Yasek Manzano: MUSIC IN TRANSIT, CONTINUAL IMPROVISATION

By Roxana Coz, Photos: Eric Politzer, Francesco Meliciani, Ivan Soca and Susan West

Cuba, as an infinite musical power, has been praised by many many of those who since the founding centuries of the nation began outlining art in which the boundaries became blurred between academic tradition and the so-called popular music, embedded in the military bands and orchestras of sacred chapel music or entertaining African saints from the skin of the drum.

Something more than percussion

By Wina Acosta, Photos :Rafael Valiente

The music of Eduardo Ramos and Mas con Menos is unique and stands out from hundreds of other bands, mainly because of two factors: its original sound and the music’s soul. Cuban traditional popular music is very well-received by today’s youth, showing a healthy sign of widespread acceptance of musical diversity among younger generations.

Let the drums play!

For the eighteenth year running the drums are throwing a party in Havana from March 4th to 10th next year when the Festival del Tambor Guillermo Barreto In Memoriam returns to the city.

Rodney Barreto, Percussion is everything

By Mercy Ramos, Photos: Courtesy Rodney Barreto

With several albums under his belt, the talented young Cuban percussionist Rodney Barreto is today one of the most versatile musicians who despite his youth has become an important figure in the world of percussion for his virtuosity and professionalism.

A Cuba-Quebec musical collaboration was a big success in building bridges

By Aldo Mazza

A very interesting project took place this past year between two important organizations. A musical collaboration was established between Kosa Music, (a music organization based in Montreal, Quebec, under the direction of the internationally recognized percussionist, Aldo Mazza) and La Fiesta del Tambor (an internationally recognized music festival in Havana, Cuba under the direction of Cuba’s great international drummer and composer: Giraldo Piloto).

Qva Libre: a Cuban music laboratory

By Yelena Rodríguez Velázquez

Qva Libre (pronounced Cuba Libre) is a well known group, most famous for the trademark alternative vibe that sets them apart among makers of Cuban music.

Enrique Alvarez y su Charanga Latina, A quarter century making great music

By Mercy Ramos, Photos: Courtesy of Enrique Álvarez, AME PRODUCCIONES and KMINANDO STUDIOS

For fans of Cuban popular music, La Charanga Latina is a symbol in itself. Over the twenty-six years since the band was formed it has been the audience's favourite.

ÉTIENNE DRAPEAU, In Love with Latin Music

By Mercy Ramos, Photos:Courtesy of the artist

Born in 1978 in Quebec city, Étienne Drapeau was a professional ice hockey player, now retired. Music has been his passion from a young age. He began learning the piano at the age of five and later learned guitar and harmonica too.

Fiesta del Tambor: a Celebration of Cuban soul

By Ciro Bianchi Ross

The seventeenth edition of the Fiesta del Tambor percussion festival, held annually in memory of Guillermo Barreto, took place in Havana recently, an explosion of Cuban soul. The week-long festival brought together Cuba’s best percussionists, rumberos, dance companies and popular Cuban bands at Havana’s top cultural venues.

Idania Valdés: Cuba is a way of being that lives beyond us

By Alain Valdés Sierra / Photos: Gabriel Guerra Bianchini

She asserts that singing was always her passion and the piano was her first love but nevertheless Idania Valdes’s family’s musical tradition was not the cause of her decision to follow this path. It was rather a vocation that shaped her personality from her earliest days on.

Fiesta del Tambor, A truly Cuban festival

By Alain Valdés Sierra / Photos: Gabriel Guerra Bianchini

Cuba’s rich music with its contagious beats has percussion at its heart, and it will once again be celebrated at the 17th annual Concurso y Festival Internacional Fiesta del Tambor “Guillermo Barreto in Memoriam”.

Lindiana y Mantra, A Universally Different Blend

By Alain Planells / Photos courtesy of interview

Almost ten years have passed since singersongwriter Lindiana Murphy and saxophonist Alexander Díaz plotted a course for a new musical adventure intertwining Cuban music with various foreign cultures.

World Percussionists Return to Havana

Designer image: Victor Alejandro Crespo, Photo: Roque

The 17th International Tambor Festival and Competition will take place in Havana from March 6th to 11th next year, in memory of Guillermo Barreto, consolidating the relevance of Cuban music on the international scene.

Cuba, the music that lives in Alain Pérez

By Alain Planells

It happened in a Havana café called Mama Inés, a place where Alain Pérez believes to have found a criterion and sound that define him in the Cuban musical framework.

“Cuba’s great percussionists play host to The International Jazz Day Concert”

By: Alejandro Martínez Martínez

April 30th 2017 was a very special day in Havana. Cuba’s capital city was host to the renowned International Jazz Day which featured an all-star global concert in the Gran Teatro. This electrifying event was filmed live and broadcast all around the world.