Interviews

Cuban Rocker Hiram Casas of ‘The Shepal’

According to Hiram Casas, the vocalist with the Cuban rock group The Shepal, “Here in Cuba we continue to have problems assimilating and offering opportunities to subcultures whose content contrasts with what is already established.”

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Alfredo Ureta, a Cuban Video and Filmmaker

“Although the public currently associates me more with music videos, I feel like a person of the cinema,” Cuban video and filmmaker Alfredo Ureta told HT. And speaking of cinema, Ureta’s first full length film “La Mirada” (The Look) – shot over four years – is coming out soon.

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Cuba’s Female Sexto Sentido Quartet

The Cuban female vocal group Sexto Sentido came together in 1997. The quartet has a strong jazz and rhythm and blues sound with a Brazilian influence as well as from its Cuban roots. We interviewed Yudelkis La Fuente, the director and lead singer.

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Getting Cubans to Think and Talk

“I talk to deal with problems. In Cuba, there is too much formal, repetitive discourse and not enough directed at people, with their anxieties and joys,” said Manuel Calviño, the host and writer of a television programme that tries not to add to that deficit.

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Makers of Romantic Music in Old Havana

I arrived as the Duo De Reyes was changing sites, moving from the Plaza de Armas to the La Mina ice-cream parlor. “Nosotros somos personas honradas. Independientemente de nuestro trabajo, cuidamos el turismo. No porque el gobierno nos lo exija, pero lo hacemos.”

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Cuba Flamenco Dancer Ana Rosa Meneses

“Years ago, the first thing that moved me about flamenco was its singing. It’s very deep and impressive. Later I was captured by its manner of expression in dance, its movements that were strong but at the same time sensual.”

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