Musical Bridge

Three generations of Cubans have grown up listening to compositions and interpretations by Teresita Fernandez. She is a non-stop troubadour, as she calls herself, and an educator who possesses a doctorate degree in education.

Noel Nicola (1946 – 2005), was an important Cuban musician and songwriter who — along with Pablo Milanes and Silvio Rodriguez — was one of the three main founders of the Nueva Trova Movement, which he directed between 1972 and 1977.

This is a very Cuban song, despite not reflecting a feeling usually thought of as “Cuban style.” It has to do with some “frikis” (punksters) in a park smoking marijuana. Maybe they’re not your average Cubans, but it’s something that many people here have experienced.

In her short but fruitful career, Haydee Milanes has shared songs and stages with such Cuban musicians as Hernan Lopez Nussa, Tata Güines, Pancho Terry, Roberto Carcasses, Pablo Milanes, Omara Portuondo and David Blanco, among many others.

Kamankola is a Cuban musical initiative of young performers whose principal figure, the rapper Jorge (“Jorgito”) Lian Garcia Diaz, founded the group at the beginning of 2009.

The band is still the voice of a generation, half in Cuba and half outside of the island because of the exodus caused by the country’s economic and political situation. Each one of their members has a very particular style, very different but at the same time complementing each other. When recording their CDs, they choose each member’s best songs and they form a musical mixture that is nothing less than pure energy and Cuban talent.

His lyrics are sharp and fearless. Vivanco is clearly not detached from his reality; instead he uses it, as he says in one refrain, like “a bell at the tip of the whip.”

This Cuban singer-songwriter, a native of the country town of Mines de Matahambre in Pinar del Rio province, belongs to the Nueva Trova movement. Among his followers are several generations of Cubans, not only for his songs that are pleasing to the ear, but for his intelligent compositions and because he is — as he says — a “committed singer.”

Polito, along with six talented back-up players, establishes a special relationship with the audience. He embraces an entire pot-pourri of musical genres that range from pop music and rock to jazz.