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.
Read MoreWe look back at the pivotal role Cuba played in ending apartheid and why Castro was one of only five world leaders invited to speak at Nelson Mandela’s memorial. Historian Piero Gleijeses argues that it was Cuba’s victory in Angola in 1988 that forced Pretoria to set Namibia free and helped break the back of apartheid South Africa.
Read MoreDiaven Molina Valera is a Cuban painter, actor, pilot, parachutist and playwright. He believes that art knows no frontiers, that everything is connected. “I’ve liked aviation since I was a kid. I always thought that, if I couldn’t study painting, that I would become a combat-plane pilot,” said Diaven in his interview with HT.
Read MoreAbout to turn 20, Elian Gonzalez declares himself an atheist, but tacitly confesses that his admiration for his mentor Fidel Castro borders on a kind of religious faith. In this article and interview he talks about his life after returning to Cuba from Miami back in 2000 and the people that have influenced him most.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreLike a giant wrestling with the strong winds of a sea-storm, the Riomar building rises next to Havana’s urban coastline, in the residential neighborhood of Miramar. Built in the 1950s, it is currently inhabited by only 14 Cuban families. Elsa Torres Camacho is one of its residents.
Read MoreMaikel 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.
Read MoreArt has always reflected the most distinctive characteristics of the historical period in which it has been produced. Portraits, landscapes, sea vistas, figurative and abstract pieces: all have invariably sought to capture their times through different styles. My interviewee, painter and tattoo artist Jose Rene Blanco Salermo, paints canvases and human bodies. A dreamer, he also paints souls.
Read MoreCalle 13, one of Latin America’s most popular bands, released a new song this week featuring an unlikely collaborator — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The song, “Multi_Viral,” also features Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and the Palestinian singer Kamilya Jubran. To create the lyrics, Calle 13 lead singer and songwriter René Pérez asked followers on Twitter to express their social justice concerns in a live brainstorming session with Assange. This is not the first time Calle 13 has made headlines for its political work.
Read MoreScene design is an art of visual perception in which the individual creates and recreates natural or fantastic worlds. It makes use of different techniques that allow feelings, emotions and ideas to be expressed, using drawing as a fundamental basis. I’ll be talking about this topic with the scene designer and creator Eduardo Gaspar Guasch Estuí.
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