Recently, one of my Facebook friends was complaining on-line about the inconveniences that a US postal service had caused him. The addressee was a person this agency had already made deliveries to and claimed not to be able to find them this last time around.
Read MoreYaima is one of the best folk musicans of the wave of young musicians who have been making their way in the genre since the year 2000. Above all else, I would describe her as a woman whose beauty is difficult to contain, like a beam of light we hope to capture in our hands.
Read MoreThough Orman Cala (Granma, 1980) hasn’t enjoyed the same publicity some of his contemporaries have, his songs are charged with a rebellious spirit and a provocative youthful impetus that leave those fortunate enough to listen to them wanting more.
Read MoreFour years ago, I published a diary entry titled Holguin: My Father’s Land. In it, I reminisced on my last trip to the east-laying province, in the 80s. I recall having broadly described my impressions from then and how it pained me that I hadn’t visited my family for a long time.
Read MoreThe work of Levis Aliaga (Ciego de Avila, 1972) is one of the most solid produced by folk singers of his generation. Praised by artists and writers, Aliaga has not yet achieved much renown among audiences – something which, most likely, has more to do with his current whereabouts (the Canary Islands) than with his talent as a singer-songwriter.
Read MoreIrina Gonzalez (Santa Clara, Cuba, 1986) is a young and talented folk musician who stands out both for her mastery of several instruments and the poetic sensitivity she evinces in her lyrics. She graduated as an oboe-player, but she also plays the flute, the harmonica, the piano, percussion instruments and – of course – the guitar.
Read MoreAt 35, Lazaro is a Cuban like many others, a good person without great ambition, that is, someone with a run-of-the-mill job and rather humble income. He has a girlfriend whom he very much wants to marry.
Read MoreThe waiting room of the emergency ward at Havana’s Luis Dias Soto (or Naval) Hospital has only one bathroom for both genders. The women’s bathroom has been closed up for a while now – since February, at least – and everyone uses the men’s lavatory.
Read MoreThe Azul (“Blue Uniform”) at the bus stop near my house earns a salary for doing nothing. Or, better said, he doesn’t earn a salary, he merely collects it. Every morning, I see him standing alone under a tree, wearing his familiar indigo uniform.
Read MoreLast week, I spent a number of days in Pinar del Rio, Cuba’s westernmost province, a place renowned for its fish and tobacco – and its baseball team. A friend had invited me to her home in the south-laying town of Cortes, located in Sandino, the westernmost municipality on the island.
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