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New Restrictions on Traveling from Cuba to the US, 4/20

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Archive: 1/03 - 6/03

Cuban band evokes rage, nostalgia  6/27/03 St. Petersburg Times: "Los Van Van has played Cuba literally for generations, a revolving troupe of expert musicians that Cuban exiles say feeds Castro's Communist regime with revenue and mutually beneficial endorsements. In Miami, a couple of thousand people turned out in 1999 to protest the group's appearance. It was canceled, with the help of city's mayor, a man of Cuban descent. Even after being moved to a private venue in Miami, it drew protests. But in Tampa, Rabeiro was in the company of only about five dozen protesters, largely first-generation Americans with graying hair."

Cuban Hip Hop Groups Join The Roots In A Historic Concert At The Apollo Theater  6/6/03 MI2N: "In its continuing effort to promote cultural exchange, The Hip Hop Theater Festival and The International Hip Hop Exchange will unite Cuba's leading Hip Hop groups, Doble Filo and Obsesion with America's leading politically and socially conscious Hip Hop artists: The Roots, Common, Tony Touch, Soul Live w/J-Live, Kanye West, El Meswy and Tomorrowz Weaponz with other special guests." On June 9th, see link for details.

Percussion pros, Afro-Cuban drumming masters to perform Wednesday in Vineland's Giampietro Park  6/2/03 Daily Journal, NJ: "At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Santana percussionists Karl Perazzo and Raul Rekow, along with conga icon Armando Peraza, will showcase the foundation of Afro-Cuban percussion at the Enrico Serra Band Shell in Giampietro Park."

The Roots, Common,Kanye Unite With Cuban Rap  5/30/03 All Hip Hop: "The Roots, Common, Tony Touch, Soul Live, J-Live, Kanye West and others plan to convene with several Cuban hip-hop artists in an effort to push cultural exchange at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. On June 9, the American artists will meld talents with Cuba’s finest like Doble Filo and Obsesion "

Thursday concerts to resume at NJPAC  5/30/03 Star Ledger, NJ: "July 10, 4:30 p.m. -- Raices Habaneras, Afro-Cuban rumba; Somi, soul; Iqua Colson, jazz; DJ Hard Hittin' Harry, hip-hop."

The rap on Cuba coming to town to play Hip Hop Exchange/Miami  5/18/03 Miami Herald 

PATRIMONIO Y CLAVE MUSICOLÓGICA EN LA INDUSTRIA MUSICAL  5/15/03 Jiribilla 

Circulo de Bellas Artes Opens Wifredo Lam Exhibit  5/11/03 Art Daily: "MADRID, SPAIN.- The Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid opens today the exhibition "Wifredo Lam. Intimate Cartography," on view through June 1, 2003. The exhibition presents seventy works by great Cuban artist Wifredo Lam on the centennial of the artist’s birth. Wifredo Lam was born in Sagua la Grande, Cuba, 1902. He died in Paris in 1982."

Broadening the Vision Of Cuban Music  5/4/03 Newsday: "In many ways, Juan de Marcos González was the unsung hero of the Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon. In addition to his typical percussion and tres guitar duties, he is listed as conductor and musical transcriber on the BVSC album, the arranger and conductor of "Introducing Rubén Gonzalez," and he was the leader of the Afro-Cuban All Stars, whose two albums, "A Todo Cuba le Gusta" and "Distinto, Diferente" were standouts of Buena Vista executive producer Nick Gold's World Circuit releases."

Grupo rapero Orishas cautivará de nuevo al público español  5/1/03 Cultura: "El público español será cautivado a fuerza de palabras por el grupo cubano de rap Orishas, cuando desarrolle una serie de conciertos en ese país, entre el dos de mayo y el segundo día de agosto de 2003. La publicación digital del grupo, -actualmente radicado en Francia-, asegura que el trío de jóvenes caribeños viajará a la península ibérica para realizar una serie de 13 conciertos ante los jóvenes españoles."

Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Clave - Latin Jazz Finally Gets Its Due  4/30/03 Village Voice: "hen Arturo O'Farrill visited Cuba last December, he had no idea how he'd be received. He's the son of a towering cultural figure, composer and bandleader Chico O'Farrill, but his father left Cuba in the late 1950s, never to return… "I just assumed that since my father is an expatriate, the people of Cuba would bear resentment toward him, or not really know who he was," he says. "Or maybe that Castro had filtered out his memory." The last thing O'Farrill expected was to be received as royalty. But the staff of the Palacio was lined up in the street to welcome him when he showed up to play the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival, at which he and other American musicians sidestepped the American embargo and performed for free. That 19th-century neoclassical building, on the corner of Cuba and Chacón streets in Old Havana, was in fact once a palace, built by one of the pianist's ancestors."

The Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Band  4/29/03 eJazzNews 

Cuba via Satellite TV  4/28/03 Radio Progresso: "The 168 hours a week include 52 live and taped programs, 22% of them musicals, 20% news and the rest varied programs especially produced for the channel or taken from the best Cuban TV has to offer; and other local producers considered of international quality standards."

Foggy Bottom Breakdown - The Afro-Cuban All Stars Shine at Lisner  4/28/03 Washington Post: " This is the latest touring incarnation of the band assembled by De Marcos, a singer and guitarist and the mastermind of "The Buena Vista Social Club," the project that first brought international acclaim to a collection of long-retired Cuban jazz giants. The stars of that movie and its soundtrack -- among them, Ibrahim Ferrer and Compay Segundo -- have spun off to solo careers, so for this excursion De Marcos recruited a new and (for the most part) younger batch of talent."

La Aragón se impuso al veto yanqui  4/27/03 Cultura: "Poco importó a los maestros de la agrupación que el Departamento de Estado norteamericano les negara arbitrariamente las visas a dos de sus componentes clave: el director Rafael Lay y el bajista Roberto Espinosa." - part of the continuing US war against culture.

Cuban piano masters handle handful of keys  4/19/03 Alameda Times-Star, CA: "ONCE again showcasing the type of inspired programming that has made it one of the nation's most exciting presenters of jazz, SFJazz hosted two generations of Cuban piano mastery Thursday. Chucho Valdes, 61, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba, 39, performed as part of the arts organization's spring season…"

Pianist 'Chucho' Valdes brings Cuban feel to U.S.  4/16/03 San Bernardino County Sun 

Golden age of Cuban music glows  4/13/03 San Antonio Express-News: "The bewitching spirits of Afro-Cuban music took center stage Saturday at the Municipal Auditorium. Holding court for almost two hours was the Buena Vista Social Club, featuring Ibrahim Ferrer on vocals. Combining amazing ensemble work, exquisite musicianship and infectious songs, the group easily transported music fans to another time and another place — the golden age of Cuban music."

Elio Reve y su Charangón a Festival de Jazz en Santa Lucía  4/5/03 Cultura: "Castries, Santa Lucia.- El Festival de Jazz de Santa Lucía, uno de los mayores del Caribe de habla inglesa, que se celebra del 2 al 11 de mayo contara con la participación de importantes figuras de expresiones del blues, R and B y el resto de la música mundial."

Festival Internacional de Percusión '2003 en Cuba  3/31/03 Granma: "MUSICOS de Argentina, México, Puerto Rico, Estados Unidos, España y Venezuela confirmaron su asistencia al XXIV Festival Internacional de Percusión (Percuba '2003) en La Habana, que se celebrará del 15 al 19 de abril próximo."

Band brings a taste of Cuba  3/30/03 Examiner, Australia: "RICH harmonies, Spanish guitar and powerful rhythms of bongo and bass could be heard from the Inveresk Railyards yesterday as Cuban band Los Tres de la Habana geared up for their performance at the opening of 10 Days On The Island."

WOMAN IN JAZZ - Better? Quite possibly  3/28/03 Granma 

Capturing the Rhythm of a Nation - Latin Institute Exhibits Photographs From Cuba  3/27/03 Washington Post: "Local photographers who went to the 2002 International Jazz Festival in Havana with the Latin American Folk Institute in December found it difficult to sit still and take pictures while music and dancing pulsated in the streets, jazz clubs, theaters and music houses of Cuba."

The Don Quixote of Cuban music  3/21/03 Granma: "CHA-CHA-CHA fever was in fashion almost 50 years ago; it was heard on jukeboxes and the radio; as well as Enrique Jorrín’s La Engañadora (The Cheat) there were two other big hits: "Rico vacilón" (Wicked Joker) and "Los Marcianos" (The Martians) both by Roden Rosendo Ruíz Quevedo. Rosendo, who will be 85 years old on October 16, didn’t only write 38 chá-chá-chás, but also rumbas, mambos, guarachas, ballads, sones, marches, guapachá plus 28 boleros — a grand total of some 300 compositions, 150 of which were recorded. He’s one of the originators of the 1940’s feeling genre."

Mambo Legend Gets Star on Walk of Fame  3/14/03 AP: "Israel Lopez, better known as "Cachao," the Cuban bass player credited with helping to create the mambo, was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame."

Perez lives up to his extensive hype  3/7/03 Boston Herald 

El renacimiento de la Aragón  3/7/03 Cultura, Cuba: "LA Aragón, la orquesta cienfueguera, va para 64 años, una obra de larga data, con un sonido que nos acompaña desde la niñez. Con tantas canciones como las que podía guardar un bardo especializado de la antigua Grecia. Cuenta ya con dos nominaciones al Granmy, la anterior fue en el 2002 por el disco La charanga eterna, con invitados como Omara Portuondo, Cheo Feliciano, Felo Bacallao y Pablo Santamaría."

Presentan sitio web del matancero teatro Sauto  3/6/03 Cultura, Cuba: "A partir de ahora los cibernautas del mundo pueden consultar el sitio web del Teatro Sauto, Monumento nacional de esta ciudad, el que refleja historia, leyenda y arte."

Cuban jazz group Habana Sax plays March 13 in Asheville  3/5/03 Smoky Mountain News, NC: "The Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place presents Habana Sax, a quintet of Cuban jazz musicians on saxophone and percussion with an amazing array of styles at 8 p.m., Thursday March 13. With its vibrant performance of Afro-Cuban, Caribbean, Salsa, Latin jazz and Brazilian rhythms, Habana Sax represents the continuing evolution of the fiercely energetic music of Cuba." See AfroCubaWeb's music page.

Bobi Cespedes inspired by Santeria beliefs  3/2/03 San Francisco Chronicle: "The album is just getting into stores and it's looking good. I hear it's also starting to get airplay in Cuba, too," says singer Gladys "Bobi" Cespedes about her debut album "Rezos" ("Prayers") from her home in Oakland. For years, Cespedes has been the co-leader of the renowned Bay Area salsa- son band Conjunto Cespedes. But the songs this Santeria priestess sings on her solo outing for San Francisco's Six Degrees Records are a progressive departure."

Jiribilla No95 dedicado a Pablo Milanes  3/1/03 Jiribilla 

PNB duo find Cuba trip 'remarkable'  2/26/03 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "This year, Francia Russell, co-artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Patricia Barker, one of its leading dancers, joined Cantwell and about 30 other women in a trip to Havana last week to meet with high-level officials, headed by Fidel Castro. The trips were organized by the University of Washington's Center on Women and Democracy."

Centenario de una feminista - LA PASIÓN DE ANAÏS NIN  2/24/03 Jiribilla: "El pasado 21 de febrero se cumplieron cien años del nacimiento de Anaïs Nin, la escritora de origen cubano que dejó en sus páginas un testimonio de la vida privada de una generación de escritores y artistas."

DEL CARIBE: LAS MÁSCARAS  2/24/03 Jiribilla: "En la historia del arte tal vez han sido las máscaras africanas las de mayor influencia. Cuando a principios del siglo XX se dieron a conocer en Europa fueron asimiladas por diversos movimientos artísticos como el cubismo. Resulta casi obligatorio recordar aquella máscara africana de Las Señoritas de Avignon, obra con la cual Pablo Picasso marcó un hito en las vanguardias artísticas. A partir de entonces no pocos creadores se han sentido atraídos por su misterio y esplendor."

Grammy nominee remembers  2/22/03 AP: "When 85-year-old trombone master Generoso Jimenez learned he was up for a Grammy, he flashed back to a night more than a half-century ago when legendary band leader Benny More shouted a compliment that became the title of his award-nominated album. "Generoso, que bueno toca usted!" More cried at a concert in Venezuela: "Generoso, how well you play!" "

Americans and Cubans at Casa de las Américas  2/17/03 Radio Progresso, Miami: "The International Colloquy Cycles of Life, Ages and Generations of Women in Latin American and Caribbean Culture is taking place at Casa de las Américas in Havana. The opening was a conference titled “Ages and generations of women in the colony’s slave family”, by Cuban historian María del Carmen Barcia, winner of the Casa Prize for her book La otra familia (The Other Family)."

American, Cuban trade some fluid retro guitar lines  2/16/03 Beacon Journal: "As his one-year special exception neared its expiration date last year, the master guitarist packed off a pair of drummers, son Joachim and Jim Keltner, to help record an album with legendary Cuban guitarist Manuel Galban. The resulting record of guitar duets, Mambo Sinuendo, features the same understated good taste as Buena Vista. The dozen tunes, primarily instrumentals, are decorated with rich percussion, swirling organ and the occasional trumpet fill, all of which provide a foundation for Galban and Cooder to trade fluid guitar lines. Cooder calls Galban the ``Duane Eddy of Cuba,'' and indeed, there's a subtle retro twang to Galban's effortless fills and solos."

Presenta conjunto "Los Jubilados" su disco "Que se fuñan"  2/16/03 Cultura: "Esta es la cuarta producción en solitario de Los Jubilados, anteriormente habían grabado tres discos para CORASON de Mexico, además participan en el CD ''Alma de Santiago" de la saxofonista canadiense Jane Bunnett (nominado al Grammy 2003 como mejor album de latin jazz) y en ''Cuba Son" junto al sonero panameño Camilo Azuquita."

“El Benny es un personaje trágico”  2/15/03 Jiribilla: "Una perspectiva renovadora, o por lo menos bastante inédita, sobre el mito Benny Moré, asume el cineasta Jorge Luis Sánchez, pariente cercano del gran artista, y actualmente enfrascado en conseguir financiamiento para filmar su singular, y medular, acercamiento a un personaje teñido por lo legendario."

BENNY MORÉ CD OFRENDA CRIOLLA  2/15/03 Jiribilla: "Este disco acompaña al libro Ofrenda Criolla, de José Reyes Fortún, editado por el Museo Nacional de la Música Estos temas fueron realizadas en el hogar de Benny Moré, en un espacio campestre bautizado como Mi Conuco, durante su etapa de lucha contra la muerte. Las grabaciones las registró por medio de una primitiva grabadora doméstica, acompañándose él mismo a la guitarra."

LAS RAZONES DEL GENIO  2/15/03 Jiribilla: "Sin proponérselo Benny Moré gestó una tendencia, por no decir una escuela, en la creación e interpretación de la música popular y bailable. Tendencia que hasta nuestros días conserva el impacto de la contemporaneidad y la fuerza de la tradición."

MI PAPÁ ESTÁ EN EL PATIO  2/15/03 Jiribilla: "Fue el hermano de nuestro gran sonero quien me habló de la hija mayor, Hilda, que vive en la ciudad de Cienfuegos. Poco tiempo después la conocí. Una tarde veraniega de 1999, ella me regaló un poco de su memoria, mientras nos cobijábamos bajo el frondoso mango del mismo patio donde el Bárbaro del Ritmo sembró viandas y canciones."

Mysteries of Benny Moré  2/14/03 Granma: "Some of Benny’s habits: he used to like writing tales of old African slaves, doing so with great flair. He enjoyed criollo food: spicy oxtail flambé; hutia baked with molasses; beef jerky, pork and cod with rice and yams. He liked to make an unusual Lucumí dish (from Africa): yucca with fine white flour, fat and peanut balls. He ate boiled eggs with lots of garlic, salt and oil to protect his stomach from the effects of alcohol. He wasn’t a great lover of beer, preferring Peralta and Matusalén rum. He made frequent visits to El Pacífico restaurant in Chinatown to eat Cuban-style Cantonese fried rice."

At 75, Cuba's Ferrer finally gets his turn  2/11/03 Chicago Sun Times: "When he retired in 1991, it came with weary regret. "I had felt disappointed by my life in music until then." So he returned to the streets of Havana to shine shoes and sell lottery tickets. But once again fate stepped in. The shoe polish was still on his hands when Juan de Marcos persuaded Ferrer to head for the historic Egrem studios, where the Buena Vista sessions were under way. "I didn't want to go. But he kept on, until I finally agreed. I told him that I had to go home first, to wash up, he said, 'No, the session is going on right now.'" These days, instead of polishing shoes, Ferrer can polish the gold records lining the walls of his Havana apartment. After the March 18 release of his second solo disc "Buenos Hermanos" (Nonesuch), also produced by Cooder, he'll most likely have to make room for more."

Cuban Song  2/11/03 Scotsman, UK: "Come midnight, however, and the square will be full of people resting between one nightspot and another, as Santiago is the undisputed home of Cuban music with a fantastic range of venues. However sleepy and tranquil this small tropical city at the eastern end of Cuba looks, it pulsates with life."

Orquesta Maravilla de Florida, en noche de arte popular  2/9/03 Cultura: "La orquesta tiene en perspectiva una próxima gira a Estados Unidos, contratada por Sobs Música Latina y hará presentaciones en Nueva York, San Francisco, Búfalo y Los Angeles."

Cuban Percussionist Launches Solo Album  2/5/03 AP: "Four decades after being handed his first pair of sticks at the Hotel Nacional, Cuban drummer Amadito Valdes was back, this time to launch a solo album. Long known among musicians in Cuba, Valdes was catapulted to international fame in the late 1990s by Wim Wenders' documentary "Buena Vista Social Club," which featured him among a group of veteran Cuban musicians."

Muere ''Mongo'' Santamaría, una leyenda cubana  2/3/03 Granma: "En 1951, Mongo integra la orquesta de Tito Puente, con quien graba dos discos clásicos de la percusión afrocubana: Puente in percusión (1955) y Top percusión (1957). Sin embargo, su fama internacional va a producirse tras la separación de la orquesta de Puente, y su asociación con el vibrafonista Cal Tjader, a partir de 1958. Junto a Tjader y el bongonsero Willie Bobo, Mongo hace historia en San Francisco por cuatro años, pero a la vez no descuida las grabaciones en solitario de la música que le interesa. Después de Tambores y Cantos (1955), graba Mongo (1959), disco que contiene el tema Afro Blue, acaso su más memorable composición. "Afro Blue es un himno del jazz de todos los tiempos", opinó Nat Chediak, autor del Diccionario de Jazz Latino (1998). "Mongo es una de las grandes firmas del tambor, un hombre que logró un sonido muy propio, inigualable".

Mongo Santamaria Dies - Legendary Cuban percussionist wrote "Afro Blue"  2/3/03 Rolling Stone: "Santamaria's propulsive skill as a conguero was a trademark of more than four decades of recording and performing, and punctuates his classic 1963 cover of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man," an unlikely, pre-Beatles hit in 1963 that hit Number Ten on the pop charts. Santamaria may be better known in improvisational circles as the writer of "Afro Blue," a beautiful, melodic composition that worked its way into the repertoire of jazz mainstays from Dizzy Gillespie to John Coltrane. The latter took a particular shine to the song, using it as a touchstone for his developing sound: From early, faithful and pretty interpretations circa 1963 to a 1966 free jazz deconstruction in Japan."

Cuba rings through in Cooder's collaborations  1/31/03 The Oregonian: "After paying a $25,000 Treasury Department fine in 1999 for violating the Cuban trade embargo, Cooder and Nonesuch Records wangled a special one-year exemption with, he says, the intervention of then-President Clinton. He used that last bit of leeway in 2001 to record a second solo album by Buena Vista singer Ibrahim Ferrer (to be released in March) and a playful, slyly experimental disc featuring Cuban guitarist Manuel Galban. Just issued under the title "Mambo Sinuendo" ("Sinuous Mambo"), the CD might be the beginning of the end of Cooder's highly fruitful Cuban collaborations. At any rate, its music is a dreamlike wonder of cultural cross-pollination." Victim of the War on Culture.

'Mambo Sinuendo': Ry Cooder Returns to Cuba  1/27/03 NPR 

Cuba Keeps Drawing Back Cooder  1/26/03 Knight Ridder: "The music of Cuba suggests a way of living, a gentility Cooder, 55, finds lacking elsewhere. "I want life to be like this, with singers caressing melodies and taking their time. I have to admit, I feel anorexic sometimes at home, like an empty shell, where down there I have a sense that life is copacetic."

Cuban music with a Haitian accent  1/23/03 Toronto Globe & Mail: "Haitian Cubans are no more exempt from the vagaries of politics than anyone else and have their own difficult history to boot, one that includes a legacy of discrimination and suppression of the Creole language at the core of Haitian-Cuban culture. Desandann, whose members are second and third generation (the first wave of Haitian immigrants came to Cuba as slaves of the French fleeing the Haitian revolution in the late 1790s), can and do sing in English, French and Spanish, but mostly in the Creole that marvelously blends the three. The songs they apply it to are both folkloric and popular, from sober spirituals to sensuous dance numbers. Last Tuesday, they did all that and more."

Grupo santiaguero a festival cultural cubano en México  1/18/03 AIN, Cuba: "El grupo santiaguero Los Jubilados partirá el próximo día 22 hacia México para participar en un festival cultural cubano en la localidad mexicana de Tlanepantla. La agrupación, que pone su sabor y ritmo al disco compacto Alma de Santiago, nominado a los Premios Grammy en su 45 edición, está compuesto por 10 integrantes y tiene grabado con la disquera CoraSon S. A. tres CD. Los Jubilados, fundado en 1994, conjuga la realización del son desde lo más tradicional hasta su contemporaneidad."

MIDEM. Presente la música cubana.  1/18/03 Cultura: "CANNES, Francia. Los profesionales de la industria musical internacional se reunirán en Cannes (Sur de Francia) del 18 al 23 de enero en el 37mo. Mercado Internacional del Disco y de la Edición Musical (MIDEM), en momentos en que la industria fonográfica mundial registra una fuerte baja de ventas, señala AFP en un despacho. A pesar de ello, se espera que el rock español, representado por la Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE) y los sellos discográficos cubanos, lanzados bajo el auspicio de CUBADISCO, tengan una cálida recepción entre los profesionales del comercio fonográfico, si se tienen en cuenta las alternativas implícitas en sus quehaceres musicales. La víspera de la apertura del MIDEM se realizará la cuarta edición del MIDEMNET, dedicado a las nuevas tecnologías. Un tema predominará en los debates: ¿cómo transformar a los usuarios de la red en consumidores que pagan la música?"

Su Majestad, el Bolero, Antonio Machin.  1/18/03 Cultura: "El nombre de Antonio Machín siempre nos fue familiar. Sus éxitos en España y los aportes a nuestra música como cantante de la Orquesta de Justo -Don- Azpiazu, con la cual grabó El manisero, de Moisés Simons, que fue la primera grabación de un número nuestro en vender un millón de copias. Con ello también rompió las barreras de la segregación racial, pues fue el primer negro en cantar en el exclusivo Casino Nacional de La Habana."

Smithsonian returns Taino Indian remains to descendants in Cuba  1/13/03 Sun Sentinel, South Florida: "Members of Native American tribes from the Mohawk, Navajo and Kaw nations who came to Cuba for the bones' repatriation stood in a circle around Ramírez Rojas and his relatives as they sang to the benevolent spirit they call Chiriwa, asking him to protect the remains."

Reggae Cubano Cimarron  1/11/03 RCC: "Bendiciones, en nombre del León Conquistador, Emmanuel I, Marcus Garvey I. Hermanos y Hermanas, esta página es dedicada al Pueblo Rasta en Cuba, su realidad, su música y su gente."

MARACA y la ARAGÓN, sabrosura cubana  1/8/03 Granma: Nominated for the Grammy - "Orishas se las verá en el rock alternativo, Omar Sosa en jazz latino y Generoso revive su gloria"

Son de Cuba plays the Orange Peel  1/8/03 Smoky Mountain News, North Carolina: "Waynesville’s Son De Cuba, an Afro Cuban dance band, will headline at the Orange Peel at 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 11. Son De Cuba will feature percussionist Nick Marquez-Rothenberg, a student at Waynesville Middle School. The group also includes Alina Marquez, on keyboards; Liliana Gonzalez, on vocals; Bert Lopez on hand percussion and backup; Joey Franco on bongos, and Joseph Rothenberg- Lapaz on guitar, bass and lead vocals. Tickets are $8 and are on sale through www.theorangepeel.com. Doors open at 8 p.m., dance classes by Mauricio and Maria (la Guajira) begin at 9 p.m. and the band kicks off at 10 p.m."

Nacen dos videos-clips en Santiago de Cuba  1/3/03 Radio Revolucion CMCK, Cuba: Santiago - "Los primeros videos - clips promocionales de las agrupaciones santiagueras Son de Buena Fe y MorenaSon, fueron presentados en premier, en el Salón de Los Grandes, altos de la Casa de la Trova, por la Agencia Nacional de Representación Artística SON DE CUBA, de esta Ciudad."

EL CASINO Y LA SALSA EN CUBA  1/2/03 Jiribilla