CubaPLUS Magazine

Rumba lovers in Cuba and the world are delighted because, despite the current epidemiological situation, the Cubarumba Tata Güines In Memoriam International Festival is currently being held, virtually. 

Declared by Unesco an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016, this rhythm is one of the most dynamic in terms of dancing, since it allows the human body a great movement in a very free way. 

From June 28 to 30, Cuban artists together with others from some 10 countries show variants of percussion online in America, Africa, Asia and Europe, in home concerts, documentary broadcasts, interviews and exchange of criteria. between artists through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tata Güines junior's YouTube channel.

Among the participating foreign musicians there are: Kenichi Takuma (Japan), Ansu Abdu (Africa), Wawa Rivera (Argentina), Yeyo Martínez (Mexico), DCanes (Netherlands) Armando Asouline (France), Asocosalsa (Chile) and Frankie Figueroa ( Puerto Rico).

Representing Cuba, the Muñequitos de Matanzas, Timbalaye, Van Van, Bobby Carcasés, Rumba &Aávila, Tata Güines Jr, Yoruba Andabo, Rumberos de Mayabeque, Tambores de Bejucal, Rumbatá, Orisha Oko, Obanwala and Kaidara are in the program.  In Güines, a town of the current province of Mayabeque, special tribute will be paid commemorating his 90th birthday, on June 30, to Tata Güines, one of the main percussionists on the island, who also assumed the artistic name of the city that saw birth.

Federico Arístides Soto Alejo, his birth name, one of the best Cuban percussionists of all times, founded his group in 1964: Tata Guïnes and his Tatagüinitos, and died in Havana on February 4, 2008.