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AfroCubaWeb
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| December 2000
tour: the Jazz Festival Contacting Afropop Itinerary |
AFROPOP WORLDWIDE goes to
Cuba
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| Afropop Worldwide and Adventures in Rock present HEARTBEAT OF HAVANA Rumba, timba, jazz, cultura ¡¡¡¡y más!!!! December 13 - 21, 2000 Afropop Worldwide is pleased to announce we are expanding our Afropop Tours and Study Groups series to two musically rich destinations in Latin America-Cuba and Peru. Afropop Senior Producer and Qbadisc record label co-founder Ned Sublette will be leading a cultural study group to Havana in December for a musical and cultural experience focusing on the Havana Jazz Festival. As always, what makes these Afropop groups unique is our deep relationships with the artists and their enthusiasm for doing special things for our participants. Ned has traveled to Cuba 18 times in the past decade, and he will introduce us to his musical friends and make sure we get inside the scene. For the Cuba visits, we are happy to be joining forces with Adventures in Rock who specialize in organizing high quality, music-focused tours. Below is the itinerary for our Cuba visits. To find out more, email us back at afropop@aol.com and put "Cuba", "Peru" or "Madagascar" as the subject. Be sure to include your name. There is a lot of interest in these groups already (especially the Cuba group) so we encourage you to sign up soon. Details on Peru in March 2001 and Madagascar in April 2001 coming soon. The Havana Jazz Festival is an international gathering which has become a major worldwide showcase for the most sophisticated currents in Latin jazz, and attracts musicians and fans from around the world. The Festival is directed by the world-renowned Chucho Valdés and includes many of the most popular Cuban jazz artists as well as international performers, who in previous years have included Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Haden, David Sánchez, Roy Hargrove and Billy Taylor. Additionally, most of the major dance bands in Havana perform in various venues around town during this Festival, so the musical diet is rich. We are honored to have Ned Sublette as our musical guide to Havana. An expert on Cuban music, Ned is the co-founder of Qbadisc, the first American record label dedicated to marketing contemporary Cuban music in the U.S, as well as Senior Producer of Public Radio International's Afropop Worldwide and our groundbreaking coverage of the Havana music scene. Ned will show us the Havana he has come to know and love over the years. From its street culture and nightlife, its dancehalls, cinemas, historic theatres, and cabarets to its glorious Spanish colonial architecture and vintage American cars, this city will inspire even the most experienced traveler. We'll be staying at the five-star Hotel Nacional-- dramatically perched atop a small cliff offering a postcard view of Havana Harbor. Our itinerary will include (but is not limited to) the following: * A welcoming dinner in a Havana home with guest Cuban musicians participating. * Up close and personal study of the world's greatest dance bands in their own hometown. Los Van Van, NG La Banda, Adalberto y Su Son, Charanga Habanera, Paulito F.G., Issac Delgado, Bamboleo, and El Médico de la Salsa, are a sampling of some of the great artists who may be in town during our visit. (Note: Programming in Cuba is informal and it is impossible to say in advance which bands will be playing where.) * A trip to the greatest, raunchiest dancehall in the world: La Tropical. On a Saturday night with a name band, there can be as many as 8,000 people partying in the open air. You can learn a great deal about Cuban society by watching and listening to what happens at this decades-old salon. * An afternoon rumba. Rumba -- the Congo-influenced street music and dance party -- is one of Cuba's greatest cultural traditions. We'll visit one of several venues which have regularly scheduled activities with the greatest rumba groups. * An architectural & city tour of Havana. * A demonstration of Yoruba religious music and dance, with the hourglass-shaped batá drums that play a complex repertoire of west African sacred music, and dancers who embody the orishas, the gods of the Afro-Cuban religion popularly known as santería. * The Cañonazo de las 9 Ceremony at the Morro-Cabaña Castle. La Cabaña is one of the largest colonial fortresses in the Americas, and was used by the dictators Machado and Batista as a military prison, later by Che Guevara. * An afternoon in the old and deeply African barrio of Guanabacoa, including a trip to Museo Municipal de Guanabacoa, most famous for its exhibits on Afro-Cuban Culture. * A walking tour through the streets of Old Havana. * As much music and dance as we can possibly fit in, including son, rumba, danzón, timba, and visits to Havana's most important venues for this music. And much, much more! The tour to Havana includes:
For a catalog of Qbadisc releases, e-mail qbadisc@interport.net and put "catalog request" in the "subject" line. And check out the Qbadisc page on this web site! |
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