Film Buffs in Cuba The Havana Jazz Plaza Festival

Transcription

dec
2015
Film Buffs in Cuba
The Havana Jazz Plaza Festival
Peter Turnley exihibits in Havana
THE CINEMA
Havana Guide
Restaurants — Bars & Clubs — Accommodation
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editorial
Welcome to What’s On La Habana, December 2015.
This issue is dedicated to Cuban cinema in recognition of the island’s influence in the film culture of the American
hemisphere. This is highlighted each year in the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano to be held from
Liudmila y Nelson -El viajeDecember 3-13, 2015, in Havana, with showings in other provincial capitals as well. A total of 444 films will be exhibited
during the event, including 138 films in the feature, short, documentary, animated and first work categories, which will
be competing for the Coral Prizes.
This month’s issue features a piece on three Cuban award-winning actresses whose brilliant acting careers are closely
associated with the birth and growth of the new Cuban cinema: Daysi Granados, Eslinda Núñez and Mirta Ibarra.
The article on music in Cuban cinema focuses on the role of the Grupo de Experimentación Sonora, which led by the
exceptional musician and composer Leo Brouwer, created a solid foundation for music production in the Cuban film
industry. And Chronicles told in celluloid is a retrospective on the state of Cuban cinema and just what it means to the
country.
Outside of the cinema, December is also jazz festival time. This year’s festival (Dec 17-21) will focus on the fusion of jazz
genres, its indigenous roots in African, Latin American and Caribbean countries. The festival is an excellent opportunity
to see world class jazz musicians jamming, improvising and generally thrilling jazz aficionados with the range and
quality of talent.
In other articles in this month’s issue, check out the giant Rueda de Casino and their Guinness Record, Xico sculptures
in Plaza de San Francisco, and Christmas in Cuba, then and now.
Peter Turnley, who is internationally renowned for his photography of the realities of the human condition, has a major
show at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana, becoming the first American to exhibit in Cuba in this museum. .
Elsewhere on the island, the Parrandas de Remedios and the Charangas de Bejucal celebrate Christmas with music,
dance, floats and fireworks in two of Cuba’s most traditional festivities whose roots go back to colonial times.
We wish you all a great holiday season and hope that 2016 is a year of health, happiness and prosperity for you all and
for Cuba.
Abrazos!
The LaHabana.com Team
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december 2015
THE
CINEMA
Chronicles of a country told in celluloid p7
Film Buffs in Cuba p10
Music in Cuban Cinema p12
Three Actresses for a new Cinema in Cuba p15
OTHER
FEATURED
ARTICLES
The Havana Jazz Plaza Festival p19
Xico sculptures in Plaza de San Francisco p23
Giant Rueda de casino: it’s more than just the record p26
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! p27
A Christmas Song p31
Peter Turnley p37
Havana Listings
Visual Arts p33 — Photography p36 — Dance p40 — Music
p41 — Theatre p49 — For Kids p50
Havana Guide
Features - Restaurants - Bars & Clubs - Live Music Hotels - Private Accommodation p56
Cuban Directors. Titón,
Santiago Alvarez, ...
Chronicles
of a country told in celluloid
by Ricardo Alberto Pérez
For Cubans of my generation, going to the movies
has always been a happy occasion. It has also been
a rather spiritual way of cultivating friendships,
making new friends and finding unexpected
passions. Generally speaking, in one way or
another, the inhabitants of this Island have spent
the twentieth century showing their passion for
the art of filmmaking.
Cinematography made its arrival in Cuba relatively
early. It was brought from Mexico in 1897 by
Gabriel Veyre who that same year presented the
first public screening on the Paseo del Prado, near
the Tacón Theater. Veyre also filmed one minute
of the first movie ever made in Cuba, Simulacro de
Incendio, a documentary about the firefighters of
Havana.
Clearly, for both filmmakers and spectators,
the cinema has meant much more than mere
entertainment. Its language has been a very clear
and efficient way of expressing and spreading
our identity, our conflicts and our dreams as well
as for also for remembering crucial moments in
our history. Over the years, a mature audience
emerged, one that continued the love for film
of earlier generations, and have watched the
work of many filmmakers with lofty esthetic and
conceptual aspirations.
In the Republican Period (1902 to 1959), the most
important directors were Enrique Diaz Quesada
and Ramón Peón García. The former dedicated
his career to making historical films such as the
outstanding Libertadores o guerrilleros (1914).I n
1930, Ramón Peón filmed La Virgen de la Caridad,
making a huge impact with its strong religious
content.
The short documentary El Mégano (1955), directed
by Julio García Espinosa with the collaboration
of Alfredo Guevara, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and
José Massip. seems to signal a point of departure
towards more substantial films having serious
esthetics and working with concerns of all kinds.
As we notice the names of the men involved in
this production, we can see that all of them would
become key figures within the cinematographic
movement that was to be hatched just after the
triumph of the Revolution.
cuba’s digital destination
contents
page
7
Alfredo Guevara
After 1959, renewal fever gripped the country and
it was reflected in filmmaking. Just three months
into 1959, the revolutionary government passed
the first law in the area of culture: the creation of
the ICAIC (Institute of Cinematographic Art and
Industry), under the guidance of Alfredo Guevara,
In 1960, the Latin American Nnewsreel saw its first
screening. It was directed by Santiago Alvarez,
the greatest Cuban documentary filmmaker who
reached a high point in his work with Now, a
documentary on the death of the US civil rights
leader Martin Luther King Jr.).
There was a time when the ICAIC Latin American
Newsreel was as looked forward to in movie houses
as the feature film that would be screened after it.
It had an inestimable and valuable influence on the
development of the documentary genre.
and Las doce sillas, but his greatest production is
Memorias del subdesarrollo, providing us with a
lucid reflection on what was happening in Cuba at
the time. It also divided our cinematographic art
scene into a “before” and an “after.”
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea continued building a solid
career in the years that followed with other
outstanding films, including La última cena and
Los sobrevivientes. In 1993, he hit a second high
point with his Fresa y Chocolate (codirected with
Juan Carlos Tabío), a film that makes the consistent
evolution of his work and his adhesion to dialectics
very clear. The film was nominated for an Oscar as
Best Foreign Language Film in 1994.
In the early years of the Revolution, important
filmmakers, such as Agnes Varda, Cesare Zavatini
and Mikhail Kalatozov visited Cuba, drawn by
curiosity and the enthusiastic fervor here. They
made films on the Island, leaving an important
mark on some of our fledgling directors.
At that time, a young filmmaker began his ascent:
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, affectionately known
as Titón. He arrived fresh from his training at
the Cinema Institute of Rome, Italy, under the
benevolent and visible influence of neorealism.
Among his early films were Historias de la Revolución
Fresa y Chocolate films
contents
page
8
Pineda Barnet, director
Fernando Perez, director
Titon’s contemporaries are such outstanding
directors as Humberto Solas (Lucía), Julio García
Espinosa (Las aventuras de Juan Quinquín) and
Manuel Octavio Gómez (La primera carga al
machete).
Post-Revolutionary
Cuban
cinema
loyally
chronicled and witnessed the different stages and
transformations the country was going through.
It experienced a sort of mutational process in
response to the political and social conditions of
the time. During the 1970s-1980s, we were seeing
many productions with distinctive ideological and
historical content but also with remarkable artistic
quality, as in two films directed by Enrique Pineda
Barnet: Mella and Aquella larga noche.
With the arrival of the 1980s, Cuban cinema
recovered its connections to a massive audiencebase thanks to a number of comedies that ironically
poked fun at the behaviors of many Cubans.
Some of these titles were Se permuta, Los pájaros
tirándole a la escopeta and Plaff. In 1989, Pineda
Barnet surprised us once more with an excellent
film, a musical called La bella del Alhambra, which
introduced us to the amazing talent of its young
leading lady, Beatriz Valdés.
This period also saw the production of Fernando
Perez’s Clandestinos. In subsequent years, this
director would be responsible for a remarkable
body of work that includes Madagascar, Suite
Habana, La vida es silbar and José Martí, el ojo del
canario.
By the 1990s, Cuban movies were saturated by a kind
of ennui and dealt with the leitmotifs of emigration
and the shortages earmarking the Special Period.
It was also a time when co-productions began to
be increasingly made.
Now, in the twenty-first century, Cuban films
are being enriched by a wave of independent
productions, movies made mainly by young people
but also by some of the more veteran directors.
Generally speaking, this is critical and innovative
work, stimulated by the National Show of New
Filmmakers. The best directors of this decade are
Juan Carlos Cremata, Pável Giroud, Lester Hamlet
and Esteban Insausti.
But we cannot truly end any commentary on the
state of Cuban cinema today without underlining
the crucial role played by institutions such as
the International Film School of San Antonio
de los Baños and the New Latin American Film
Foundation, as well as events such as the Havana
Festival of New Latin American Cinema, which is
getting ready to run its 37th edition.
contents
page
9
Film Buffs in Cuba
Riviera Cinema
One of the most pleasant memories from my
childhood has to do with the inerasable magic of
discovering the cinemas in Havana. As I grew up,
the possibilities of finding new, unique auditoriums
also grew and expanded. I refer to the end of the
1960s and into the 1970s, a time when Havana’s
neighborhood movie houses were in their heyday.
Nowadays, most of them have disappeared or now
perform other functions and we who remember
those great years are overcome with profound
nostalgia.
I was born on an island where the passion for
movies dates back to the inception of the art form.
Havana became the Latin American capital which
had the most cinemas. Those of us who were born
later have inherited that taste of confusing our
realities with those events occurring on the big
screen.
The spread of the movies in Cuba has gone
through different stages which have created
diverse audiences. Some spectators not only
admire films for their plots but they can go on in
great detail about the musical scores, photography
and, especially, the performances of the actors.
Each one has their favorite Cuban or international
actors and actresses and they are able to defend
their talents with a surprising array of opinions.
The great number of cinemas existing in the
capital made it possible to create a varied and
extensive circuit that was enjoyed by movie lovers.
There would be several premieres every week and
festivals would also screen the best from all the
different film genres.
It also became traditional to have weeks dedicated
to the movies from other countries that have rich
cinematographic traditions such as France, Italy,
Spain or Germany. It was a perfect way for Cubans
to keep up-to-date on all the recent productions.
At the same time, it was serious business to make
sure that audiences were well-versed in the
history of the cinema; that fact contributed greatly
to forming a demanding audience.
For people living in Havana, going to the movies
would be the best way to have an exceptional night
out. Afterwards, there would be other options, like
going to a restaurant, getting ice cream at Coppelia
ice-cream parlor or going to a party, but the movie
would dominate the evening. It was almost a mortal
sin not to see a new movie on time, something left
to the stragglers.
On weekends, attendance at the cinemas was
more numerous partially because many youths
and teenagers at that time were in residences at
school during the week and from Friday to Sunday
they would be back home. Those days would be
reserved for having fun, and going to the movies
was the preferred entertainment.
In fact, becoming a film buff and never giving that
up is an experience that enriches your life. Many
contents
page 10
Yara Cinema
Cubans take advantage of the fact that it isn’t very
expensive to go to the movies and over the years
cinematographic productions have been treated
very seriously in Cuba.
Nonetheless, we are rather unique film buffs.
First, the phenomenon is part of an effort to
encourage the domestic film industry. And then
the tremendous closeness to the best of Eastern
European cinema (Soviet, Hungarian, Polish) and
later the creation of the Festival for New Latin
American Cinema of Havana represented another
way of seeing and making movies. At the same time,
this gave us the possibility of better understanding
the continent on which we live in terms of its
social, historical and cultural aspects.
On the other hand, the creation and consolidation
of the Cinemateca de Cuba has contributed to
guiding the tastes of our audiences towards
products from other film industries. It has been
headed by prestigious intellectuals who have been
anxious to promote salvaging and divulging the
best of world cinema.
I am proud to be able to say that I have been going
to the New Latin American Cinema Festival since
it started in Havana. The emblematic Chaplin
Theater, headquarters for the Cinemateca de
Cuba, is one of the most familiar places in town
for me.
Like many other film buffs, I have seen life
becoming much more complicated lately and so
sometimes we don’t have much time to go to the
movies. New technologies have presented us with
alternative ways to continue enjoying films and
often we run out of GB on our storage systems.
Nevertheless, the magic world of the darkened
theater and the silver screen is still enthralling and
no matter how fast the pace of modern life is, the
thrill of the cinema has not waned.
Yara Cinema
page
contents
11
Leo Brouwer
Music in Cuban Cinema
When we refer to the relationship between music
and film in Cuba in over the last fifty years, we
must embark on a complicated and fascinating
journey. We have to penetrate into two of the
most important cultural processes that have been
underway in Cuban society during this time period.
The Cuban Institute for Cinematographic Art and
Industry (ICAIC in its Spanish-language acronym)
was founded in the fervor of revolutionary
triumph in 1959 and to a large extent has been the
protagonist in this scenario.
singers of the ilk of Sergio Vitier, Silvio Rodríguez,
Pablo Milanés, Eduardo Ramos, Emiliano Salvador
and Noel Nicola gathered together under Leo’s
leadership and managed to absorb al that wisdom
and achieved a miracle—they transformed into
“cubanidad,” in other words, into aa genuine Cuban
style.
In just one decade, the pioneers of the Cuban
cinematographic industry came to understand
the imperative need to encourage a phenomenon
with sufficient creative depth and scope that
would be able to bring a new sound to the films
they wished to make and that would be a product
equal in quality. For that reason, the ICAIC’s
Grupo de Experimentación Sonora (Experimental
Sound Group) was formed at the end of 1969. The
exceptional musician and composer Leo Brouwer
led the Group, attracting the best of Cuban music’s
avant-garde in order to create a solid foundation
for music production in the Cuban film industry.
The basic essence of this project was to forge a
deep, unstoppable path that would lead towards
what was later identified as a fusion within the
national musical experience. With research as a
basic premise, musicians in the Group focused on
specific problems such as the celebration of the
contemporary, identity as memory and, especially,
as a break from the influence of external sources
so that they could create a truly local product.
All of this occurred in an era of astounding musical
richness at the end of a decade that had seen
the emergence of phenomena like the Beatles in
England, Tropicália in Brazil, new songwriting
styles in Latin America and Spain, the revelation
in the West of Indian music in the person of Ravi
Shankar and the clear consolidation of rock and
jazz as genres of the future. Talented musicians and
contents
page 12
Edesio Alejandro
photo Y. del Monte
Much to the satisfaction of these artists, time has
proved that they were right. Most of their theoretic
objectives were realized. Their work succeeded in
getting rid of rhetoric and redundancies and their
experience represents a spontaneous school that
has trained most of the Cuban musicians who
were later interested in composing for the movies.
Whenever you listen to some of the music that was
written for the cinema by these musicians, you can
confirm Leo Brouwer’s top aspiration: “The prime
merit of music for the cinema is that it shouldn’t
get in the way of the film.”
The most remarkable feature of the music for
Cuban movies after the founding of ICAIC is its
capacity for carrying out a sort of de-alienating
operation resulting in an authentic product, able
to confirm the Cuban identity and contribute
more substance to the films themselves.
Music and film have mutually enriched each
other. Music has been a determining factor for
the evolution and consolidation of Cuban films
and Cuban films have permitted Cuban music
One of the first Cuban filmmakers to see and
completely understand the value of the work being
done by the Grupo de Experimentación Sonora
was the great documentary filmmaker Santiago
Álvarez. He had the clear, spontaneous notion
of inserting their soundtracks into his legendary
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano (ICAIC Latin
American Newsreel) which was a genuine jewel
that lives on in the memories of many Cubans
because of the ingenious way it had of capturing
the symptoms of a decisive era for the future of
our country. His long documentary features were
also very popular. Later other directors of fiction
films such as Sara Gómez, Sergio Giral, Manuel
Herrera and Octavio Cortázar showed the same
faith as Santiago Álvarez in Leo Brouwer’s troupe.
Leo Brouwer
contents
page 13
Pablo Milanes feat Tesis de menta
to grow towards new horizons, become truly
“contemporary” and immerse itself into that
wealth of sound that comes from fusing genres.
Our most important directors have often used
music as a special “actor.” In one case, filmmaker
Enrique Pineda Barnet, who directed La Bella del
Alhambra and other important films, expressed:
“If music is to be placed anywhere in the
cinematographic corpus, I would say it is the
feeling of each film.” It is also important to stress
that there are some Cuban films in which the music
is an essential protagonist, for example, Jorge Luis
Sánchez’s El Beny, Manuel Herrera’s Zafiros, locura
azul and Pineda Barnet’s La Bella del Alhambra.
These are all films that play an important role in
revealing key moments in Cuban music.
players in this story: Chucho Valdés, José María
Vitier, Juan Piñera and the innovative and prolific
Edesio Alejandro, who is considered a veritable
specialist when it comes to producing music for
the movies, especially connected to the work of
director Fernando Pérez. At the present time, a
group of young composers, some who are involved
in electronic music, continue to contribute to this
ample dialogue between the two languages.
These days the bond between music and film has
become an important instrument allowing us to
relive the different periods through which Cuban
society has passed in almost six decades. The two
languages go hand in hand to provide testimony
to the way we are. So phenomena such as Irakere,
Los Van Van, Buenavista Social Club and Habana
Abierta have had a strong presence in the movies.
Much the same way, over the decades, other
musicians and composers have been very important
Silvio Rodrigue, photo Ivan Soca
contents
page 14
Three Actresses for a new Cinema in Cuba
Daysi Granados Eslinda Núñez
Mirta Ibarra
There are three Cuban actresses who are closely associated with the birth and
growth of a new Cuban cinema tied in with the foundation of the Cuban Institute for
Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) and part of the post-1959 Revolutionary
Period. With their brilliant acting careers, these women have accompanied and
enriched 57 years of creative work. I an speaking of Daysi Granados, Eslinda Núñez
and Mirta Ibarra.
The three actresses are contemporaries. Their beginnings in film overlap in time
and circumstances. In other words, they are daughters of the same phenomenon.
For all faithful fans of Cuban movies, these three names have become permanent
symbols.
Daysi Granados’ first film was La decisión (1964) directed by José Massip and Eslinda
Nuñez debuted with El otro Cristóbal (1963) by the French director Armand Gatti.
As for Mirta Ibarra, she started her film career a bit later because she started out in
theatre in 1967 and then moved on to movies with her first role in La última cena
(1976) directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. Each of these actresses’ lives describes a
different story, but they all meet at one common point.
contents
page 15
Daysi Granados
She is called “the face of Cuban movies.” Daysi Granados is a fascinating actress who immediately
captivated audiences with her sensuality and the discipline with which she gave life and credibility
to every one of her characters. Her participation in Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s much lauded Cuban film
Memorias del Subdesarrollo (1968) marked a decisive moment in the launching of her professional
career. With the utmost virtuosity, she played the part of a young working-class girl who was trying to
manipulate a middle-class mature man into marrying her.
Later, Daysi Granados took on difficult challenges, such as her leading role in Humberto Salas’
Cecilia in 1981 where she had the task of interpreting a character that is vividly remembered
in popular Cuban culture for being the heroine Cecilia Valdes in Cirilo Valverde’s classic novel.
This period piece had been preceded two years earlier by Pastor Vega’s Retrato de Teresa
(1979) in which she played a very contemporary Cuban woman, bearing all the weight of the
conflicts that implied having to deal with fierce discriminating machismo. Because of her
undeniable ability to step above and beyond her limits, she gained the trust of many directors.
During the 1980s, she became famous for representing women dealing with the problems in
contemporary Cuban society. In Habanera (1984), also directed by Pastor Vega, she interpreted a
psychiatrist. She matured skillfully into roles in Juan Carlos Tabío’s Plaff (1988) and Pastor Vega’s Las
Profecias de Amanda (1999) and she received numerous awards inside and outside of Cuba, including
the 2007 Cuban National Cinema Award.
contents
page 16
Eslinda Nuñez
As a teenager, I discovered a disturbing mystery
named Eslinda Nuñez on the big screen. Her
bewitching personality has stayed intact after
all these years. Whenever I return to the images
in Humberto Solás’ Lucía (1968), I become aware
of this again and again as I watch her breathe
intensity into each one of her appearances.
Even though she had already made quite an
impact in Armand Gatti’s (France) El otro Cristóbal
and in Vladimir Čech’s (Czechoslavakia) Para quién
baila La Habana, there is no doubt that it was
in Lucia that her acting genius is most intense,
quickly gaining the admiration of film critics and
audiences alike. That same year she co-starred
with Daysi in Memorias del Subdesarrollo. In 1969
she starred in Manuel Octavio Gómez’s La primera
carga al machete and in 1972 Solás called upon
her once again to be part of the cast for Un día de
Noviembre.
In No hay sábado sin sol (1979), directed by Manuel
Herrera, she gave a fresh performance that
delighted film buffs throughout Cuba. It showed
us the mature actress she had become thanks to
years of apprenticeship and we admired the grace
she had attained. The 1980s saw her outstanding
presence in Amada (1983) and Capablanca (1986),
again directed by Herrera and Solás, respectively.
After receiving many national and international
awards, in 2011 Eslinda received the Cuban National
Cinema Award.
contents
page 17
Mirta Ibarra
After appearing in La última cena, Mirta Ibarra
attained her true splendor as a film actress in the
1980s. She passed through Juan Carlos Tabío’s Se
Permuta in 1983 and turned in a very convincing
performance in Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s Hasta
cierto punto (1984). It seems that she found her
particular signature in this film, something that
would accompany her for the rest of her career.
The 1990s definitely established her star firmly
among the best in Cuba in films like Mayra Vilasís’
Mujer Transparente (1990) and Gerardo Chijona’s
Adorables Mentiras (1991). She received awards for
this second film in Cuba and abroad.
The year 1993 marked yet another important
moment in her film history: Fresa y Chocolate. She
received the Best Supporting Actress award at
the International Festival for New Latin American
Cinema in Havana and at the International Film
Festival of Gramado, Brasil.
During the 21st century, Mirta has continued to
reaffirm her incredible versatility not only as an
actress but also as director and author. Besides
receiving a number of acting awards, in 1996 Mirta
received the Distinction of National Culture that is
awarded by the Council of State of Cuba.
contents
page 18
the
Havana
Jazz Plaza
festiva
December 17-20
highlights
by Juliet Barclay
photo Ivan Soca
Some cities seem to simply fit to jazz.
Tropical, sultry and with an attitude
Havana fits the bill. Havana is music.
From first thing in the morning till last
thing at night, it pours out of houses,
bars and cafes; echoes down narrow
alleys; reverberates from balconies;
blares from radios; booms from cars
and wafts round squares. Jazz in
Havana is popular, cosmopolitan with
many fathers. Freed from commercial
pressure, artists improvise, play,
explore. The result can be simply
magnificent, although nothing is
guaranteed!
contents
page 19
Havana is music. From first thing in the morning till
last thing at night it pours out of houses, bars and
cafes, echoes down narrow alleys, reverberates
from balconies, blares from radios, booms from
cars and wafts round squares. ‘Where can we hear
some real Cuban music?’ incoming innocents ask
their taxi driver as they head from the airport into
the city. ‘Where can we not hear it?’ might be a
more appropriate enquiry.
Jazz is one of the city’s most popular musical forms
and the Havana jazz sound is unique, the result of
centuries of musical mixture to which Africa and
Spain contributed the main ingredients and China,
France, Italy, Mexico, Argentina and the United
States added the seasoning. The sophisticated,
cosmopolitan result attracts aficionados from all
over the world--both to perform and to listen—and
the resulting cross-cultural fertilization enlarges
the virtuous circle of continually-evolving creative
development.
The Havana International Jazz Festival first took
place in 1979. Over the years it has become one of
the most important dates in jazz-lovers’ diaries.
During the festival, fans flock to major concerts
at the Amadeo Roldán, Nacional and Mella
Theatres, but it’s the intimate events in Havana’s
clubs that really get the juices flowing. The most
extraordinary leaps of musical telepathy seem to
occur in smoky, rum-soaked Vedado hangouts like
La Zorra y el Cuervo, the Jazz Café and Café Jazz
Miramar.
Jazz in Cuba dates back further than most people
realize. Slavery was abolished on the island in
1886 and many freed black Cubans immigrated to
New Orleans, while the American intervention of
1898 in the Cuban independence wars heralded
the start of a prolonged US presence in Cuba.
Conditions were thus perfect for mutual musical
exchange. The musicians that had moved to New
Orleans took with them the rhythms and style that
were already considered Cuban and incorporated
them into the nascent jazz form, as did musicians
returning to the States from Cuban holidays.
The high point of this musical evolution was the
spark which ignited between Cuban drummer
Luciano (Chano) Pozo—eventually shot in a bar
in Harlem—and American jazz trumpeter Dizzy
Gillespie. Their sound was the first appearance of
what later came to be known as “Latin jazz”—and
that was just the beginning. Now Cuban musicians
are foremost amongst the world’s jazz performers.
Prior to the Revolution popular musicians were
largely self-taught; from the early 1060s onwards,
most members of popular bands have been music
school graduates to whom virtuoso performances
are almost second nature.
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Over the years the lineup at the Jazz Festival
has included Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Haden, Roy
Hargrove, Steve Coleman, Richie Cole, Max Roach,
Carmen McRae, Leon Thomas, Teté Montoliu,
Airto Moreira, Tania María, Dave Valentin, Michel
Legrand and Ivan Lins. The celebrated British
saxophonist, Ronnie Scott, promoted Cuban jazz
from his famous Frith Street club throughout his
professional life. However, it is Cuban musicians
who have been the driving force behind the Festival.
Whether they favor pure jazz or fusion, the list of
participants includes important names: Armando
Romeu; Chucho Valdés, Gonzalo Ruvalcaba; Bobby
Carcassés; Los Van Van; Ernán López-Nussa; NG La
Banda; Orlando Valle… and the waves of impressive
young musicians emerging from Cuban schools
has resulted in the establishment of the JoJazz
(Joven Jazz = Young Jazz) Festival which takes place
prior to the main event as a competition for young
musicians.
If you’re in Havana from December 17-20, do a
circuit of the Vedado clubs and you’ll more than
likely spot an international jazz great appearing
incognito at the bar, hidden behind a cocktail. And
keep a sharp lookout for a black giant with a sleepy
gaze, leisurely performing musical miracles at the
piano--it will be six-time Grammy winner Chucho
Valdes. As the organizer of the International Jazz
Festival, he, more than anyone else, knows that if
it ain’t got that swing, it ain’t Havana.
Jazz Plaza 2015 Highlights
One of Havana’s most famous music events, the
Jazz Festival is a display of the link between Cuban
rhythm and jazz, which goes back to the late 19th
century when newly freed slaves immigrated to
New Orleans. Started in 1979 pretty much as a
local event at the Casa de la Cultura de Plaza,
the festival has grown in size and scope with
venues that include several large theatres and
nightclubs. International stars such as Dizzy
Gillespie, Charlie Haden, Steve Coleman, Michel
Legrand, Ivan Lins and Ronnie Scott are just a
few names in the list of past participants, who,
together with Cubans Chucho Valdés, Gonzalo
Rubalcaba, Bobby Carcassés and Ernán LópezNussa, to mention just a few, attract fans from all
over the world.
This year, the festival will focus on genres
influencing jazz. It will also cover the fusion of
jazz genres, its indigenous roots in African, Latin
American and Caribbean countries, and the more
contemporary musical expressions, without
forgetting standards and classics. Important
Cuban musicians like Chucho Valdés, and
international musicians, like ZZTOP guitarist
Billy Gibbons, will be part of a spectacular
program, including the new FeriaJazz at the
Pabellón Cuba, featuring young Cuban jazz
musicians jamming away with international
visitors.
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Program Jazz Plaza 2015
Casa de la Cultura de Plaza / 8:30pm
December 17
Lázaro Valdés & Son Jazz, Zule Guerra (Cuba), Camila Celin & Ehren Hanson (U.S.), Banda de
Jerry Medina (Puerto Rico)
December 18
Bellita y su Jazz Tumbatá, Ruy López-Nussa y la Academia (Cuba), Triple Ace (Austria)
Laranah Jazz Ensemble (U.S.), Mongorama (U.S.-México-Cuba)
December 19
Alejandro Falcón (Cuba), Timo Volbrecht (Germany), Órgano Trío (Argentina)
December 20
Kelvin Barreto & Afrocuba de Matanzas,
Real Project (Cuba), Super Nova Jazz Trío (Argentina), Camila Celin & Ehren Hanson (U.S.)
Pabellón Cuba / 5 pm
December 17
Delvis Ponce, Maracujazz (Cuba), Timo Volbrecht (Germany), Estrella Acosta & Esquina 25
(Holland)
December 18
Alejandro Meroño, William Roblejo (Cuba), Grupo Daniel Puente Encina (Italy-Cuba), Doug
Cameron (U.S.), Orquesta SKaracas (Venezuela)
December 19
Aryan Varona y Claroscuro, Leyanis y Jessie Valdés (Cuba), Grupo Kriyolio (Islas Guadalupe),
Grupo Pink Freud (Poland); Laranah Jazz Ensemble (U.S.); Kelvin Barreto (Cuba),
Mongorama (U.S.-México-Cuba)
December 20
5pm / Jerry Medina & his Bnad (Puerto Rico)
Centro Cultural Bertolt Brecht / 8:30pm
Teatro Mella / 8:30pm
December 17
Bobby Carcassés, Yissy García
(Cuba), Miguel D’ Armas Quartet
(Cuba-U.S.)
December 17
Opening gala with Ernán LópezNussa (Cuba), The Preservation
Hall Jazz Band (U.S.)
December 18
Michel Herrera, Harold LópezNussa, David Sánchez (Cuba),
Doug Cameron (U.S.)
December 18
César López y Habana Ensemble,
Pancho Amat, Maracas (Cuba),
Steve Turre & Brian Lynch (U.S.)
December 19
Héctor Quintana, Aldo LópezGavilán (Cuba), Arthur O’ Farrill
(U.S.)
December 19
Kenny G (U.S.), Roberto Fonseca
and guests (Cuba)
December 20
5pm / Carlos Miyares (Cuba),
Francisco Mela (Cuba- U.S.),
Rafael Paseiro (Cuba-Francia)
December 20
5 pm / Chucho Valdés (Cuba)
Fábrica de Arte Cubano / 10 pm
December 17
ZZ-Top (U.S.)
December 18
Jazz Organ Trio
December 20
Kenny G (U.S.)
Teatro Raquel Revuelta / 8:30pm
December 18
Dayren Yanisel Santamaría (CubaU.S.), Grupo Kriyolio
December 19
Dúo Conde (Spain-Cuba), Grupo
Manouche (Australia)
December 20
5pm / Michel y su grupo de Latin
Jazz (Colombia), Mezcla (Cuba)
Jardines del teatro Mella / 6 pm
December 17
Jazz Organ Trio
December 18
Real Project (Cuba), Grupo Bestiaplaneta (Argentina)
December 19
Zule Guerra (Cuba), Supernova Jazz Trío (Argentina)
December 20
Kelvin Barreto (Cuba), Mongorama (U.S.-México-Cuba)
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Xico
sculptures
in Plaza de
San Francisco
de Asis
photos Y. del Monte
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These days when Habaneros are celebrating the
496th birthday of their city (November 16), sixteen
singular sculptures arrived at the San Francisco
de Asís Square. They have been inspired by a
charismatic dog known as Xoloitzcuintle in Mexico,
and it is said that this small animal has been around
in Central America and mainly in Mexico for over
1,300 years. Affectionately known by its diminutive
of “Xico,” this character symbolizes friendship and
cultural exchanges among peoples.
Surrounded by myths and legends giving it a
strong symbolic content, this small dog forms the
basis for the 1.80-meter tall sculptures executed
by artists from Cuba and Latin America. Xico is the
synthesis of a long, profound history dealing with
the identities of Pre-Hispanic nations, entailing
the grace of individual talents and the dreams of
a group. Such an endeavor that brings together
identical objects in order to obtain essential
differences can be interpreted as a hymn to
diversity and the comprehension of appearances
that are different from what they represent.
The creators of this project still have the idea that
Havana is the same as it was in Colonial times: the
Key to the New World. Our city is a special home
for this journey, guided by a delicate, hairless
canine that has acquired the luster of both ancient
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and contemporary times. Xico has been primarily
identified as an animal that helps its master to
overcome any difficulty that may cross his path.
Expressing the legend in words, we have the
saying: “Xico lights the fires of your heart.”
Renowned artists from Cuba, Mexico, Panama and
Colombia have granted independent life to their
own creations. Some of the most outstanding
versions of this dog are signed by Eduardo Roca
(Choco), Ángel Ramírez and Carlos Guzmán. Their
painted Xicos carry new universes under their skin
and they question the breadth of everything that
is human.
I would also like to emphasize the contribution
of the female spirit, bringing a special sensitivity
to the way messages are transmitted and how
details have been conceived, adding extra touches
of seduction to the pieces. Among the female
participants I really enjoyed the work of Leticia
Gutiérrez Rosas from Mexico.
Xico, that faithful guardian of so many endeavors,
has been welcomed in cities such as Brussels, Sao
Paulo, San Luis de Potosí, Mexico City, Veracruz,
New York, Shanghai and Santiago de Chile and
now it is here on our Havana cobblestones so that
we can enjoy it.
Exhibitions of this sort, set up in attractive public
spaces, can be interpreted as participating in
the protection of the environment, especially of
animal species whose populations have alarmingly
diminished. The Xoloitzcuintle is certainly no
exception.
Fortunately this noble Mexican dog is also being
represented in chocolate and as a cartoon
character. All over the world its image has become
a source of fun for children from different cultures.
Just a few months ago, San Francisco de Asís
Square was the temporary home for a band of
bears that bore the distinguishing features of
more than one hundred different countries. And
now we have these stellar but humble dogs to
confirm the suspicion that this city square, which
is normally animated with pigeons and thousands
of international and Cuban visitors every day,
is the ideal stage to keep on welcoming creative
initiatives that enrich urban landscapes and the
everyday lives of its citizens.
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Giant Rueda de casino: it’s more than just the record
In the afternoon and evening last November 25th,
nearly a thousand casino dancers came together
on the esplanade of the Malecon that is known as
the Piragua, to set a new Guinness World Record.
The goal was to have the largest Rueda de casino
in the world and to dance continuously for the
longest period of time.
For us Cubans who have lived through most of the
last fifty years on the Island, regardless of what
our favorite kind of music is, in one way or another
casino dancing and its fickle “ruedas” are part of all
our biographies.
In the days when material things were out of
our reach and also didn’t interest us that much,
dancing became one of the most consistent
dreams we possessed. In the midst of a huge array
of different poplar dances, casino prevailed. It
has the reputation of contributing spiritual values
both to the groups and to the individuals taking
part in it.
Being a leader or “casinero mayor” came to
represent an important status in those days. It
meant that you had the grace and style to captivate
multitudes. There used to be a TV program called
Para Bailar which was a tremendous promoter of
the popular dance and Cuban people loved it.
There are quite a few persons who lived through
the different experiences that are a part of our
unique Cuban social process who found that the
ruedas de casino provided the ideal way to let
loose their expressive freedom and, consequently,
their creativity.
This dance has been closely associated with an
important part of popular Cuban music over the
last decades. I would dare say that the influences
have gone both ways. Some musicians initiated
styles and manners of dancing and other musicians
started composing specifically for the demands of
dancers.
For all of these reasons, last November 25th at La
Piragua symbolized revisiting part of the past that
should never disappear; it has directly influenced
the way we are.
Even though they weren’t able to have all the
people they needed – only 964 participants - they
were able to surpass the previous record for time.
Just about 15 minutes were added on to that old
record.
Many visitors from other countries and some of us
Cubans ended up getting together under the light
of the full moon in the gardens of the legendary
Hotel Nacional to enjoy a semi-aerial view of the
giant rueda de casino. The predominant color
was red and the synchronized movements seemed
to be telling an attractive story about bodies and
their hopes and dreams.
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Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year!
by Victoria Alcalá
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Every time Christmas comes around, I can’t help
remembering when I was five or six years old,
sitting on the floor of my house with my cousins,
cracking walnuts and hazelnuts by unappealable
order of my father, and the delicious smell of sour
oranges, garlic and spices coming out from the
kitchen every time somebody opened the oven
door to check the turkey or leg of pork that was
being cooked slowly, mixed with the sweet aroma
of the syrup that my grandmother prepared for
the “buñuelos”.1
The voices of Barbarito Diez or Elvis Presley on
the record player were muffled by the hullabaloo
made by uncles and aunts, who cheered by the
many “mojitos” that my dad would prepare, bustled
around the dinner table dressing huge bowls of
salad, cutting up nougats decorated with marzipan
and dried figs, placing the linen tablecloths and
napkins and the china dinner service used only on
special occasions, and taking out from mahogany
cabinets the fine glassware that was rarely used
and the silverware that had previously been
polished.
So many years have passed since then. The
custom of celebrating Christmas Eve practically
disappeared in Cuba in the mid-1960s, only to
reappear strongly in the past two or three decades.
But the linen tablecloths were transformed into
dresses; the silverware was sold to meet more
urgent needs; many family members are no longer
with us; walnuts and hazelnuts are purchased
without the shell; the old record players were
replaced by tape recorders and CD and DVD
players; and instead of listening to Barbarito and
The King, the young people now listen to a wide
range of both international and Cuban music. The
joy that surrounds the Christmas season has once
more brightened Cuban homes, and families get
together during the festivities. Believers or not,
the holiday spirit ends up infecting everybody.
Christmas trees begin to appear in many homes
since early December and at my house, in
particular, putting up and trimming the tree takes
on an almost ceremonial character. The decision
of what decorations to put on the tree becomes a
complex operation since my son insists on buying
a new decoration each year, which increases our
reserves from year to year.
The next step in a Cuban Christmas celebration
involves the menu for the 24th and 25th of
December and January the 1st, what friends are
to be invited and purchases to be made, including
new clothes and gifts for the children. Savings
and remittances from relatives or friends who live
abroad are spent without giving much thought
to what will happen beyond the festivities. After
all, as Scarlett O’Hara would say, “Tomorrow is
another day.”
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The more farsighted start shopping early in
December for chicken, turkey or pork for the
special dinners of the 24th and 31st of December.
The cooking in itself is an event during the
festivities and is an excellent excuse for reuniting
families. The pork--or chicken or turkey—is usually
marinated with crushed garlic, sour oranges,
oregano and cumin the day before and roasted on
the special day. This year, I plan to substitute fresh
orange and pineapple juice for the sour oranges,
and chicken breasts for the pork. The rest of the
menu includes white rice and black beans, or
“moros y cristianos,” which is rice cooked together
with previously softened black beans and salt,
garlic, onions, pimiento, oregano, cumin and a
bay leaf; boiled cassava served with a sauce made
of garlic, salt and sour orange juice; “tostones;” 2
and a large salad of tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage,
radishes, etc. These meals are usually accompanied
by beer or red wine. Cider or champagne is usually
reserved for drinking a toast at midnight for the
New Year. According to how much each family can
afford, dinner is completed with classical desserts,
such as buñuelos, bread pudding or custards,
and imported nougat, grapes and apples. Some
families accompany these special dinners with
music and dancing that go on till the small hours
of the morning, while for other families it is a quiet
and intimate affair.
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It is customary to congratulate friends, colleagues
and relatives who are far away during the days
prior to Christmas. The beautiful postcards that
we used to receive by mail have been replaced by
postcards that can be downloaded free from the
Internet although some prefer to personalize their
Christmas and New Year messages and create
their own postcards with family pictures, or rural
or urban views. Gifts are almost always for the
little ones--clothes or treats on the 25th and toys
on the Epiphany on January 6, which closes the
cycle of festivities.
With the new times, certain rituals have changed.
Midnight Mass, for instance, which was reserved
for practicing Catholics, is being attended now
by many people of faith, who believe in God but
who do not go to church on a regular basis; you
might even find non-believers in church that day.
One custom that has survived throughout time is
throwing a bucket of water onto the street on the
31st of December to “throw out” all the bad things
accumulated during the year that is coming to
an end and “clean” the way for the approaching
year. Other beliefs include wearing white on that
day for good luck and girls looking for husbands
should light a red candle exactly at midnight. It
you see anybody walking around with a suitcase
that means that they hope to travel during the
coming year.
The holidays however are not restricted to the 24th
or the 31st. Festivities begin in mid-December in
workplaces, and on the pretext of annual balance,
achieved goals, etc, etc, etc, workers prepare
parties with the inevitable pork and “caldosa”
—which has replaced the traditional “ajiaco,” a stew
that accepts any type of meat and vegetables—as
well as rum and beer that help loosen up and have
a good time.
1 Buñuelos: A popular Cuban dessert made especially
for Christmas, which is prepared with mashed boiled
cassava to which a pinch of salt, flour and beaten whole
eggs is added. The mixture is kneaded and shaped into
the form of a number eight, deep fried in hot vegetable oil
and served with anise or cinnamon-scented syrup
2 Tostones: Green plantains cut into pieces and fried
over medium heat. The fried plantains are drained and
smashed flat and fried again quickly over very hot heat.
They are served sprinkled with salt.
Happy new Year !!
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A Christmas Song
By Aimara Fernández
Photo by Ana Lorena Gamboa
It feels like spring and yet it is winter in the Cuban
countryside, which grows more beautiful bathed
in the colors of the sunset. No one talks about
Santa, and there are no evergreens covered with
snow. But Christmas in the campo (countryside) is
as close as Cuba gets to a traditional Christmas.
The morning of December 24 sees the pig
marinated in sour orange juice and covered with
fresh guava leaves. The roast begins early in the
morning, spreading an aroma that pervades every
corner of the backyard where the pig is cooked
in an open fire over charcoal or wood. Smells of
rice, black beans, tamales, fried plantains, cassava
with criollo sauce made from crushed garlic and
lemon juice emanate from the kitchen. Vegetables
are plentiful here and large salads of tomato,
lettuce, cucumber and radishes are prepared. The
children run around the large table waiting for
the rice custard, bread pudding, peanut nougat,
grated coconut and guava shells cooked in syrup.
The sound of repeated toasts to health--‘Salud’-and good fortune punctuate the day. And don’t
forget the consumption of “saoco,” (coconut milk
and rum).
Christmas for Cubans remains an intimate affair,
for family celebrations and reunions.
As New Year’s Eve approaches, the ambience
changes and the scene is set for another feast: a
more social party with more friends. A party for
everyone, from great grandparents to the youngest
child. Grandma may talk about the famous almond
nougats that arrived at Havana’s port straight
from the city of Alicante, but she’ll also get up and
dance. The kids stay up and maybe dance too. I still
remember my grandfather telling me a condensed
version of his life story every New Year’s Eve. These
are the memories that he bestows on me and I in
turn look to instill in my children.
In the city, the celebration is more urban. The
menu includes chicken, turkey or pork cooked in
an oven. Traditional desserts go hand in hand with
almond nougats imported from Spain, and the
saoco is replaced with red and sparkling wines.
Music is omnipresent and the toasts of “Felicidades”
ring out. Whether in the city or the countryside,
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At midnight, a 12-gun salute is fired from the
Cabaña Fortress greeting the New Year. The
streets are suddenly filled with water but it isn’t
raining--the people are throwing buckets of water
out onto the street from balconies, rooftops,
porches and doorways to get rid of all the bad and
let the good come in. Others, who hope to travel,
walk around the block carrying suitcases. The
twelve grapes symbolizing the twelve months are
eaten and a toast to health and prosperity is made
with sparkling wine. Another year has passed. Viva
Cuba. Viva la familia.
are the memories that he bestows on me and I in
turn look to instill in my children.
At midnight, a 12-gun salute is fired from the
Cabaña Fortress greeting the New Year. The
streets are suddenly filled with water but it isn’t
raining–the people are throwing buckets of water
out onto the street from balconies, rooftops,
porches and doorways to get rid of all the bad and
let the good come in. Others, who hope to travel,
walk around the block carrying suitcases. The
twelve grapes symbolizing the twelve months are
eaten and a toast to health and prosperity is made
with sparkling wine. Another year has passed. Viva
Cuba. Viva la familia.
Photo by Juan Carlos Alom
Photo by Juan Carlos Alom
Leo Brouwer, Oct 2, 2013
Photo by Yadira Montero
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Visual Arts
photos by Alex Mene
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Edificio de Arte Cubano
Contaminación
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Edificio de Arte Cubano
Through
February 14
El eco del último disparo, focuses on the changes occurred in the artistic production between
the 19th and 20th centuries Curator Delia María López points out classical composition, the
representation of historic events and basic elements of academic art.
Arte Continua
Casa Carmen Montilla
Throughout Anclados en el territorio is a
December
group show by Alejandro Campins,
Elizabet Cerviño, Susana Pilar
Delahante,
Carlos
Garaicoa,
Reynier Leyva Novo and José
Yaque inaugurating the new Cuban
gallery Galería Continua, which is
making new use of the emblematic
Chinatown Águila de Oro cinema.
Reencuentro. After being absent
from the Cuban exhibition scene
for 14 years, Irene Sierra Carreño
will be showing 21 paintings and
3 drawings displaying lyricism
marked by symbols that relate to
Cuban and Caribbean identity
Castillo de La Punta
Throughout Cubo azul. After newly inaugurating
December
the institution, Rachel Valdés’
Biblioteca Rubén Martínez Villena
Through
December 20
Opens
December 18
Don´t Play with History, an
exhibition
by
Hander
Lara
Figueroa, which alludes to two
historical moments translated into
visual codes to define them at their
minimum, abstract expression.
Cubo azul installation forms part
of the permanent exhibition; it was
a success at the “Detrás del Muro”
show during the 12th Biennale of
Havana.
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photos by Ana Lorena
Factoria Habana
Factoría Habana
Through
January 15
Signos. Arte e industria y viceversa, which has been conceived as an installation that
brings together objects, texts, artefacts, photos, ceramics, graphic works, video and printed
materials, aims at emphasizing creative experiences in which a balanced fusion between art,
design and industry, and elements of the urban and architectural environment takes place
through the works of Carlos José Alfonzo, Juan Carlos Alom, Félix Beltrán, Alberto J. Carol,
Gonzalo Córdoba, María Victoria Caignet, EMPROVA, Cirenaica Moreira, Miguel Díaz, Felipe
Dulzaides, Leandro Feal, Mario Gallardo, Mario García Joya (Mayito), Carmelo González,
Roberto Gottardi, Arturo Infante y Renier Quert, Nicolás Guillén Landrián, Roberto Matta,
Ernesto Oroza, Amelia Peláez, Manuel Piña, René Portocarrero, Idelfonso Ramos, Leyden
Rodríguez, Mariano Rodríguez, Humberto Solás y Héctor Veitía, Lesbia Vent Dumois, as well
as the projects Ediciones en Colores, TELARTE, Arte en la Fábrica, Arte en la Carretera and
Arte en el Muro.
Casa de Artes y Tradiciones Chinas
December 10,
17 & 24. 9am
Taller de alambrería artística,
workshop on the use of wire
in art, with Filiberto González.
Registration is now open.
December 10
& 17, 2pm; 12 &
19, 10am
Taller de pintura tradicional
china. Workshop on Chinese
traditional painting, with artist
Alexis González. Registration is
now open.
December 8,
15, 22 & 29,
9am
Taller de papier maché, Paper
Mache workshop with Jorge Luis
Gilfolés. Registration is now open.
Casa del ALBA Cultural
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam
Through
January 1
Folia Continua, for the 25th
anniversary of “Galería Continua,”
th show includes the creations of
Pistolletto, Daniel Buren, Carlos
Garaicoa, among others, some of
which were made especially for
the Wifredo Lam Center.
Centro Hispano Americano de Cultura
Opens
December 11
La Vasija 2015 is an exhibition of
vessels, tiles, panels and murals
presented in competition. They
praise the origins of ceramics,
whose origin lay in vessels, but
these contemporary artists give
them a whole new twist.
Throughout Intercambio Climático, by artist
December
Arístides Hernández (Ares).
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Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas y Diseño
Through
December 6
Galería Artis
Atrapados en su propio juego,
paintings by Rolando Fernández
Álvarez, drawn by the New
Historicism, the mythical, the
oneiric and the pleasure of mixing
the figurative with the abstraction.
Eco is a show bringing together
work by Ricardo Rafael Villares,
one of the most interesting figures
of the young Cuban vanguard.
Galería Galiano
Through
January 4
Galería Carmen Montilla
Through
December 20
Through
January 8
Cruces infinitos with the painters
Enrique Ávila (Cuba) and Antonino
Parrilla (Spain).
Paciencia is Adislén Reyes’ oneman show, prize-winner at Post-it
2. The jury praised the printmaking
technique proposed, with the
continuous use of iconography and
the masterful use of photographic
techniques.
Galería Collage Habana
Through
January 29
Registros shows the work of
Santiago Rodríguez Olazábal, part
of the Elena Velázquez collection.
Curator
Corina
Matamoros
has said: “Solely the imaginary
Caribbean could spawn something
like these. So far from the
orthodox, the universal, the pure,
the clear-cut. So close to the local,
the diverse, mobility, mixture,
fluidity. Things that are infinitely
and forever reconfigured. Like the
African spirit in Cuban art, it is
intimate and mysterious.”
Throughout Post devoto, group show
December
contemporary religious art.
Verbum II Iván Capote’s one-man
show: Capote is a subtle minimalist
who always forces us to use our
intellect. .
Galería Taller Gorría
Throughout Asamblea is the group show of ten
December
Cuban visual artists; it inaugurates
this new gallery belonging to
actor/painter Jorge Perugorria.
Galería Víctor Manuel
Gramos, with pieces by metalsmith
Raúl Valladares.
of
Galería Villa Manuela
Through
December 13
Museo de la Danza
Throughout Seda y acero by Jesús Lara Sotelo
December
exhibits twelve pieces in enameled
clay and mixed techniques…a
hymn to sensuality and erotic
form.
Pabellón Cuba
Nelson
Domínguez’s
show,
together with some guests,
dedicated to the Jazz Plaza Festival.
Palacio de Lombillo
Through
January 10
Through
January 15
December
11-February
Hostal Los Frailes
Through
December 14
Galería Habana
Resurgir, by artist Roniel Llerena
Andrade, gathers 11 oil paintings of
various formats, which combine,
in one sole image, the female face
and Havana architecture.
La inmunidad de lo ingenuo is the
two-man show by Glenda León
and Diana Fonseca
Plaza de San Francisco
Through
December 13
Travesías de XICO por América
Latina brings together sixteen,
1.8-meter
pieces
by
Latin
American artists such as Eduardo
Roca (Choco), Carlos Guzmán,
Ángel Ramírez, Darlyn Delgado,
Víctor Mora, Lyzbeth Labañino,
Mariana García Botello, Sandra de
Huelbes/Karen Rivero, Francisco
Gordillo, Héctor López, Rafael
Pantoja (Frank Mysterio), Cisco
Merel, Andrés Orjuela, Rolando
de Sedas (Rolo), Leticia Gutiérrez
Rojas, ISHA JUDD (Fundación
Educando por la Paz), Cristina
Pineda, Luis Enrique Gómez and
Pablo Álvarez Carreto.
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photography
Museo Castillo de la Real Fuerza (exteriores)
Throughout December
La última frontera is a group show with 50 large-scale photographs of the seabed around the Cuban archipelago.
Alianza Francesa. Sede Sartre
Through
December 18
BiDisTorciones by Ihos Plasencia
and Lourdes Bermúdez
Edificio de Arte Cubano.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
Through
February 15
Casa de Asia
Through
December 13
Dual, the show by artists Laura
Capote and Duwane Coates
reveals her precise use of the
double exposure technique.
Cámaras e imágenes fotográficas,
a show of cameras and photos put
on by the Photographic Gallery of
the Historic Photographic Library
of the Office of the City Historian.
Through
January 24
Acento en el ojo gives us
memorable scenes from Cuban
theater, captured by the lens of
Ernst Rudin.
Sala de la Diversidad.
Through
December 6
Museo de Arte Colonial
Through
December 13
Centro Cultural Bertolt Brecht
Moments
of
the
Human
Condition by the well-known US
photographer Peter Turnley: his
photos have appeared 43 times
on the cover of Newsweek and he
has published seven books. The
show is organized in four sections:
Heart of America, A Love Letter to
Paris, In Times of War and Peace,
and Cuba ~ A Grace of Spirit.
Fotografiando mi Habana collects
images of the city and its people,
the result of workshops salvaging
the ancient processes carried out
by the Historical Photographic
Archives of the Office of the
Historian.
Edificio Jerusalén. Centro de Negocios Miramar
Iberia by Spanish photographer
Herminio Muñiz recreates the
contrasting landscapes of the
Iberian peninsula, from the most
sumptuous to the most desolate
locations.
Throughout Vacío interior, by Yinet Pereira
December
Díaz.
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page 36
Peter Turnley
“I have a deep love for the people of Cuba. Throughout a lifetime of world travel, rarely have I been
to a place where I’ve witnessed so much grace, spirit, dignity, and wonderful humanity. I have
traveled regularly to Cuba since 1989. During recent years, I have made dozens of trips to Cuba.
The people of Cuba have taught and demonstrated to me so many beautiful lessons of how life can
be lived well. This book is a visual tribute with love to the grace of spirit of the people of Cuba.”
Peter Turnley
Peter Turnley is renowned for his photography
of the realities of the human condition. His
photographs have been featured on the cover of
Newsweek 43 times and are published frequently
in the world’s most prestigious publications. He
has worked in over 90 countries and has witnessed
most major stories of international geo-political
and historic significance in the last thirty years.
His photographs draw attention to the plight of
those who suffer great hardships or injustice. He
also affirms with his vision the many aspects of life
that are beautiful, poetic, just and inspirational.
Peter Turnley es conocido por su fotografía de la
realidad de la condición humana. Sus fotografías
han aparecido en la portada de Newsweek 43 veces
y se publican con frecuencia en las publicaciones
más prestigiosas del mundo. Ha trabajado en más
de 90 países y ha sido testigo de la mayoría de las
historias de importancia en materia geopolítica
e histórica a nivel internacional en los últimos
treinta años. Sus fotografías llaman la atención
sobre la difícil situación de quienes sufren grandes
dificultades o injusticias. También afirma con su
visión los muchos aspectos de la vida que son
hermosos, poéticos, justos e inspiradores.
Turnley’s photographs have been published the
world over and have won many international
awards including the Overseas Press Club Award
for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad,
numerous awards and citations from World Press
Photo, and the University of Missouri’s Pictures of
the Year competition.
Las fotografías de Turnley se han publicado en
todo el mundo y han ganado muchos premios
internacionales, entre ellos el Overseas Press
Club Award for Best Photographic Reporting from
Abroad (premio de la prensa), numerosos premios
y menciones de World Press Photo y el concurso
Pictures of the Year de la Universidad de Missouri.
Peter Turnley also teaches photography workshops
on street photography and the photo-essay in
Paris, Cuba, New York, Mumbai, Venice, Sicily, and
Lisbon.
Peter Turnley también imparte talleres de
fotografía en París, Cuba, Nueva York, Bombay,
Venecia, Sicilia y Lisboa sobre la fotografía
documental y el ensayo fotográfico.
He presently lives in both New York and Paris,
and has previously published six books of his
work: French Kiss—A Love Letter to Paris, Beijing
Spring, Moments of Revolution, In Times of War
and Peace, Parisians, and McClellan Street.
Actualmente vive entre Nueva York y París, y ha
publicado seis libros con su obra anteriores a este:
Beso francés: una carta de amor a París, Primavera
de Pekín, Momentos de la Revolución, En tiempos
de la guerra y la paz, Parisinos y Calle McClellan.
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Peter Turnley’s
Exhibit at Havana’s
Fine Arts Museum
contents
page 38
Grace and spirit are two great words, not only
because of the intensity of their meanings, but
because of the impact produced by their sounds.
Both these words are combined within the title
that outstanding American photographer Peter
Turnley gave his book on this island: Cuba—A
Grace of Spirit. He is visiting us again today, thus
becoming the first photographer from the United
States to ever exhibit his work at Havana’s Fine
Arts Museum.
The exhibit consists of four segments: Heart of
America, A Love Letter to Paris, In Times of War
and Peace, and Cuba—A Grace of Spirit.
Moments of Human Condition is the title of this
exhibit that brings the Cuban people closer to the
different aspects of life in places that can be both
so different and so alike.
Turnley’s photographs have been published the
world over and have won many international
awards including the Overseas Press Club Award
for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad,
numerous awards and citations from World Press
One of the greatest merits of the exhibit’s
curatorial work lies in its ability to show the two
faces and intentions of an artist with consistency
and balance, that is, his reporting skills with strong
anthropological traits that grant his pictures a
place in the collective memory.
contents
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dance
Encuentro de Jóvenes
Coreógrafos
December 4-6, 8:30pm; Dec. 29, 5:30pm
Sala Las Carolinas
Event organized by the Danza Teatro-Retazos
Company in support of and to boost the creativity
of young choreographers providing them with a
space for exchanging experiences, generating and
spreading their work, which given their esthetic
and human value nay enrich the Cuban stage.
The Organizing Committee will select the best
choreographies which will be presented to them
public during this month.
Caminos
December 5, 8:30pm; Dec. 6, 5:30pm
Teatro Martí
A selection of the music and dances of previous
performances by the Ecos flamenco company.
Un día de mi Habana
December, 8:30pm; Dec. 6, 5:30pm
Teatro Mella
Show by the Ban Rará Company, which dramatizes
the music, song and dance of the immigrant
Haitian groups who settled in Guantánamo and
Santiago de Cuba provinces, and uses elements of
Yoruba origin, peasant dances and varieties of son
Ciudad de Guantanamo
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MUSIC
Contemporary
Fusion
Los Ángeles
Photo Alex Mene
The contemporary fusion and electronic music
scene has expanded recently as new bars
and clubs have opened party promoters have
organized events in parks and public spaces.
Good live music venues include Bertolt Brecht
(Wed: Interactivo, Sunday: Déjá-vu) and El Sauce
(check out the Sunday afternoon Máquina de la
Melancolía) as well as the newly opened Fábrica
de Arte Cubano which has concerts most nights
Thursday through Sunday as well as impromptu
smaller performances inside.
In Havana’s burgeoning entertainment district
along First Avenue from the Karl Marx theatre to
the aquarium you are spoilt for choice with the
always popular Don Cangreco featuring good live
music (Kelvis Ochoas and David Torrens alternate
Fridays), Las Piedras (insanely busy from 3am) and
El Palio and Melem bar—both featuring different
singers and acts in smaller more intimate venues.
Olga Tañón in Concert
December 12, 8:30pm
Tribuna Antiimperialista
The popular artist (who will be giving a concert in
Santiago de Cuba on December 5 prior to Havana)
will be joined by prominent Cuban musicians,
including Descemer Bueno, Pancho Amat, César
López, Evaristo Denis and Qva Libre, as well as
music and dance students. The concert will be
broadcast live by Cuban Television via satellite,
and will be recorded on DVD and CD. At a press
conference, Olga Tanón said: “These concerts, for
me, are a gift of life from God. The love, warmth,
respect and fellowship that the Cuban people have
given me for many, many years, is immense. It is
my desire and duty to return my love through my
voice, presence and support.” cuba’s digital destination
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Balneario Universitario El Coral
Fridays &
Saturdays
1pm-1am
Submarino Amarillo / 2 pm
Electronic music with rapping,
DJing,
Vjing,
Dj-producers,
breakdancing
and
graffiti
writing, among other urban art
expressions.
Vieja Escuela
Fresa y Chocolate
Fridays
Pura Birria
10 pm
Café Concert El Sauce / 5 pm
Sundays
Saturdays
La Máquina de la Melancolía, with
Frank Delgado and Luis Alberto
García
Havana Hard Rock / 6 pm
Every other
Friday
Soul Train, a show of soul music
Sat & Sun
Rock cover bands
Tercera y 8
Mondays
Baby Lores
11 pm
Le Select
Barbaram Pepito’s Bar / 5 pm
Sundays
5pm
Tuesdays
Vendaval
Thursdays
Los Francos
Sundays
Discoteca Onda Retro
Diablo Tun Tun
Centro Cultural Bertolt Brecht / 11 pm
December 2
10 pm
David Blanco
9 pm
5 pm
Gens
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes.
Edificio de Arte Cubano
Tenor Bernardo Lichilín and DJ
Eddy Sánchez
December 3
Percuba Ensamble
Café Cantante, Teatro Nacional / 5 pm
Salón Rosado de La Tropical
Fridays
Proyecto Lizzy
11 pm
Gato Tuerto
Saturdays
Fridays
Saturdays
Viento Solar
Wednesdays Interactivo
Saturdays
Los Ángeles
Electronic music with Sarao,
Tuesdays
Raúl Paz
Wednesdays Qva Libre
Thursdays
Discotemba
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Photo by Alex Mene
Photo Alex Mene
Salsa / Timba
Casa de la Música de Miramar
Mondays
Casa de la Música Habana
5 pm Will Campa
11 pm Sur Caribe
Tuesdays
11 pm Pedrito Calvo
Fridays
5 pm El Niño y La Verdad
11 pm NG La Banda
Sundays
5 pm Bamboleo
Salón Rojo del Hotel Capri
Sundays
11 pm Juan Guillermo
Mondays
5 pm Havana Show
Tuesdays
11 pm Havana Show
Wednesdays
5 pm NG La Banda
Thursdays
5 pm Pupy y los que Son Son
Saturdays
5 pm Yaser y Nueve Milímetros
Sundays
11 pm Tumbao Habana
Jardines del 1830
Fridays
Azúcar Negra
10 pm
Café Cantante. Teatro Nacional
Mondays
11 pm Manana Club
Tercera y 8
Wednesdays Alain Daniel
11 pm
Salón Rosado de la Tropical
Sundays
4 pm Manana Club
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MUSIC
JAZZ
Jazz Café
Calle 88A No. 306 e/ 3ra y 3ra
A, Miramar. +53 (07) 209-2719
Mellow, sophisticated and freezing due to extreme
air conditioning, the Jazz Café is not only an
excellent place to hear some of Cuba’s top jazz
musicians, but the open-plan design also provides
for a good bar atmosphere if you want to chat.
Less intimate than La Zorra y el Cuervo – located
opposite Melia Cohiba Hotel.
December 9
7pm / Luz de La Habana
Café Jazz Miramar
Shows: 11 pm - 2am
This new jazz club has quickly established itself as
one of the very best places to hear some of Cuba’s
best musicians jamming. Forget about smoke filled
lounges, this is clean, bright—take the fags outside.
While it is difficult to get the exact schedule and in
any case expect a high level of improvisation when
it is good it is very good. A full house is something
of a mixed house since on occasion you will feel
like holding up your own silence please sign!
Nonetheless it gets the thumbs up from us.
Asociación Cubana de Derechos de Autor Musical
December 17
6 pm
Alexis Bosch (pianist) and Proyecto
Jazz Cubano.
UNEAC
December 10
5 pm
Peña La Esquina del Jazz hosted by
showman Bobby Carcassés.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Edificio de Arte
December 5
5pm/ Yadasny Portillo (pianist
and composer)
December 17
7pm/ Marialis & Pachequito
Pacheco (pianist)
December 19
7pm/ Harold López Nussa
(pianist) & David Sánchez
(saxophonist)
December 24
7pm/ Roberto Fonseca (pianist)
December 26
7pm/ Carlos Miyares
(saxophonist) & Cuban Quintet
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MUSIC Bolero, folklore, son & trova
Asociación Yoruba de Cuba
Saturdays
Diablo Tun Tun
Los Ibellis (Folkloric group)
4 pm
Thursdays
5 pm / Trova
Sundays
5 pm / Orly Núñez
11 pm / Soneros de la Juventud
Café Cantante, Teatro Nacional
Saturdays
Waldo Mendoza
El Jelengue de Areíto 5
5pm
Tuesdays
Entre Amigos, with Cubana
Thursdays
Conjunto Arsenio Rodríguez
Fridays
Rumberos de Cuba
Sundays
Rumba
Café Teatro Bertolt Brecht / 9 pm
Thursdays26
December
Conjunto Chappottín
Wednesdays Trova
Café Concert El Sauce / 9 pm
Fridays
pm
Rafael Espín and guests
4 pm
Hotel Telégrafo
Fridays
Ivette Cepeda.
9:30 pm
Casa de África
8 pm
3pm
Gala performance
Eduardo
Sosa
by the group
Azúcar Morena dedicated to the
orisha Changó,
November513
December
Annie Garcés
Cheketé
with Síntesis
November44
December
4 pm
6 pm
3
Obiní Batá
December 17
Gala performance by the group
Azúcar Morena dedicated to the
orisha Babalú Ayé.
Bolero Night
9 pm
Fridays
Peña Tres Tazas with trovador
Silvio Alejandro
Saturdays
Peña Participo with trovador Juan
Carlos Pérez
Fresa y Chocolate
Casona de Línea
Sundays
Saturdays
Pabellón Cuba 4pm
November12
December
20 Cheketé,
Trovador with
Gerardo
the Alfonso
folkloric group
4 pm
Hurón Azul, UNEAC
Trova
8 pm
Saturdays
7pm / Leo Vera
Saturdays
5:30pm / Leidis Díaz
Centro Iberoamericano de la Décima
Casa del Alba
December 4
8pm / Eduardo Sosa
December 5
3pm / Duo Ad Libitum
December 10
4pm / Annie Garcés
December 27
5pm / El Jardín de la Gorda with
trovadors from every generation.
Delirio Habanero 10
pm
Thursdays
Abel Maceo y Buena Vida
Saturdays
Sonyku
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes.
Edificio de Arte Cubano
December
11-12
7pm / Haydée Milanés
Museo de Artes Decorativas 5pm
December 2
Argelia Fragoso
Hueco de 21 y G
December 4
6pm / DCoraSon
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contents
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classical MUSIC
Basílica Menor de San Francisco de Asís
December 10
Works by cuban composer Esteban Salas (1725-1803).
6 pm
December 12
Performance by the Música Eterna Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Guido López-Gavilán.
6 pm
December 19
6 pm
The Camerata Romeu, conducted by maestra Zenaida Romeu, will play a selection of waltzes
by Chopin.
Biblioteca Nacional José Martí
Saturdays
Concerts by chamber soloists and ensembles.
4 pm
Sala Covarrubias. Teatro Nacional
Sundays
Concerts by the Nationl Symphony Orchestra.
11 am
Centro Hispano-Americano de Cultura
5 pm
Pianist Gabriel Chorens, clarinetist Vicente Monterrey, sopranos Conchita Franqui, Alioska
Jiménez and bass Marcos Lima will perform works by Massenet, Verdi, Gershwin and
Moniusko.
December 19
Ébanos de La Habana in concert.
December 5
5 pm
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page 47
Iglesia de Paula / 7 pm
December 11
The organist Moisés Santiesteban will play works from different eras and styles for Advent
and Christmas.
December 18
The Ars Longa Early Music Ensemble will play pieces by European Baroque composers.
Casa del ALBA Cultural
December 4
4pm Concert with the Academia de Canto Mariana de Gonitch, and the Mexican singer,
dancer and castanet player Sonia Amelio.
December 6
5pm Concert with Ensamble de Vientos Nueva Camerata
December 13
5pm En Confluencia, conducted by guitarists Eduardo and Galy Martín.
Oratorio San Felipe Neri
December 3
7pm Clarinet recital by Arístides Porto and guests.
December 12
4pm The sopranos María Eugenia Barrios and Ivette Betancourt, accompanied by pianist
Claudia Santana, have announced the program Te amaré, a tribute to Silvio Rodríguez and
his songs.
December 17
7pm Recital by the soprano Johana Simón.
December 19
4pm Performance by the Solistas de La Habana Orchestra, conducted by Iván Valiente.
December 23
7pm The ISA Symphony Orchestra and soloists Víctor Díaz and Harold Merino will play
Mozart’s concertos No. 21 and No. 23 for piano and orchestra.
Sala Gonzalo Roig. Palacio del Teatro Lírico Nacional
December 27
7pm Cuerda Dominical, with guitarist Luis Manuel Molina.
Sala Ignacio Cervantes / 6 pm
December 4
The Hubay ensemble will play traditional Hungarian gypsy and popular music.
December 6
The pianist Cecilio Tieles has announced a program made up of works by Cuban composers
José María Vitier and Yalil Guerra, among others.
December 11
Songs and romances composed by Ernesto Lecuona in the voices of soloists from the Teatro
Lírico Nacional.
December 13
Concert Del soul al jazz (From Soul to Jazz).
December 20
The Promúsica duo (Alfredo Muñoz, violin, and María Victoria del Collado, piano) have
prepared a program made up of works by, Brahms and Mendelssohn. Museo de la Revolución
December 9
4pm Concert by the Coro Nacional.
Teatro Martí
December 19
& 20
6pm For the first time in Cuba, the concert version of the musical Les Miserables (music
by Claude-Michel Schönberg and original French lyrics by Alain Boublil) will be performed
by soloists accompanied by the Cuban Radio and Television Orchestra and Chorus, and the
Vocal Leo Chorus, under the general direction of Alfonso Menéndez.
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Theatre
Teatro Trianón
Photo Alex Mene
El mago de Oz
Teatro El Público / Production: Carlos Díaz
Fridays & Saturdays 8:30pm; Sundays 5pm
Teatro Trianón
Through a re-appropriation of Lyman Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, Rogelio Orizando returns to the
theme of relations between Cubans living on the island and immigrants, who are reconciled through the
worship of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre.
Mecánica
Asere
Play written by award-winning Abel González
Melo, which based on Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s
House, turns the conflict around while it deals
with an aspect of that is scarcely dealt with on the
Cuban stage: the world of the nouveau riche
The drama of a Cuban baseball player who leaves
the country to pursue his dream of playing in the
Major Leagues.
Argos Teatro / Production: Carlos Celdrán
Argos Teatro
Teatro Cimarrón / Production: Alberto Curbelo
Centro Cultural Bertolt Brecht
El deseo
Compañía Hubert de Blanck / Production: Orietta Medina
Sala Hubert de Blanck
A play by Mexican playwright Víctor Hugo Rascón Banda about the conflicts of the relationship between
a middle-aged woman and a young man, in which cultural differences overpower sex and passion.
Aladino
Anfiteatro de La Habana
Saturdays and Sundays, 9pm
Aladino, musical based on Casey Nicholaw’s
Broadway hit, with music by Alan Menken
and lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and
Chad Beguelin. The magical world of the One
Thousand and One Nights enacted with the usual
imagination, good taste and professionalism of
Alfonso Menéndez and his company.
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For kids
Clowns Jaquelín and
Dimas
December 6, 11am
BB Compañía
December 20, 11am
Proyecto Cascabel
Clown Colorín
December 27, 11am
December 13, 11am
Grupo de Teatro Infantil
Abril
December 12, 11am
Casa del ALBA
La calle de los fantasmas
Teatro El Arca
December 4-6, 11-12, 3pm
Teatro de Títeres El Arca
Fantasías
Saturdays and Sundays, starting December 19,
3pm Cine Yara
Magic and illusionism, aerial cloth, lassos and
whips, jugglers, balancing with spades and knives,
and the always faithful clowns Tico and Giobi, will
delight both kids an adults.
Havaneando
Ghost Street, emblematic play of Latin American
puppet theater, by Javier Villafañe, adapted and
directed by Miriam Sánchez.
Saturdays and Sundays, 4pm & 7pm
Carpa Trompoloco
The Compañía Havana presents a selection of the
circus numbers presented during the summer
season.
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EVENTS IN HAVANA
Festival Internacional de Coros
December 2-6
Dolores Concert Hall, cultural centers, streets and parks in Santiago de Cuba
Escorted by the country’s highest mountains and the sea, Santiago de Cuba, the most Caribbean of all
Cuban cities, has remained true to a legacy that goes back to the 18th century when the priest Esteban
Salas, a native of Havana, composed Christmas carols, hymns and shepherds’ plays (pastorelas) for his
cathedral. These religious compositions are the first known written musical documents in Cuba.
Santiago’s choral tradition is fueled by choirs founded by Spanish immig rants and their descendants,
and reaffirmed by the continuing work of Maestro Electo Silva, who in 1961 founded the National Choir
Festival. Eventually, thanks to the participation of choirs from different countries, the festival, which is
held every two years, became international.
An intensive program of morning and evening concerts in theatres, schools, factories, hospitals and
public squares will characterize the five days of the festival. The most awaited concert, however, is the
one held during the closing ceremony in which all the participating singers perform at Santiago de
Cuba’s principal plaza.
Honoring this tradition, in 1961 Electo Silva, who has been for decades director of Orfeón Santiago,
organized the First Choir Festival. Throughout the years, choral groups from different countries
have also participated in the festival together with their Cuban counterparts, winners at prestigious
international competitions. An intensive program of concerts in theatres, schools, factories, hospitals
and public squares characterizes these days in which audiences can enjoy the best of the repertoires of
choral music.
XVIII Feria Internacional de Artesanía FIART
December 3-20, Pabexpo, Havana
Held as a way of expressing the identity and cultural
diversity of different countries, the International
Craft Fair has promoted arts and crafts attracting
thousands of visitors each year. Lectures, exhibits,
fashion shows, sales and the crafts themselves
offer an opportunity for interaction and exchange
between artists and the public. In past years, the
original treatment of contemporary design has been
remarkable in handicrafts, which, without losing
their ancestral nature, exhibit an undisputable
touch of modernity, whether applied to textiles,
fibres, leather, precious and semiprecious stones,
metals, clay, or any other material ready to be
fashioned and beautified through the sensitivity of
craft artists.
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EVENTS IN HAVANA
Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano
December 3-13
Havana and other provinces
Since December 3, 1979, Havana has been the venue
of the International Festival of New Latin American
Cinema, which has served as a launch pad for
Latin American cinematography and become one
of the leading film festivals in the region. Awards
are given in categories that include animation,
documentary, fiction, first work, unpublished
script and poster, as well as direction, screenplay,
actor, actress, art direction, photography, music,
film editing and sound. Numerous professional
workshops and seminars also take place during
the festival, plus much awaited screenings of
international contemporary cinema.
The organizers have announced that 444 films (341
from Latin America and 103 from other regions) will
be exhibited during the event. Out of this total, 138
films (feature, shorts, documentary, animated and
first works) will be competing for the Coral Prizes.
The event will open with El Clan, an Argentinean
film directed by Pablo Trapero. The jury will be
presided by actress Geraldine Chaplin, who will
receive the Best Performance Award granted to
her during the 2014 festival.
Actors Ethan Hawke, Tim Robbins and Benicio del
Toro, producer Christine Vachon and Sundance
and HBO executives will be representing the US.
More information at www.habanafilmfestival.com
Paulina: Argentina, Brazil, France, 2015, Fiction, 103´,
HD, Color
El Clan: Argentina, Spain, 2015, Fiction, 108´, HD, Color
Eva no duerme: Argentina, France, Spain, 2015, Fiction,
85´, HD, Color
La luz incidente: Argentina, France, Uruguay, 2015,
Fiction, 95´, HD, B/N
Que horas ela volta?: Brazil, 2015, Fiction, 111´, HD, Color
Ausência: Brazil, Chile, France, 2014, Fiction, 87´, 35 mm,
Color
Campo Grande: Brazil, France, 2015, Fiction, 108´, HD,
Color
Boi Neon: Brazil, Uruguay, Holland, 2015, Fiction, 101´,
HD, Color
El club: Chile, 2015, Fiction, 98´, HD, Color
El Bosque de Karadima: Chile, Argentina, 2015, Fiction,
97´, HD, Color
La memoria del agua: Chile, Spain, Argentina, Germany,
2015, Fiction, 88´, HD, Color
Que viva la música: Colombia, Mexico, 2014, Fiction,
102´, HD, Color
El abrazo de la serpiente: Colombia, Venezuela,
Argentina, 2015, Fiction, 125´, HD, B/N-Color
Cuba libre: Cuba, 2015, Fiction, 120´, DIGITAL, Color
La obra del siglo: Cuba, Argentina, Germany, Switzerland,
2015, Fiction, 100´, HD, B/N-Color
Vuelos prohibidos: Cuba, France, 2014, Fiction, 100´, HD,
Color
La cosa humana: Cuba, Peru, 2015, Fiction, 85´, HD,
Color
El acompañante: Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, France,
Panama, 2015, Fiction, 104´, HD, Color
Un monstruo de mil cabezas: Mexico, 2015, Fiction, 75´,
HD, Color
Te prometo anarquía: Mexico, Germany, 2015, Fiction,
88´, HD, Color
Yo: México, Canada, Switzerland, Dominican Republic,
2015, Fiction, 80´, HD, Color
Las elegidas: Mexico, France, 2015, Fiction, 105´, HD,
Color
contents
page 52
Around Cuba
Parrandas de Remedios
December 24
Remedios, Villa Clara Province
Legend has it that during the 1820s, a young priest officiating in Remedios—
the eighth town founded by the Spaniards in Cuba—decided to have a group of
children make a noise with whatever they had to hand in an effort to awaken lazy
parishioners to attend mass in the chilly mornings of 24th December. From then
on, neighbours would go out into the streets on the nights prior to Christmas
for music and merrymaking. From 1871, a competition or “parranda” between
two neighbourhoods—El Carmen and San Salvador—took place, each with its own
hymn, colours, kites and lanterns. In 1875, complicated floats lit by flares and
fireworks were paraded by each side at the town’s Plaza de Armas (town square).
To this day, the two neighbourhoods continue with a rivalry characterized by
the beauty and originality of these floats, as well as by the amazing pyrotechnics
that from 9 pm on 24th December to dawn on 25th December, illuminate the city
sky. Both sides keep their floats secret from each other during the course of the
year with even members of the same family on either side of the fence sworn to
secrecy against each other. Although these festivities have spread to other nearby
localities of Guayos and Camajuaní, the Parrandas de Remedios are the oldest and
most well known on the island.
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page 53
Around Cuba
Charangas de Bejucal
December 24-26 & January 1
Bejucal, Mayabeque Province
Like many other festivals of this type in Cuba, the charangas (popular son-influenced Cuban music that
began in the 1940s emphasizing flute, violin and piano orchestra) are related to Christmas celebrations,
when white Catholics and black slaves would take to the streets with their musical instruments to pay
tribute to their deities. Eventually, they divided into two groups: La Musicanga, which gathered the
criollos (freed blacks and slaves); and Los Malayos (representing the Spaniards). Thanks to the fusion
of cultures that characterizes Cuban identity, racial and class differences were lost with time, and
belonging to one or another side was simply determined by each person’s preference. Rivalry between
both sides today - now named La Ceiba de Plata and La Espina de Oro - consists in the ability to
construct the most colorful and striking floats. The traditional music of the orchestra Los Tambores de
Bejucal accompanies this festivity now attended not only by the inhabitants of the town, 20 km south
of Havana, but by hundreds of visitors who enjoy the fantasy and creativity of designers, engineers,
painters, musicians, choreographers, and dancers whose talent guarantees the vitality of one of the
oldest popular celebrations in Cuba.
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page 55
Havana’s best places to eat
La Guarida
El Atelier
5
Bella Ciao
5
Café Bohemia
5
Café Laurent
4+
Experimental fusion
Homely Italian
Café
Spanish/Mediterranean
Interesting décor, interesting
menu.
Great service, good prices. A
real home from home.
Bohemian feel. Great
sandwiches, salads & juices
Attractive penthouse restaurant
with breezy terrace.
Calle 5 e/ Paseo y 2, Vedado
(+53) 7-836-2025
Calle 19 y 72, Playa
(+53) 7-206-1406
Calle San Ignacio #364, Habana
Vieja
Calle M #257, e/ 19 y 21, Vedado
(+53) 7-831-2090
Casa Miglis
El Chanchullero
La California
5
La Casa
5
5
5
Cuban-Creole/International
Contemporary fusion
Swedish-Cuban fusion
Beautiful C19 colonial building.
Great fresh pastas.
VIP service. The Robaina family
place. Thurs Sushi night.
Oasis of good food & taste in
Centro Habana
Fabulous value hole in the wall
tapas. Trendy.
Calle Crespo #55 e/ San Lázaro
y Refugio, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-863 7510
Calle 30 #865 e/ 26 y 41, Nuevo
Vedado
(+53) 7-881-7000
Lealtad #120 e/ Ánimas y
Lagunas, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-864-1486
Teniente Rey #457 bajos, Plaza
del Cristo, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-872-8227
El Cocinero
Corte Príncipe
Il Divino
5
5+
4+
D. Eutimia
5+
International
Italian
International
Cuban/Creole
Industrial chic alfresco rooftop
with a buzzing atmosphere
Sergio’s place. Simple décor,
spectacular food.
Set in huge gardens outside
town. Great for the kids.
Absolutely charming. Excellent
Cuban/creole food.
Calle 26, e/ 11 y 13, Vedado.
(+53) 7-832-2355
Calle 9na esq. a 74, Miramar
(+53) 5-255-9091
Calle Raquel, #50 e/ Esperanza
y Lindero, Arroyo Naranjo
(+53) 7-643-7734
Callejón del Chorro #60C, Plaza
de la Catedral, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7 861 1332
Iván Chef
El Litoral
La Fontana
4
Habana Mia 7
5
5+
5+
International
International gourmet
Spanish
International
Consistently good food,
attentive service. Old school.
Endless summer nights.
Excellent food and service.
Brilliantly creative and rich
food.
Watch the world go by at the
Malecón’s best restaurant.
Calle 46 #305 esq. a 3ra,
Miramar
(+53) 7-202-8337
Paseo #7 altos e/ 1ra y 3ra.
Vedado
(+53) 7-830-2287
Aguacate #9 esq. a Chacón,
Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-863-9697
Malecón #161 e/ K y L, Vedado
(+53) 7-830-2201
Nautilus
5
Nazdarovie
5+
Nero Di Seppia
5
Opera
5
French/Mediterranean
Soviet
ITALIAN
INTERNATIONAL
Imaginative, tasty and
innovative menu.
Well designed Soviet décor,
excellent food & good service.
Calle 84 #1116 e/ 11 y 13. Playa
(+53) 5-237-3894
Malecon #25, 3rd floor e Prado
y Carcel, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-860-2947
SThe new location for Havana’s
best pizza chef, Walter. Same
food, great locale.
Homely & intimate
environment. Quality food. By
reservation.
Calle 6 #122 e/ 1ra y 3ra,
Miramar
(+53) 5-478-7871
Calle 5ta #204 e/ E y F, Vedado
(+53) 5-263-1632
(+53) 8-31-2255
Otra Manera
5
Río Mar
5
San Cristóbal
5
304 O’Reilly
5
international
International
Cuban/Creole
international
Beautiful modern decor.
Interesting menu and good
service.
Contemporary décor. Great
sea-view. Good food.
Deservedly popular.Consistently
great food. Kitsch décor.
Chic, stylish. Superb gin &
tonic. Best in Old Havana.
Ave. 3raA y Final #11, La Puntilla,
Miramar
(+53) 7-209-4838
San Rafael #469 e/ Lealtad y
Campanario, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-860-9109
O’Reilly #304‬ e/ Habana y
Aguiar,La Habana Vieja
(+53) 5-264-4725
Starbien
VIP Havana
Calle #35 e/ 20 y 41, Playa.
(+53) 7-203-8315
Santy
5+
5+
5
El Templete
5-
Sushi/Oriental
Spanish
Authentic fisherman’s shack
servicing world-class sushi.
Fabulous food and great service
in the heart of Vedado.
Jordi’s place. Fabulous modern
open-plan space.
Overlooking harbor. Good
quality but expensive.
Calle 240A #3023 esq. a 3ra C,
Jaimanitas
(+53) 5-286-7039
Calle 29 #205 e/ B y C, Vedado
(+53) 7-830-0711
Calle 9na #454 e/ E y F, Vedado
(+53) 7-832-0178
Ave. del Puerto #12 esq. a
Narciso López, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-866-8807
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November 2015
page 56
La Guarida
5+
TOP PICK
Style of food
Contemporary fusion
CostExpensive
www.laguarida.com
Type of place Private (Paladar)
Food
Ambience
Service
Value
Best for Authentic, charming and intimate
atmosphere in Cuba’s best known
restaurant. Great food, professional. Classy.
Don’t Miss Uma Thurman, Beyoncé or the
Queen of Spain if they happen to be dining
next to you.
Concordia #418 e/ Gervasio y Escobar, Centro
Habana.
(+53) 7-866-9047
El Litoral
5+
TOP PICK
Style of food
International
CostExpensive
Food
Ambience
Service
Value
Best for Quality décor, good service and
great food. Best new place recently opened.
Don’t Miss Drinking a cocktail at sunset
watching the world go by on the Malecón
Malecón #161 e/ K y L, Vedado.
(+53) 7-830-2201
Nazdarovie
5+
TOP PICK
Style of food
Soviet
CostModerate
Food
Ambience
Service
Value
Best for Getting a flavor of Cuban-Soviet history along with babuska’s traditional dishes
in a classy locale.
Don’t miss Vodka sundowners on the
gorgeous terrace overlooking the malecon.
Malecon #25 3rd floor e/ Prado y Carcel, Centro
Habana
(+53) 7-860-2947
Santy
5+
TOP PICK
Style of food
Sushi
CostModerate
Food
Ambience
Service
Value
Best for Fabulous sushi, wonderful ambience
overlooking fishing boats heading out to sea.
World class.
Don’t miss Getting a reservation here.
Calle 240A #3023 esq. 3raC, Jaimanitas
(+53) 5-286-7039
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November 2015
page 57
Café Bohemia
5+
TOP PICK
Style of foodTraditional
CostModerate
Food
Ambience
Service
Value
Best for perfect for taking a break from long
walks and seeking shelter from the stifling
Cuban.
Don’t miss location in the cool inner
courtyard of the colonial building.
Ground floor of the Palacio de la Casa del Conde
de Lombillo, Calle San Ignacio #364
(+53) 5- 403-1 568, (+53) 7-836-6567
www.havanabohemia.com
Iván Chef Justo
5+
TOP PICK
Style of food
Spanish
CostExpensive
Food
Ambience
Service
Value
Best for Spectacular innovative food. Light
and airy place where it always seems to feel
like Springtime.
Don’t Miss The lightly spiced grilled mahimahi served with organic tomato relish.
Try the suckling pig and stay for the cuatro
leches.
Aguacate #9, Esq. Chacón, Habana Vieja.
(+53) 7-863-9697 / (+53) 5-343-8540
Casa Miglis
5
TOP PICK
Style of food
Swedish-Cuban fusion
CostExpensive
Food
Ambience
Service
Value
Best for The beautifully designed interior,
warm ambience and Miglis’s personality
create the feeling of an oasis in Central
Havana.
Don’t Miss Chatting with Mr Miglis.
The Skaargan prawns, beef Chilli and
lingonberries.
Lealtad #120 e/ Ánimas y Lagunas, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-864-1486
www.casamiglis.com
Habana Mía 7
5
TOP PICK
Style of food
International gourmet
CostModerate
Food
Ambience
Service
Value
Best for Stylish and fresh décor give a
Mediterranean feel for long endless summer
nights. Excellent food and service.
Don’t miss Watching the world go by on the
lovely terrace overlooking the ocean.
Paseo #7 altos e/ 1ra y 3ra, Vedado
(+53) 7-830-2287
www.habanamia7.com
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November 2015
page 58
La California
5
TOP PICK
Style of food
Cuban-Creole/International
CostModerate
Food
Ambience
Service
Value
Best for Beautiful C19 colonial building.
Popular place with quality food and great
service. Love the fresh pastas.
Dont’t Miss The interesting history of the
neighbourhood, where Chano Pozo (legendary Afro-Cuban jazz percussionist) hung out.
Calle Crespo #55 e/ San Lázaro y Refugio,
Centro Habana
(+53) 7-863-7510
Atelier
5
TOP PICK
Style of food
Experimental fusion
CostExpensive
Food
Ambience
Service
Value
Best for Interesting menu, beautiful building
with great décor and service.
Don’t miss Dinner on the breezy terrace
during summer.
Calle 5ta e/ Paseo y 2, Vedado
(+53) 7-836-2025
[email protected]
La Casa
5
TOP PICK
Style of food
International/sushi
CostExpensive
Food
Ambience
Service
Value
Best for Warm hospitality and openness
from the four generations of the Robaina
family. Quality food.
Don’t miss Thursday night sushi night.
The Piña Colada.
Calle 30 #865 e/ 26 y 41, Nuevo Vedado.
(+53) 7-881-7000
[email protected]
Otramanera
5
TOP PICK
Style of food
International
CostModerate
Food
Ambience
Service
Value
Best for Beautiful modern décor and good
food.
Don’t miss Pork rack of ribs in honey. Sweet
& sour sauce and grilled pineapple
Calle 35 #1810 e/ 20 y 41, Playa
(+53) 7-203-8315
[email protected]
[email protected]
contents
November 2015
page 59
Sloppy Joe’s
Havana’s best Bars & Clubs
Traditional Bars
El Floridita
4+
Hemingway’s daiquiri bar.
Touristy but always full of life.
Great cocktails.
Obispo #557 esq. a Monserrate,
Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-867-1299
5
1950s Traditionals
GUEST PERFORMERS INCLUDE
BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB
MEMBERS
Sociedad Rosalía de Castro,
Egido 504 e/ Monte y Dragones,
Old Havana
(+53) 5-270-5271
Sloppy
Joe’s Bar
4+
Cervecería
Antiguo Almacén
Madera y el Tabaco
Recently (beautifully)
renovated. Full of history.
Popular. Lacks a little ‘grime’.
Ánimas esq. a Zulueta, Habana
Vieja
(+53) 7-866-7157
5+
de
la
Microbrewery located
overlooking the restored docks
Simply brilliant.
Avenida del Puerto y San
Ignacio, La Habana Vieja
Contemporary Bars
El Cocinero
5+
Fabulous rooftop setting, great
service, cool vibe.
Calle 26 e/ 11 y 13, Vedado
(+53) 7-832-2355
Espacios
5-
Laid back contemporary bar
with a real buzz in the back
beer-garden.
TaBARish
5
A comfortable place to chat
/ hang out with your friends.
Great service.
Calle 10 #510, e/ 5ta y 31,
Miramar
(next to the Puente de Hierro)
(+53) 5-329-6325
www.facebook.com/fabrica.
deartecubano
(+53) 7-202-9188
Contemporary bars/clubs
Don Cangrejo
4+
Love it/hate it—this is the
oldest Friday night party
place and is still going strong.
Outdoor by the sea.
Ave. 1ra e/ 16 & 18, Miramar
(+53) 7-204-3837
5
Packed night after night with
a young dressed-up clientele
wanting to party. Don’t go
looking for Buena Vista Social
Club!
4
Bohemian attracting a hip
Cuban crowd. Excellent DJ’s
keep the place jumping.
El Gato Tuerto
4+
Late night place to hear
fabulous bolero singers. Can
get smoky.
Calle 17 e/ E y F, Vedado, La
Habana
(+53) 7-832-0433
Up & Down
5
From the team that brought
you Sangri-La. Attracting
a young party crowd, very
popular. Take a coat.
Calle O e/ 17 y 19, Vedado
(+53) 7-833-2224
El Tocororo
Sangri-La
5
For the cool kids. Basement
bar/club which gets packed at
weekends.
Ave. 21 e/ 36 y 42, Miramar
(+53) 7-264-8343
Calle 3ra y B, Vedado
Calle 39 esq. 50, Playa
(+53) 5 -294-3572
Other
Sarao’s Bar
Bolabana
5+
X Alfonso’s new cultural center.
Great concerts, funky young
scene.
Calle 20 #503, e/ 5ta y 7ma.
(+53) 7-836-3031
Fábrica
de Arte
4+
Expat favorite hangout. Small
indoor bar with live music and
eclectic clientele.
Calle 18 e/ 3ra y 5ta, Miramar
Bertolt Brecht
5
Think MTV Unplugged. Hip,
funky and unique with an artsy
Cuban crowd.
Calle 13 e/ I y J, Vedado
(+53) 7-830-1354
Gay-friendly
Cabaret
Las Vegas
4
Can get dark and smoky but
great drag show (11pm) from
Divino—one of Cuba’s most
accomplished drag acts.
Infanta #104 e/ 25 y 27, Vedado.
(+53) 7-870-7939
El Sauce
5-
Mellow outdoor club.
Avenida 9na #12015, e/
Calles 120 y 130, Miramar.
(07) 204-6428
Fashion
Bar Havana
A superb example of
queer class meets camp,
accompanied by a fantastic
floor show.
San Juan de Dios, esq. a
Aguacate, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-867-1676
5
Café Bar
Madrigal
4
Pop décor, fancy cocktails, and
the staff’s supercilious attitude,
this is a gathering spot for all
types of folks.
Calle 17 #809 e/ 2 y 4, Vedado
(+53) 7-831-2433
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November 2015
page 61
Bertolt Brecht
5
TOP PICK
Contemporary Bar/clubs
Ambience
Popularity
Entertainment
Service & drinks
Best for Hanging out with hip & funky
Cubans who like their live music.
Don’t Miss Interactivo playing on a
Wednesday evening.
(+53) 7-830-1354
Espacios
5-
TOP PICK
Contemporary Bar
Ambience
Popularity
Entertainment
Service & drinks
Best for Laid back lounge atmosphere in
the garden area which often has live music.
Good turnover of people.
Don’t Miss Ray Fernandez, Tony Avila, Yasek
Mazano playing live sets in the garden.
Calle 10 #510 e/ 5ta y 31, Miramar
(+53) 7-202-2921
Sangri-La
5+
TOP PICK
Contemporary Bar/CLUB
Ambience
Popularity
Entertainment
Service & drinks
Best for Hanging out with the cool kids on
the Havana Farundula in the most popular
bar/club.
Don’t Miss The best gin and tonic in Havana.
Ave. 21 e/ 36 y 42, Miramar
(+53) 5-264-8343
Bolabana
5
TOP PICK
CONTEMPORARY
Ambience
Popularity
Entertainment
Service & drinks
Best for Trendy new location near Salón
Rosado de la Tropical
Don’t Miss Hipsters meet the Havana
Farándula
Calle 39 esq. 50, Playa
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November 2015
page 62
Sloppy Joe’s Bar
4+
CA TOP PICK
StyleBar / Traditional
Ambience
Popularity
Entertainment
Service & drinks
Best for Immense original bar lovingly
restored. Good service, History.
Worst for Not quite grimy. Too clean.
Ánimas, esq. Zulueta La Habana Vieja,
(07) 866-7157
Fábrica de Arte
5+
TOP PICK
Contemporary Bar
Ambience
Popularity
Entertainment
Service & drinks
Best for X Alfonso’s superb new cultural
center has something for everyone
Don’t Miss Artists who exhibit work should
demonstrate ongoing creativity and a
commitment for social transformation.
(next to the Puente de Hierro)
Fashion Bar Havana
5
TOP PICK
Gay-friendly
Ambience
Popularity
Entertainment
Service & drinks
Best for A superb example of queer class
meets camp, accompanied by a fantastic
floor show.
Don’t Miss The staff performing after 11pm
San Juan de Dios, esq. a Aguacate, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-867-1676
TaBARish
5
TOP PICK
Contemporary Bar/CLUB
Ambience
Popularity
Entertainment
Service & drinks
Best for A comfortable place to chat / hang
out with your friends. Great service.
Don’t Miss The homemade Russian soup –
just like Matushka makes it.
Calle 20 #503, e/ 5ta y 7ma.
(+53) 7-202-9188
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November 2015
page 63
Basílica Menor de San Francisco de Asís
Havana’s best live music venues
Concert venues
Karl Marx
Theatre
5
World class musicians perform
prestigious concerts in Cuba’s
best equipped venue.
Calle 1ra esq. a 10, Miramar
(+53) 7-203-0801
Jazz
Café Jazz
Miramar
4+
Salsa/Timba
4
Attracts the best Cuban
musicians. Recently renovated
with an excellent new sound
system.
Ave. Paseo esq. a 39, Plaza de la
Revolución
(+53) 7-878-4273
Contemporary
5
Think MTV Unplugged when
musicians play. Hip, funky and
unique with an artsy Cuban
crowd.
(+53) 7-830-1354
Trova & traditional
Barbaram
Pepito’s Bar
4+
Some of the best Cuban Nueva
Trova musicians perform
in this small and intimate
environment.
Calle 26 esq. a Ave. del
Zoológico. Nuevo Vedado
(+53) 7-881-1808
A truly beautiful church,
which regularly hosts fabulous
classical music concerts.
Fábrica de Arte
5
X Alfonso’s new cultural center.
Great concerts inside (small
and funky) and outside (large
and popular!).
Oficios y Amargura, Plaza de
San Francisco de Asís, Habana
Vieja
Calle 26 e/ 11 y 13, Vedado (next
to the Puente de Hierro)
Jazz Café
La Zorra y el
Cuervo
4
Galerías de Paseo
Ave. 1ra e/ Paseo y A, Vedado
Cine Teatro Miramar
10:30pm – 2am
Ave. 5ta esq. a 94, Miramar
Café Teatro
Bertolt Brecht
5
A staple of Havana’s jazz
scene, the best jazz players
perform here. Somewhat cold
atmosphere-wise.
Clean, modern and
atmospheric. Where Cuba’s
best musicians jam and
improvise.
Café Cantante
Mi Habana
Basílica San
Francisco de Asís
Casa de la
Música
Intimate and atmospheric, this
basement jazz club, which you
enter through a red telephone
box, is Cuba’s most famous.
Calle 23 e/ N y O, Vedado
(+53) 7-833-2402
4
Casa de la
Música
Centro Habana
Miramar
A little rough around the edges
but spacious. For better or
worse, this is ground zero for
the best in Cuban salsa.
Smaller and more up-market
than its newer twin in Centro
Habana. An institution in the
Havana salsa scene.
Galiano e/ Neptuno y
Concordia, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-860-8296/4165
Calle 20 esq. a 35, Miramar
(+53) 7-204-0447
Don Cangrejo
4+
Love it/hate it—this is the
oldest Friday night party
place and is still going strong.
Outdoor by the sea.
Ave. 1ra e/ 16 y 18, Miramar
(+53) 7-204-3837
Gato Tuerto
4+
Late night place to hear
fabulous bolero singers. Can
get smoky.
Calle O entre 17 y 19, Vedado
(+53) 7-833-2224
5
El Sauce
4
Recently renovated, one of
Cuba’s most prestigious venues
for a multitude of events.
Paseo y 39, Plaza de la
Revolución.
Privé Lounge
5+
Small and intimate lounge
club with great acoustics and
beautiful decor. Jazz groups
play Sunday night.
Calle 88A #306 e/ 3ra y 3raA,
Miramar
(+53) 7-209-2719
Salón Rosado
de la Tropical
5
Ave. 41 esq. a 46, Playa
Times: varies wildly
(+53) 7-203-5322
5-
Ave. 9na #12015 e/ 120 y 130,
Playa
(+53) 7-204-6428
Teatro de
Bellas Artes
4+
Small intimate venue inside
Cuba’s most prestigious arts
museum. Modern.
Trocadero e/ Zulueta y
Monserrate, Habana Vieja.
5
The 1950s traditionals, a
project created over 10 years
ago, pays tribute to the Golden
Era of Cuban music: the 1950s.
Sociedad Rosalia de Castro,
Egido #504 e/ Monte y
Dragones, Havana Vieja
(+53) 7-861-7761
5
Teatro Nacional
The legendary beer garden
where Arsenio tore it up. Look
for a salsa/timba gig on a Sat
night and a Sun matinee.
Great outdoor concert venue to
hear the best in contemporary
& Nueva Trova live in concert.
Tradicionales
de los 50
Sala Covarrubias
4+
Salón 1930
‘Compay Segundo’
Buena Vista Social Club style
set in the grand Hotel Nacional.
Hotel Nacional
Calle O esq. a 21, Vedado
(+53) 7-835-3896
contents
November 2015
page 64
Havana’s Best Hotels
Hotel Nacional de Cuba
Simply the best…
Iberostar
Parque Central
5+
Santa Isabel
5+
Luxurious historic mansion
facing Plaza de Armas
Luxury hotel overlooking
Parque Central
5+
Stunning view from roof-top
pool. Beautiful décor.
Narciso López, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-860-8201
Neptuno e/ Prado y Zulueta,
Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-860-6627
Saratoga
Terral
5
Wonderful ocean front
location. Newly renovated.
Paseo del Prado #603 esq. a
Dragones, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-860-8201
Malecón esq. a Lealtad, Centro
Habana
(+53) 7-862-8061
Boutique Hotels in Old Havana
Florida
5
Beautifully restored colonial
house.
5
Cuban baroque meets modern
minimalist
Obispo #252, esq. a Cuba,
Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-862-4127
Oficios #152 esq. a Amargura,
Habana Vieja
Business Hotels
Meliá Cohíba
Palacio del
Marqués...
5
Oasis of polished marble and
professional calm.
Meliá Habana
5
Attractive design & extensive
facilities.
Ave Paseo e/ 1ra y 3ra, Vedado
(+53) 7- 833-3636
4
A must for Hemingway
aficionados
Mercure Sevilla
4
Trocadero #55 entre Prado y
Zulueta, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-860-8560
On the banks of the Río
Almendares.
Calle 28-A e/ 49-A y 49-B,
Reparto Kohly, Playa
(+53) 7-204-9232
3
Deauville
Lack of pretension, great
location.
Galiano e/ Sán Lázaro y
Malecón, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-866-8812
4+
Hotel Nacional
Saint John’s
Lively disco, tiny quirky pool.
Popular.
(+53) 7-833-3740
H10 Habana
Panorama
4+
Cascades of glass. Good wi-fi.
Modern.
Ave. 3ra. y 70, Miramar
(+53) 7 204-0100
5
Riviera
3
Spectacular views over wavelashed Malecón
Calle O esq. a 21, Vedado
(+53) 7-835 3896
3
5
Mercaderes #202, esq. a
Lamparilla
(+53) 7-862-9293
Eclectic art-deco architecture.
Gorgeous gardens.
Economical/Budget Hotels
Bosque
Occidental
Miramar
Conde de
Villanueva
Delightfully small and intimate.
For cigar lovers.
Oficios #53 esq. a Obrapía,
Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-867-1037
Ave. 5ta. e/ 70 y 72, Miramar
(+53) 7-204-3583
Stunning views from the roof
garden restaurant.
Calle Obispo #153 esq. a
Mercaderes, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7- 860-9529
5+
Immensely charming, great
value.
Good value, large spacious
modern rooms.
Ave. 3ra y 70, Miramar
(+53) 5-204-8500
For a sense of history
Ambos Mundos
Hostal Valencia
Paseo y Malecón, Vedado
(+53) 7-836-4051
3
Vedado
3
Good budget option with a bit
of a buzz
(+53) 7-836-4072
contents
November 2015
page 65
Havana’s
best private
places to stay
Casa Escorial
For Help reserving any Private Accommodation (Casas Particulares) in Cuba please contact
[email protected]
Mid range - Casa Particular (B&B)
1932
Miramar 301
4
Visually stunning, historically
fascinating. Welcoming.
5
5
Beautiful colonial townhouse
with great location.
Luxury House
4 bedrooms private luxury
villa with swimming pool
Campanario #63 e/ San Lázaro
y Laguna, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-863-6203
Habana
Julio y Elsa
5
Cluttered bohemian feel.
Hospitable.
Calle Habana #209, e/
Empedrado, y Tejadillo, Habana
Vieja.
(+53) 7-861-0253
Consulado #162 e/ Colón y
Trocadero, Centro Habana
(+53) 7-861-8027
Casa Escorial
Hostal Guanabo
Up-scale B&Bs (Boutique hostals)
Cañaveral House
But undoubtedly the most
beautiful about private homes
in Cuba
5 Vitrales
39A street, #4402, between 44
y 46, Playa, La Habana Cuba
(+53) 295-5700
http://www.cubaguesthouse.
com/canaveral.home.
html?lang=en
5
Hospitable, attractive and
reliable boutique B&B with 9
bedrooms.
5+
Attractive accomodations with
a panoramic view of Plaza Vieja
Mercaderes # 315 apt 3 e/
Muralla y Teniente Rey, Plaza
Vieja, Habana Vieja
(+53) 5-268 6881; 5-278 6148
[email protected]
Habana #106 e/ Cuarteles y
Chacón, Habana Vieja
(+53) 7-866-2607
5
Beautiful 4 bedroom seafront villa in sleepy Guanabo.
Excellent food.
Calle 480 #1A04 e/ 1ra y 3ra,
Guanabo
(+53) 7-799-0004
Apartment rentals
Bohemia Boutique
Apartments
5+
5+
Beautifully designed
and spacious 3 bedroom
apartment. Spanish colonial
interiors with cheerful, arty
accents.
Gorgeous 1-bedroom
apartment beautifully
decorated apartment
overlooking Plaza Vieja.
Luxury Houses
5
Rent Room elegant and wellequipped. Beautiful wild
garden and great pool.
Calle 17 #1101 e/ 14 y 16, Vedado
(+34) 677525361
(+53) 7-832-1927
(+53) 5-360-0456
Casablanca
Tropicana
Penthouse
5
5
Morro-Cabaña Park. House #29
(+53) 5-294-5397
www.havanacasablanca.com
Michael
and María Elena
This leafy oasis in western
Havana has an attractive
mosaic tiled pool and three
modern bedrooms.
Calle 66 #4507 e/ 45 y Final,
Playa
(+53) 7-209-0084
5
Lamparilla #62 altos e/
Mercaderes y San Ignacio,
Habana Vieja
(+53) 5-829-6524
Galiano #60 Penthouse Apt.10
e/ San Lázaro y Trocadero
(+53) 5-254-5240
www.tropicanapenthouse.com
Elegant well-equipped villa
formerly owned by Fulgencio
Batista. Beautiful wild garden.
Suite Havana
Elegant 2-bedroom apartment
in restored colonial building.
Quality loft style décor.
A luxurious penthouse with
huge roof terrace and breathtaking 360 degree views of
Havana and the ocean.
Concordia #151 apto. 8 esq. a
San Nicolás, Centro Habana
(+53) 5-254-5240
www.casaconcordia.net
San Ignacio #364 e/ Muralla
y Teniente Rey, Plaza Vieja
Habana Vieja
(+53) 5- 403-1 568
(+53) 7-836-6567
Villasol
Casa Concordia
5
Residencia
Mariby
5
A sprawling vanilla-hued
mansion with 6 rooms
decorated with colonial-era
lamps, tiles and Louis XV
furniture
Vedado.
(+53) 5-370-5559
contents
November 2015
page 66
Casa Escorial
5+
TOP PICK
Facilities
Rooms
Ambience
Value
Best for Attractive accomodations with a
panoramic view of Plaza Vieja
Don’t Miss The smell of fresh made coffee
from the café below.
Mercaderes # 315 apt 3 e/ Muralla y Teniente Rey,
Plaza Vieja, Habana Vieja
(+53) 5-268 6881; 5-278-6148
[email protected]
Bohemia Boutique
Apartments Blue
5+
TOP PICK
Facilities
Rooms
Ambience
Value
Best for i1 internal balcony, 1 spacious
bedroom on the mezzanine with air
conditioning.
Don’t Miss The apartment is fully furbished,
plenty of light and very well ventilated.
San Ignacio #364 e/ Muralla y Teniente Rey, Plaza
Vieja, Habana Vieja
[email protected]
(+53) 5 4031 568: (53) 7 8366 567
Bohemia Boutique
Apartments Red
5+
TOP PICK
Facilities
Rooms
Ambience
Value
Best for 3 small balconies (facing the Patio
of the Palace), 1 spacious bedroom with air
conditioning
Don’t Miss The apartment is fully furbished,
plenty of light and very well ventilated.
San Ignacio #364 e/ Muralla y Teniente Rey, Plaza
Vieja, Habana Vieja
[email protected]
(+53) 5 4031 568: (53) 7 8366 567
Cañaveral House
5+
TOP PICK
Facilities
Rooms
Ambience
Value
Best for Large elegant villa away from
downtown Havana. Great for families or
groups of friends.
Don’t Miss Basking in the sun as you stretch
out on the lawn of the
beautifully kept garden.
39A street, #4402, between 44 y 46, Playa, La
Habana Cuba
(+53) 295-5700
http://www.cubaguesthouse.com/canaveral.home.
html?lang=en
contents
November 2015
page 67
Thank You
Wishes to thank all of the following
entities for their support and
involvement with What’s On
Havana.
Center for Cuban Studies /
Cuban Art Space

Film Buffs in Cuba The Havana Jazz Plaza Festival

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