La Partida (“The Last Match”), a film that touches on a number of controversial issues, was screened at the 35th Havana Film Festival held in the Cuban capital the first half of December. “I beg to differ with those who see a portrait of contemporary Cuba in my film,” said its director, Antonio Hens, during his interview with HT.
Paul Seaquist, manager of the man who is considered the century’s best dancer, speaks to us about Vladmir Malakhov’s recent visit to Cuba in an exclusive interview for Havana Times. “We’ve decided to return and to continue contributing to the arts in Holguin,” he told us.
Leo Garrido Herranz, the young singer and host of Cuba’s successful television program Piso 6 (“The 6th Floor”) gives us a sneak peek at his latest album Todo de mi (“Everything About Me”), recorded by the Cuban label EGREM. “It was difficult to be at the top one moment and find myself at home with nothing to do the next,” he told us during his interview for HT.
The author of several works published in Cuba and abroad, Miguel Angel Fraga sets out to capture the truth of a difficult and misunderstood era, the experiences of those who became Cuba’s first victims of the terrible HIV-AIDS epidemic. “I can say that it is thanks to HIV that I am a writer today,” he tells us during his interview for Havana Times.
Maikel Castillo, known as DKNO (“The Dean”) in the Cuban rap scene, tells us about his interest in the rap genre and about the “consequences of telling the truth without mincing one’s words.” He said he sings about social issues, for the most part, problems around the world.
All signs now indicate that change (however slow and perhaps helter-skelter) is very much the defining feature of current National Series play. The first week of November marks the opening of a Cuban baseball season and all signs point to a landmark pennant campaign featuring a surprising (if perhaps unsettling) “new look” structure and also a large dose of tradition-busting aberrations.
More than a violinist, William Roblejo is a one-man-show. Having given his violin a unique personality, he performs with a distinctive seal that has earned him a place among the top in Cuba’s music scene. “I’ve tried to do something different with my violin,” he told Havana Times.
Our guest is Geovani del Pino, the director of Yoruba Andabo, one of Cuba’s most internationally renowned rumba bands.
Working in his small native town, wood craftsman Jose Miguel Perez is a self-taught artist who instills his pieces with a charm that evokes the golden age of cabinetmaking. “I knew carpentry would be a trade for life,” he said in his interview with HT.
There’s a town in Cuba called Aguacate (Avocado). It’s located in the west of the country and belongs to the municipality of Madruga in what is now called Mayabeque province , 80 kilometers from the capital, and 30 kilometers from the city of Matanzas. Today we look at its past and present. (24 photos)