebelliousness
synthesized in this island and the seducing experience of being part of an universal
ballet where all choreographies are genuine and valid, and of which critics
say nothing because they too are part of it.</p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> www.cubanow.net </p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4727"></a></p><p class="title">Benny More Film Worthy of Him</p><p class="desc">Havana, (PL).- <a href="http://www.cubarte.cu/eng/global/loader.php?&cat=personalidades&cont=showitem.php&id=595&tabla=personalidades" target="_blank">Benny
More</a>, one of the most outstanding Cuban musicians of all times, internationally
known as El Barbaro del Ritmo, is the inspiration of a cinematographic production
to be premiered next week in Havana. </p>
<p>For eleven years filmmaker Jorge Luis Sanchez carried out detailed and deep
research into the larger than life star, including dozens of interviews and
testimonies, to make this production.</p>
<p>I had plenty of time to think about this film, design it, and plan the photography,
art direction, sound and performances, said Sanchez and confirmed the numerous
rehearsals of choreographies by Renny Arozarena, in charge of revitalizing an
idol deeply rooted in the island´s life.</p>
<p>Director Jorge Luis Sanchez is absolutely aware of the test of fire he will
undergo and he accepts it. Benny More, his great intuition and the genius that
made him a universal artist even though he did not study music are beloved,
and almost mythical for Cubans.</p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> PL</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4733"></a></p><p class="title">Jose Marti Center of Studies Awarded Cuban President and Intellectuals</p><p class="desc"><p> Havana, (AIN).- The Pensar es Vivir (To Think is To Live) distinction was
conferred to the Cuban President Fidel Castro Ruz, in the ceremony for the 29th
anniversary of the Jose Marti Center of Studies.</p>
<p> Ana Sánchez Collazo, director of the center, said this recognition
is conferred to those Cuban and foreign celebrities and institutions carrying
out an exceptional work in the promotion of the José Marti’s life,
work and thought.</p>
<p> Similarly, she read a declaration ratifying the principles of loyalty to the
Commandant in Chief and to the Cuban Revolution on behalf of the center’s
workers.</p>
<p> The distinction was also conferred to poet and essayer Roberto Fernández
Retamar, the very first director of the Jose Marti Center of Studies (1977-1986).</p>
<p> Cintio Vitier, president of honor of the institution, highlighted that Fernández
Retamar stands as one of the very first poets and essayists of the revolutionary
Cuba with a clean and brightened lyrics and a prose characterized by its functionality
and sharpness.</p>
<p> The occasion was also opportune to confer special recognitions to those investigators
national and internationally awarded this year such as Cintio Vitier, María
Caridad Pacheco, Carlos Palacio and Rodolfo Sarracino.</p>
<p> Translation: Ivette Semanat Negret (Cubarte)</p>
</body></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> AIN</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4755"></a></p><p class="title">Cuban Divas Honor Adolfo Guzmán</p><p class="desc"><p>Havana, (PL).- Veteran Cuban divas Rosita Fornes and Esther Borja paid tribute
to Cuban musician Adolfo Guzman (1920-1976), whom they called an "exceptional
human being for his extraordinary sensitivity, and professionalism."</p>
<p> In a colloquium last Friday in the capital, on the occasion of Guzman´s
30th death anniversary, Fornes said she learned how to sing thanks to Guzman,
as that gender was not included in her repertoire of operas and traditional
Spanish operettas.</p>
<p>For her part, Esther Borja announced a recording will be made with the compilation
of 16 masters from the archive of the Cuban Institute of Radio and TV, recorded
with the orchestra conducted by Guzman.</p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> PL</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4744"></a></p><p class="title">Cuban Cinema: The Take Off</p><p class="desc"><b>Author:</b> Reina Hernández</p><p class="desc"><p>Havana, Cubanow.- With more than 90 projects for 2006, Cuban cinema promises
its best year since the ‘90s, when it almost gave in under the impact
of the crisis caused by the collapse of the European Socialist block and the
intensification of the anti-Cuban policy by the United States. </p>
<p> Very close to its historical record for a year – 12 full length films
and 21 documentaries in 1989 – the domestic movie industry has undertaken
the production of 10 feature films, 12 documentaries and is collaborating in
15 short-length films by local filmmakers. <em>Páginas del diario de
Mauricio, </em>by Manuel Pérez; was the first Cuban film screened this
year. Next<em>, El Benny, </em>by Jorge Luis Sánchez and <em>La pared,
by</em> Alejandro Gil. <em>Madrigal</em>, by Fernando Pérez; <em>Camino
al Edé</em>n, by Daniel Díaz Torres, and <em>La edad de la peseta</em>,
by Pavel Giroud, are in different production stages. </p>
<p> The good news also include seven co-productions with Latin American countries,
six projects in cooperation with other institutions, 30 new videos for the <em>Contracorriente</em>
Video Library (interviews with celebrated intellectuals from various countries),
three serials and as many singles. Ten scripts for feature films are also being
drafted. </p>
<p> The projects, exceeding in more than 20 those produced in 2005, reflect the
will of the Cuban authorities to revert to the local cinematography the energy
it displayed in the ‘70s and ‘80s, when the Cuban Institute of Film
Art and Industry (ICAIC) premiered every year between six and eight domestically
produced feature films and more than ten documentaries. </p>
<p> The economic depression, affecting all sectors of life in the country, was
particularly strenuous with the film industry that could only produce eight
full length films between 1993 and 2002. The deterioration of more than 400
cinema theaters in the country, because of a lack of funding for their refurbishment,
was added to this, with the resulting decrease in moviegoers, although Cubans
are among the most film loving people in the world. </p>
<p> Cuban cinema showed its first signs of recovery in 2003, when it showed eight
fiction works, four of them feature-length films, and seven documentaries, in
Havana’s International Festival of the New Latin American Cinema. In documentaries
it even regained its former leadership among the countries in the region. </p>
<p> This take off was possible thanks to the search for new production formulas,
the use of new technologies, an increase in low budget films, and associations
with foreign producers. </p>
<p> Among them were <em>Más vampiros en La Habana </em>(More Vampires in
Havana), by Juan Padrón, the first Cuban feature-length animated film
in digital format, and the internationally acclaimed <em>Suite Habana</em>,
by Fernando Pérez, which was awarded seven Corals in the Havana contest
and the SIGNIS to the Best Film in the Official Section of the 51st Film Festival
held in San Sebastian, Spain. It was also chosen among the 55 foreign films
candidate to the Oscar nomination in 2004. Both films were co-produced by Spain,
the country heading the list of ICAIC associates. Spain is also the largest
market for Cuban films, along with Latin America and the Latinos in the United
States (when the rare screening of a Cuban film can take place there). </p>
<p> This year, the Cuban film industry will collaborate with Venezuela, Peru and
Chile in the making of seven films, four more than those made with Latin American
countries in 2005. </p>
<p> Another healthy symptom for Cuban cinema is its increasing presence abroad.
Last year Cuban films took part in 102 festivals, samples, tributes and retrospectives,
among them the Short-Length Film Festival held in Tampere, Finland; the Cape
Town World Cinema Festival in South Africa; the Discovering Latin America Film
Festival in England; and the Festivals of San Sebastian, in Spain, and Locarno,
in Switzerland; the Ismailia International Documentary and Short-Length Film
Festival in Egypt; the International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) in
Zimbabwe, and the Guayana Children Film Festival in Venezuela. </p>
<p> The most talked-about Cuban film in 2005 was <em>Viva Cuba</em>, by Juan Carlos
Cremata, which brought home the Grand Prix Ecrans Juniors, the first time Cuba
receives an award in one of the events associated to the Cannes Film Festival,
in France. This year begins with promising omens for local cinema abroad. The
feature film <em>Roble de Olor</em> (The Scent of an Oak), by Rigoberto López,
won the Dikalo award to the Best Film at the International Festival of Pan-African
Cinema in Cannes; and three members of the cast in <em>Barrio Cuba</em>, by
Humberto Solás, were awarded for their performances in Colombia and Dominican
Republic. These three last Cuban films have been screened or have entered into
contests in Germany, Spain, Brazil, Barbados, Venezuela, Colombia, Canada, and
the Virgin Islands in the first months in 2006. And there are still outstanding
film samples and contests in the United States, Brazil, Uruguay, Puerto Rico,
Argentina, Martinique, Canada, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Ecuador in this
year’s agenda.</p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> www.cubanow.net </p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4732"></a></p><p class="title">Latin American Leaders Pay Homage to Ernesto Che Guevara
</p><p class="desc"><b>Author:</b> Debora Rey</p><p class="desc">Alta Gracia, Argentina (AP).- Fidel and Hugo went on a pilgrimage Saturday
to Che´s house. </p>
<p>In an emotional journey, Cuban President Fidel
Castro and his ally Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez toured the Argentine boyhood home of
Castro s fallen comrade and legendary guerrilla,
Ernesto "Che" Guevara. It was a first visit for both.</p>
<p>"Fidel! Fidel!" and "Hugo! Hugo!" the crowd of
2,000 chanted as the 79-year-old Castro, wearing
his trademark green military fatigues, got out of
his limousine. Chavez was right by Castro s side
as they entered the house amid a crush of security agents.</p>
<p>While Castro made no public comment, he smiled
broadly and shook hands with supporters in the
crowd. Chavez told reporters that the two were
delighted by their tour: "Fidel invited me to
come and get to know the house. For me, it s a real honor being here."</p>
<p>"We feel it! We feel it! Guevara is right with us!" the crowd shouted
Saturday.</p>
<p>Castro first visited Argentina in 1959 after the
Cuban Revolution and returned to attend a
regional summit Friday that inducted Venezuela into the Mercosur trade bloc.</p>
<p>Guevara spent most of his childhood in central
Argentina, where his family hoped a mild climate would ease his severe asthma.</p>
<p>Guevara´s family later moved to Buenos Aires,
where he enrolled in medical school before
embarking on the famous motorcycle trip around
South America that inspired him to give up medicine for leftist revolution.</p>
<p>He was killed in 1967 while directing a guerrilla
movement in Bolivia. His remains were taken three
decades later to Cuba, where they are entombed under a massive monument.</p>
<p>On Saturday, black-uniformed police with guard
dogs kept back the crowd as people jammed the
space outside the green-painted, brick-and-tile
middle-class home in Alta Gracia.</p>
<p>The house bore the iconic photograph taken in
1960 that shows Guevara wearing his beret.</p>
<p>A bronze statue out front depicted him as a boy,
and a vintage motorbike inside was like the one Guevara used for his trip.</p>
<p>The leaders also saw memorabilia including
Guevara´s birth certificate and handwritten letters.</p>
<p>The city government owns Guevara s former home.
He lived there from 1935 to 1937 and from 1939 to 1943.</p>
<p>The home is typical of many on the narrow streets
of Alta Gracia, a community 35 miles southwest of
Cordoba, where Castro, Chavez and six other Latin
American presidents attended the regional trade summit Friday.</p>
<p>Ana Ledesma, a 50-year-old homemaker, said the
Castro-Chavez visit caused a real fuss in her quiet community.</p>
<p>"The truth is we are all surprised by Castro´s
visit," she said. "This has thrown the whole city into a state of
shock."</p>
<p>If he had lived, Guevara would now be 78. His
early death at the hands of the Bolivian army
helped transform him into a larger-than-life figure.</p>
<p>Guevara launched an armed revolt in 1966 to bring
communism to Bolivia after helping lead the 1959
Cuban Revolution that ousted dictator Fulgencio
Batista and thrust Castro into power.</p>
<p>He waged a guerrilla insurgency for 13 months in
Bolivia but was captured and executed at age 39.</p>
<p>On Friday night, Castro and Chavez, who openly
admires the Cuban leader as his political mentor,
rallied thousands in Cordoba against U.S.-backed
free-market policies that they blame for many of Latin America s woes.</p>
<p></p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> AP</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4702"></a></p><p class="title">Equis Alfonso: “I Am a Revolutionary of My Work and My Music”</p><p class="desc"><b>Author:</b> Raquel Arteaga</p><p class="desc"> <p> Santa Cruz de Tenerife, (La Gaceta).– Cuban musician Equis Alfonso opened
the third edition of the Mixed Music and Mas Mumes Festival starting last week
and extending until September 1st at the so-called Casa de la Polvora in Santa
Cruz de Tenerife.</p>
<p> Well-known by his co-authorship of the sound track for the film Havana Blues
standing with the Goya Prize conferred by the Spanish Movie Academy in its last
edition, Equis Alfonso has been working in Cuba and in Barcelona during the
last years.</p>
<p> This time he intended to present the album Civilizations, a proposal summarizing
his prior productions (Mundo Real, X Moré y Delirum Tremens) and that
is mainly based on the fusion of contemporary music with the Cuban rhythms.<br>
His repertoire retains the usual combination of rock, jazz, hip hop and pop
without showing preferences for any specific genre.</p>
<p> According to his own declarations, this is a legacy brought from his beginnings
with Sintesis, one of Cuba’s pioneer bands regarding the fusion of afro
Cuban rock with present music what has awaken his special interest in the roots
of different countries.</p>
<p> “Síntesis was a school for me. Thanks to them I had the opportunity
to meet other artists, be in contact with other music and share experiences,”
he highlights.</p>
<p> Encouraged by such formation he recorded five albums, one of them counting
on the participation of Silvio Rodríguez. “ I also learned to compose
and to search deep inside myself because it is very common finding us looking
at somewhere else instead of considering what is closer to us. All that has
helped me to be what I am at present.” </p>
<p> His album Civilization was awarded the Cubadisco 2005 Great Prize, which he
described as “a surprise as it was the first time the jury conferred it
to a so young artist and also because it always goes to famous figures such
as Chucho Valdés”.</p>
<p> Equis Alfonso describes himself as a revolutionary of his work and his music.
“I do not have limits or complex for anything and pay very much attention
to the quality of my work.” </p>
<p> He lived in Barcelona for five years. However, he thinks it is important to
work, write and take advantage of all the good Cuba offers that is why he assures
that in terms of mixture everything counts.</p>
<p>“I think creators are making interesting music based on the fusion of
rhythms so different like those from African and Spain, or those from China
and the Arab countries. The result is a mixture of ancient sounds that can make
you stand on end and awaken those sensations only motivated by the folk music.”</p>
<p> Besides bass player and pianist, Equis Alfonso has become an outstanding audiovisual
director since 1983 when he started sharing his works with some classmates.
“It served me to integrate the different artistic manifestation to music.”
His musical career has been closely related to the audiovisual means.</p>
<p> In 2003 he composed and played the sound track for Havana Blues, the film
directed by Benito Zambrano that awarded him the 2006 Goya Prize and the Revelation
Latin Prize.</p>
<p> The project, he states, appeared through the friendship between the Spanish
filmmaker, actress Adria Santana and musician Pablo Menéndez. “After
we introduced each other, we began interchanging impressions and a great professional
relation started.”</p>
<p> The singer expressed satisfaction for sharing with Tenerife’s people,
where, he commented, has many good friends. He presented a spectacle that included
synchronized video images showing Cuba’s present life.</p>
<p> He delighted the audience with songs of the album Civilizations and others
from his prior CDs.</p>
<p> In August, he will start recording his new production. An album containing
12 songs and that could be entitled “Revoluxion”. <br>
In addition, Alfonso will work on the next audiovisual material he expects to
include in a documentary devoted to reflect how Cubans make music and where
the basis for musical fusions comes from. </p>
<p>Translation: Ivette Semanat Negret (Cubarte)</p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> La Gaceta de Canarias</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4746"></a></p><p class="title">La Colmenita Children Arts Troupe Touches German Hearts</p><p class="desc"><p>Lingen, (Granma).- Nearly one thousand people attended a performance by the
Cuban children arts troupe "La Comenita" -The Little Hive- at the
International Association of Children´s Theatre, during the 9th Children Theater
World Festival, held in the German city of Lingen.</p>
<p>The lively performances included three stories by H.C. Andersen ("Ugly
Little Duck", "Little Thumb Finger" and "The Emperor´s new
Suit"), which were acoompanied by the best Cuban traditional music (trova,
bolero, son and danzon) written by Miguel Matamoros, Ignacio Pineiro, Sindo
Garay and Maria Teresa Vera, among others.</p>
<p>The Cuban young children performed exceptionally while singing, dancing and
acting, having a great acceptance among the other troupes.Cuban humor gave a
special touch to their acting.</p>
<p>Our performance, which was the last one of the Festival program, was the most
applauded (for several minutes, the audience cried out "Cuba, Cuba").
We were also congratulated by the organizers of the event, the audience and
the children and adolescents from other troupes that expressed their emotions
by huging and kissing us with tears in their eyes.</p>
<p>Translation: Roxana Marquez Herrera</p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> www.granma.co.cu</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4757"></a></p><p class="title">Omara Portuondo, Roman Music Academy Flooded with Cuban Identity</p><p class="desc"><p> Rome, (EmbaCuba Italy).- Threatened by a pouring rain that did not finally
hamper her reappearance in the stage of the eternal city, Omara Portuondo flooded
the Roman summer with Cuban flavor through her voice and songs. The unique concert
marked the end of a program organized by the Roman Music Academy devoted to
the very best feminine voices from all parts of the world.</p>
<p> The Auditorium, also known as the Box of Music, catered to over 1,500 spectators
who showed great admiration for the artist and that they knew her songs very
well. They shared and enjoyed a widen repertoire which went beyond the programmed
songs to extend to themes included in her two latest albums and some other classics
of the Cuban music’s golden age.</p>
<p> It was a concert where professionalism and virtuosity of the accompanist musicians
under the musical direction of Swami Jr was evidenced. Similarly, delighting
was the performance of the “Roma Sinfonietta” orchestra directed
by the maestro Rudy Vistel, a staff who provided its best presentation for an
excited and grateful audience.</p>
<p> “Tabú”, “La Sitiera”, “Hermosa Habana”,
“Tu me acostumbraste”, “Pensamiento”, “He venido
a decirte”, “Lo que me queda por vivir” and the song “Dos
Gardenias” written by Isolina Carrillo specially devoted to the deceased
musician Ibrahím Ferrer joined participants´ voices in that summer
top night also shared by officials of the Cuban Embassies represented at instances
of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Italian Republic respectively.</p>
<p> Thus Omara Portuondo closed a series of concerts given by outstanding feminine
stars such as Cesária Evora, Erykah Badu and Brazilian Adriana Calcanhotto.
It was an initiative the Cuban artist described as a “birthday present”
mainly because it was an opportunity to find again and thousand miles away the
same magic atmosphere turning her Caribbean island into the very first capital
of Latin music. </p>
<p> After the decease of Compay Segundo Omara Portuondo has been the Cuban artistic
ambassador as the program of the event read.</p>
<p> Thus Rome reopened the program of concerts as part of which the Cuban singer
will perform in Geneva, Barcelona and other various European cities and festivals.
</p>
<p> Considered one of the most representative voices of Cuba and one of the most
famous worldwide, Omara provided this happy return to the Italian peninsula
with plenty of positive energy. It is difficult to say who were the most excited,
if audience or artists, but what can be assured is that there was a common denominator,
passion for Cuban music.</p>
<p> Translation: Ivette Semanat Negret (Cubarte) </p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> EmbaCuba Italy</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table><table width="540" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td class="desc"><p><a name="4735"></a></p><p class="title">Documentary Criticizing US Cuba Sanctions Screened in Miami</p><p class="desc"><p>Washington, (PL).- A Miami-based terrorist, a Mafia chauffeur, ambitious members
of Congress and a secret negotiator unravel the complexities behind US Cuba
sanctions in a documentary by Megan Williams screened at a film festival in
Miami.</p>
<p> The news published last Monday by Citydebate.com, an alternative website,
says the documentary had its world premiere at the 5th Annual Rewind/Fast Forward
Film and Video Festival in Miami, Florida.</p>
<p>The film sets out to ask the following question- Why is Cuba off-limits to
U.S. citizens?</p>
<p>Through bombings to political strong-arming, this richly textured documentary
reveals how a determined exile community hijacked US foreign policy, says the
review by Citydebate.com</p>
<p>Today’s conflict is traced from the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors
to the 1976 mid-air bombing of a Cuban airliner. The film ends in conflict.
Those fighting for peaceful resolution are louder and clearer than ever. Those
in opposition…never more powerful, says the review.</p>
<p>“Tell Me Cuba” is the directorial debut for independent documentary
film producer Megan Williams. She is the recipient of numerous awards as producer
including an Academy Award Nomination, Short Subject Documentary for Language
Says It All; and the Alfred I. duPont – Columbia University School of
Journalism Award for TVTV’s Lord of the Universe.</p>
<p>The film is part of the 5th Annual Rewind/Fast Forward Film & Video Festival,
hosted by the Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archive, a treasure trove
of historical and documentary footage for filmmakers. A very unique festival,
now in its fifth year, explores the depth and breadth of moving image production.
</p></p><p class="desc"><b>Source:</b> PL</p><p class="desc" align="right"><a href="#top"><img src="cid:b76defc9603c2fa7e7d3b2571106ba10" border="0"></a></p><hr size="3" noshade="yes"></td></tr></table></div><br><a href="http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/eng/encuesta/index.php?encuesta=5"><img name="banner" src="cid:6b341058b5232f3316d226604d30f71c" width="529" height="132" border="0"></a><br><br><table width="540" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" style="border:1px solid red"><tr><td bgcolor="#FFD9D7" class="text"><p>We shall appreciate any suggestion to better our work. You may write
to: <a class="text" href="mailto:infoanalisis@webcubarte.cult.cu">infoanalisis@webcubarte.cult.cu</a>.
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