Announcement of the 7th National Changüí Festival

If Cuba is a global reserve of music, then Guantanamo is one of the reservoirs of Cuban music. In this region you can find almost all genres on the island and some that are unique to Upper Eastern Cuba: changüí, nengón, kiribá ... primal musical forms that are only found in Guantanamo and that remain as alive as the first day.

To know and enjoy Cuban music, Guantanamo is a compulsory stop . If you arrive there you will experience the pleasure of feeling the magic of the authentic. - José Cuenca Sosa

The 7th National Changüí Festival "Elio Revé Matos" will take place in Guantanamo from May 29 - June 1, 2014. The event includes music and dance shows of changüí as well as other music and dance styles unique to the province of Guantanamo such as nengón, kiribá and tumba francesa. In addition there are concerts by timba bands such as Orquesta Revé, although note that at this point I have seen no list of participating timba bands for 2014. The festival features contests between treseros, bongoceros, marimbuleros, dancers and singers as well as a more scholarly segment of conferences. This year the topic is "Origins, Parallels and Projections of Changüí". Events will be held throught the city and in changüí areas such as Casa de Pipi in Yateras. The fee to sign up is 50 CUC for foreigners and 50  CUP for Cubans. To participate or for more information, contact General Coordinator José Cuenca or Ernesto Chacón.

Below is a video I put together where Cuenca tells us about the plans for this year's festival and I threw in a little changüí footage from Guantanamo and from a changüí party at Casa de Pipi in Yateras from the 2007 festival.

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Miami: Interactivo in concert, Miami Dade County Auditorium, 29th and Flagler Street, Miami FL, March 8, 9PM

This should be one of the concerts of the year in the United States. Interactivo is one of the most progressive and interesting bands in Cuba today; it combines everytthing from Jazz to Hip Hop to modern Cuban dance music, and the most recent information released adds several members of Habana Abierta to the roster along with Gema Corredera, Mayito Rivera and David Torrens. Telmary is also on the roster. We'll post some video of Interactivo closer to the date, but with the additional stars in the show, there are bound to be some musical surprises as well. 

Tickets can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com
For additional information, see the Fundarte website at
www.Fundarte.us

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Another amazing Santos/SFJAZZ collaboration, this time with Ernesto Oviedo on vocals. Click here for more great shots.

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Article by Bill Tilford, all rights reserved

So, we are looking at the 13th anniversary of an event that is also starting on the 13th day of the month (fortunately, not a Friday), and this might have sent many persons scrambling for their rabbit's foot or other special charms, but most of the Chicago International Salsa Congress was superb (we'll get to the exceptions a little later).  Click continue reading for more.

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