May Music Festival

Cuba Hosting Musicabana Music Festival

04:30 PM Wednesday 1/13/161 |  |

Musicabana Foundation is celebrating improved relations between the U.S. and Cuba by putting on a special event in May – the “first international music festival produced by American and Cuban partners in 30 years.” The nonprofit organization has also booked a March gig with Major Lazer.

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  Sean Paul

  B96 Pepsi SummerBash, Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Ill.
  June 16, 2012

  (Adam Bielawski / AdamBielawski.com)

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While the U.S. waits for Congress to follow through on President Obama’s suggestion to “lift the embargo,” Cuba is ready to party.

Major Lazer gets things started with a March 6 show on Havana’s waterfront at La Tribuna José Martí. The EDM group – made up of Diplo, Walshy Fire and Jilionaire – plans on meeting with Cuban music students and sharing its stage with up-and-coming DJs.

“For as long as I can remember, Cuba has played an influential role in my love of music – Cuba has such a powerful cultural impact all over the world, and for me, especially growing up in Florida, it became one of the biggest cultural centers for music to evolve from,” Diplo said. “I was lucky enough to visit Cuba a few years back with my friends Calle 13, and during my four days there, my mind was blown by the people, depth of culture and their way of life. Going back to perform in 2016 and to be a part of the culture once again is a huge blessing, and I couldn’t be more honored to bring the Major Lazer project there.”

The festival, simply called Musicabana, is scheduled May 5-8 at Havana’s Plaza San Francisco de Asis, Salon Rosado of la Tropical, and La Piragua.  The multi-genre bill, which will feature more than 25 artists and DJs, is topped by Jamaican rapper Sean Paul and Brazilian musician Carlinhos Brown.

An announcement boasts that the festival has put together “the largest gathering of Cuban artists in a generation,” including Pablo Milanés, Carlos Varela, Los Van Van, Orquesta Aragón, Habana d’Primera, Pedrito Martinez, Yoruba Andabo, Juana Bacallao & Tiembla Tierra, Interactivo, Kelvis Ochoa, and Adonis & Osain del Mont.

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Both Major Lazer’s show and Musicabana will be free to the Cuban public. What about amigos in the U.S.? The festival’s website says, “All American citizens will be able to legally attend Musicabana events and concerts by purchasing customized travel packages that are fully compliant with applicable U.S. rules and regulations.”

CNN reports that while general tourist travel to Cuba is still illegal for U.S. citizens and permanent residents, you can visit if the purpose of your trip qualifies for one of 12 travel categories. CNN points out, “Fortunately, it seems that with the right spin, almost anything can.”

Travel packages go on sale Jan. 15 at 12 p.m. EST. VisitMusicabana.com for more information.

--Sarah Marie Pittman

http://www.pollstar.com/news_article.aspx?ID=822301

Virginia Governor Signs Two Agreements

McAuliffe announces agreement to foster commercial opportunities between ports in Virginia, Cuba

Published Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, 11:40 pm

Governor Terry McAuliffe announced that the Virginia Port Authority has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Cuban National Port Authority to evaluate commercial opportunities between the Port of Virginia and Cuba’s newly opened Port of Mariel Special Development Project.

The MOU establishes a platform for cooperation and information sharing aimed at developing links between Cuba and Virginia to support waterborne trade and investment, improve customer service, enhance collaboration to achieve improved business practices, and increase the level of vessel services available between the two entities.  Under this agreement, the two port authorities may undertake initiatives including data interchange, market studies, training and technological interchange.

“This agreement will enhance Virginia’s trading relationship with Cuba and supports our efforts to build the new Virginia economy,” said Governor McAuliffe.  “Virginia enjoys a uniquely productive economic relationship with Cuba, and this MOU will generate additional opportunities for economic and cultural exchange.  As relations between our nations continue to normalize, this agreement will position Virginia as a leader in trade relations with Cuba now and in the future.”

Cuba’s $1 billion port project will make Mariel the largest port in the Caribbean, with a capacity to handle approximately 1.3 million shipping containers a year.  It will also allow Mariel to serve as a trans-shipment hub for the region.

“I believe Virginia’s continued engagement has once again yielded positive results in Cuba,” commented Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd Haymore.  “Last year, Cuba purchased $25 million in agricultural exports from Virginia, all in bulk shipments.  This agreement will help position Virginia to provide container service for agricultural products such as poultry, pork and apples, which are shipped in refrigerated containers”

“Despite Virginia’s export success to Cuba, there is currently no direct container service between Virginia and Cuba,” said Tom Capozzi, Chief Sales Officer of Virginia International Terminals, who served as a representative for the Virginia Port Authority during the visit.  “Our agribusiness companies that ship products in containers could benefit from enhanced cooperation between our port terminals and the Port of Mariel, especially as Mariel becomes an important trans-ship service provider for the region.”

“The Port of Virginia is the Commonwealth’s gateway to the world. This new agreement benefits the agriculture industry and opens Virginia’s and the nation’s doors to new markets as relations with Cuba continue to strengthen,” said Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne. “These opportunities demonstrate the wisdom of investing in our port in order to build a new Virginia economy and strengthen our competitive edge in the global economy.”

While the trade mission to Havana yielded a series of positive results, Governor McAuliffe noted that the full potential of opportunities with Cuba will never be realized until the U.S. embargo against Cuba is ended.  In October 2015, Governor McAuliffe was joined by eight other governors in a bi-partisan letter to the leaders of Congress calling for an end to the remaining trade and travel restrictions.  Governor McAuliffe reiterated that his administration will continue to press for changes to federal law that will allow for free and open bilateral trade and travel between the U.S. and Cuba.

http://augustafreepress.com/mcauliffe-announces-agreement-to-foster-commercial-opportunities-between-ports-in-virginia-cuba/

Governor McAuliffe announces agreement on educational exchange between Virginia and Cuba

Published Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, 5:13 pm

Governor Terry McAuliffe today announced that Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the University of Havana allowing both institutions to work together to develop cooperative programs in a variety of academic disciplines studied at both institutions.

While on an historic marketing and collaboration mission to Cuba, Governor McAuliffe witnessed the signing during a meeting with Dr. Gustavo Cobreiro, Rector of the University of Havana, and Dr. Gail Hackett, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at VCU.

“World class higher education institutions like Virginia Commonwealth University play a vital role in our work to build a new Virginia economy, and they serve as key ambassadors to nations across the globe,” said Governor McAuliffe.  “The University of Havana and VCU both have rich histories and bright futures. This MOU will ensure that the future includes significant engagement and collaboration between these great academic and research institutions, as well as between the Commonwealth of Virginia and the nation of Cuba.”

“Today’s agreement is a firm acknowledgement that our societies and our institutions must to work together and openly engage with one another in order to improve higher education in both Cuba and the Commonwealth of Virginia,” commented Secretary of Education Anne Holton. “I am pleased that VCU and the University of Havana have established collaborative relations to promote friendship and to cooperate in a mutually beneficial manner.”

From the exchange of students and faculty, to collaborative work on research projects and scientific advancement, this MOU opens the door to the pursuit of joint initiatives in areas such as health, economics, business, the arts and the humanities.  Strengthening academic and research collaboration is a significant step in building stronger economic and cultural ties between Virginia and Cuba, and will allow both partners to benefit from the unique assets these two institutions possess.

Dr. Gail Hackett, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at VCU added, “We are eager to continue the meaningful partnership begun today and to deepen it in the years to come.  To be engaged with such a distinguished institution as the University of Havana is a great honor shared by me, President Rao and the entire VCU community.”

This is first announcement to come from the Governor’s marketing and collaboration mission to Cuba.  During his meetings in Havana, Governor McAuliffe noted that the full potential of opportunities with Cuba will never be realized until the U.S. embargo against Cuba is ended.  In October 2015, Governor McAuliffe was joined by eight other governors in a bi-partisan letter to the leaders of Congress calling for an end to the remaining trade and travel restrictions.  Governor McAuliffe reiterated that his administration will continue to press for changes to federal law which will allow for free and open bilateral trade and travel between the U.S. and Cuba.

http://augustafreepress.com/governor-mcauliffe-announces-agreement-on-educational-exchange-between-virginia-and-cuba/

 

Impact on Caribbean Travel

Travel Agents Weigh Impact of U.S.-Havana Thaw on Other Caribbean Mainstays

by Barbara Peterson / January 04, 2016

Is Cuba’s rising travel trade a threat to leading Caribbean destinations? That depends on whom you ask.   

Until recently, the détente between the United States and its longtime foe had generated more headlines than actual tourism business; in fact, tourism from the United States to Cuba is still verboten under the existing trade embargo.  While travelers intent on visiting the country can sign up for officially approved people-to-people tours, air fares and tour packages remain high-priced versus similar packages to other Caribbean nations where the infrastructure is far superior.  

And so far, the established destinations in the region seem to be holding their own despite the hype over holidays in Havana.   

“I have been getting a lot of calls about Cuba,” said Susan Berman, of Berman Travel in Atlantic City, NJ. “But when I tell them what the ‘people to people tours’ entail, it sounds pretty rigid,” she said, with little free time on the agenda. “Clients aren’t used to that kind of structure when they go to the Caribbean,” she said. “They want to lie on a beach and have a pina colada.  Most of them tell me: ‘I’ll wait until later.’ ”    

With the recent announcement that regularly scheduled commercial air travel to Cuba could resume soon, however, and cruise ships readying to sail there as well, more consumers have Havana on their must-see list. Travel between the United States and Cuba is already up by more than 70% in 2015, and with airlines like American, JetBlue, and United poised to promote new service there, demand will be limited only by how fast Cuba can add the necessary hotel (and food) infrastructure.   

Still, it’s one thing to generate buzz, and it’s quite another to deliver the kind of experience seasoned travelers expect.  

“Wifi is not great, hotels are a little basic,” Berman said. “And when I price it out for clients, it’s pretty expensive. They could go to the Dominican Republic or Jamaica for half the price, and stay in a resort with all the amenities.”  

But it’s widely assumed that the trade sanctions limiting Americans’ time on the beach will soon be history –and with that, Cuba could become a serious alternative to the vacation resorts of the Bahamas and any number of Caribbean islands that enjoy a steady stream of U.S. visitors during the peak season.  

The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, in fact, is already facing up to the threat:  it recently described Cuba’s opening to U.S. visitors as a “the biggest and most disruptive pebble to be dropped into the Caribbean” since the U.S. embargo 50 years ago.    
 
Frank Comito, Director General and CEO of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association, told TMR that  "while the region as a whole should benefit from the interest in travel to Cuba," some destinations with a high percentage of U.S. visitors "have expressed concerns," he said.  

"They are looking for ways to capitalize on the heightened interest in the region."  

A white paper issued by the CHTA said that Cuba’s proximity to Florida could cut into the market for impulse or short-stay vacations, especially to the Bahamas, where more than 20% of arrivals hail from the Sunshine State. The Northeast states are another major source of visitors to the Bahamas, and other destinations like the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, have benefited from online offers and discounted air-land packages, the report said.  

A lot depends on if and when Cuba’s air fares and room rates drop to competitive levels. But in the meantime, the country’s limited infrastructure could be an advantage for nearby countries that could position themselves as convenient stopovers for travelers who’d like some R&R before or after their Cuban sojourns. In fact, Bahamas’ Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe said he’s working with his counterparts in Cuba to develop multi-destination packages so visitors can take in both countries.   

“The Bahamas will still have its market,” he said.  

Also in the near term, clients may be able to satisfy their curiosity about Cuba by booking a cruise; Berman said she recently booked a cruise for early in 2017 on Pearl Cruises.    

Since Cuba's star will only continue to rise,  "multi-destination packages involving Cuba will have a particularly strong appeal," in 2016, said Hugh Riley, Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, noting that already the increased public attention has had a positive effect on tourism to the region in general.  

http://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Travel-Agents-Weigh-Impact-of-US-Havana-Thaw-on-Other-Caribbean-Mainstays

Opera de la Calle Show

PROGRAMA

Opera de la Calle

Teatro Arenal, Avenida 41, esquina 30

 1. OBERTURA MEDITERRÁNEA / de E. Vega / Solista: Claudia Aquino

 2. LE LION EST MORT  / de Henry Salvador  /  Arreglos: U. Aquino / Solista: Yunier Pérez   

 3. HIMNO INTRODUCCIÓN  / de U. Aquino

 4. CABILDO (Zarzuela María la O)    /  de E. Lecuona  / Arreglos: U. Aquino  / Solistas:   Yunier

     Pérez,  Laritza Rincón y Merilis Fernández

 5. CANTO ARARÁ / Arreglos: U. Aquino / Solistas: Laritza Rincón / Geodalis Cumbá

 6. CANTO ABAKUÁ  Arreglos: U. Aquino / Solista:  Yunier Pérez

 7. DE LA HABANA A MATANZAS  / de  J. Formell / Solista: Yunier Pérez

 8. CUANDO SE VAYA LA LUZ  / de  Frank Delgado / Arreglos:  E. Vega

      Solistas: Rasec Peña, Claudia Aquino, Neno González, Aymé Canto y Armando Omar Pérez

10.  TANILA / de G. Roig

11.  NEGRAS LUCUMÍ  / de E. Lecuona

12.  TIPO TÍPICO  / de W. Chirino / Arreglos: C.Aquino- D. Llanes

13.  PADRE NUESTRO (Ópera Benkos) / de  J. E. Fadul / Arreglos: U. Aquino / Solista: Merilis Fdez.

14.  O FORTUNA (Carmina Burana) / de C. Orff / Arreglos: U. Aquino

15.  HABANERA (Ópera Carmen)   / de G. Bizet   / Arreglos: C. Aquino-U.Aquino Solistas: Claudia

        Aquino o  Dayri Llanes

16.   RAPSODIA BOHEMIA / de  Queen /Solista: Dayri Llanes /  Actuación: Claudia Aquino y Deyanira

        Salazar

 17.   SOMEBODY TO LOVE  / de  Queen / Solista: Rasec Peña

 18.   IMAGINE  / J. Lennon    / Arreglo: U. Aquino / Solistas: Dayri Llanes, Rasec Peña y Claudia 

         Aquino

 19.   AICHA / de Khaled  / Arreglos: C. Aquino-D. Llanes / Solista: Rasec Peña

 20.   ZAMBRA (Zarzuela La Leyenda del Beso)  / de Soutullo y Vert / Solista: Claudia Aquino

 21.   POR AMOR / de  R. Solano / Solistas: Merilis Fernández, Yunier Pérez , Claudia Aquino, Dayri

          Llanes,  Rasec Peña y Mtro. Ulises Aquino.

BAILARINES: Maikel Díaz, Yohara García, Darisley Zuazo, Yaima Rodríguez

CORO: Geodalis Cumba, Sandra Wong, Emma Cubas, Mayra Martez, Mayara Calderón, Yanaysi Montalvo, Yurina Cardosa, Laritza Rincón,  Adilen Sardiñas, Dayri lanes, Claudia Aquino,  Merilis Fernández, Deyanira Salazar, Miguelina Acea, Aymé Canto, Mariam Fabregas, Wilmar Cumberbach, Ignacio Díaz, Armando Pérez, Roger Santana, Yunier Pérez, Alexei Cabrera, Adonis Valdivia, Rasec Peña, Neno González, Bernardo, Dioney Gonzalez, Dayisel Gorina y Laura Ansorena

Músicos

Rafael Aquino, Julio Zaldívar, Raicel González, Franco Martín, Daniela Rosas,

Dagoberto Arbelaez, Angel Matayoshi y Ernesto Domínguez

Dirección Coral y Musical: Claudia Aquino

Producción: Dai-Ellie Bignotte         
Asistente de Producción: Yamile Sonido: Miguel Ángel Pardo y Yauset Sánchez

Técnico: Reinier Valladares                  
Luces: Victor Sánchez 
Diseño de Vestuario: Anayce Figueroa 
Relaciones Públicas: Camila González Director 

Dirección Artística y General: Mtro.Ulises Aquino


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   Opera de la Calle is best translated as “Music of the Streets”. Celebrating its tenth anniversary, the company creatively and energetically mixes 500 years of Cuban culture, a fast moving hard to describe pastiche of dance, voice and instruments encompassing local traditions and international influences.  Members of the company include professionals graduated from Cuba’s finest schools of music and dance and newcomers whose natural talents have found release and nurture.

Opera is not only exceptional entertainment, quite popular with contemporary Cuban audiences and all variety of foreign visitors, but also a fault line in Cuban cultural change.  You can read more about its complicated and controversial history as a pioneering mixed private public venture here:  http://operadelacalle.blogspot.com/

Creator (and international opera singer) Ulises Aquino is well regarded in the mainstream of the Cuban arts world and has achieved respect for his independent path.  The Ministry of Culture and friends in the US are investing in the rehabilitation of the Arenal Theater as a permanent home for Opera.   

 (A story is circulating that the controversial abrupt closure of its previous home at El Cabildo was not due to the political problems that most critics assumed but may have resulted from complaints by two important ambassadors whose residences are nearby and were disturbed by the noise level and public commotion late into the evening.  In any case, by 2019 they regained access to El Cabildo, and the ambassadors' residences were moved.)

Hatuey:  Memory of Fire

Music by Frank London • Libretto by Elise Thoron

Opera de la Calle performed the first production of this opera in 2017 directed by Ulises Aquino, video below.  For background, read the introduction here by the librettist.   https://elisethoron.com/hatuey.html

         -- John McAuliff, Fund for Reconciliation and Development  director@ffrd.org