Ballet Nacional de Cuba - Cuba Absolutely

More documents

Recommendations

Info

.COM Best Events outside of Havana this month WHA T’S ON ! HAVAN A 2nd International Harley Davidson Rally: Havana to Varadero 8-11 February 2013 www.harlistascubanos.com1 February 2012 saw the first ‘international’ rally with over 50 Harlistas making there way to Varadero… This offered a fascinating portrait not just of Harley culture in Cuba (and believe me, the Cuban Harlistas are ‘loco’ for their bikes) but also to alternative culture in Cuba more generally and how concepts translate in Cuba (As in all things Cuban there is a lot of invention, complications, gossip and outright fun!). The highlight for me has to be Cuba’s oldest Harlista, 102 years old Jose Julio Garcia who explains how he caught the ‘Harley Bug’. FESTIVAL DEL MONÓLOGO CUBANO February Teatro Tomás Terry, Cienfuegos province Sponsored by the Tomas Terry Theatre in Cienfuegos, this Monologue Festival was launched in 2003 with the aim of validating a genre, which by nature demands intense commitment of playwrights as well as actors. Despite being one of the newer events in the domestic cultural scene, this festival has already achieved a standing in the Cuban stage, and at present the most renowned Cuban playwrights, directors, actors and actresses compete in the beautiful Terry Theatre. Festival Arañando la Nostalgia February City of Holguín This festival of romantic music, which is especially dedicated to the music of the 1960s, hopes to promote soloists and bands, and draw together the many followers of romantic music in Cuba. page 17 | Feb www.CubaAbsolutely.com
15th Habanos Festival From February 26th to March 2nd, 2013 WHA T’S ON .COM ! HAVAN A The 2009 Havana Cigar Festival with Sir Terence Conran by Stephen Gibbs Maybe someone was having a quiet joke. Perhaps it was a coincidence. But for one reason or another, Havana’s Karl Marx theatre was the setting for the inaugural night of celebrations in honor of that great capitalist prop, the hand-rolled cigar. The visitors, more likely to be socialites than socialists, come every year to rub shoulders with like-minded aficionados. And smoke, almost continuously. With many countries around the world now shunning smokers, Cuba, which has not enforced its own anti-smoking legislation, has become something of a haven. “We have been driven to special corners of the world,” says Hong Kong based cigar distributor David Tang. “Places where people still understand that smoking is not a sin.” Visitors to the fair spend much of the week touring the factories where the objects of their desires are rolled. For British designer and restaurateur Sir Terence Conran coming to Cuba for the first time having smoked Cuban cigars almost every day for the last 43 of his 75 years, is like a pilgrimage. In the vast rolling room of H Uppman, the air thick with the aroma of tobacco leaf, he recalls his first cigar. “We opened the Habitat store in May 1964, and someone suggested that the best way to celebrate was with a Montecristo cigar.” I ask him if he has ever considered giving up. “No,” is his brusque reply. “Luckily I have a very sensible doctor who smokes cigars himself.” The festival is of course not just about smoking cigars. It has a serious business side. Behind closed doors, in the factories’ tasting rooms, retailers are thinking of ways to defend their livelihoods against anti-smoking legislation. They know that they will probably end up selling fewer cigars. One strategy is to go more upmarket. “Of course the ban is worrying for us,” explains Jemma Freeman, owner of the UK importer Hunters and Frankau. “But what we have seen in markets which already have smoking bans is that although people have less opportunity to smoke cigars, what they are doing is smoking better cigars.” The week ends with an extravagant $500 a head final dinner, which this year was held in the cavernous ExpoCuba, near Havana’s Parque Lenin. Glancing around the several guests, it seemed quite clear that there are plenty of cigar smokers with plenty of money around the world. The dinner ends with an auction of handcrafted humidors. The bids (which go towards Cuban health care) soar into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. This does not look like a business, or a habit that is dying out. page 18 | Feb www.CubaAbsolutely.com
Page 1 and 2: WHAT’S ON HAVANA ! FEB 2013 Revie
Page 3 and 4: .COM February: Havana Good Time wit
Page 5 and 6: ART WHA T’S ON Sex in the City Ga
Page 7 and 8: .COM ART WHA T’S ON ! HAVAN A Gal
Page 9 and 10: MUSIC WHA T’S ON Gala Tribute to
Page 11 and 12: MUSIC Bolero, folkloric, son & trov
Page 13 and 14: MUSIC Classical Iglesia de Paula Fe
Page 15 and 16: PERFORMING ARTS WHA T’S ON ! HAVA
Page 17: FOR KIDS MEÑIQUE Memorial José Ma
Page 21 and 22: Love is in the air: February 14, 20
Page 23 and 24: THE ULTIMATE HAVANA RESTAURANT GUID
Page 25 and 26: .COM Elena's up and downs to dining
Page 27 and 28: .COM CULTURAL CENTRES Gabinete de A
Page 29 and 30: .COM CINEMAS Cine La Rampa Cine Pay

Ballet Nacional de Cuba - Cuba Absolutely

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?