Cuban actress Claudia Alvariño, who plays an important supporting role in the new Cuban film “Habanastation” was interviewed recently by HT. Commenting on the film, she noted that, “It reflects today’s Cuba, how human qualities get lost when money appears.”
We interviewed the Cuban singer Evelyn Garcia Marquez, who comes from a family of recognized musicians, among them her mother, the outstanding songstress Beatriz Marquez. “I didn’t think I’d go far in classical piano, that’s why I decided to sing,” she told HT.
We interview the young musician Janio Abreu, a clarinetist and the leader of the Cuban jazz group “Aire de Concierto.” As Janio noted, “Let’s hope that tomorrow they’ll keep us in mind in those venues where they truly should be featuring the art form that we consider ourselves to be championing.”
“Many people sometimes don’t have the courage to face change; but believe me, after that change starts you may begin from zero but it’s worth thousands,” said LIndiana Murphy, vocalist of the Cuban band Mantra in an interview with HT.
Extraño Corazon began playing pop-rock, heavy metal, progressive rock & the blues, which is to say we weren’t a group defined by any particular musical style. But when we started getting some of our country-sounding songs played on the radio, the public began identifying us as that Cuban pop-rock-country band.
Today we interview prima ballerina and choreographer Maysabel Pintado, who was the leading figure in the renowned Lizt Alfonso ballet company. As Maysabel put it, “For me, dance is a way of life, and like life itself, it ends up being mysterious.”
He worked for nine years with the Lizt Alfonso Ballet where “undoubtedly the season in which we performed on Broadway was an awesome moment.” Since the end of 2009 he has worked on his own projects and has just finished his second university degree.
“I never have any project in mind, because for me the future is a fantasy. I float in the present and that suits me fine. In this present I’m finishing the writing of four poems: the first one in free verse, the other one as poetry for children, one with “decimas” and sonnets, and the last one in haiku,” said Jose Antonio Vilaseca.
Yerandi Basart Ramos is one of the most outstanding young exponents of children’s theater and puppetry currently active in Cuba. As he stated during our interview, “What started out as an adventure later became a problem for me.”
“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.