Interviews Archives - Page 124 of 147

Cuban Rap: Hermanazos, Peace and Love

The “Hermanazos” rap group, founded in 2001, has been a member of the Cuban Rap Agency since 2009. They have just returned from a tour of the central and eastern provinces here on the island.

Frank Is Leaving Cuba

I’ve known Frank since the 80’s, back when we were still teenagers. We lived in the Camilo Cienfuegos complex, located in the East Havana municipality. Currently he is waiting to get his visa to go live permanently with his mother in New Jersey.

M Alfonso: The Cuban “Madonna”

Today we’re talking with M Alfonso, a young performer from the island who has a promising career. Explaining her beginnings in music, M said, “When I was 7, I got an offer to sing with Silvio Rodriguez.”

Alternative Projects in Cuba: Bursting the Bubble

Adolfo “Fito” Cabrera and Miriam “Mirita” Real are a couple who have taken up the challenge of independent artistic production. In a country marked by institutional inertia and the omnipresent shadow of censorship, they defend thematic autonomy and opt for dialogue whenever possible.

‘Looking at Cuba’ from All Angles

The good thing is that the project wasn’t defined from the very beginning. Over time we’re transforming and adapting “Vercuba” since we think of it as something alive and living,” said Ahmel Hechevarria Pere.

Cuban Musician Efrain Amador Piñero

Guitarist and lutist Efrain Amador Piñero, now 65, is credited with having the academic study of the island’s indigenous instruments, ones like the lute and tres, accepted into art schools in Cuba. “I consider it unfair when an instrument is separated from the genre that it represents.”

Cuba: An Exile Taking Part in the Reforms?

In 1961, barely 12 years old, Carlos Saladrigas was sent alone to Miami because his parents wanted to “save him from communism.” Half a century later he is one of the most successful Cuban-American businesspeople. For much of his life in exile he was an anti-Castro hardliner, but he is now part of a group that aims to support the reform process underway on the island.

The Cuban Rap Agency Controversy (Alcaild’s Version)

“A lot of things have happened, and I think that many of the goals have been achieved by those who started actions around that demand: the demotion of the agency’s director. The most important thing now is to rebuild, to see how we can move the Cuban Agency of Rap forward,” said Alcaild in his interview with HT.

Cuban Painter Diego Torres

Within contemporary visual arts on the island, Diego Torres is a luminary among the great Cuban landscape artists. However, in our interview he told HT: “I hate for people to pigeonhole me; I don’t even like being called a landscape artist because — though that’s what I do — I try to go beyond that genre.”

Young Cuba’s Communist Bloggers who Debate & Toast with Anti-Castro Exiles

They are firmly committed to what they call “the Cuban political project” or what “the other side” would call the Castro regime. In terms of the many ideological classifications the Young Cuba blog is considered an independent – pro-government blog.