What’s On Havana, listings and reviews of cultural events in Havana, updated monthly, Havana events and schedules and timetables for nightlife and cultural events

Visual Arts

	Mutantia Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Edificio de Arte Cubano Trocadero entre Monserrate y Zulueta, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 862 0140 / 861 3858 / 863 9484	Throughout February /2009
	One of the most important and famous Cuban sculptors, José Villa Soberón, author of works such asthe life-size statue of John Lennon at the park on 17th and 6th streets in El Vedado or the Caballerode París at the entrance of the Basílica of the Convento de San Francisco de Asís in Old Havana,exhibits another side to his artistic work: ten medium-sized pieces in which lines, forms, and volumesdetach themselves from reality and impose their own values.

	Abstracta Minera Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Edificio de Arte Cubano Trocadero entre Monserrate y Zulueta, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 862 0140, 861 3858, 863 9484	Throughout February 2010
	Twenty-nine recent works by the painter Minerva López, described by Moraima Clavijo, Director ofthe National Museum, as “refined and serene, and at the same time original and disturbing” formthis exhibition by an artist who has gone from figuration to abstraction, with a very personal style.

	RETROSPECTIVADE ROBERTO FABELO Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam Empedrado esquina a San Ignacio, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 863 9781 y 861 3419	February / 2009
	Aretrospective exhibition of one of the most significant figures in Cuban art today, who has also produced installations and has brilliantly cultivated his extraordinary talent for drawing. From his free and expressive brush strokes, half-human, half-animal figures appear, as well as spatial layouts that intermingle in fictitious reality or possible fantasy under sometimes grotesque and rarely humoristic themes, between history and dreams

	PASIÓN POR ELPAISAJE Casa del Conde Lombillo Empedrado entre Mercaderes y San Ignacio, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 860 4311-143	Through 15 February / 2009
	Collective exhibition of the landscape painters/ecologists Nuevos Horizontes, who hope to draw attention to the increasing environmental degradation due to climate change and man’s predatory action.

VERY, VERYLIGHT... AND VERYOSCURO (UN POLICÍACONALZHEIMER)

	VERY, VERYLIGHT... AND VERYOSCURO (UN POLICÍACONALZHEIMER) Complejo-Galería La Casona Muralla 107 esquina a San Ignacio, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 861 8544	THROUGH 15 FEBRUARY / 2009
	The painter Rocío García is back with works of a distinct narrative nature and disturbing human figures—male, female or androgynous, subjects of her conceptual interests translated into existential conflicts that need a social place and whose heartrending themes contrast with the sobriety of her excellent drawings and the severity of her pictorial resources.

	PIELDE VACA Galería Servando Calle 23 esquina a 10, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 833 959	THROUGH 27 FEBRUARY / 2010
	The Cuban photographer Cirenaica Moreira explores the female world from a work that is eminently self-referential. The critic Mabel Llevat Soy has said that Moreira’s work “stems from a narrative idea that entails a story turned image, accompanied by a photographed body gesture.”

	Mecanica popular Galería Villa Manuela Calle H número 406 entre 17 y 19, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 2391	Through February / 2010
	Composed of 11 mixed-technique works, the exhibition presents a sort of wooden boxes which symbolize computer monitors and flat-screen TVs and within them, objects that simulate a webpage. With a humoristic look, the artist has depicted our incessant search in cyberspace.

	LADERAS Galería La Acacia San José 114 entre Industria y Consulado, Centro Habana Tel. +(53) 861 3533	THROUGHOUT FEBRUARY / 2010
	One of the busiest commercial galleries in Havana today, which has combined its commitment to the production of the new generations of artists with the validity and permanence of established artists, proposes this dialogue between academic artists and the avant-garde, usually considered antagonistic.

	ARTE NAIF Galería Roberto Diago Muralla 107 esquina a San Ignacio, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 862 3577	THROUGHOUT FEBRUARY / 2009
	Group exhibition of naive art.

	20 Años "no son nada" Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales San Ignacio 352 esquina a Teniente Rey, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 862 5279, 862 9295 y 862 3533	Throughout February / 2010
	For its 20th anniversary, the Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales has organized a collective exhibition by 30 artists who have been linked to the Center at one time or another.

	NO VEO NADA Galería Galiano Galiano esquina a Concordia, Centro Habana Tel. +(53) 7 862 5365	THROUGH 15 MARCH / 2009
	Seemingly breaking away from his figurative style and the themes that dominated his known work—childhood, play, exploration into the psychic and emotional structure of man—for this exhibition, the young painter Maykel Herrera has included brilliantly coloured abstract pieces that had been subtly suggested as a background to his figures in previous works.

	Le Parc. Lumiere Casa de las Américas Calle 3ra. esquina a G, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 838 2706 al 0	Throughout February / 2009
	Exhibition by the Argentinean artist Julio Le Parc chosen by Casa de las Américas to close theKinetic Year which Casa has celebrated throughout 2009 in its 50th anniversary. On Wednesday, 9December, at the institution’s Manuel Galich Hall, the public will be able to meet with the artist,who will comment on his most recent work and experiences within the kinetic movement

	EXPOSICIÓN DE WILLIAM HERNÁNDEZ Galería Collage Habana San Rafael 103 entre Consulado e Industria, Centro Habana	THROUGHOUT FEBRUARY/ 2010
	According to the poet and essayist Rafael Acosta de Arroba, “William Hernández has, with great skill, used different expressive languages of visual arts. Painter, engraver, sculptor, a “mixer” of all of these techniques, it seems that his creative capacity holds no mysteries for him…His creative achievements include having approached, and sometimes merged, classical symbology with icons and signs of Cuba today.”

	EL POPARTEN LACOLECCIÓN DELIVAM Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Centro Asturiano (Colección Universal) San Rafael entre Zulueta y Monserrate, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 862 0140 / 861 3858 / 863 948	THROUGHOUT FEBRUARY / 2010
	Pop art exhibition from the Valencia Institute of Modern Art (IVAM), which includes 50 pieces by some 25 European and American artists.

	UN RASGUÑO EN LAPIEDRA Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Arte Cubano) Trocadero entre Monserrate y Zulueta, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 862 0140 / 861 3858 / 863 948	OPENS 19 FEBRUARY / 2010
	To commemorate the 100th birthday of the great Cuban poet, essayist and narrator José Lezama Lima, the National Museum of Fine Arts, with the collaboration of the Lezama Lima House-Museum, has organized the exhibition of paintings by significant Cuban artists to whom Lezama dedicated critical reviews and, sometimes, even poems, and who had also illustrated several of his publications, including Amelia Peláez, Mariano Rodríguez, René Portocarrero, Victor Manuel García and Wifredo Lam.

MEMORIADELPERÚ: TEXTILES YCERÁMICAS PRECOLOMBINAS

	MEMORIADELPERÚ: TEXTILES YCERÁMICAS PRECOLOMBINAS Galería Mariano Calle 15 núm. 607 entre B y C, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 838 270	OPENS 4 FEBRUARY / 2009
	Exhibition of valuable pieces from the cultures that inhabited the region that comprises Peru today—zoomorphic and anthropomorphic vessels and beautiful textiles

	Antecomienzo Galería Factoría Habana O´Reilly 308 entre Habana y Aguiar, La Habana Vieja	Throughout February / 2009
	The recently opened Factoría Gallery exhibits a representative sample of Cuban art of the 1990swith works by artists Aimée García, Sandra Ramos, Abel Barroso, Carlos Montes de Oca, FernandoRodríguez, Lázaro Saavedra, Ibraim Miranda, Luis Gómez, Osvaldo Yero and René FranciscoRodríguez.

	CONSEJOS SABIOS Casa de la Poesía Muralla 63 entre Oficios e Inquisidor, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 862 1801	OPENS 5 FEBRUARY / 2009
	Exhibition of illustrations that appear in the book Cuentos populares rusos [Popular Russian Stories] Aleksandr Nikoláyevich Afanásiev, which will be launched during the International Book Fair. A group of Cuban artists and designers have recreated a fabulous universe inhabited by fairies and mythological beings

	FLORES PARAMI HABANA Palacio de Gobierno Oficios y Sol, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 863 4352	OPENS 18 FEBRUARY / 2009
	Acollection of 30 water colours on cardboard by the Cuban painter Fichú Menocal.

	PAISAJE DE NUESTRAERA Casa Alejandro de Humboldt Oficios esquina a Sol, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 863 985	OPENS 19 FEBRUARY / 2009
	Matter art, which is not very frequent among Cuban artists, is the focus of this solo exhibition by the artist José Ramón Fundora Caballero.

	NUEVAS OBRAS EN BELLAS ARTE Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Centro Asturiano (Colección Universal) San Rafael entre Zulueta y Monserrate, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 862 0140 / 861 3858 / 863 948
	The Brownstone Foundation, directed by the American gallery owner Gilbert Brownstone, recently made a donation to the Museo de Bellas Artes of nine paintings by 19th- and 20th-century avant-garde painters, which were not represented in the museum’s collections: Camille Pisarro, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Joan Miró, André Masson, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol.

Music

	January en la Basílica Basílica Menor de San Francisco de Asís Oficios y Churruca, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 862 9683	6:00 pm / 2009
	6 February The Guillermo Tomás Conservatory Chamber Music Orchestra, conducted by Ana Miriam Santana,will perform works by Vivaldi, Bach, Prokófiev, Chaikovski, Sibelius, Mozart and the Cubansymphonist Guillermo Tomás, who did so much to disseminate the great European concert musicin Cuba during the early 20th century. 13 February Concert by the violinist Fernando Muñoz and the pianist Ana Gabriela de Velazco with works byBeethoven, Schumann, Shostakovich and the Cuban composer Jorge López Marín. 19 FebruaryThe chamber music orchestra Solistas de La Habana will focus their program on compositions byGeorg Friedrich Handel. .

	Tosca Gran Teatro de La Habana Prado y San Rafael, Centro Habana Tel. +(53) 7 861 3077 al 79	29-30 January, 8:30 pm; 31 January, 5:00 pm / 2010
	Produced by Juan. R. Amán and music direction by Eduardo Díaz, the Teatro Lírico Nacional de Cuba, will relive the tragic loves of Floria Tosca and Mario Cavaradossi and the intrigues of thewicked Barón Scarpia, in Giacomo Puccini’s opera, famous for the intense and dramatic beauty ofsome of its arias.

	Peña del Ambia Hurón Azul, Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC) Calle 17 esquina a H, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 4551-53	Wed 11 and 25, 5:00 pm / 2010
	The best place to go for those seeking to become acquainted with authentic African-Cuban traditions, hosted by the poet Eloy Machado, aka. El Ambia.

	El Jardín de la Gorda Centro Iberoamericano de la Décima Calle A entre 25 y 27, El Vedado	Third Sunday of the month, 5:00 pm / 2010
	Sara González, emblematic voice of the Cuban Nueva Trova, at her monthly gatherings where the audiences can enjoy, in an informal atmosphere, the performances of some of the best Cuban troubadours.

	Festival de la tova longina Santa Clara, Villa Clara Province	7-11 January / 2010
	In remembrance of one of the greats of traditional Cuban trova, Manuel Corona, and his immortalsong Longina, troubadours of different generations will share the stage with famous Cubanmusicians. The event will include theoretical meetings, informal get-togethers and the traditionalwalk to Caibarién, Corona’s hometown, on the 9th.

	Peña de Rochy Balneario Universitario El Coral Calle 1ra. esquina a 42, Miramar	Last Thursday of the month, 8:30 pm / 2010
	Performance by Cuban singer Rochy with her group and guests.

	Concierto Abierto Sala Villena Calle 17 esquina a H, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 4551 al 53	Last Thursday of the month, 5:00 pm / 2010
	Concert and electroacoustic music for soloists and chamber music ensembles, under the direction of Guido López Gavilán.

	Conciertos de Dimensión Vertical El Sauce Calle 9na. entre 120 y 130, Playa Tel. +(53) 7 204 7061	Sundays, 4:00 pm / 2010
	Dimensión Vertical, one of the oldest Cuban rock bands who insist on reproducing, the same as 40 years ago, hit songs by famous British and US rock bands of the 60s and 70s, make up, together with their middle-aged fans, a sort of Jurassic Park.

	Peña de Los Kents Café Cantante, Teatro NacionalCalle Paseo y 39, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 870 4651	2-6 December / 2010
	Los Kents, another “dinosaur” of Cuban rock, play their own hits from the 60s and 70s.

	Festival Nacional de musica de camara Teatro Amadeo Roldán Calzada y D, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 4521 al 22	Last Saturday of the month, 4:00 pm / 2010
	Important Cuban and international orchestras will perform a selection from important chambermusic repertories.

	Tardes del Jazz Hurón Azul, Unión de escritores and Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC) Calle 17 esquina a H, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 4551-53	Second Thursday of the month, 5:00 pm / 2010
	Jam sessions with important Cuban jazz musicians and bands.

	Peña de Rembert Duharte Jardines del teatro Mella Línea entre A y B, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 830 4987	Last Friday of the month, 5:00 pm / 2010
	The young jazz musician Rembert Duharte plays the different forms of Cuban jazz.

	Noche de Boleros Hurón Azul, Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC) Calle 17 esquina a H, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 4551-53	Saturdays, 9:00 pm / 2010
	Lovers of this romantic genre par excellence have the opportunity of meeting and enjoying the performances of the best Cuban boleristas.

	Hombres Verdes Pabellón Cuba 23 y M, El Vedado	Third Friday of the month, 9:00 pm / 2009
	A gathering for electroacoustic music sponsored by the organization of young Cuban creators: Asociación Hermanos Saíz.

	Peña de la Trova Patio de La Casona de Línea Calle Línea entre D y E, El Vedado	Sunday, 7:30 pm / 2010
	As a confirmation of the old Cuban saying “The trova is not dead”, singers from different generations and different styles get together to sing their songs.

	Trovando Patio-bar of the EGREM record label San Miguel 410 entre Campanario y Lealtad, Centro Habana Tel. +(53) 7 862 0673	Wednesday, 5:00 pm / 2010
	A place where troubadours and poets get together for a unique performance in a bohemian atmosphere, combined with the launching and sale of record albums, books and magazines.

	La Trova sin Traba Hurón Azul, Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC) Calle 17 esquina a H, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 4551-53	Wed 4 and 18, 5:00 pm / 2010
	Different generations and styles converge in a natural combination of traditional, new and very new trova.

	La Bella Cubana Sala Villena, Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC) Calle 17 esquina a H, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 4551-53	Wed 4 and 18, 5:00 pm / 2010
	Dedicated to highlight the presence of women in Cuban music.

	Peña de Enfusión Patio-bar of the EGREM record label San Miguel 410 entre Campanario y Lealtad, Centro Habana Tel. +(53) 7 862 0673	Every Monday, 5:30 pm / 2010
	A trova get-together hosted by Enfusión.

	Líricos en San Felipe Oratorio San Felipe Neri Aguiar esquina a Obrapía, La Habana Vieja	7:00 pm unless otherwise indicated / 2010
	4 February Performance by the Cuban National Chorus and guests. 11 February Sinfonía para el amor, specially dedicated to Saint Valentine’s Day. 18 February Concert by the Chamber Music Orchestra of the National Arts Institute. 20 February, 4:00 pm Concert by the Chamber Music Orchestra of the National Arts Institute. 25 February Tenors in Concert, directed by Carlos H. Lara. 27 February, 4:00 pm Voces Nuevas--New

	Charangueando Café Cantante, Teatro Nacional Calle Paseo y 39, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 870 4651	Every Thurday at 5:00 pm / 2010
	Aregular space for Cuban charanga dance bands--ideal instrumental format for the danzón,mambo and cha-cha, hosted by the legendary América band.

	VIII FESTIVALDE MÚSICAANTIGUAESTEBAN SALAS Basílica Menor del Convento de San Francisco de Asís Oficios y Churruca, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 862 9683 Iglesia de San Francisco de Paula Desamparados y San Ignacio, Alameda de Paula, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 860 4210 Colegio Universitario San Jerónimo de La Habana Mercaderes entre Obispo y O'Reilly, La Habana Vieja Centro Hispano-Americano de Cultura Malecón 17 entre Prado y Genio, Centro Habana Tel. +(53) 7 860 6282	5-27 February / 2010
	Previously an event to commemorate the music of Cuban composer Esteban Salas, since 2003, on the 200th anniversary of his death, it became a festival of early music. Every year the event gathers outstanding performers of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music who perform in Old Havana headed by the Ars Longa Music Ensemble.

	CONCIERTO Teatro Amadeo Roldán Calzada y D, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 4521-22	27 February, 8:30 pm / 2010
	To open the Chopin Year in Cuba, dedicated to the bicentennial of the great Polish composer of the Romantic school, which will be celebrated with almost 2,000 concerts throughout the world, the well-known Cuban pianist Frank Fernández will give a concert with some of the works that will appear in his upcoming album dedicated to the great musician, including the Sad Waltz, Waltz in C-sharp Minor and the Minute Waltz (Waltz in D-flat major).

	PEÑADE LYNN MILANÉS YSU GRUPO Centro Cultural Fresa y Chocolate Calle 23 esquina a 12, El Vedad	Every Saturday, 6:30 pm / 2010
	Lynn Milanés—daughter of the famour singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés—with a selection of well-liked Cuban songs, which range from bolero to pop.

	PEÑADE PANCHO AMAT Sede provisional del Museo Nacional de la MúsicaObrapía 509, entre Bernaza y Villegas, La Habana Vieja	Third Thursday of the month, 5:00 pm / 2010
	The popular tres player Pancho Amat and Cabildo del Son with a sample of the most Cuban ofCuban song and dance styles, son.

Theatre

	La Oveja Negra Centro Cultural Bertolt Brecht, Sala Tito Junco Calle 13 esquina a I, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 9359	Every Tuesday, 8:30 pm / 2010
	Adifferent show every Tuesday by the comedians that form the popular group La OvejaNegra.

	JOSEFINA LA VIAJERA Sala Adolfo Llauradó Calle 11 entre D y E, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 5573	Viernes y sábados a las 8:30 pm; domingos a las 5:00 pm / 2010
	Directed by Carlos Díaz, Teatro El Público opens this play by the Cuban narrator, poet and playwright Abilio Estévez, with one of the most talented, intelligent and versatile actors of today’s Cuban stage—Osvaldo Doimeadiós. the playwright and critic Norge Espinosa points out that “The main character of this mask ball is Josefina Beauharnais, a Cuban woman from eastern Cuba and French descent…She says she is 120 years old with 103 on her own since she was 17 and left the family home to try her luck in Havana, a place she never reached. The character’s conflicts fashion the suffering of a long life with hurt, pain, nostalgia and loss.”

	Nevada Teatro El Sótano Calle K entre 25 y 27, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 832 0630	Throughout January; Fri and Sat, 8:30 pm; Sun, 5:00 pm / 2010
	The Rita Montaner theatre company announces the world premiere of Nevada by theyoung Cuban playwright, Abel González Melo, produced and directed by FernandoQuiñones Posada. Once again, a play delves into the micro world–which is not so smallafter all--of the Havana that annuls terms such as virtue and morality. Rosnay, who is apimp, among other things, dreams with visiting Nevada and drags his “girlfriend” Luciawith him and both embark on an illegal journey. This is the beginning of this play whichgets complicated in unsuspected ways.

JUICIO Y CONDENA PUBLICADE CHARLOTTE CORDAY

	JUICIO Y CONDENA PUBLICADE CHARLOTTE CORDAY Sala del Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Arte Cubano) Trocadero entre Monserrate y Zulueta, La Habana Vieja Tel. +(53) 7 862 0140 / 861 3858 / 863 9484	25, 26 and 27 Feb, 7:00 pm; 28 Feb, 5:00 pm / 2010
	Written, produced and directed by Rubén Sicilia, this one-woman show suggests a reinterpretation of the events surrounding the assassination of the French revolutionary Jean Paul Marat in 1793. Mirtha Lilia Pedro’s performance of several characters won her the Caricato Prize 2009 for Best Actress.

	LALA Y LILASE CONFIESAN Sala Hubert de Blanck Calzada 657 entre Ay B, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 830 1011	Fri and Sat, 8:30 pm; Sun, 5:00 pm / 2010
	Written by the Cuban playwright Humberto Arenal, directed by Pedro Valdés Piña and produced by Julio César Ramírez, Teatro de Muñecos Okantomí continues this month with this thought-provoking play of the relationship of a Cuban émigré in Spain, who has been hired as a maid, and her wealthy employer

	MI SOCIO MANOLO Casa del Alba Cultural Línea esquina a D, El Vedado	Fri, Sat and Sun, 6:00 pm / 2010
	Directed by Sarah María Cruz and the excellent performances of René de la Cruz, Jr. and José Ignacio León, Teatro del Sol reruns Eugenio Hernández Espinosa’s Mi socio Manolo. This very successful play, with numerous versions since its premiere in 1988, is, according to the Cuban playwright Gerardo Fulleda León, “the most heartrending examination made by the theatre in recent times about male chauvinism.” The meeting between two old friends, one of whom lives abroad, is the triggering factor of childhood memories and happy anecdotes of times gone by, but in the process, rancor, frustrations and guilt are raked up, which all lead to tragic ending.

	FOTOS TEATRALES Casona de Línea Línea 505 entre D y E, El Vedado Tel. +(53) 7 833 8562	Through March/ 2010
	Exhibition of the best photographs of Cuban the atrical shows from the 1960s to thepresent.

Dance

	ELEMENTOS Gran Teatro de La Habana Prado y San Rafael, Centro Habana Tel. +(53) 7 861 3077 al 79	11, 12 Y13 FEBRUARYALAS 8:30 PM; DÍA14 A LAS 5:00 PM/ 2010
	Show by the Ballet Lizt Alfonso, an all-female company which peforms Cuban and Spanish folk dances using the most modern resources of choreography, music and theatre. On this occasion, her work focuses on trying to translate fire, water, earth and wind into music, and has interesting performances by duets, trios and soloists.

A PREVIEW OF THE COMING MONTHS

FESTIVALDE MÚSICADE CONCIERTO ATEMPO CON CATURLA

	FESTIVALDE MÚSICADE CONCIERTO ATEMPO CON CATURLA SANTACLARAYCAIBARIÉN, PROVINCIAVILLACLARA 3-7 March
	Dedicated to one of the greatest Cuban composers of the 20th century, Alejandro García Caturla,representative of the first musical avant-garde in the Island, Performances by young composersand singers from all over Cuba.

FESTIVAL INTERNACIONALDE DOCUMENTALES SANTIAGO ÁLVAREZ IN MEMORIAM
MOVIE THEATRES CUBAAND RIALTO, SANTIAGO DE CUBA
8-13 March

Created in 2000, this festival aims at highlighting the prominent role of the documentary, a film genre that has been somewhat consigned to oblivion by the promotional mechanisms of the larger movie festivals, yet with a tradition of significant quality and acknowledgement in Cuba, among other factors, thanks to the work of the late prize-winning Cuban film-maker, Santiago Alvarez. Although the festival began as a national event dedicated to the memory of the most relevant Cuban documentary maker of all time, throughout the years it has attracted the attention of a number of filmmakers from Latin America, Europe and the United States. With films in competition, parallel screenings and theoretical discussions, the Festival, which this year will be dedicated to Brazil, constitutes a space for exchanging opinions and experiences among filmmakers and lovers of this genre.

	XIII FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE MÚSICA ELECTROACÚSTICA PRIMAVERA DE LA HABANA OLD HAVANA’S HISTORICALCENTRE, MUSEO NACIONALDE BELLAS ARTES,CASADE LAS AMÉRICAS, COMPLEJO CULTURALBERTOLTBRECHTANDINSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE ARTE, CIUDAD DE LAHABANA 15-21 March
	Organized by composer Juan Blanco, a pioneer of electroacoustic music in Cuba, the Varadero Spring Festival-as it was first called-gathered important figures which included Jon Appleton, Max Matthew, Leo Kupper, Ahmed Malek, Nicola Sani, Lejaren Hiller, Manuel Enríquez, Ricardo Dal Farra and Andrew Schloss. In 1998, the event moved its venue to Havana's Historical Centre.

FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE LA TROVA PEPE SÁNCHEZ
CASADE LA TROVA AND SALADE CONCIERTOS DOLORES IN SANTIAGO DE CUBA
17- 21 March

The festival began in 1962 in homage to local Santiago de Cuba composer José (Pepe) Sánchez (1856-1918), considered the father of Cuban trova (the troubador genre of voice, song andpoetry that is usually accompanied by a guitar). Several generations of musicians from differentmusical trends within trova participate in this event, including exponents of more traditionaltrova, of filin (an evolution of bolero and trova), and of nueva trova (the very Cuban genre ofpersonal commentary influenced by British, US and Brazilian popular music). Santiago de Cuba—the cradle of trova—hosts this festival which takes the city’s streets and parks by storm in acelebration where musicians and singers from abroad join their Cuban counterparts. The closingof the festival on Troubador Day, March 19th, commemorates the anniversary of the birth of Pepe Sanchez.