Culture

Carlos Diaz Soto and Qva Libre

The band Qva Libra took home an award in the fusion category at the recently concluded annual music industry event “Cubadisco.” We were able to speak with Carlos Diaz Soto, who is the manager of this group that plays alternative Cuban music with shades of many musical styles.

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The Fire Festival of Santiago de Cuba

On July 9, thousands of people converged on Michelson Boulevard to witness the culminating activity of the Caribbean Festival: The burning of the Devil. This ceremony consists of the beating of drums while flammable materials are used to construct a giant effigy that symbolizes evil. (66 photos)

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Leaders Scare Me

How does the metamorphosis of a leader into a dictator occur? Is there a way of diagnosing a potential dictator? Not all leaders become dictators, but most dictators (if not all of them) have been leaders.

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Santiago de Cuba on Foot

Guide: Hey, looks like it’s going to rain…
Chorus: All the way to Santiago on foot…
Guide: Getting carried along, you’re going to make it…
Chorus: All the way to Santiago on foot…
The guide: Oh baby, you’re so fine…!
Chorus: All the way to Santiago on foot…

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Havana Calendar for July 2011

Here is the cultural calendar for July 2011 put out by the Cuba Absolutely website. It includes happenings in music, dance, and theater and the visual arts, etc. in the Cuban capital. For additional cultural happenings consult the highly informative Kewelta Habana website.

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Tony Avila: Philosopher, Romantic, Chronicler

“I approach serious themes that can be rough, even issues that often make us Cubans bitter in day to day life. Seen in a positive way these are understood, or are at least assimilated by people,” says trova musician Tony Avila in an interview with HT.

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Cienfuegos Artists Show in Havana

Five visual artists from Cienfuegos came together to present the exhibition “Punto y seguido,” each one with their own personal voice. This range is something that endows the exhibition with its diversity, yet leaving as a point of connection the fact that they come from the same province of Cienfuegos. (7 photos)

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The Sad Contradiction of Silvio Rodriguez

Bureaucracies usually don’t let themselves be “destroyed,” they defend themselves. Nor are they given to “evolving”; instead, that’s the very cause of the immobilism and statism that Amaury and Silvio criticized.

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The Creative Madness of “Jorgito”

“The youth are coming on strong, with lots of maturity, with a lot of conviction around what they want. I believe that it’s necessary to give them space, real space, not just saying that it exists when it really doesn’t,” says Jorge Lian Garica Diaz.

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