Cuban streets will be filled with the contagious rhythm of rumba starting on the 18th and until the 31st of this month with the realization of the 16th edition of the International Festival Timbalaye 2024, which on this occasion will be extended to all provinces of the country.
According to the organizers, this festival will be dedicated to the Cabildos de Nación, the Temple Houses and the 30th anniversary of the declaration of the Route of Enslaved People. With the support of the Ministry of Culture, the National Council of Houses of Culture and the National Council of Cultural Heritage, among other institutions, the event will be led by dance teachers Irma Castillo and Ulises Mora.
The Timbalayé project was created in 1998 and the first edition of the festival was held in August 2007 with the aim of preserving, promoting and defending Cuban popular culture, a bearer of social values and a reflection of the history and traditions of the country's population.
Rumba is a musical and dance genre of Afro-Spanish origin, which emerged in the largest of the Antilles at the end of the 19th century, and developed after the abolition of slavery. Its rhythm, accompanied by the percussion of drums or codfish boxes or candle boxes, as well as keys or spoons, are the characteristics that make it accessible to all social classes.
Considered "an expression of self-esteem and resistance" that contributes to the formation of national identity, UNESCO declared Cuban Rumba an Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2016.