US Blocks Musicians from Playing in Cuba

[Mika]

http://www.periodico26.cu/english/coverage/us-mu031008.htm

The 12th International Electroacoustic Music Festival “Spring in Havana 2008” begins Monday in historic Old Havana but stepped up hostilities by the Bush administration is preventing US musicians from participating in an event traditionally marked by the fertile creative exchange between US and Cuban musicians.

Twenty US musicians were set to attend but at the last minute the organizers were informed that Washington has denied them permission to travel to Cuba.

The festival is sponsored by the Cuban National Laboratory of Electroacoustic Music (LNMEA).

The event’s coordinator, Jorge Bolanos, told the press, “The hostile policy of government once again is impeding us from extending this essential bridge between the cultures of our peoples.”

Composer Andrew Schloss, who for many years has lived and worked in Canada, is the only US musician present at the forum. Knowledgeable about Cuban electroacustic music and a collaborator with the National Laboratory of Electroacoustic Music, Andy regretted the absence of his compatriots, “It has become very difficult for them to travel to Cuba due to the ruthless policy of President George W. Bush.”

The festival officially opens with a concert Monday evening at 7:00 p.m. at the Basilica Menor of San Francisco in Old Havana. The program features the work of Cuban composers Carlos Farinas, Roberto Valera, Juan Pinera, Fernando Quinones and Juan Blanco, the festival’s founder, as well as a special performance by the Schola Cantorum Coralina choir under the direction of Alina Orraca.

An hour earlier, an audiovisual digital art show will take place at the Pablo de la Torrente Cultural Center.

Spanish composer Greogorio Jimenez, president of the Electroacoustic Music Association of Spain, will share the stage Tuesday with renowned flutist Julian Elvira, also from Spain, at 4:00 p.m. at the Basilica.

Tuesday evening’s concert at the Museum of Fine Arts will have a jazz flavor with Canadian violinist Irene Mitri, Cubans Hilario Duran on piano and Jorge Reyes on bass and Andy Schloss on the Radio Drum.

[Billy Burnett]

1. Now, that's REALLY sticking it to Castro.

What a brave battle of ideas the US is conducting. :crazy:

[Judi Lynn]

2. You might remember this band made a big deal of its trip to Havana in 2005:

Audioslave Slay Havana With Historic Show
Band performs for nearly two and a half hours before an estimated 50,000 fans.
By: Jim Fraenkel and Corey Moss

HAVANA — With an inspired 26-song set, Audioslave made history on Friday, playing by far the biggest show for an American band in this communist country.

An estimated 50,000 fans at the sprawling La Tribuna Antimperialista José Martí watched as the band made one of its longtime dreams come true (see "Audioslave To Make History By Playing Free Show In Cuba"). Many of the fans were wearing T-shirts of Audioslave and other American rock bands.

Heavy on music and light on banter, the nearly two-and-a-half-hour set included several Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden songs alongside Audioslave favorites and tracks from the band's forthcoming second LP, Out of Exile. The group also played a "jam?" (as it was called on the setlist) with the local opening act, singer X Alfonso.

While the crowd chanted "Aud-o-slave!" (their accents didn't favor the "i," so it became a three-syllable word), the band took the stage at 10:14 p.m., setting off its performance with the fittingly titled "Set It Off."

A mosh pit quickly formed near the front of the crowd, with Cuban military and security forces using their bodies to reinforce the barricade at the front and keep it from buckling.

More:
http://www.cmt.com/news/articles/1501463/20050507/audioslave.jhtml



Video Audioslave I Am The Highway
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWd1oO7r3jk

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It goes without saying bands from EVERYWHERE ELSE have always been going there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the last few years we've heard of really BIG groups going there from the U.K. and surviving to tell about it. In their case, it's common place, since their governments aren't foaming at the mouth about Cuba's independence from U.S. interference.