Día de la Cultura Cubana featuring a special tribute to the Miami 5- Fiesta, London
Campaign News | Thursday, 6 October 2011
Celebrate Cuba's National Day of Culture with London's Cuban community and friends with a special evening of live music featuring Omar Puente's Raices Cubanaa, dancing, and poetry at London's Conway Hall on Saturday 22 October.
Conway Hall, London
Saturday 22 October 2011
From 7.30pm
Raíces Cubanas featuring Omar Puente play authentic Cuban salsa, son and charanga
Plus DJ Dr Jim - resident Cuban salsa & timba DJ at Buffalo Bar
Yuri Moreno - soulful singer from Santiago de Cuba
Roberto Molina - performs Afro-Cuban poetry
Dance performance by Damarys Farres and Juan Carlos of the Cuban School of Arts
Tickets £10/£8 concessions.
To book tickets call 020 8800 0155 (office hours)or online below
Sponsors/supporters: Cubartista, Cuba Solidarity Campaign, Cuban Embassy
Raíces Cubanas, led by virtuoso violinist and musical director Omar Puente from Santiago de Cuba, have their roots in Cuban Son and Charanga (violins, flute, keyboard, bass, timbale, congas and bongos with a strong vocal front line) infused with Afro-Cuban jazz. Omar has toured worldwide with Cuban greats such as the late Ruben Gonzalez, supported Tito Puente, Omara Portuondo and jammed with the Afro-Cuban All Stars. Over recent years he has performed, recorded and toured with British jazz stars Courtney Pine and Denis Baptiste. Raíces have performed all over the UK, including at CSC events. They make a Cuban dance party like no other.
DJ Dr Jim is the UK's leading specialist Afro-Cuban salsa & timba DJ and has played a major role in popularising Cuban music in this country. Since the late 1990s, he has played at many of the UK's leading venues, including the Hammersmith Palais, The Roundhouse and The Jazz Café, and has supplied DJ support to visiting Cuban artists such as Los Van Van, Bamboleo, Manolito Y Su Trabuco and Azucar Negra. Dr Jim has also compiled several CDs, including ‘Havana Si - The Very Best Of Los Van Van', ‘The Rough Guide To Cuban Music' and ‘The Beginner's Guide To Timba', which is currently Europe's best-selling Cuban music CD. For the last 10 years, he has been resident DJ at London's weekly Cuban salsa night at the Buffalo Bar.
Tio Molina has created his own unique style of bringing classical and contemporary Latin American poetry to life. He studied under the maestro Luis Carbonell, the most famous interpreter of Antillean poetry in Latin America. He developed his career in Poetry Performance in parallel to a distinguished career as a dancer and choreographer.
Yuri Moreno is from Santiago de Cuba and has sung with several Cuban bands based in the UK. She has a fabulously rich and soulful voice a wide repertoire including boleros and filin' songs.
Damarys Farres is a charismatic dancer, choreographer and teacher. She is director of The Cuban School of Arts and in 2006 was nominated as one of the best female Cuban dancers in the UK. She is a graduate of the National Ballet School in Havana and has worked as Curator and interpreter for Afro-Cuban Courses for foreigners with Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba and Danza Nacional de Cuba, and promoter of Afro-Cuban Dance Group Ocha. She will perform with Juan Carlos.
- Book tickets online now here
- For more information see Cuba50
- Cuban food and bar by Buena Vista Cuban Cafe & Cocktail Bar, Clapham. ‘the authentic Cuban experience'
