Interviews

Cuba’s Leonardo Padura Speaks with HT

Leonardo Padura: “You can’t take on the work of a novel if you’re not obsessed about it, with the story, with its writing. Because to spend two, three, or four years of your life writing a novel, you have to be obsessed with it. That’s the only motor that can drive you in something so crazy.”

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Cuba Singer Nakao Hakely Chavez

Hakely Nakao Chavez, the young leader of the vocal group “Zamba,” shares her fascinating experiences with Havana Times as she explains how “music in Cuba is enjoying great health.”

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The Cuban Rap Agency Controversy (Sekou’s Version)

In late 2011, a group of Agency-member rappers wrote to the Minister of Culture requesting the removal of the organization’s director, Magia Lopez, who herself is also a member of rap duo “Obsesion.” Sekou, the leader of Anonimo Consejo, was among those who signed the petition.

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Directing a Cuban Children’s Choir

Mailen Avila is the director of the “Solfa” children’s choir of the Schola Cantorum Coralina. As she commented, “This year we’re again on a CD that has been nominated for a Latin Granmy. The album is “Reir y Cantar,” together with the legendary songstress Omara Portuondo.”

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Cuba: Miriam Celaya, A Dissident By Nature

Most Cubans don’t have Internet access. Many don’t know what the “network of networks” is. For them, Miriam Celaya is just a name. Even those people who have Internet access at their jobs aren’t familiar with her blog. Access is always blocked.

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Cuba’s Ivet Luisa, Singing to Yemaya

Ivet Letus Luisa graduated from the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory. She is currently cutting her first record “produced by Emilio Vega, and where I had an opportunity to work with excellent musicians like Jorge Reyes, Alfred Thomson and Rolando Luna.”

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A Cuba Artist’s ‘Corporal Concepts’

There are two ways to read this interview with Cuban artist Yoanny Aldaya. The first: read the interview and then look at the photo gallery. The second: look at the photo gallery and then read the interview. We recommend the latter. (16 photos)

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With Cuban Dancer Leslie Ung

Spanish dance is now taught and recognized at the university level in Cuba. Among those artists who have mastered this style is the dancer Leslie Ung, one of the privileged performers. She commented, “Dancers in this profession here on the island should work more on our Cuban interpretation of flamenco.”

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