10th Havana Drum Festival & Contest

It is time again for Cuba's biggest percussion festival and competition in memory of the legendary Guillermo Barreto. This year's festival will take place from March 8 - 13. As always it is a huge project with events taking place across the city from morning to night. The percussion competition is open to Cubans and non-Cubans and there is no age limit for participants. Categories include drums, timbales, congas, bongo and batá. Winners may participate in one or two categories. The winner of each category will receive an instrument and special prizes will be awarded for the best woman and child participants. See the full details in Spanish.

In addition to six days of exciting competitions, there will be  symposiums and musical performances throughout the city. The Inauguration Gala will take place on March 8 from 8:30pm - 10.30pm at Teatro Mella where the 10th anniversary of the Grammy for "La Rumba Soy Yo" will be celebrated by Muñequitos de Matanzas, Conjunto Folkórico Nacional, Compañía JJ, Compañía de Roclan, Klímax Amadito Valdés and Luis Carbonell.

Throughout the week you can see the best percussionists in Cuba together on a single stage, jazz concerts, dance performances, documentaries and of course timba! The finals and award ceremony for the percussion competition will take place at Teatro Astral  on March 11th and feature artists ¨Jorge Reyes y sus Amigos¨ (Tribute to Barreto); with Changuito, Yaroldy Abreu, among others. There will also be a presentation of the DVD by Rodney Barreto and Oliver Valdés: Drums  La Habana¨.

Saturday the 12th from 10:00pm - 02:30am at Salón Rosado de La Tropical you can see Klimax, Manolito Simonet y su Trabuco, Yuly y Habana C, Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor. And the event will be closed on the Sunday the 13th at La Tropical with concerts by Carbe Girl, Alexander Abreu y Habana de Primera, Yoruba Andabo, Pupy y los que Son and guests Haila, Vania  and Tania Pantoja.

Click here for the complete festival schedule and all details about the competition (in Spanish).

permalink | Share