lahabana. com magazine lahabana magazine
The US - CUBA travel issue FROM GRINGO TO GUEST JUN INCLUDING GUIDE TO THE BEST PLACES TO EAT, DRINK, DANCE AND STAY IN HAVANAJUN 2016 1 lahabana. com magazine
JUN 2016 2 lahabana. com magazine
LA HABANA.COM is an independent platform, which seeks to HAVANA GUIDE showcase the best in Cuba arts & culture, life-style, sport, travel and much more... The ultimate guide to Havana with detailed reviews of where to We seek to explore Cuba through the eyes of the best writers, eat, drink, dance, shop, visit and play. Unique insights to the photographers and filmmakers, both Cuban and international, who place that a gregarious, passionate and proud people call home. live work, travel and play in Cuba. Beautiful pictures, great videos, opinionated reviews, insightful articles and inside tips.
HAVANA LISTINGS
MAY 2016 2 lahabana. com magazine
newest Master Class Chivas Champion; and a cultural project that embodies the Golden Age of Cuban music: the Tradicionales de los 50.
The official proclamation of Havana as one of the Seven Wonder Cities of the Modern EDITORIAL World will take place June 7 at La Punta Fortress at 7:30pm. Then walk down to Plaza Vieja for a riot of cultural activities that will take off at 9pm, and be sure not to miss the closing ceremony on the corner of Prado and Neptuno, across Parque Central, Any US citizen can come to Cuba…just don’t sit on the beach! with the performance of one of Cuba’s oldest and most famous popular music bands, the There’s no question about it: Cuba has bewitched Americans. The Island is Orquesta Aragón. crawling with American visitors taking advantage of the relaxation of US travel restrictions. Other events include the IV Encuentro Following the historic joint decision by President Barack Obama and President de Jóvenes Pianistas (June 2-29) with a Raúl Castro on December 17, 2014 to reestablish diplomatic relations between Cuban and international lineup, Festival Cuba and the US, many things have happened, and increased travel has been one Internacional Boleros de Oro (June 22-26), of them. Gaining permission from the government once required preapproval and AM-PM (América x su Música) 2016 from OFAC as well as a detailed itinerary of the group you were traveling with. (June 13-19) Now Americans wishing to travel to Cuba need only check the right box on a visa form at the airport and can travel solo. The figures speak for themselves: the And for fishing aficionados, start getting arrival of American visitors to Cuba showed a growth of 94% in the first quarter your gear ready for the 66th Hemingway of 2016 alone. International Billfishing Tournament (June 13-18) which promises to break attendance So, in keeping with our June US Travel to Cuba issue, Jauretsi gives us her record. impression in Seeing Cuba through the Eyes of an American as well as her Top 5 Things to Do in Havana. Another group of US travelers tells of their experiences Abrazos! The LaHabana.com Team in Cuba and how they have gotten hooked on this “exotic, frozen-in-time” island.
Read about who is the most famous American to have visited Cuba, Americans in Cuba throughout history and how the word “Yuma” came to be synonymous with About our new look “American”. This month we have introduced a new design and feel to La Habana Magazine. We hope you like it – your Elsewhere, learn about AM-PM 2016, a project that is driving Cuba’s musical scene; feedback is appreciated. In the coming months, we will a bit of history on the only open-air cabaret in the world: the famous Tropicana; the bring online weekly updates on what to see and do in… La Habana.
JUN 2016 lahabana. com magazine
JUN 2016 4 lahabana. com magazine
Cuba Travel Network: Definitely Different Come and experience Cuba with a company that’s passionate about the magical island. Our on the ground team in Cuba is the first to know about the country’s developments—from new hotels and tour possibilities to ever-changing travel regulations, and we love to show our beautiful home to the world.
With Cuba Travel Network, experience Cuba as a traveler, not a tourist.
Why travel with Cuba Travel Network?
• CTN is the premier travel service provider for the individual traveler planning trips to Cuba, handling accommodation, all domestic flights and excursions. • On-the-ground assistance from expert concierge representatives throughout the island. • Choose from fully guided, flexible and special interest tours. • Real-time availability and immediate booking confirmation for 220+ hotels and 50+ rental car locations. • Secure online payment; Visa & MasterCard accepted.
US - [email protected] | 1 800 282 2468 (Toll Free) Europe - [email protected] | +31 (0)20 794 7962 Asia - [email protected] | 1800 198 150 (Toll Free) Rest of the world - [email protected] | +53 (0)7 214 0090 CubaTravelNetwork.com
JUN 2016 5 CONTENTS JUN 2016 lahabana. com magazine 37 Leaving for Yuma
Tropicana: So many US Travelers 40 yumas can’t be wrong to Cuba 42 AM-PM 2016 An American gets swept off Driving Cuba’s Musical Scene her feet 06 Tradicionales de los 50: Embodying the Golden My top 5 things to do 46 Age of Cuban Music in Havana 09 Reynier Rodríguez: Until Next Time Havana 12 49 Master Class Chivas Havana 2016 Champion Aplatanado in Havana 16 Havana Listings Taxi 19 VISUAL ARTS PHOTOGRAPHY Old Havana: Mojitos and DANCE music still the strongest beat 23 MUSIC THEATRE Seeing Cuba through the Eyes FOR KIDS of an American 26 EVENTS Havana Guide The Adonia: Blazing the trail 29 FEATURES American visitors galore RESTAURANTS 31 BARS & CLUBS LIVE MUSIC Papa Hemingway 35 HOTELS PRIVATE ACCOMMODATION
JUN 2016 lahabana. com magazine
By Katherine Dobbs
A new outlook on life, a few serious sunburns, a Cuban boyfriend and hundreds of mojitos later (don’t judge!), I am back in AN AMERICAN my home base of classy Charleston, South Carolina, USA, alive and well but with an unquenchable thirst for a return trip to GETS SWEPT OFF HER FEET Cuba. I cannot even begin to tell you the full- frontal sensory experience that Cuba has to offer: experiencing the strength and revolutionary spirit of the Cuban people, BY CUBA eating heaping piles of savory rice and black beans for almost every meal, dancing to reggaeton and sipping on sweet and flavorful Cuba Libres (Rum and Coke mixed drinks!), swimming in brilliant turquoise oceans, feeling the beat deep in your chest of the pulsing music and sound that comes out of the city from every corner, and cat calls from every guy over the age of 10—Cuba took me by surprise and left me wanting more. It is a beautiful place—hauntingly so. Never one to stick to the main tourist traps, I immediately found my happy place in the back streets of Old Havana and nestled myself into the daily life of this incredible city. I lived for the smells of street food, the sounds of the bustling city life, dodging out of the way of the constantly whizzing-by like it’s the Autobahn vintage Chevrolets, and the warmth of the Cuban people that photos by Huberto Valera Jr. greeted me at every turn. The buildings are crumbling—or at least the ones on back streets out of the main sight of tourists, and they are decorated with Che murals,
JUN 2016 7 lahabana. com magazine revolutionary quotes, and Hasta la victoria siempre (Victory forever) in as many bare spots as the city’s muralists can find. Many of the main buildings, El Capitolio (the Capitol) for instance, and the beautiful colonial architecture lining the world- famous walkway along Havana’s shores, the Malecón, have been gorgeously preserved and renovated. However, there is another side to the infrastructure there in Cuba, but it is a side that seemed to connect with me in a very personal and beautiful way. I found myself imagining the stories of all who had walked through those chipped doors, stood on the balconies seemingly perched by a few bricks. Looking at the architecture of Havana is like being on a treasure hunt: you honestly could never imagine what you will uncover while exploring. That being said, I came to love that city with all my heart. I was visiting Havana on a study abroad trip: yes, twelve college-age Americans studying abroad and roaming adventures. After haggling with the stubborn the streets of Havana. We quickly became Cuban driver to charge us the Cuban and like family with our Cuban professor and not tourist price, we finally would be on our his neighbors, friends, and family. College way. A few things were always necessary students in Cuba are exactly like my friends to begin the night. Now, Havana Club Rum at home—they love music, parties, and is the best, most incredible rum you can hanging out with friends. I hate to admit it, buy. And we were able to buy bottles upon but my new friends probably were more well bottles for a ridiculously cheap cost, as most versed in American pop culture than I was! things in Cuba were not very expensive. Less than ten bucks later, my friends and I were After classes were done for the day, we well outfitted with our provisions for the would all meet up with our new friends, night: rum, TuKola (Cuban version of Coke) and that is when the real experience and cups. began. Six or seven of us would climb into a máquina, aka almendrón (the private Flash forward about fifteen minutes of a fun, taxis of Cuba: vintage Chevrolets, Fords, blurred taxi ride and we are being scooped driving at the speed of light and no seatbelts out of a taxi at the Malecón walkway, included!), piling on top of each other, ocean waves spraying over the sea wall and laughing, singing, and excited to begin our welcoming us to the city’s nightly party. The Malecón pulses with sound and people
JUN 2016 8 lahabana. com magazine
after nightfall—it becomes a living, breathing entity that could very well sum up the spirit of Cuba. Young and old, friends and family, all gather here to meet, greet, drink, and socialize. It is a beautiful, beautiful party, night after night, requiring no RSVP or invitation, but welcomes all with open arms and a rebel spirit. After the Malecón nights, we would go salsa dancing, plain and simple. There really was no other option—salsa is a way of life in Cuba. So…if anyone who knows me, knows me well, they know that I was absolutely hopeless at dancing—and scared to death of it. After several soul-crushing middle school dance experiences, I gave up my hopes and dreams of being a gorgeous ballerina. However, a very special person was able to transform this girl right here into a regular dancing queen. This brings me to my novio cubano—my Cuban boyfriend. He is a green-eyed, beautiful, and wonderful Cuban student who I met only a week after being in Havana. My life would never be the same. I won’t bore you with the long details, but let’s just say I fell in love with him, and I think there’s a good chance it’s leading towards a happily ever after. He taught me to salsa, taught me to vanish my fears, and most of all taught me how to be myself in a world where so often you are forced to be someone else. It may sound exaggerated, but there is no other explanation for how I felt by the time I left this beautiful country. I feel like in this day and age, surrounded by politics, chaos, and who knows what else, we are all just looking for a little bit of happily- ever-after in our lives. Therefore, if I know anything for certain, it is this: when life hands you something good, you take it. This was my experience in Cuba. I was presented with a constantly moving, beautifully chaotic, yet peaceful and honest life there, and I decided it was something worth having. I plan to return to beautiful Havana soon, to learn more and more about the amazing and strong people of Cuba and to continue my happily-ever-after, all with a mojito in one hand and a genuine, true smile on my face.
JUN 2016 9 lahabana. com magazine TOP
2. 5 TOP 5 STREETS PASEO DEL PRADO - Probably one of the most beautiful tree- TO WALK DOWN lined promenade streets in the world. The Prado was home 1. MALECÓN - The iconic seaside street is to the recent Chanel Fashion probably one of the most photographed show which took place in streets of Cuba. Driving by is not enough. May 2016. The calm breezes, Make a note of sitting on the Malecón wall exquisite marble benches, and with a bottle of rum at least once before deco theaters are reminiscent leaving Cuba. of the old-world Bohemian culture that once inhabited this street in the early 1900s.
3. O’REILLY - Most guide books will recommend walking down Obispo Street; however, I believe the adjacent O’Reilly is the true beauty walk, and just off the tourist path. At the tip of the street sits one of Cuba’s young sexy bars called, you guessed it, O’Reilly. At the end of your walk, visit them for one of Cuba’s best Passion Fruit Daiquiris. 5. TH 5 AVENUE - Yes, Cuba has its NEPTUNO - Tucked between Habana Vieja and Vedado 4. own 5th Avenue. Unlike New York’s districts is an area called Centro Habana. Neptuno 5th Avenue, this street is lined street is a vein of a street that allows a sightseeing with international embassies and traveler to melt into the neighborhood. For the vinyl impressive homes. It also acts as a junkies, make a stop at Neptuno No. 408 (at San spinal cord of roads that leads one Nicolás Street) to pick up some rare albums pressed from Miramar to Playa to Siboney. It’s by Egrem records (the Motown of Cuba). a feast for the eyes and stroll through various neighborhoods. JUN 2016 10 lahabana. com magazine TOP 5 “PEOPLE-WATCHING” PLACES 1. PLAZA VIEJA 2.COPPELIA One of Cuba’s biggest traditions is waiting in line for ice-cream in the historic Coppelia ice cream parlour located on 23rd street, in front of the classic Yara deco There is a myriad of theater. The circular spaceship activity in this town structure is a must visit for square. Sit at one of the architecture lovers too. many cafes or coffee shops in the area and relax into the view.
4. FLEA MARKET - Cuba’s Flea Market offers up a selection of gifts to bring home — revolutionary posters, vintage timepieces, antique jewelry, rare 3.BOSQUE de books, cuban vinyl, and more. The Plaza de Armas is also a good place to sit, breathe, and take on all the LA HAVANA visual activity of a bustling market. Lush little forest oasis tucked inside the middle of the city. The Bosque is a quiet and sacred spot 5. FABRICA DE ARTE - The Fabrica de Arte has made overseen by large soulful Cuba cool once again to the Millenial mindset. In Banyan trees. When fact, all walks of life and age groups take in the city’s visiting, its possible you will best curated cultural programming of the city — from encounter locals giving an concerts to art shows to fashion — Fábrica is “the New offering to the river under Cuba” incarnate. the Santeria practice.
JUN 2016 11 lahabana. com magazine TOP 5 PLACES TO CHECK WIFI AND WHY?
5. HABANA LIBRE - The hotel that once existed as tThe Hilton 4. SARATOGA - of Cuba pre-Revolution, 3. PARQUE CENTRAL Saratoga is the Four this building is an - Conveniently located Seasons of Cuba. It is a architectural dream, and in the heart of Habvana hotel that offers 5-star is positioned perfectly HOTEL NACIONAL is on 23rd Street (one of 1. HABANA RIVIERA Vieja, the Parque Central service with a virile wifi considered a ground zero 2. has a very happening signal to boot. If its good Cuba’s main arteries of sorts today. Located - Once known as Meyer of transportation). The Lanky’s hotel/casino. lobby, full of New York enough for Jay Z and Karl in El vedado, it is a place or Los Angelinos visiting Lagerfeld, it should be cafeteria downstairs to take a meeting in the Order a drink in the makes a perfect place Lobby bar and take in Cuba for the week. Its good enough for you. The breezy courtyard as the a nice break from the Saratoga is also located to check your Wifi in local peacock strolls the stunning view facing comfortable setting while the Malecón. This venue outside hustle of Habvana conveniently in Habana by. You can check your Vieja if you desire to sit at Vieja and is another fun sitting down at a table, emails, order a sandwich, allows login through $2 ordering fresh juices, Nauta Cards. Located on the bar and log into Wifi meeting place to rub change dollars into CUCs, for just a few minutes. elbows with the fabulous and “people-watching” all while overlooking the Paseo y Malecón. through the open glasses Note, this bar is 24 hours. in town. Malecón. corner of the block.
JUN 2016 12 lahabana. com magazine TOP5 2. MALECÓN - Sitting on the SUNSET VIEWS Malecón wall is about as magical as it gets. Bring a portable speaker and music for full effect. 1. MAGIC FLUTE - the rooftop bar overlooks the US embassy during the golden hour.
3. SARATOGA - The best bird- eye view of the city as the sun sets. Rooftop includes poolside activity as well.
4. 7 DÍAS CAFE - Located 5. on a quiet seaside in the CRISTO DE LA HABANA Miramar district, this - Take a ferry ride to the space was featured in other side of the bay, to the Cuban film “7 Days in Regla. Visit Casablanca Havana”. and ultimately the Jesus Statue to behold one of the most breathtaking views of the city.
JUN 2016 13 lahabana. com magazine UNTIL NEXT TIME, HAVANA From My Seductive Cuba by Chen Lizra photos by Ana Lorena
On the afternoon of the last day of my last sake of comfort and technology. They should Later in the evening I went with Orly—my two-month visit to Cuba, I found myself in come hand in hand, but in reality one seems talented French-Israeli singer friend who Centro Habana, walking back to my hotel to come at the expense of the other. lives between Paris and Havana—to grab a following dance classes. To my right were Why is it that we want everything to be so bite and share some deep conversation. She kids playing with an old ball that hardly had new when the old is so charming? I wondered walked me back to my hotel after dinner. any air. It didn’t matter; they were having fun. if they’d get rid of the old cars when Cuba It was really hard to say goodbye. So many A mom appeared on the balcony and called changes. I used to come here and be hugs. I just couldn’t let go, so we just stood her daughter in. I kept walking; Cuban men fascinated with every car. They have so much there. I looked at her and said, “Orly, where were coming on to me saying sweet things as character. Now it’s just part of the landscape. am I going? I live here, no?” and I laughed. It usual. It seems silly to take pictures of them all the did feel strange to leave, like leaving home. Nowadays, kids play Nintendo or sit and time. But without them, it would feel like I love Cuba. It’s always so hard for me to chat on Skype or MSN. If your mom needs something’s missing. Another thing I love leave it. Meeting Orly on that trip made it you, she’ll call your cellphone. The world has about Cuba is that no one ever asks how old even harder, because we became so close changed a lot, but is it better? I don’t know. you are and classifies you according to your and shared such a deep friendship, like two We’ve lost so much of our simplicity for the answer. You just live and enjoy the moment. sisters.
JUN 2016 14 lahabana. com magazine
Eventually my eyes were shutting down. situations. For example, taxis don’t always I sat at the airport waiting for my flight, this We squeezed each other one last time and I stop for me because they assume I don’t little airport that feels as if you landed in was off to bed. I lay there, eyes shut, trying have money. This time around, while at the a little village, and you’d get off the plane to fall asleep. Around 1 a.m., I heard an SMS airport getting my bags scanned, an official and walk straight to the local mama’s house come in and had the feeling I knew who asked to see my passport. When he saw I for a delicious meal. I sat there working on it was from. I opened my eyes, rolled over was Canadian, he said, “Parece una cubana” my computer. Every once in a while, some heavily, and read it. It was Orly saying one [You look like a Cuban]. I replied, “Casi foreigner would come up to me and ask, last goodbye and how much all of this meant cubana después de cinco años, pero no” “Do you have an Internet connection here? to her. I sent her a text message back saying [Almost Cuban after five years, but no]. He How?” And I’d reply, “WiFi at José Martí the same. My eyes were all watery, the best laughed with me. I realized that as a Cuban Airport? Maybe in 10 or 20 years. I am just kind, when you love people. I flipped over it must have seemed strange that I had so working on my laptop,” and I’d smile from and fell asleep immediately. much electronic equipment and videotapes ear to ear. In the morning I woke up way too early. I with me—I filmed all my dance classes—but was too emotional to sleep. The Malecón for a foreigner it made complete sense. was so calm at dawn and the colors were so pretty. I’m never awake at this time. Car headlights and street lamps reflected in the water, yet there was already enough light to distinguish the sea with its unique colors. So calm, so peaceful. There’s never a reason to rush anywhere in Cuba. Where to? What for? That’s part of the beauty of this place. I packed my things and went to say goodbye to Melba and Alberto, my friends who own a beautiful casa particular. It was time. Then I took a taxi to the airport. When I asked the driver to turn on the air- conditioning, he laughed and said, “You are getting ready for the change in climate?” Yes, I said, laughing back. It was the first time I had ever ridden anywhere in Cuba and the driver (after that sole question) did not exchange even one word with me. I wondered if he was trying to give me the space he thought foreigners needed. At that moment, it felt like I was about to leave; things were already changing back to foreign mode. Cubans often get confused when I look Cuban; sometimes it creates the strangest
JUN 2016 15 lahabana. com magazine
The Cuban men working at the airport sounds strange, but after so long without “Things are a changing” were being typical cubanos, checking me tomatoes, I had to have tomatoes. The guy at In July 2015, ETECSA, Cuba’s state out wherever I walked—to the restrooms, reception, seeing my reaction to everything, telephone company, rolled out 35 wifi to get some food, even just to stretch. Yes, said to me, “You’re in culture shock.” I hotspots in Cuba. As at May 2016, I for sure will miss this place, my great smiled. I must have looked disoriented. there are 20 public hotspots in Havana friends, the dance classes, the seduction, and an average of five in the rest of Everything was so efficient and perfect. the provinces. All hotels have wi-fi as Havana nightlife, the charming messiness, Too perfect. I felt no real connection with well as the airport. everything. anyone; I could not even feel the heart of I got on the plane, and as we took off, the one person. In my room, the toilet paper was air-conditioning system tried to moisturize soft and there was hot water. I stood under the cabin, and it looked like smoke. The pilot the spray for 20 minutes, not believing told us not to worry. I was certainly leaving, there was real pressure. My hotel bed was I thought to myself. No one bothered so comfortable that I felt uncomfortable. It announcing anything on the domestic flight was too quiet. I had a very hard time falling from Havana to Santiago de Cuba when that asleep—no music on the Malecón, no crowds plane became filled with smoke. outside. It felt lifeless. Some people might But that’s how things work in Cuba; you not see anything wrong with this picture, just figure things out on the fly. There’s but after two months in Cuba, it all felt something really charming about constantly wrong. The receptionist was right: I was in living the moment, and it’s a nice break from complete culture shock. the fast world out there. After a few days, I returned to Vancouver. My flight to Toronto took three and a half I managed to fill my refrigerator with just hours, and the flight attendants were so nice about every kind of food possible. I kept and formal. I just kept wishing things would opening the fridge staring at the food and be a little less formal and a little warmer and not believing the variety. Going to the more personal like in Cuba. But that didn’t supermarket was like going to Disneyland. happen. Step by step, I was leaving Cuba There were so many options. I was slowly and its warmth, and landing in another more adjusting back to Canadian life and detached world. After going through passport control in Toronto, I went to get my suitcase. While waiting at the baggage carousel, I felt like I was being bombarded with a million sales pitches. It’s shocking to see advertising all around you after two months without it. I got my suitcase and went to find the shuttle to my hotel. Everything was smooth. It felt so strange. The first thing I did upon arriving at the hotel was order a plate of tomatoes. It
JUN 2016 16 lahabana. com magazine thinking how much I would have loved to have this comfort combined with Cuba’s strong sense of community. But it seems that the price we pay for perfection is a loss of connection to the moment and to other people. Yes, Cuba has many problems. It’s not an easy place to live in, and some things need to change. But as a good friend once told me, “The good and the bad about something always come from the same place.” In fact, the very things we feel must change in Cuba are precisely the things we love so much about the island. Cuba truly has something special to offer that no other place I know even comes close to. Returning from Cuba after two magical months showed me how much we take things for granted. Every year, I let Cuba inspire my heart and remind me to not take things for granted. By the time I start to forget, I go back and let Cuba inspire me all over again. I miss Cuba whenever I’m not there, like home. And as soon as I set foot on Cuban soil again, it feels as if I never left. But don’t worry—I’ll be back soon.
Chen Lizra, an Israeli-Canadian dancer, TED speaker and entrepreneur, is the best-selling author of My Seductive Cuba, an award-winning unique travel guide that mixes her personal anecdotes with practical travel advice. Imagine “Eat, Pray, Love” meets the “Lonely Planet!” Chen has been leading boutique tours for only ten people inside authentic Cuba since 2008. Her connection to the arts scene through years of dance training gives her an interesting angle on the island and an interesting network. www.myseductivecuba.com/cuban-tours Twitter: @ChenLizra, Facebook + Instagram: clizra.
JUN 2016 17 lahabana. com magazine APLATANADO IN HAVANA by Georgia Schrubbe
Photos by Alex mene and Ana Lorena
JUN 2016 18 lahabana. com magazine
“How many Americans do you know that for educational, journalistic, or religious have gone to Spain or Italy or France?” purposes, and each traveler is only allowed Chrissy Hefron, sophomore geology major to spend a certain amount of money in Cuba at the College of Charleston, asks. “Now per diem. think how many you know that have gone to Maybe these difficulties, and the mystery Cuba—for me, that number was zero.” Hefron and misinformation that Cuba is shrouded decided to be the first member of her family in, is why students participating in the CofC to travel to Cuba, spending three months study abroad program jump at the chance to there as part of CofC’s annual La Habana spend time there learning some of the ins- study abroad trip. and-outs of Havana life. “For me, Cuba seemed like the ultimate Despite the growing interconnectedness adventure. Traveling inside one of the last of today’s society, few Americans know hard-line communist countries during a much about Cuba. Hefron bemoans most period in history in which Fidel Castro is still Americans lack of education about their alive? I had no idea what I was getting into, neighbor in the Western Hemisphere and and therefore I was immediately attracted considers herself lucky to have been exposed to the idea and simultaneously terrified,” to so much in a short amount of time. Hefron said. “[I knew] that Fidel controlled it, they had Long gone are the days of our grandparents, communism and cigars, and about the when Havana was a honeymoon hotspot Cuban missile crisis,” Hefron said, “So I knew and Americans were able to travel to the nothing.” Las Vegas of the Caribbean for a quick pleasure trip. Now, traveling to Cuba is not just a simple matter of buying a plane ticket and jetting off the coast of Florida. Travel to Cuba must be authorized by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, usually
“Things are a changing” As of January 2015, the Obama administration put all 12 categories of travel under a general license, meaning that visitors no longer have to ask OFAC for permission before going, and there is no specific dollar limit on authorized expenses. In addition, travelers are authorized to acquire in Cuba merchandise with a value up to $400 per person, of which no more than $100 may be alcohol or tobacco products. On March 16, 2016, solo travel has been permitted by President Obama.
JUN 2016 19 lahabana. com magazine
The CofC program educates students about “Being able to see where some of my favorite all facets of life in Cuba, from the history players have come from was cool to me,” of the Cuban Revolution and its aftermath Kressel said. to how to successfully navigate Cuban food He was able to see Havana’s Industriales markets and butcher stands. team play in their home stadium, where The program is the brainchild of CofC’s instead of an organ player plunking “Take Dr. Douglas Friedman, director of the me out to the ball game,” there was an eight- Latin American and Caribbean Studies and piece rumba group drumming out beats that International Studies programs, and Dr. sounded more like they were accompanying Humberto Miranda, a researcher at Havana’s a run through the jungle than of around Institute of Philosophy. The two are the bases. “principals” of the program and also fast The program allowed Kressel and Hefron friends, successfully running the program and the 10 other students on this year’s without interruption since 2000.] trip to swim in the Bay of Pigs, follow in After President Bush passed legislation in the footsteps of famous revolutionaries but 2004 making travel to Cuba for educational also face the realities of living in a country programs more difficult, many universities’ where shortages of supplies are common Cuba programs were discontinued, but and the people joke that their three biggest Miranda and Friedman managed to keep problems are “breakfast, lunch and dinner.” theirs going, earning CofC’s status as one of Aplatanar is a word used in Cuba that means a handful of Cuba study-abroad programs in to make like a plantain and put down roots. the United States for several years. Hefron recalls one of the nights that she felt The Cuba program is a reason that some most aplatanada and at home in Cuba, an students choose the College over other evening where the entire group (plus new universities. Class of 2012 graduate Ross Cuban friends) went to one of their favorite Kressel rejected acceptances to several spots to hear Cuban trovador Frank Delgado universities, including the University of play for the umpteenth time. Massachusetts and Ohio’s Miami University, to study political science at CofC and have the opportunity to spend a semester in Cuba. “How safe and in love we felt—with the people, the scent, the music and the entire “I wanted to go to Cuba before I even set Habana life with all its frustrations and foot on the campus,” Kressel said. “It is hardships,” Hefron said. somewhere that nobody else I really knew could go, and it was a really unique place to be able to study politics.” The College of Charleston program is firmly Besides getting an up-close look at a aplatanado in Cuba, and Cuba has become government that the United States has firmly fixed in the hearts of all students who fiercely embargoed for over 50 years, Kressel have an opportunity to study there. also had a chance to indulge his passion for Trovador, Frank Delgado baseball.
JUN 2016 20 lahabana. com magazine TAXI!
Photos by Alex mene and Ana Lorena
JUN 2016 21 lahabana. com magazine
There’s only one way to get around the big easy that is La Habana—in a vintage Chevy, an almendrón. At 50 cents a ride you can’t go far wrong, or at least that’s the theory. It brings to mind the quip that “when is a taxi not a taxi”?
The time: nine o’clock on a Tuesday night. The place: a corner by a gas station in Havana, Cuba. The players: A handful of college students, elegantly dressed and waiting to hail a cab to a classy jazz club. A sky-blue vintage Chevy pulls up and the students ask, in Spanish, if the driver can take them to an intersection about five straight miles down the road. He assents and they pile in and take off, the tropical early spring breeze blowing through the Chevy’s open windows. Unexpectedly, the driver takes a right. Half a block down the road, he pulls a u-turn and keeps driving straight. The students raise their eyebrows to one another, knowing full well that there are no turns on the way to their intersection. The driver pulls into a parking lot outside of a poorly-lit hotel. The students are convinced that their lives will be over after two short decades at the hands of a Cuban taxi driver. Instead, the driver asks for directions. The students are completely bewildered. Their destination is a well-known intersection in Havana. And the man supposedly drives the streets of Havana in his taxi for a living. After a few more stops and requests for directions, the taxi driver finally found the
JUN 2016 22 lahabana. com magazine right intersection and the students pile out. Such is a night in Cuba riding around in an almendrón. Let me explain about these taxis. When you see a vintage American car with a taxi sticker in the window, the first thing that comes to mind is probably not a tasty and nutrition nut. But for whatever reason in Cuba those taxis are called máquinas, which means machines, or almendrones, which means almond. Like almonds for a mid-afternoon snack, the almendrones are usually incredibly convenient. And luckily, unlike almonds, almendrones are cheap. They run all over Havana on different routes, which are indicated by different hand signals that might be mistaken for gang signs. If you don’t know the hand signals, the driver will just ask you where you’re trying to go and if it’s on his route, you jump in. Depending on the destination, you pay 10 or 20 national pesos. Just for reference, there are 24 national pesos to one Cuban convertible peso (CUC). One CUC is approximately equivalent to one dollar. So, for less than one dollar, you can more or less get all over Havana. Granted, you might have to walk a little bit once you hop out of the almendrón, but far worse disasters have occurred. The cars are a vintage car collector’s Christmas morning—a stream of 40s and 50s-era American clunkers that, if properly restored, would probably sell for more than four years of tuition at an Ivy League school.
JUN 2016 23 lahabana. com magazine
But note the above-mentioned “if restored.” as common as a white girl in a Whole Foods. Georgia is a Charleston, S.C.-based freelance writer, social media coordinator, yoga teacher and The interior of the cars is like a pathetic set The breaks squeal louder than teens at a Justin Bieber concert and the cars slowly professional dancer with a penchant for traveling, of bumper cars at a state fair where all the gourmet popsicle-making, and finding a story carnies are probably escaped convicts. The putter backwards when stopped at a light. in everything. She recently published her first floor is steel and the seats ripped leather. Once when riding in an almendrón, I ebook, “There is a live wire in the shower and The cars were made before suspension saw spray-painted on a wall “Vivan los other concerns about life in Cuba.” She writes a brilliant blog, Jamming with GA was invented. The engine is being held almendrones.” Despite my experience with an together by duct tape and wishful thinking incompetent almond driver, I wouldn’t trade (http://georgiaschrubbe.com/category/cuba/). and probably runs on rum and government- those little suckers for anything. Long live the rationed coffee. The drivers have to put the almond. force of their whole body into shifting gears and a stalled or broken-down almendrón is
JUN 2016 24 lahabana. com magazine
of Moorish Spain... with an overlay of Cuban joie de vivre. The palacio restaurant is known for some of OLD the best mojitos in Cuba. A mojito is a simple combination of Cuban white rum, chopped ice, lime juice, sparkling mineral water, sugar syrup and a crushed stem of mint. It’s the perfect pick-me-up up on a tropically HAVANA humid day and deceptively easy to drink but By Jill Worrall even in socialist Cuba not all mojitos are created equal. Jewels of moisture are sliding MOJITOS AND down the sides of my mojito From my seat I have a view of the entire glass and less elegant sweat is plaza. Tourism outside Cuba’s beach resorts beading on my forehead—it’s MUSIC is relatively low-key but this time of day a sultry afternoon in Havana. counts as prime visitor hours so there is The setting, especially if one still the strongest beat plenty going on. Two Cuban ladies in multi- is unprepared for Cuba’s colored full skirts, low-cut blouses and Caribbean-style communism, clutching baskets of flowers and fruit are is slightly discombobulating. also surveying the square. There’s lobster on the menu, As a small group of tourists—I’m guessing off white linen napkins and a cruise ship—pause at the entrance to the supercilious waiters equal to square, the ladies quickly whip out lipsticks any you’ll find in the capitalist of eye-popping brightness and apply them west. But not even a snooty lavishly. Then they set off across the square waiter can detract from the towards the unsuspecting men in the group. vibrancy and splendor that Two of the latter, engrossed in framing surrounds our group of diners. photos of the cathedral that dominates one We are sitting on the terrace of side of the square are thus caught unawares the Palacio de los Marqueses as the two ladies throw their arms around de Aguas Claras, a 17th-century them and plant perfect rosebud kisses on palace that forms one side their cheeks. Of course, there’s a small of Plaza de la Catedral. With price to pay for such warm affection—an its ceramic wall tiles, central entrepreneurial photo-op venture in a courtyard with a gently country where private business (even in splashing fountain and archways kisses) is a relatively new phenomenon. framing the plaza, it’s a touch Meanwhile one of my Kiwi ladies is being homed in upon by an elderly man who has gone for a fetching fusion of Ernest photos by Huberto Valera Jr.
JUN 2016 25 lahabana. com magazine
Hemingway and Fidel Castro—there’s a profusion of beard and moustache, a giant In a country where horse-power often cigar and, just to add to the iconic imagery, means just that, its people are also much he’s wearing a Che Guevara beret. more capable of surviving in a world of By now a plate of fat Caribbean shrimps soaring oil prices and reduced supplies. has arrived in front of me and when I look In Cuba there’s a soundtrack to almost up again Margaret is wearing the beret, has everything you do. Eat lunch, sip a cocktail, a cigar clamped in her mouth and Fidel- or pause on a cobbled street and wait for Che-Ernest’s arm is draped around her the ripple of fingers on guitar strings, the shoulder while a fellow traveler obliges with scratching sound of a güiro (an open-ended a photograph. gourd stroked with a stick), a resonant tap The other two sides of the plaza are filled by on a bongo. two more palaces and a mansion that is now From behind a rank of potted palms, or the Colonial Museum inside a doorway, will flow the music of Havana’s architectural heritage is Cuba—rumba and son, salsa and jazz, breathtaking—16th-century Colonial, Cuban mambo and chachacha. The rhythms are Baroque, neo-Classical, neo-Moorish, compulsive, even if it’s yet another version art nouveaux and art deco. While some of the ubiquitous Guantanamera. has been painstakingly restored, much of The musicians can be 80 and bewhiskered, Havana (and elsewhere on the island) is sexy and sinuous, sultry and serious—the slowly crumbling. common denominator is everyone has Havana, indeed much of Cuba, has been musical talent in abundance. quietly decaying ever since the United Dancing comes naturally to everyone— States imposed an embargo on what is now Cubans don’t need to be taught how to the only Communist nation in the western sway their hips; they really do dance in the hemisphere, back in 1961. streets; men in shiny nylon shirts, women It’s been something of a two-edged sword— in lycra leopard-print leggings and skintight undeniably Cubans have suffered as a boob tubes; schoolgirls in miniscule skirts result of the severe restraints on imports that would have given my old headmistress and exports but at the same time, lack of apoplexy. economic growth is one reason so much of After lunch we wander down a side street the country’s architectural heritage has not from the plaza to the Bodeguita del been swept away. Medio, one of Nobel-prizewinning author Ironically, the embargo and the “special Ernest Hemingway’s favorite watering period”—an economic crisis precipitated holes. Hemingway lived in Cuba for nearly by the collapse of the Soviet Union—has 20 years, during which time he sank an also meant Cuba is more resilient in terms impressive number of mojitos and daiquiris. of self-sufficiency than many of its richer It’s a tiny restaurant-bar, crammed photos neighbors.
JUN 2016 26 lahabana. com magazine of famous visitors, including singer Nat King Cole as well as Papa Hemingway. In the other direction is the Malecón, a seven-kilometer seaside promenade, which, depending on the mood of the Caribbean, is either lapped gently or deluged by huge plumes of seawater It’s in a peaceful mood today, however, which is just as well, as there are five of Cuba’s treasured 50s American automobiles lined up by the seawall for us. There’s a Ford Fairlane, two Dodges (one a white convertible with red leather upholstery), a Chevrolet Impala and another Chevy, this one candy pink. I find myself in the yellow Dodge. While some of the autos now have Japanese engines, the Dodge still has its original motor, but also seems to have a hole in the exhaust. We rumble through Havana pulling away from traffic lights with a guttural roar, shattering the peace in residential streets where kids are kicking soccer balls in the middle of the road and adults gossip on their stoops. The driver puts his foot down just behind a group of tourists in the Plaza de la Revolución who are photographing the famous wire sculpture of revolutionary Che Guevara. They jump, satisfyingly, with fright. Beneath Che’s image is one his most famous quotes: Hasta la Victoria Siempre—keep striving for victory. It is in this square that Fidel Castro has held most of the rallies following the success of the Revolution in 1959 against the hated Batista dictatorship. The cars take us home to another landmark, the Hotel Nacional, an Art Deco masterpiece built in 1930. The hotel’s gardens sweep down to the Malecón from a deep veranda filled with cane armchairs and sofas. There’s a soft breeze blowing from the Caribbean. Waiters sail past with trays of drinks and boxes of fat, aromatic Cuban cigars and in the corner a trio of beautiful singers in short black dresses and homburgs on jaunty angles begin a bracket of salsa numbers. Hasta La Mojito.
JUN 2016 27 lahabana. com magazine
by Jauretsi
SEEING CUBA Cuba. Its one of those places that sounds like a sexy novel to most Americans. It brings to mind a forbidden land with 1950’s cars, THROUGH THE EYES simple rustic living, and salsa dancing on the corner This is the script one gobbles until you finally arrive into Cuba. Then you realize OF AN AMERICAN its a barrage of many more things. Part simple indeed, yet part highly complex. Part Rustic. Part Luxury. Part Salsa. Part EDM. Its a city of contradictions, with a reggaeton soundtrack blaring in the back. Once you realize this, it’s an invitation to transcend all the clichés and immerse yourself in the pros and cons of this bare-boned living. Not for the faint of heart, Cuba’s idiosyncrasies make it either a challenge, an opportunity, or a headache to mastermind. Case in point. As an American, there is the dubious effort of surviving on cash only. Due to the American embargo, nothing issued by a US bank can be used in Cuba. That means no credit cards, no ATMs, and no checks. What do I hate about this? The obvious: inconvenience. What do I love about it? Since I have moved here, I have noticed a shift in my spending. Just a few months ago, in my native New York existence, I was the queen of swiping credit cards. The coffee shop. Swipe. At the nail salon. Swipe. At dinner. Swipe. By the end of the month, I would see my bank statements shrink and realize that this disassociated action ripped a hole through my bank account. Somehow the money doesn’t feel real when hidden in plastic. During my stay in Cuba, I find myself carrying wads of cash, mostly wads of 20s and smaller bills. With every purchase, I have
JUN 2016 28 lahabana. com magazine to thumb through bills manually, pull out the exercise in zen patience. Apparently the exact change, and be conscious of when its government feels the same way as illustrated time to “replenish” from the master stash. To on the phone company’s wifi cards (a woman put it mildly, money just seems precious all sitting in yoga position praying for patience). over again. Spending in Cuba has made me The average tourist will never deal with conscious of the value of a dollar spent. waiting in long lines at the local phone And then there’s the Internet. For those who company. Instead, their hotel will most have never been to Cuba, it is important likely charge a higher rate with a special to note that Wifi signals don’t exist in cell code to log online. The principle phones. In fact, the act of checking emails is the same. Each tourist will experience requires first buying 1hr login card from the act of living offline, off the grid, and be either your hotel (or local phone company), faced with only their fellow travelers. This then scheduling a firm break in your day means being more present, more eye to eye that includes visiting a nearby Hotel lobby conversations, and more real experiences, if or public park designated to receive this only just for a few days. Just like its residents login card. As a New Yorker with eternal web have learned, Cuba is about making lemonade signals in the palm of my hand, surviving out of lemons. On a good day, I am reminded Cuba’s technological landscapes is an how little I check social media. I am given
the opportunity to stay offline during a dinner. This means no Instagram, no Twitter, no Facebook while dining with your friend. On a bad day, I’m pulling my hairs out, driving around town chasing wifi. Until the day I am graced with constant wifi signals, I choose to live like a local, and absorb all the philosophical lessons it brings me. What is the New Cuba? As a writer living in the most transformative era in 57 years, the truth is I don’t have any clear answers. This isn’t a binary conversation falling under good or bad. Instead, it’s a constant evolution of forces coming together. It’s the excitement of the flourishing
JUN 2016 29 lahabana. com magazine
“cuentapropistas” (Cuba’s new private sector), it’s the new foodie culture that is blossoming, it’s the wildly confusing two- tier economy which is clashing and coming to a head. It’s the locals hustling on the street for a dollar to help you with anything and everything. It is also sprinkled with Major Lazer and Chanel. Some outsiders complain about the mega production Fast & Furious filming in town. The fear is that these projects will somehow ruin Cuba’s soul. Most foreigners don’t realize that the film production renovated and repaved several of Cuba’s most important streets in desperate need of repair. Perhaps this new era of reconciliation is not what we imagined it would look like. As more American productions visit Cuba, the money trickles into the hands of the people and small businesses. All of Havana’s 1950s cars never saw a better payday since Fast & Furious and Chanel both came to town and rented vehicles galore for each production. Entrepreneurship is on the rise. In terms of Cuba’s soul, rest assured, that is not going anywhere. The people have a deeply embedded “cubaneo” that manifests in their music, jokes, dancing, and swagger. Our only mission as outsiders is to foster this new change and perhaps build better sustainable trade and commerce. It is up to the Cuban people to maintain their identity which I have utter faith will never be crushed. The rest of us need to keep our minds open to this unpredictable journey. Onwards and upwards.
JUN 2016 30 lahabana. com magazine THE ADONIA
BLAZING THE TRAIL by Victoria Alcalá
JUN 2016 31 lahabana. com magazine
who was excited to set foot on his native soil, which he left when he was only nine months. The enthusiastic passengers seemed to confirm the prediction that soon the United States will become the second largest source of visitors to Cuba after Canada. An unprecedented 200,000 US visitors came to Cuba in the first quarter of 2016 (2015 had been the best year with just over 500,000 visitors). And US laws still do not allow tourism as a reason for their citizens to Many people might wonder why all the travel to the neighboring island. If tourism fuss by the arrival of the Adonia at Havana were allowed, around three million visitors cocktail made with white rum, coke and a Harbor, on May 1, 2016. After all, the arrival are estimated to arrive from the United few drops of lemon (ironically, the invention of cruise ships is nothing new in the Cuban States. If that would happen, they would of the cocktail is attributed to members of capital (in 2015 alone, European cruises have to bring tents because the current the US army of occupation on the island, brought approximately 20,000 passengers). installed state and private hotel capacity is from 1898 to 1902), effusive handshakes, But the answer is very simple: it is the first not enough. However, I do know that new and female dancers in leotards bearing the one to come from the United States after hotels are being planned and built right now. Cuban flag and performing a “very typical” more than half a century. Word says that it Meanwhile, the future avalanche of cruise choreography to the rhythm of “very will come on a biweekly basis and this seems ships would give back to Havana (one of its typical” music—the only thing missing in the to be yet another sign that the detente main destinations) its status as a seafaring caricature were American cars popularly announced by President Obama is possible. city, which over the centuries conditioned known as almendrones. To me it all seemed This, of course, fed the usual curiosity of its image, the character of its inhabitants like a scene from Luis García Berlanga’s Habaneros. and even its music. As Cuban anthropologist, famous movie Welcome, Mr. Marshall! This Fathom, the newest brand of Carnival Corp, ethnomusicologist and scholar of Afro- unforgettable film tells the story of a small the world’s largest cruise ship operator, first Cuban culture Don Fernando Ortiz (1881- Spanish town that hears of the visit of had to overcome the hurdle of a Cuban rule 1969) wrote in his essays, the claves, an American diplomats and begins preparations prohibiting Cubans born on the Island to inevitable instrument to make Son and to impress the American visitors in the enter the country aboard American ships Guaguancó, were made since early days hopes of benefitting under the Marshall (as a precaution against terrorist actions, with wood from the then famous Havana Plan. See what I mean when I say the which at one time were very frequent). shipyards. And the parentage of the music reception reminded me of the movie? But as a sign that the “times they are genre known as filin includes 1940s and 50s Luckily, just a few meters from the harbor, a-changin” also on the insular side of the old jazz, which Cuban composers of the genre the real Cuba awaited them—with its conflict, the Cuban authorities repealed the came to know thanks to African American poverty, but also with its dignified and provision and 18 passengers born on Cuban sailors arriving in the Cuban capital’s harbor. carefree hospitality, its splendid culture, soil arrived in Havana aboard the Adonia, The 561 people on board the Adonia were its unique religiosity, its beautiful heritage including Carnival legal advisor Arnie Pérez welcomed with Cuba Libres, the famous cities, its bustle, warmth and light.
JUN 2016 32 lahabana. com magazine AMERICAN VISITORS galore
By Victoria Alcalá
Cuba, and especially Havana, was visited by countless early travelers, whether for business, family relationships, scientific research or simple curiosity. And although until the eighteenth century the publication of the testimonies of those visits corresponded to the Europeans—Spaniards, Dutch, English, French, Italian—by the nineteenth century, Americans began to gain supremacy over the others. Several texts written by citizens from the north, such as Abiel Abbot or Samuel Hazard, have become essential referents for the study of that era on the island. Guides for excursionists and travel books, almost always illustrated, abounded, while the farsighted William J. Clark published in 1898 a detailed volume of 514 pages, including maps and illustrations, aimed at
JUN 2016 33 lahabana. com magazine entrepreneurs: Commercial Cuba. A Book for Business Men. Publications Rockefeller displayed his fluent Spanish, in the twentieth century did not differ much, and reveals at least one and another famous millionaire, Irénée du area of the interests of American travelers: potential investments, finding Pont, whose family was one of the richest a friendly climate (the word winter appears repeatedly in the titles), and most prominent families in the 19th and interest for “exotic” customs... Other motivations such as abundant rum 20th centuries, had a mansion built for him in times of Prohibition, easy sex or the practice of abortion, were left for in Varadero. This house, which he named discrete personal comments. Xanadu, is considered one of the wonders During the nineteenth century, there is hardly news of Americans of Cuban architecture. Just like most of celebrities traveling to the island, because the tourism boom, worldwide, his compatriots having the same pedigree, began precisely at the end of that century. In contrast, the twentieth the idol of the New York Yankees, Mickey century exhibits an impressive list of famous visitors. Until 1958, the Mantle, and one of the great heavyweights in boxing history, Jack Dempsey, stayed at the legendary Hotel Nacional, which closed its doors in December 1946 for a major meeting of the heads of the major crime families, including Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Albert Anastasia, Santos Trafficante and Vito Genovese. So significant was this conference that in The Godfather II, Michael Corleone travels to Havana for a mobsters’ meeting. But the most beloved of all the Americans who came to Cuba in the first half of the twentieth century was undoubtedly Ernest Hemingway, who wrote, drank mojitos and daiquiris, fished and chased German submarines out of Havana. Contrary to what one might think, due to streets of Havana were filled with likes of actors like Johnny Weissmuller, the rupture of diplomatic relations between winner of five Olympic medals in swimming, but remembered above Cuba and the United States and the very all for his role as Tarzan in more than 10 films; the great star of silent tense relations that have marked almost westerns, Tom Mix, and another idol of silent films, comedian Buster six decades, many American celebrities Keaton; tough guy John Wayne, compelling leading men like Clark Gable, looked out to the neighboring island, Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, Tyrone Power or the incomparable Marlon sometimes openly, sometimes with the Brando, who at the peak of his talent and sex appeal relished Havana utmost discretion. Again, the film industry night life to the limit, sex symbols like Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner; beats all: Oscar winners like Jack Nicholson, Oscar champion Walt Disney; and dancer, choreographer, singer, Robert Redford, Robert de Niro, Ed Harris, musician and actor, the great Fred Astaire. Michael Douglas, Kevin Costner and Kevin Spacey, and Academy nominees Annette But not only film stars were curious about Cuba: Havana residents Bening, James Caan and Johnny Depp, who enjoyed the performances of the great Josephine Baker, the came to the Caribbean, but not as a pirate; unforgettable Nat King Cole and The Voice, Frank Sinatra. Nelson other Oscar winners like Robert Duvall
JUN 2016 34 lahabana. com magazine and Leonardo di Caprio; the always supportive Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover; Arnold Schwarzenegger, the “Governator”; Fleetwood Mac, Beyonce and Jay Z, Kool Peter Coyote; Billy Zane and Jennifer Lopez, among others. To this & the Gang… in other areas, star baseball incomplete list, you would need to add directors competing in fame players like Wade Boggs and Stan Musial with the actors listed above: Steven Spielberg, who was welcomed have also visited the Island, the brilliant with the exhibition of his films in the best cinemas in Havana; and eccentric chess player Bobby Fischer, Roman Polanski; Francis Ford Coppola; Oliver Stone, who made the the legendary heavyweight Muhammad Comandante, a documentary film on Fidel Castro; the controversial Ali and prominent scientists and Nobel Michael Moore; Michael Mann; Steven Soderbergh, who put the laureates David Gross (Physics) and Peter figure of Ernesto Che Guevara on screen, and many more. Agre (Chemistry). Given the undisputed musical power of Cuba, many musicians have American writers have not been regulars made it a point to know the island “up close and personal”: Billy Joel, to the Island, but William Kennedy, author Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, of the well-known novel Ironweed, and Herbie Hancock, Peter Frampton, Gladys Knight, Backstreet Boys, writer of the screenplay of the film of the same name as well as Cotton Club; Gore Vidal, a critic of US foreign policy in Cuba; sociologist James Petras; and playwright Arthur Miller. Pop art icon, Robert Rauschenberg also landed in Cuba. The famous journalist Barbara Walters interviewed Fidel; social activist Angela Davis, who introduced the afro hairstyle on the island, was received with honors; ex-president James Carter awakened much sympathy, and more recently in March 2016, President Barack, who announced on December 17, 2014, simultaneously with his counterpart President Raul Castro, the decision to restore diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States. The public announcement of the reestablishment of relations between Cuba and the US and the opening of embassies (the Havana embassy in the presence of Secretary of State John Kerry) seems to have changed the dynamics of the arrival of American visitors to the Island. Politicians, businesspeople, intellectuals, artists and onlookers have
JUN 2016 35 lahabana. com magazine invaded the streets of many Cuban cities (and also the beaches, although tourism in Cuba is not authorized by the US government) with different motivations. Some come to explore possible investment trying to preempt an imagined avalanche; some say that others come to enjoy the country before it is filled with McDonald’s and other like symbols. Of course, many are avid to have a taste of the until recently “forbidden fruit” while others hope to see the last days of the “communist stronghold in the West,” whose collapse they have spent more than 50 years prophesying to no avail. For one reason or another, after December 17, 2014, many others have visited the island: ZZ Top; Major Lasser; Katy Perry, Usher, Ludacris, Jimmy Buffett; Conan O’Brien, who taped a special Conan in Cuba in March 2015; Rihanna who came with celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz for a photo shoot in Havana; the best professional boxer in the world in the last decade, Floyd Mayweather; the eternal heartthrob Richard Gere; Paris Hilton; Naomi Campbell; Spike Lee; the fabulous soprano Barbara Hendricks; the Fast and Furious stars and crew, as well as The Transformers; and the most recent visit in May, 2016 of Kanye West and the Kardashian clan. And last but least, the ineffable Simpsons have announced they will be coming in October this year. Homer will bring his father Abe to see Cuban doctors to cure the WWII veteran.
Indeed, to our neighbors up north, it seems that Cuba has never gone out of fashion.
JUN 2016 36 lahabana. com magazine PAPA HEMINGWAY! by Victoria Alcalá
A dear friend who once in a while likes to throw me difficult challenges, recently asked me who was the most famous American who had visited Cuba. Because of the proximity of events, I was tempted to say President Barack Obama, the first US president of African descent who resumed relations with Cuba after more than half a century of rupture, which is enough to go down in history. But I remembered a joke I heard on a visit I made to Moscow in 1987. The joke goes like this: In 2017, one Russian asks another who Leonid Brezhnev was, and after a great effort of memory, the guy answered that he was a politician in singer Alla Pugachova’s time. Considering the factor of posterity, and the risk that before a similar question made 20150 someone might answer that Obama was a politician in Beyonce’s time, I rejected the idea of naming the 44th President as the most famous American who has ever visited Cuba. And because historians still haven’t made up their minds on whether George Washington visited Havana or not, I relinquished the thorny sphere of politics. Immediately came to mind the name of Brooklyn native Henry Reeve, nicknamed “The Little Englishman,” who reached the rank of Brigadier General in Cuba’s Liberation Army fighting Spanish colonialism. Although Reeve is an example of the best virtues of his countrymen, unfortunately he is not known outside the Island. I also recalled Irene Aloha Wright, author of three essential titles to decipher a period that has not been studied and documented enough: the first three centuries after the Spanish conquest, and especially the history of Havana: The Early History of Cuba, 1492-
Papa Hemingway immortalized in bronze at the Floridita Restaurant in Old Havana 1854, Documented History of San Cristobal de La Habana in the 16th Century Based on Existing Original Documents in the General
JUN 2016 37 lahabana. com magazine
Archive of the Indies in Seville and Documented History of San Cristobal de La Habana in the First Half of the 17th Century, published in 1916, 1927 and 1930, respectively. These books are constantly consulted by historians and other specialists, which circumscribes Wright’s “fame” to an exclusive and reduced sector. Given that sports glory is usually fairly brief, I performed a cursory exploration of the arts: only one great American painter seems to have set foot on Cuban soil: Robert Rauschenberg, who presented a much discussed and controversial exhibition of his work; some musicians of popular genres; Therefore, even if a common place, I simply great actors (ah, Brando!) and great directors. had to go to the Ambos Mundos Hotel, have Perhaps the name that I needed was in that a daiquiri at the Floridita and a mojito in group, but I was still uneasy about the fact the Bodeguita del Medio, and travel all the that the bonds of such creators with Cuba way down to Finca Vigía in the outskirts of had been circumstantial, and, therefore, Havana to pay tribute to the Bronze God of ephemeral. I do not believe that they had left American Literature, Ernest Hemingway, a profound mark on national culture or in the Papa, like many of his Cuban friends called popular imaginary. him. Hemingway, who is not among my specially favorite authors (although I have reread some of his stories, Islands in the Gulf Hemmingway Museum ¨La Vigia¨ and Moveable Feast), he has been revered by some of the best Cuban writers, and one of them, Norberto Fuentes, published an excellent book about his presence on the island. Hemingway wrote a significant portion of his work in Havana, between the Ambos Mundos Hotel and his home Finca Vigía, including The Old Man and the Sea; he established a close relationship with many common Cubans, his fishing and drinking buddies. And 55 years after he took his life, he remains a rare presence in the city, as if refusing to abandon it altogether. He is, for me, the most famous American who has ever been in Cuba, and Cuba contributed to that reputation. Restaurant ¨Floridita¨ JUN 2016 38 lahabana. com magazine
LEAVING FOR YUMA!
by Andreas Clarck
In the mid-seventies, the Centro Habana municipality (which was not falling apart yet) enjoyed the privilege of having more than a dozen movie houses. Spacious, comfortable, more often than not ventilated by ceiling fans (the air-conditioners were almost always, and have been since then, broken) whose huge blades could have lifted a Russian helicopter filled with Siberian bears. The programming of those neighborhood movie theaters basically offered two types of films: Soviet war films and American westerns. Both types of films featured a lot of shooting, but while in the Westerns shots were fired one at a time, the shooting in the Russian war films came from bursts of machine fire, salvos of rockets from the Katyushas, plummeting planes and invincible tanks.
JUN 2016 39 lahabana. com magazine
And these movies were never new I was completely unawares that on that releases, although the scenes that were day the word “yuma” would forever enter painted on the theater’s glass doors my life and the lives of all other Cubans for (which were then still intact) would good. Gradually and since then—nobody announce them as first showings. knows how and why, although there are Perhaps they were premieres in Cuba, philosophical, etymological, sociological or at that particular movie theater and anthropological speculations galore— whether they had been filmed two people started to designate the US and decades or two days earlier. all its inhabitants with the word yuma. So, one day, when I was still a kid, I The term “gringo” never took root with went to see a film which no one in Cubans and “Yankee” had a pejorative, even Havana, or anywhere in Cuba for that contemptuous, and ideologically charged matter, really remembers a single word meaning. Yuma, on the other hand, was of the plot. Yet the old western (remade good and appealing. It was not only used to in 2007) became memorable in our describe the name of a place or a people, country not for the story it told, or by it was also an adjective denoting positive the actors who starred in it (Glenn Ford qualities: something yuma is, in general, a and Van Heflin), or for the title song very good thing. And that something can be (composed by George Duning). It has yuma even though it was made in China. gone down in history among habaneros A couple of years later, the word for a single word. And this was not a accomplished what few can: it took a leap word uttered by either the hero or the from street language to popular music, which outlaws, who never did much talking enshrines for eternity whoever or whatever anyway. The word in question was the achieves the feat. And yuma did just that, one that lit up the sidewalk in front of although indirectly and where no one would the theater, exhibiting a perfect and have expected it—in a song by The Jacksons, playful typography chosen by the artist released in the winter of 1978, written by who had painted the title of the film Randy and Michael Jackson, featuring Michael on the theater’s glass doors. There, in on lead vocals. brilliant red italics and a canary-yellow The song was “Shake Your Body (Down to the edging viewers could read: 3:10 to Ground)” which arrived in Havana’s Malecón Yuma. thanks to shortwave radios tuned in by an
photos by Huberto Valera Jr.
JUN 2016 40 lahabana. com magazine
infinite number of listeners at sunset. The song was catchy and quickly put the Cubans to dance and shake their bodies properly, like only Cubans can. The problem at the time was that Cubans knew how to dance, but weren’t too strong on English. So what happened was that when it came time for the chorus, people would improvise and sing anything except the original lyrics, which was almost Greek to them. So one night, at a neighborhood party celebrating an anniversary of the attack on the Moncada Barracks over twenty years ago, while The Jacksons thundered from the loudspeakers “let’s dance/let’s shout/shake your body down to the ground,” the residents of my block improvised: “the train is leaving/ leaving for Yuma/the train is leaving...” I have to admit that the Cubanised, street version of the song had a somewhat adverse effect, especially when a few months later the Mariel boatlift was taking place. “Shake Your Body” would be the last song performed live by The Jacksons during a concert at Madison Square Garden in September 2001. I can’t say for sure, but maybe, just maybe, some Cubans in the audience that day sang what they had learned back home: the train is leaving/leaving for Yuma…
JUN 2016 41 lahabana. com magazine
SO MANY YUMAS CAN’T BE WRONG TROPICANA by Mathias Finnes
If there is one willful sin that Victor Correa committed—which he must be making penance for wherever he may be—it was not to have been the principal person accountable for the existence of the world famous Tropicana Cabaret, but to have built it where he did. With its original show of dancers dressed almost like God brought them to this valley of tears, a wide and exquisite selection of drinks and a gambling room open till dawn, ideally, it should have been located far from the madding crowd, hidden somewhere in the outskirts. And that he tried to do, in his own way. Actually, it was distant from the city center, except that there was one little thing in which he failed: that “little thing” was the size of a cathedral. Tropicana was built next to the Belén Jesuit School, separated only by a small street that just takes a few steps to cross. The school had been on that corner since 1925, fourteen years before the opening of the “Paradise Under the Stars.”
JUN 2016 42 lahabana. com magazine
Our Man in Havana, starring Alec Guinness, Maureen O’Hara and Noel Coward. The film is adapted from Graham Greene’s novel. The entrance to the cabaret is through a Just 20 years away from Tropicana’s first opening, lush garden where the mythical Fountain of Fidel Castro’s Revolution triumphed in 1959. The young the Muses by Italian sculptor Aldo Gamba Comandante had been one of the most outstanding stands out. The sculpture and the artist students of the Jesuit school. Shortly after, the Jesuits both deserve a closer look. It seems that the left the school and the country and in 1967, the sculpture—originally located at the entrance Revolutionary Government turned the school into the of the National Casino in Cubanacán under José Martí Technical Military Institute, an engineering another name: The Dance of the Hours— school for the armed forces. So, Tropicana is not only had been born for vice. Indeed, it had been the sole open-air cabaret in the world, it is perhaps also conceived from prison, where Gamba had the only one that has had to survive, first, being located been sent after shooting his girlfriend and next to a highly prestigious religious institution and, then trying to kill himself. then, hear bugle calls at reveilles and taps coming from the military academy. If this is not a Guinness record, it There are other works by the Italian sculptor sure looks like it. in Havana, of no less gruesome history, such as the monument to General Máximo In any case, Martin Fox appeared on the scene in the Gómez of Cuba’s independence wars at the 1950s. He renewed and gave Tropicana its final defining entrance of the bay. The monument suffered features in 1952 by hiring the great Rodeiro Neyra, numerous interruptions in its execution known thereafter as Rodney. Having begun at the requiring the intervention of Benito cabaret as choreographer, his vision, however, changed Mussolini himself for the sculpture to be the whole concept of the night show, and his spirit is completed. still present in the mix of cabaret and circus, ballet and carnival, modernity and folklore, rhythm and color, and Heavy weight musicians have performed the unique beauty and grace of the dancers that make up at Tropicana, like Libertad Lamarque, the Tropicana show. Josephine Baker, Bola de Nieve, Nat King Cole, Rita Montaner, Celia Cruz and Frank Politicians, businessmen and celebrities of the arts Sinatra. No wonder it has always been the rubbed shoulders at Tropicana with American mobsters, most expensive cabaret in the city, with 60 US marines and Hollywood stars who used to escape to showgirls , 40 models, a dozen singers every Havana, just for one night, to touch the heavens with night and a live band of 20 plus musicians. their hands. The two-hour show, ranges from bolero to It was around this time that the cabaret was danzón, from salsa to Afro-Cuban rhythms, immortalized on film, when in 1958, filmmaker Carol from filin to cha-cha-cha. After the show, Reed moved its entire staff to Havana to shoot parts of you can go the Arcos de Cristal Room for some dancing. Over 150,000 tourists to Havana each year visit Tropicana. As Bertolt Brecht would have said if he had come to Havana: so many yumas can’t be wrong.
JUN 2016 43 lahabana. com magazine
AM-PM 2016 DRIVING CUBA’S MUSICAL SCENE Focusing on music journalism and the use of new technologies
MUSIC AND CRITICS by Adela López “By music industry I mean all the people who need to be in sync for a musician to be able reach their audience, www.americaporsumusica.com from stagehand to managers to producers to critics. Cuba has turned its back on the music market, and this has “Cuba is in fashion” is a phrase frequently heard hindered the growth of these professions on the Island. In nowadays. The visit of an American president, concerts by fact, there have been times—luckily overcome—when they stellar bands and the arrival of ocean liners are signaling have been demonized,” said Darsy Fernández, member to Cubans that our environment is changing rapidly. But of the organizing committee of the event, in an exclusive how can we turn these changes in our favor? interview for Lahabana.com. Culture-wise, new ways to create and consume emerge The cultural project led by X Alfonso known as Fábrica quickly and are not always visible to the naked eye. The de Arte Cubano (F.A.C.) has announced this year’s possibility of introducing our artistic products on the event, which in its first edition focused on the music international market poses questions to experts and managment and booking. artists alike. After being away from the game where In 2016, the center of attention will rest on the music “anything goes” for decades, the comeback seems journalism and content curation in music, and Fernández uncertain to many. released that the musical production will be the focal In such a complex context, AM-PM “América por su point in 2017. “Choosing where to put the focus each Música” [America for its Music] has emerged as a meeting year is very much related to the issues we think are not of professionals that stands out for its intention to working right.” strengthen the Cuban music industry from its various From June 13 to 19, Cuban journalists will be able professions. to discuss their concerns with foreign workshop participants, who will comment on their professional
JUN 2016 44 lahabana. com magazine
experiences. AM-PM aims to create the necessary links for Cuban communicators to interact with members of the Ibero-American Network of Music Journalism. “Our goal is to create a Cuban chapter of this organization and that our critics become a part of it.” In this regard, Fernández, who has been in the music biz for almost 25 years, notes that there isn’t a single magazine in Cuba that is entirely devoted to music. “Neither Vistar Magazine, nor Clave, nor Boletín Música takes this approach. And I don’t think we need to sit and wait for “Rolling Stones Cuba” to be created. Instead, there should be a Cuban publication written by Cuban journalists. Critics are essential in developing a music scene in any nation. We have good critics here, but we feel that they have been isolated, that they do not use all the tools at their disposal, perhaps due to difficulties to access communication channels.” In addition, the event will focus on musical curatorship, which encompasses areas other than journalism. Such is the case of radio and TV programmers, consultants, writers, directors, and hosts. “In Cuba, the repertoire “We are not interested in Sony or performer for recorded music played a very Universal—companies with highly important role, but it has disappeared. This efficient marketing mechanisms— is why you run into albums whose songs lack coming here. Instead, we need a consistency and character.” different kind of players. I think Another topic the AM-PM organizers plan there is an independent music scene to discuss is the importance of content lists. that is pretty solid, with networks in “Radio shows are inviting artists to suggest the music they like. It would be interesting for the which Cuba can find a place” audience to know what kind of music Silvio Rodríguez or Descemer Bueno listens to, for instance. The contents curator would be the person in charge of choosing the content on a concept basis as opposed to randomly.”
JUN 2016 45 lahabana. com magazine
“We would like that the next time the Rolling Stones play in Havana, they come under the guiding hand of Cuban producers; or that the next Buena Vista Social Club project be discovered by someone in our own music industry”
JUN 2016 46 lahabana. com magazine
Brainstorming: “Much to our surprise, technology entrepreneurs are participating with great MUSIC & TECH interest in the discussion. So far, all those who have been interested in music in Cuba have AM-PM has its sights set on the emerging confined themselves to creating promotion alternative music movement in Latin guides alone. This may be somehow related America. “We are not interested in Sony or to the pattern of cultural consumption, but Universal—companies with highly efficient technology for production and mediation is marketing mechanisms—coming here. Instead, also necessary. We need to see music as a we need a different kind of players. I think process instead of a product that will only there is an independent music scene that is be consumed. Additionally, musicians can’t pretty solid, with networks in which Cuba can continue working as if they will never have find a place,” said journalist Rafa G. Escalona, access to the Internet. When we finally get a member of the organizing committee. online easily, which will inevitably happen, we need to be prepared to make use of these “Much of the strengthening of the alternative technologies,” said Fernández. musical movement is due to the use of new technologies, of which we are bereft of here The Foro Cantar y Decir [Sing and Say due to economic and connectivity problems. Forum] will complement the busy schedule With the realization of this brainstorming, of AM-PM 2016. Media professionals will we first want to raise a discussion and discuss the use of music as a tool to prevent create synergies between the music and the violence against women. Casa de las technological sectors. By asking key questions, Américas, the second venue of the event, such as ‘What do I need?’ and ‘What are my will host an exchange led by singer and needs as a musician?’ web developers could activist Rochy Ameneiro. Also, the opening create apps that would provide solutions of exhibitions (caricature and photography) to the problems of artists,” said Escalona, on Cuban music will take place. creator of the blog The microwave. “We would like that the next time the Rolling The people we interviewed confirmed that Stones play in Havana, they come under the the developers of projects such as Isladata. guiding hand of Cuban producers; or that com, App Guiarte, App Knales, GUTL the next Buena Vista Social Club project be (Grupo de Usuarios de Tecnologías Libres), discovered by someone in our own music INGENIUS (Soluciones Informáticas y industry. If this is complemented by the Electrónicas), Ke hay pa Hoy, Kewuelta…, will State’s goodwill, I believe the Cuban music attend the second AM-PM. The meetings industry could explode all around the world, will include a pitch where entrepreneurs will and all the talent we have here could finally show their works to attendants. This way, become very visible,” said Fernández. communication professionals will note how useful these applications can be for their work.
JUN 2016 47 lahabana. com magazine TRADICIONALES DE LOS 50 Embodying the Golden Age of Cuban music
by Ricardo Alberto Pérez
Among the many surprises and satisfactions that the Havana night generally offers both visitors and nationals, the Tradicionales de los 50 (1950s Traditionals) show occupies a privileged place. The show takes off every evening at Sociedad Rosalía de Castro at 9:30pm and lasts two hours. Centrally located on Egido 504 entre Monte and Dragones, just a couple of blocks from the Capitolio Nacional and the Saratoga Hotel in the fringes of Old Havana, the Rosalía de Castro Society has become since late 2012 the home of this project, which is a valuable part of the Cuban musical heritage. I am convinced that if you want to have a clearer and more accurate picture of how Cubans feel things and how we express our passions and joys, this show, besides entertaining, speaks very clearly of our nature and our sense of hospitality. The
JUN 2016 48 lahabana. com magazine
de los 50 have always had guest musicians from Buena Vista Social Club and Afro- Cuban All Stars. Around 2008, the group began to offer performances at the Rum Museum located on the Avenida del Puerto. Here, they remained for several years, helping to boost the growth of tourism in this institution and its surroundings. They also offered their music at the Santo Angel Restaurant, situated on one corner of Plaza Vieja, before coming to their current venue. Bands that have accompanied the Tradicionales de los 50 after Barbarito Torres, include Charanga Rubalcaba, Septeto Matamoros, Grupo de Pío Leyva, Caña Santa, Conjunto de Roberto Faz and currently Gloria Matancera. The latter, founded in 1927, is one of the oldest popular music bands in Cuba, a true relic of our musical history. Important singers and musicians have performed with the Tradicionales, like project is linked to a golden age of our music, which then Omara Portuondo, the Buena Vista Social grew and became more universal. Club Diva; Guajiro Mirabal; the Buena Vista In the fifteen years that have passed since the project “Fab Four”; Yanko Díaz; Osdalgia, Rolo was launched, it has woven a beautiful story, whose Martínez; Emilio Morales; Julio Alberto protagonists speak about with both pride and emotion. Fernández; Sierra Maestra; El Muso and Ela What is considered today by many as the best product Calvo, just to name a few. of Cuban popular music offered in Havana, took off in I would like to especially mention an 2001 under the guidance and enthusiasm of José Roberto exceptional figure of Cuban entertainment: Rodríguez Alpízar, who brought together the artists that Juana Bacallao, and Tradicionales de los 50 give meaning to this beautiful and enduring idea. feel that it’s a privilege to be able to enjoy Although the show had performed previously at the her presence every evening in every show. Hotel Nacional and the Salón Rojo of the Capri Hotel, Juana exudes joy, fun and lots of spark that its entry into the Old Havana circuit takes place at the she passes on freely. Amigos del Beny café-tavern, located on the corner of The Tradicionales show is a true reflection Mercaderes and Teniente Rey streets in 2001. In their of Cuba. Visitors to the Rosalía de Castro first performances, the singers were accompanied by Society will have the chance to enjoy Barbarito Torres (Buena Vista Social Club tres player) legendary songs like “Dos Gardenias,” sung and his group. We need to point out that Tradicionales by Mundito González; “El Carnaval” and
JUN 2016 49 lahabana. com magazine
“Kimbara,” both sung by Raquel Hernandez; “Silencio,” a song that becomes larger than life in the powerful voices of Pablo Santamaría and Migdalia Echevarría; “Dame un traguito” by Juan Almeida, sung by Muso; “El Cuarto de Tula,” by Arango; and “Lola,” sung by one of the bolero greats in Cuba, Orestes Macías, becomes a milestone. The singing is complemented by Tradicionales del son, a couple who dance to genuine, 1950s Cuban rhythms. The show ranges from Compay Segundo’s famous “Chan- Chan” to Joseíto Fernández’s “Guantanamera,” and takes a side tour round “Melao de caña,” “El Feo” and “La Mujer de Antonio.” A guaguancó, which combines percussion, singing and dancing, is an essential part of the program and one that visitors will always remember. Each and every one of the performances is an exhibition of the Golden Age of Cuban music. To be able to take in all this energy and memories, as well as having spent two hours filled with genuine Cuban music made by popular performers means that visitors will be taking back home a unique gift from this island.
CONTACT DETAILS Address: Sociedad Rosalía de Castro, Egido 504 entre Monte y Dragones, La Habana Vieja, Cuba OPEN: DAILY FROM 9:30 TO 11:30PM Telephone: +53 52705271 www.tradicionalesdelos50musicacubana.com
JUN 2016 50 lahabana. com magazine
by Mathias Finnes
Any Cuban will tell you right away that using whiskey to make a cocktail is virtually a mortal sin, that that’s what the white rums without REYNIER aging of any kind are for. So incredible as it may seem, the Chivas Master Class Competition 2016 has just been held in Havana. Contestants RODRÍGUEZ created exotic blends that, even without tasting them, looked paradisiacal. The bartenders’ creations were to be inspired by the presence of Chivas Regal in extremes so far and yet so close at the same time, like the classic New York Master Class cocktails, the most successful bars in Shanghai, and other that evoked Cuba with its aroma and freshness. And all this was to be accomplished in CHIVAS HAVANA 2016 under 15 minutes. The finalists were Fabian Ramos of the Divino Restaurant, Alain Rodriguez and Mario L. Acosta of the Waoo!!! Restaurant, Reynier Rodríguez Champion of the Meliá Cohíba, and representing Cuban women, Barbara Betancourt of the Café Concert Gato Tuerto. Many guests at the event thought, wanted and voiced that she would be the winner after witnessing the passion, grace and magnetism that flowed from Barbara behind the bar. And when she was proclaimed winner—only—of the People’s Choice, many hearts sank. It was the very young bartender Reynier who pulled it off being proclaimed Master Class Chivas Havana 2016 Champion by a jury of experts. Now the Meliá Cohíba bartender has a huge challenge ahead: for five days he will be representing the Island in the Master Class Global Competition to be held in Shanghai.
JUN 2016 51 lahabana. com magazine
There he will have to face challenges, such as attend master classes and workshops conducted by the best specialists in the industry and, especially, demonstrate his ability to lead, mentor and inspire a team before the keen eyes of the industry’s top experts who will be evaluating him. The motivations of the Havana event focused on promoting the latest techniques and updating bartenders with the latest international trends in preparing cocktail. International Brand Ambassador for Chivas Regal Whiskey, Max Warner, present at the “Antiguo Almacén de la Madera y el Tabaco” Brewery in Old Havana, where the competition took place, pointed out that the brand, renowned for its style, content and exclusivity, is the first luxury whiskey in the world, distributed in more than 150 countries.
JUN 2016 52 lahabana. com magazine HAVANA LISTINGS
VISUAL ARTS PHOTOGRAPHY DANCE MUSIC THEATRE FOR KIDS EVENTS
HAVANA GUIDE FEATURES RESTAURANTS BARS & CLUBS LIVE MUSIC HOTELS PRIVATE ACCOMMODATION lahabana. com magazine
CENTRO HISPANO AMERICANO DE CULTURA THROUGHOUT JUNE The Seattle-La Habana-Tehran Poster Show, exhibition of posters made VISUAL by designers from these three cities, that reveal common aspoects shared by their respective cities. Seattle: David Gallo, Carlos Ruiz, Vittorio Castarella, Shay Roth, Jeff Kleinsmith, Ames Bros, Jesse LeDoux, Chad Lundberg, Jan Smith, David Bratlon, Seab Waple, Shogo Ofa, Darib Shuler, ARTS Kelsey Gallo, Devon Varmega, Joanna Wecht, Andrew Crawshaw, Adam Vick and Chelsea Wirtz. Havana: Darwin Fornés, Edel Rodríguez (Mola), Darién Sánchez, Idania del Río, Raúl González (Raupa), Robertiko Ramos, Fabián Muñoz, Michelle Miyares, Eric Silva, Giselle Monzón, Nelson Ponce, Lily Díaz, Laura Llópiz, Pepe Menéndez and Carlos Zamora. Teheran: Shahrzad Changalvaee, Reza Abedini, Reza Babajani, Mojtaba Adibi, MUSEO NACIONAL DE BELLAS ARTES. EDIFICIO DE ARTE CUBANO Aliagha Hasseinpour, Homa Delavaray, Mehdi Fatehi, Farhad Fozouni, Iman THROUGH JUNE 19 Raad, Babak Safari, Masoud Morgan, Morleza Mahallati, Alireza Askarifa, Los rostros de la modernidad. The entry of Cuban visual arts in the Mohammadreza Abdalali, Erfan Jamshida, Mohammad Khodashenas and modernity of the avant-garde and its various trends can be seen in 45 Naghi Vaseiy. photos made from 1925 to 1957 by 15 important photographers, including Jorge Arche, Arístides Fernández, Víctor Manuel, Wifredo Lam, Amelia EDIFICIO DE ARTE UNIVERSAL. MUSEO NACIONAL DE BELLAS ARTES Peláez and Mariano Rodríguez. THROUGH Relatos de una negociación, by Belgian- SEPTEMBER 12 Mexican artist Francis Alÿs, exhibits paintings, THROUGH AUGUST 19 drawings, sculptures, videos, documents, Cardinales is a group of paintings in which Cuban artist Carlos Alberto objects and actions that reflect critically on García used a mixed technique on cloth. The medium- and full-scale contemporary society. pictures were created especially for this occasion. The artist has defined his work as “very much connected to early 20th-century avant-gardes, FACTORÍA HABANA especially Expressionism. THROUGH- Clara Porset…... el eterno retorno vindicates OUT JUNE an artist who is considered one of the most CENTRO DE DESARROLLO DE LAS ARTES VISUALES important designers of the 20th century. THROUGH Las esquinas, group show. JUNE 16 FUNDACIÓN LUDWIG Nuevos medios, group show. THROUGH Inventario, graphic design by Annelis Noriega. JUNE 11
GALERÍA ALTERNATIVA DE LUZ Y OFICIOS THROUGH Partitura en rojo, group show organized by Casa Yeti, Casa JUNE 11 Museo Antonia Eiriz and the Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas. photos by Alex Mene Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Edificio de Arte Cubano
JUN 2016 54 lahabana. com magazine CENTRO DE ARTE THROUGH Desde el sonido, solo show by Ricardo Martínez that links CONTEMPORÁNEO JUNE 18 sound to the visual through installations and objects that activate both possibilities.
WIFREDO LAM Voces indígenas, sound installation that includes 12 indigenous languages of Latin America, some of which are endangered. The artists in the project (Paulo Nazareth, Gustavo Tabares, Priscilla Monge, Sandra Monterroso, Sofia Medici, Jose Huaman, Ellen Slegers, Mauricio Kabistan, Erika y Javier, Sonia Falcone) determined the language, the topic and the type of text (fiction, fable, prayer...) they were going to use, which, all together, form an indefinite murmur that becomes precise when the viewer approaches each loudspeaker. THROUGH Ni sagrado ni secular, show by Henry Erick Hernández JUNE 20 and Canadian artist Marysse Goudreau that explores the relationship between History and Power, which almost always are detrimental to the participation of the common man, and how, just like past events affect the present, other contemporary events become part of history.
THROUGH Cool War, project by Rachel Price on technologies with JUNE 27 the participation of Cuban and international artists, which recalls the Manichaeism and military technologies that structure video games, while pointing out the many possibilities of the genre. THROUGH Si las paredes hablaran, The interactive installation JUNE 30 by Colombian artist Lina Leal uses various procedures and resources, such as anthropological research, oral testimony, writing and technology of augmented reality, in the construction of a wall/file that creates, through an apparently contradictory action, devices that facilitate the movement of information from the private to the public.
JUN 2016 55 lahabana. com magazine
GALERÍA COLLAGE HABANA GALERÍA SERVANDO THROUGH The Merger, sculptures, objects and installations, and the THROUGH Autofagia, personal exhibition by Osvaldo Gonzalez, JUNE 17 works that constitute the project of these sculptures and JUNE 17 who insists on the theme of everyday space and objects installations on canvas and bristol, belonging to the creative associated with it, and one of the issues that have always group The Merger, made up by Alain Pino, Mario Miguel interested the artist: the character of abstract painting González (Mayito) and Niels Moleiro. itself.
GALERÍA HABANA GALERÍA VILLA MANUELA THROUGH Jerarquías negadas, personal exhibition of ex Carpintero THROUGH Bio-Circuito, by Héctor Remedios, is his diploma thesis of JULY 8 Alexander Arrechea, who has investigated repeatedly in JUNE 13 the University of the Arts (ISA). “surveillance mechanisms and control driven from power.”
GALERÍA VILLENA CASA DE LAS AMÉRICAS THROUGH- Story de mi vida, exhibition by designer Raúl Valdés OUT JUNE THROUGH- deunosyotros, exhibition based on the poster collection (Raupa), exhibition by designer Raul Valdes (Raupa), OUT JUNIO of Casa de las Américas. Works by Fernando Pimienta, who has brought together original pieces, which like a Santiago Pol, Lorenzo Homar, Ñiko and Alfredo Rostgaard, storyboard, tell stories that reflect personal experiences among others. PABELLÓN CUBA CASA OSWALDO GUAYASAMÍN THROUGH- Fuerza y sangre. Imaginarios de la bandera en el arte OUT JUNE OPENS Con Musashy en Viñales, by Eddy Maikel Sotomayor, focuses cubano is a collection of 160 pieces by 124 Cuban artists JUNE 3 on landscape with an introspective character, the inner of different trends, esthetics, manifestations (painting, landscape, which allows the artist to recognize himself as a sculpture, installation, printmaking, drawing, photography, thinking being. etc.), who have repeatedly or occasionally included the Cuban flag in their work. Veteran artists like Raúl Martínez, Nelson Domínguez, Roberto Fabelo, Manuel Mendive, René GALERÍA LA ACACIA Francisco, Raúl Corrales or Osvaldo Salas join younger THROUGH Nexo Mixto Expo, erotic-themed group show group show JULY artists representative of the Cuban artistic vanguard in this erotic theme, with new works from the avant-garde to the singular homage to the Cuban flag. most contemporary Cuban art
GALERÍA MARIANO SALA ABELARDO ESTORINO. MINISTERIO DE CULTURA THROUGH- El dibujo en la cerámica mexicana exhibits a collection of THROUGH Cosas de mujeres, group show by Jacqueline Brito, Flora JUNE 11 OUT JUNE vessels from different areas in Mexico that show the wealth Fong, Alicia Leal, Julia Valdés and Lesbia Vent Dumois. and importance of drawing as a decorative element in the folk art of that region.
SALA MANUEL GALICH. CASA DE LAS AMÉRICAS GALERÍA RAÚL OLIVA. CENTRO CULTURAL BERTOLT BRECHT THROUGH- Caricaturas de Brady Izquierdo, caricatures on topics THROUGH Wake Up!, clothes design exhibition. OUT JUNE realted to music. JUNE 18
JUN 2016 56 lahabana. com magazine
FOTOTECA DE CUBA
THROUGH JUNE 18 La ciudad infinita, with pictures taken by Jennifer Jiménez Rico, prizewinner of the Alfredo Sarabia Biennial in Pinar del Río.
THROUGH JUNE 20 Algunas imágenes de la colección, exhibition from the collection of the Fototeca de Cuba.
CASA DE LAS AMÉRICAS THROUGHOUT JUNE Pares y nones, contemporary photography from Haiti and Dominican Republic.
photos by Huberto Valera Jr. PHOTO GRAPHY JUN 2016 57 lahabana. com magazine DANCE
TALLER “DANZA, DE ESO SE ESCRIBE”
WEDNESDAYS, 2PM CENTRO HISPANO AMERICANO DE CULTURA
Workshop organized by journalist and cultural critic Mayté Madruga Hernández, who through videos and practical exercises seeks to create audiences that can consciously appreciate and enjoy dance as a form of language.
JUN 2016 58 lahabana. com magazine
The contemporary fusion and electronic music scene has expanded recently as new bars and clubs have opened party promoters have organized events in parks and public spaces. Good live music venues include Bertolt Brecht (Wed: Interactivo, Sunday: Déjá-vu) and El Sauce (check out the Sunday afternoon Máquina de la Melancolía) as well as the newly opened Fábrica de Arte Cubano MUSIC which has concerts most nights Thursday through Sunday as well as impromptu smaller performances inside. CONTEMPORARY In Havana’s burgeoning entertainment district along First Avenue from the Karl FUSION Marx theatre to the aquarium you are spoilt for choice with the always popular Don Cangreco featuring good live music (Kelvis Ochoas and David Torrens alternate Fridays), Las Piedras (insanely busy from 3am) and El Palio and Melem bar—both featuring different singers and acts in smaller more intimate venues.
BALNEARIO UNIVERSITARIO EL CORAL CAFÉ CANTANTE, TEATRO NACIONAL FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS / 1PM-1AM WEDNESDAYS / 5PM Electronic music with rapping, DJing, Qva Libre Vjing, Dj-producers, breakdancing and graffiti writing, among other urban art CASA DE LA AMISTAD expressions. SUNDAYS / 5PM CAFÉ CONCERT EL SAUCE Rock ’n’ Roll with Vieja Escuela. SUNDAYS / 5PM La Máquina de la Melancolía, with Frank Delgado and Luis Alberto García
CENTRO CULTURAL BERTOLT BRECHT WEDNESDAYS / 11PM Interactivo
CENTRO CULTURAL FRESA Y CHOCOLATE FRIDAYS / 9PM Pura Birria
DIABLO TUN TUN SATURDAYS / 11PM Gens
JUN 2016 59 lahabana. com magazine
EN GUAYABERA SUNDAYS / 6PM Discotemba
HAVANA HARD ROCK EVERY OTHER FRIDAY / 6PM MUSIC Soul Train, a show of soul music CONTEMPORARY FUSION SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS / 6PM Rock cover bands
HOTEL CHATEAU MIRAMAR JUNE 3 / 10PM Qva Libre y Sarao
MUSEO NACIONAL DE BELLAS ARTES. EDIFICIO DE ARTE CUBANO JUNE 16 / 6PM Electro-acoustic Music Lab with the performances of US composers Jeffrey Gerald Roden and Stephen Vitiello.
SALÓN ROSADO DE LA TROPICAL FRIDAYS / 9PM Electronic music with Sarao
SUBMARINO AMARILLO MONDAYS / 9PM Miel con Limón
TERCERA Y 8 MONDAYS / 11PM Baby Lores
JUN 2016 60 lahabana. com magazine
CASA DE LA MÚSICA DE MIRAMAR CASA DE LA MÚSICA HABANA
ALL DAYS Popular dance music ALL DAYS Popular dance music 5 PM 5 PM 11 PM 11 PM MONDAYS Sur Caribe WEDNESDAYS Casino 11 PM 5 PM
FRIDAYS NG La Banda WEDNESDAYS NG La Banda 11 PM 11 PM
SATURDAYS Lazarito Valdés y 5 PM SALSA Bamboleo TIMBA
CABARET PICO BLANCO. HOTEL SAINT JOHN’S TERCERA Y 8 WEDNESDAYS / 10PM WEDNESDAYS / 11PM Popular dance music (Vacilón) Alain Daniel
CAFÉ CANTANTE. TEATRO NACIONAL DIABLO TUNTÚN MONDAYS / 11PM THURSDAYS / 11PM Manana Club (dance music) Popular dance music (NG La Banda) WEDNESDAYS / 5PM SATURDAYS / 9PM Qva Libre Popular dance music (Manana Club)
CASA DE 18 JARDINES DEL 1830 FRIDAYS / 8:30PM FRIDAYS / 10PM Iván y Fiebre Latina Azúcar Negra SATURDAYS / 8PM SUNDAYS / 10PM Ahí Namá Grupo Moncada
JUN 2016 61 lahabana. com magazine
Jazz Café Café Jazz Miramar
Mellow, sophisticated and freezing due to SHOWS: 11 PM - 2AM extreme air conditioning, the Jazz Café is not only MUSIC an excellent place to hear some of Cuba’s top jazz This new jazz club has quickly established itself musicians, but the open-plan design also provides as one of the very best places to hear some of for a good bar atmosphere if you want to chat. Cuba’s best musicians jamming. Forget about Less intimate than La Zorra y el Cuervo – located smoke filled lounges, this is clean, bright—take opposite Melia Cohiba Hotel. the fags outside. While it is difficult to get the exact schedule and in any case expect a high level of improvisation when it is good it is very good. UNEAC A full house is something of a mixed house since on occasion you will feel like holding up your JUNE 9 La Esquina del Jazz, hosted by own silence please sign! Nonetheless it gets the 5 PM showman Bobby Carcassés thumbs up from us.
CAFÉ MIRAMAR MONDAYS Lunes de la Juventud 4 PM
WEDNESDAYS Reinier Mariño 10 PM
SATURDAYS César López (saxophonist) and 10:30 PM Havana Ensemble
JARDINES DEL TEATRO MELLA MUSEO NACIONAL DE BELLAS ARTES. EDIFICIO WEDNESDAY Zule Guerra (singer) & Blues D’ DE ARTE CUBANO 8 PM La Habana JUNE 18 Yadasny Portillo (pianist) and 7 PM his group CASA DEL ALBA CULTURAL JUNE 23 Grupo Obsesión 3 PM JUNE 11 Ruy López-Nussa y La JAZZ 8 PM Academia
JUN 2016 62 lahabana. com magazine MUSIC SON TROVA BOLER0 FOLKLOR Haydée Milanés in Concert accompanied by Pablo Milanés
ASOCIACIÓN YORUBA DE CUBA JUNE 11, 8:30 PM, TEATRO KARL MARX FRIDAYS / 8:30PM Father and daughter will sing songs from their new album Amor and other essential songs Obbiní Batá (folkloric group) of Pablo’s long and fruitful career. With this concert, Haydée will honor the work of her dad, teacher and source of inspiration, who is one of the founders of the Nueva Trova BARBARAM PEPITO’S BAR Cubana movement. SATURDAYS / 6PM Awarded an honorary Latin Grammy in 2015, Pablo Milanés is the author of beautiful, Yaima Sáez unforgettable songs like “El breve espacio en que no estás,” “Yolanda” “Para vivir” “De que callada manera.” CABARET EL TURQUINO. HOTEL HABANA LIBRE Meanwhile, Haydée has conquered both Cuban and international audiences thanks to the FRIDAYS / 11PM freshness and sensuality of her voice when singing songs composed by her and by local Mónica Mesa composers, like Descemer Bueno.
JUN 2016 63 lahabana. com magazine
EL JELENGUE DE AREÍTO TUESDAYS / 5PM Conjunto MUSIC SON Chappottín WEDNESDAYS Trova / 5PM THURSDAYS Conjunto Arsenio TROVA / 5PM Rodríguez FRIDAYS / 5PM Rumberos de Cuba BOLER0 SUNDAYS / 5PM Rumba GATO TUERTO FRIDAYS / 5PM La Hora Infiel, with music, visual arts, FOLKLOR literature and more. FRIDAYS / 9PM Osdalgia DAILY / 8PM Gato Tuerto Nights, hosted by Julio CASA DE 18 CENTRO IBEROAMERICANO DE LA DÉCIMA CAFÉ CANTANTE, TEATRO NACIONAL Acanda WEDNESDAYS Héctor Téllez JUNE 4 / 3PM Ad Libitum Duet MONDAYS / 5PM / 8PM JUNE 26 / 5PM El Jardín de Proyecto Lírico HOTEL TELÉGRAFO THURSDAYS José Valladares la Gorda with / 8PM FRIDAYS / 9:30PMPM trovadors from SATURDAYS / 5PM Ivette Cepeda FRIDAYS / 8PM Leidis Díaz every generation Waldo Mendoza SUNDAYS / 4PM Georgeana CLUB AMANECER CENTRO CULTURAL FRESA Y CHOCOLATE CAFÉ TEATRO BERTOLT BRECHT CASA DE LAS AMÉRICAS FRIDAYS / 5PM THURSDAYS / Trova with Frank JUNE 25 / 3PM 4PM Martínez JUNE 10 / 7PM Conjunto de Arsenio Rodríguez Rafael Espín and guests SUNDAYS / 6PM Singer Leidis Díaz Ariel Díaz, Diego Cano and Karel García DELIRIO HABANERO FRIDAYS / 10PM Son en Klab MUSEO NACIONAL DE BELLAS ARTES. CASA DE ÁFRICA CASA MEMORIAL SALVADOR ALLENDE EDIFICIO DE ARTE CUBANO SATURDAYS Sonyku JUNE 4 / 4PM Síntesis JUNE 24 / 6PM / 10PM JUNE 11 / 7PM Obini Batá JUNE 11 / 3PM Cheketé, with the (Folkloric group) Ángel Quintero and guests DIABLO TUN TUN folkloric group Obiní Batá THURSDAYS / 5PM JUNE 25 / 7PM Alina Torres and CASONA DE LÍNEA guests JUNE 24 / 3PM Rumba Morena Trova with Ray Fernández SUNDAYS / 8PM
Trova HURÓN AZUL, UNEAC SOCIEDAD ROSALÍA DE CASTRO PABELLÓN CUBA SATURDAYS / 9PM MONDAY THRU Tradicionales FRIDAYS / 4PM DOS GARDENIAS SUNDAY / de los 50 Bolero Night 9:30PM Tres Tazas with trovador Silvio Alejandro WEDNESDAYS / 10PM Haila María Mompié
JUN 2016 64 lahabana. com magazine
CLASSICAL MUSIC
ORATORIO SAN FELIPE NERI BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL JOSÉ MARTÍ SATURDAYS Concerts by chamber soloists and ensembles. JUNE 4, 4PM Concert by Mayté Aboy and Paula Suárez (piano), Maray 4PM Viyella (clarinet), Abraham del Castillo (bassoon), Jenny Peña (violin) and Susana Venereo (horn), with works by CASA VICTOR HUGO Wolfgang A. Mozart, Karl Goepfart, Franz Schubert and 24 DE JUNIO Duo Cáliz, made up by Luis Manuel Molina (guitar) and Johannes Brahms. 5PM Vicente Monterry (clarinet). JUNE 6, 10AM Performance by the Vivace clarinet quartet. CENTRO HISPANO AMERICANO DE CULTURA JUNE 10, 7PM The University of the Arts Symphony Orchetra will play 11 DE JUNIO Concert by soprano Ivette Betancourt, accompanied on the 5PM works by Brahms and Ravel. piano by Vilma Garriga, with works by Franz Schubert.
JUNE 16, 7PM Recital by soprano Johana Simón with guetss Analiette IGLESIA DE PAULA Presno (oboe), Olivia Rodríguez (double bass) and Lianne JUNE 3 Concert Voces del siglo xviii y xix (Voices of the 18th and Vega (piano) with a program made up of pieces by Antonio 3PM Vivaldi, Nicolo Porpora, Riccardo Broschi, Antonio Salieri 19th centuries), by the Schola Cantorum Coralina Choir, and Georg Friedrich Händel. conducted by Alina Orraca, and guests organist Moisés Santiesteban and the Ventus Habana wind quintet. JUNE 18, 4PM Concert in honor of Cuban horn player Fernando Bencomo, with musicians Susana Venereo Martín (French horn), Pedro PARROQUIA DEL SAGRADO CORAZÓN DE JESÚS Luis González, Moisés Hernández and Dania Pérez (horn), JUNE 26 Conciertos solidarios: Solidarity concerts, organized by 7PM Maité Aboy (piano) and Jenny Peña (violin). Leo Brouwer, designed to benefit the most vulnerable individuals and groups in Cuban society (toys, medicines, staples or cash donations are appreciated).
JUN 2016 65 lahabana. com magazine
THEATRE
Diez millones Eclipse SALA ARGOS TEATRO CENTRO HISPANO AMERICANO DE CULTURA ARGOS TEATRO / PRODUCTION: CARLOS CELDRÁN, THROUGH MAY 8, FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS, 8:30PM; SUNDAYS, 5PM . THURSDAYS, 6PM Based on Strindberg’s Miss Julia, the play is about a love This play by Carlos Celdrán explores the emotional education of triangle seen and judged through the spectators, who are a child and teenager in the past decades in Cuba, his relationship imaginary participants of Eclipse, a coexistence program. with his parents, History and the events that shaped his life. Therefore, the outcome changes with each performance.
Éxtasis: un homenaje a la madre Teresa de Ávila
TEATRO BUENDÍA / PRODUCTION: FLORA LAUTEN Y EDUARDO MANET FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS, 8:30PM; SUNDAYS, 5PM
For the always lucid Norge Espinosa, “Teresa of Avila, obsessed with the idea of founding monasteries, temples, places of worship, is the central po int of the entire production, which has been conceived through writings by Raquel Carrió, Eduardo Manet and Flora Lauten....This is a play that erases any idea of a biography of a saint and we find in her delusions, fears, hopes and battles that unveil her as a woman whose only weapon is faith.”
JUN 2016 66 lahabana. com magazine FOR KIDS
Había una vez... un circo CARPA TROMPOLOCO SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS, 3PM Y 8PM, Circus with magic acts, trapeze, juggling, acrobatics, clowns and more. Reservations on-line: www.circonacionaldecuba.cu
Fabulando y cantando JUNE 4, 11AM CENTRO HISPANOAMERICANO DE CULTURA Fables and tales by the Para Contarte Mejor Group.
Fantasías SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS, 3PM CINE YARA Circus show with magic, pole dance, aerial ribbons, lassos, whips, acrobatics, hula hoop, juggling, clowns and much more.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes SUNDAYS, 11AM Clowns, music and other attractions.
photos by Huberto Valera Jr.
JUN 2016 67 lahabana. com magazine EVENTS IN HAVANA
66TH HEMINGWAY INTERNATIONAL BILLFISHING TOURNAMENT
JUNE 13-18 MARINA ERNEST HEMINGWAY, HAVANA
The Hemingway Tournament is one of the three oldest tournaments of its kind in the world. It hosts fishermen from around the world in pursuit of marlin and other large deep sea fish, including tuna and wahoo, using 80-pound fishing line. Over the last decade, the competition has attracted crews from more than 30 countries. This year’s edition promises to break attendance records. Dozens of requests for participation have been received from around the world, particularly from the US nautical community. As part of Stuart Sailfish Club’s 75th anniversary, members of the club have been invited to fish the tournament in Cuba.
Prizes First, second and third prizes consisting of medals for each team member and trophy for the team and. Prize to the first capture and prize to the biggest dolphin.
Tournament rules and regulations Rules according to IGFA, Tag and Release method. Four lines in the water per team. Lines up to 36 kg (80 pounds).
JUN 2016 68 lahabana. com magazine
About the tournament SCHEDULE: Back in May 26, 1950, thirty-six of the best sports yachts JUNE 13: REGISTRATION AND ACCREDITATION. 6PM: from Havana’s yacht clubs sailed past the narrow inlet at the Morro Castle located at the entrance of Havana Bay CAPTAINS’ MEETING AND WELCOME COCKTAILS and out into the Gulf Stream. One of the boats was the “Pilar” owned by Ernest Hemingway, who competed in the JUNE 14: FIRST FISHING DAY first billfishing tournament representing the International Nautical Club of Havana. JUNE 15: SECOND FISHING DAY A few years later, a group of fishermen suggested that the tournament be named after the famous writer because of JUNE 16: DAY OFF his love and passion for the sport. Hemingway not only accepted, he donated the cups won by him during the first JUNE 17: THIRD FISHING DAY three tournaments and continued to take first place from 1953 to 1955. JUNE 18: FOURTH AND LAST FISHING DAY. CLOSING AND In 1959, Hemingway moved to Idaho, US, but came back to Cuba in 1960 for the awarding of the cups at the 11th AWARD CEREMONY Hemingway International Tournament. There, he met the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro. This was the year when Marina Hemingway became the tournament’s headquarters. No tournaments were held in 1961 and 1962 but were resumed in 1963 with a national scope until 1977, regaining its international status in 1978. The creation in 1992 of the Hemingway International Yacht Club of Cuba, (CNIH) gave the Hemingway tournaments a new life based on friendly relations with fishing clubs, specialized publications and fishermen. In 1997, with the help of the Billfish Foundation and the direct assistance of Mr. Ralph “Agie” Vicente, Representative of the Billfish Foundation for the Caribbean, HIYC Commodore José Miguel Díaz Escrich introduced the method of catch and release in the Hemingway For more information: Tournament. (53) 7204-5280, 7204-6848, 7204-5088 This is one of the oldest fishing tournaments in the [email protected], world, preceded only by the Nova Scotia International [email protected], Tuna Tournament and the Tarpon Fishing Tournament in [email protected], Mexico. [email protected]
JUN 2016 69 lahabana. com magazine EVENTS IN HAVANA VII Festival de las Artes JUNE 1-5, 2016 DIFFERENT VENUES IN HAVANA Organized by Cuba’s University of the Arts (ISA), this art festival includes theater, art exhibitions, audiovisual screenings, competitions, lectures, master classes, demonstrations and workshops aimed at promoting the work of young artists; creating opportunities for a dialogue between writers and artists of different manifestations, training and origins; and showing the teaching process of students and graduates from the University of the Arts, conservatories and academies of the artistic educational system both in Cuba and in universities and art schools abroad. For complete program: https://isauniversidaddelasartes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/programacic3b3n-vii-festival- de-las-artes.pdf Facebook.com/ISA.Universidad Twitter/@isa_Universidad Flickr.com/isa_Universidad
Festival Internacional Boleros de Oro MELLA AND AMÉRICA THEATERS, HURÓN AZUL AT UNEAC, CENTRO HISPANO AMERICANO DE CULTURA JUNE 22-26 Bolero, a musical genre which emerged in Cuba in the second half of the 19th century—the first printed notation of a bolero is Tristezas (1883), written by composer José Pepe Sánchez—is what this festival is all about. This genre has had a marked influence in other countries of the area, including places as far away as Spain and Japan, and its first festival, held in Havana in 1987, is considered the oldest of its kind in Latin America. A Havana celebration in its beginnings, other provinces would become venues in later years given that bolero is one of the most loved and performed genres in the Island. In its 26th edition, the event will be dedicated to celebrating the centenary of the birth of Puerto Rican singer and composer Daniel Santos, and will have as special guest his compatriot Andy Montañez. As usual, there will be shows, galas, informal music gatherings, dancing, the third international competition for young singers and the International Bolero Colloquium, which will bring together musicologists, academics, teachers and others.
JUN 2016 70 lahabana. com magazine AM-PM (América x su Música) 2016 CASA DE LAS AMÉRICAS, FÁBRICA DE ARTE CUBANO JUNE 13-19 The main theme of this meeting point for professionals of the Latin American music industry will be journalism, content curating, and, broadly speaking, communication about the music of the continent. The event will include professional meetings, an academic workshop by members of the Latin American Network of Music Journalists, lectures, panels and discussions between journalists and the media. Reporters who specialize in music will hail from from several countries of Latin America, Spain and the United States. The organizers have also announced a brainstorming session about the relationship between music and new technologies, audiovisual showings, a forum for non-violence against women and girls, art exhibitions, a gathering of music lovers and collectors of vinyl records, books launchings, a pitching session and performances by alternative music musicians and bands from Cuba, Argentina, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Chile and Brazil.
Festival Internacional de Coros Corhabana 2016 JUNE 28-JULY 2 DIFFERENT VENUES IN HAVANA Founded in 1999 as the Havana Choral Meeting, for three consecutive years the event was the meeting place for choruses from Cuba and the United States. In 2002, however, it became an international festival and changed its name to Corhabana. The event is presided by Digna Guerra, director of the National Choir, and one of the most prestigious Cuban choral directors in Cuba today. The festival’s opening gala will take place at the Basílica Menor de San Francisco de Asís, June 28, 6pm. The Iglesia de Paula has also programed performances on June 29 & 30, at 5pm. The Centro Hispano Americano de Cultura and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Edificio de Arte Universal will host workshops, at 9am and 3pm, respectively, conducted by the Venezuelan choir teacher Luimar Arismend, as well as lectures by Cuban teachers Carmen Collazo, Corina Campos, Leonor Suarez and Carmen Rosa Lopez. La Habana, Ciudad Maravilla HAVANA JUNE 7-11 On June 7, Havana will be officially proclaimed as one of the Seven Wonder Cities of the Modern World. To celebrate this distinction, which was made known in December 2014, a memorial monument will be unveiled in the esplanade of the Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta, on June 7 at 7:30 pm. That same day, the inaugural gala will take place on Plaza Vieja, at 9pm. The show will include cultural activities in public places, art exhibitions, the Habana Maravilla sports festival, parades, lectures and the closing concert with the performance of the emblematic Aragón Orchestra on the corner of Prado and Neptuno, a site mentioned in one of the band’s most popular tunes.
JUN 2016 71 lahabana. com magazine EVENTS IN HAVANA IV Encuentro de Jóvenes Pianistas TEATRO MARTÍ, SALA IGNACIO CERVANTES, BASÍLICA MENOR DE SAN FRANCISCO DE ASÍS, JUNE 2-29 The 4th Encounter of Young Pianists, directed by Cuban pianist and Professor Salomón Gadles Mikowsky of the Manhattan School of Music has scheduled 20 concerts with an attractive and varied repertoire of Cuban and international music. Renowned participants in international events as well as students of Gadles Mikowsky will attend the meeting.
TEATRO MARTÍ JUNE 16 Ha-Eun Lee (South Korea), JUNE 17 Ahmed Alom (Cuba) 6PM 6PM JUNE 2 Inaugural Gala: Adam Kent Patricio Malcolm (Cuba), 6PM (US), Alexandre Moutouzkine Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional JUNE 19 Yanner Rascón (Cuba) y 11AM (Russia), Orquesta Sinfónica conducted by José Antonio SiningLiu (China) Méndez Padrón Nacional de Cuba, conducted by JUNE 24 Yuan Sheng (China) Enrique Pérez Mesa JUNE 26 Closing gala: Karla Martínez 6PM 6PM JUNE 5 Alexandra Beliakovich-Shkoda (Cuba), Wael Farouk (Egypt), JUNE 26 Yamilé Cruz (Cuba) y Mengfei Gu 6PM 11AM (Belarus) & Po-WeiGer (China- Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional (China) Taipei), Orquesta Sinfónica conducted by Daiana García Nacional de Cuba conducted by BASÍLICA MENOR DEL CONVENTO DE SAN FRANCISCO DE ASÍS Enrique Pérez Mesa JUNE 19 Chun Wang, Jie Yuan (China), 6PM JUNE 9 Khowoon Kim (South Korea), Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional JUNE 4 Po-WeiGer (China-Taipei) 6PM 6PM Edward Neeman (US), Orquesta conducted by Enrique Pérez Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba Mesa JUNE 11 Kyu Yeon Kim (Corea del Sur) conducted by Enrique Pérez 6PM Mesa SALA IGNACIO CERVANTES JUNE 3 Hayk Arsenyan (Armenia)z JUNE 18 Chun Wang (China) JUNE 12 Kyu Yeon Kim (South Korea), 6PM 6PM 6PM Aldo López-Gavilán (Cuba), JUNE 5 Lilibeth Fabelo Alfonso (Cuba) Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional 11AM JUNE 25 Niurka González (flute, Cuba), and Jiayin Li (China) 6PM de Cuba conducted by Daiana Jenny Peña: (violin, Cuba), García JUNE 10 Lisa María Blanco (Cuba) Simone Dinnerstein (piano, 6PM JUNE 23 Yuan Sheng (China), Orquesta US), Orquesta Sinfónica de la 6PM JUNE 12 Isabel Mesa (Cuba) y Ssu-Hsuan Universidad de las Artes Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba 11AM conducted by Daiana García Li (China-Taipei) JUN 2016 72 lahabana. com magazine
Cucalambeana Country Fair 48 JORNADA CUCALAMBEANA, JUNE 25 TO JULY 1, 2016, EL CORNITO, LAS TUNAS Every year, the capital of the northeastern EVENTS province of Las Tunas becomes the venue for the Jornada Cucalambeana in memory of Las Tunas native, poet Juan Cristóbal Nápoles Fajardo (aka El Cucalambé), the most important Cuban decimista (country ballad poet) in AROUND nineteenth-century Cuba.
A trip to the Cucalambeana Country Fair takes you a long way off of the regular tourist trail, but it gives you a unique opportunity to see real CUBA Cuban country folk. Whether you like the cock- fighting or not, you have to admit that it plays an undeniable role in the countryside culture and history of Cuba. And that is precisely what the festival is all about: keeping alive the music and traditions of the Cuban countryside. The event lasts a whole week, beginning in late June to incorporate July 1, the birthdate of El Cucalambé. It is always held in El Cornito, the home of the poet that now serves as a hotel on the outskirts of Las Tunas. In the scenic area there are several sculptures dedicated to El Cucalambé, an open area for horseback riding, children’s playgrounds, and several small plazas. The Cucalambeana Fair includes the recital and singing of décimas, a Spanish stanza of ten octosyllabic lines created in early-modern Spain and adopted by the country folk of the Americas. Repentistas, or improvisers, come from all over the country to show their talent at this difficult art at the Justo Vega Competition while children showcase their talent at the Colorín.
JUN 2016 73 lahabana. com magazine
There are also traditional country dances, which And don’t forget the beauty pageant. Every year, take place at El Cornito’s plazas. These dances a girl is chosen who best exemplifies the beauty have a twist—they are competitions between of a typical country woman (tall, long black hair two teams: the Blue team and the Red team. In and olive-skinned). The winner is declared La fact, all of the activities held during the festival Flor de Birama, or The Flower of Birama, and her are competitions between the Red and Blue entourage are her Petals. During the festival, teams, so don’t be surprised to see competitors in their roles as the Flower and the Petals, the wearing costumes, hats and kerchiefs in either girls attend all of the events wearing the Cuban one of these two colors. national dress, inspiring poets and composers If cock-fighting and dancing aren’t enough with their beauty. for you, why not join the audience at the For 47 years, the Cucalambeana has celebrated popular improvisation event where you can peasant traditions and honored the rich culture contribute to the poets’ décimas by giving of the Cuban countryside. El Cornito may not them pie forzados, phrases—prompted by be near the top of many tourist agendas, but a anyone present—that the poets must follow visit to the Cucalambeana is a once in a lifetime in order to create their poems. Experts and opportunity to experience the traditional non-experts both agree that repentismo, or the culture of the Cuban countryside in all its glory. improvisation of décimas, requires great talent and quick thinking nurtured from the cradle.
JUN 2016 74 lahabana. com magazine CUBAN
FARM The Mediterráneo Havana Restaurant is recognized today as the first true experience of a farm- to-table restaurant in Cuba. A tour of the farms allow our customers to know firsthand about the ecological agricultural system used for growing the products that they will later enjoy at our restaurant.
Calle 13 No. 406 e/ F y G, Vedado. Havana Reservations: +53 78324894 [email protected] www.medhavana.com TO TABLE De la Granja a la Mesa
JUN 2016 75 lahabana. com magazine
HAVANA’S best places to eat
Los Mercaderes
EL ATELIER BELLA CIAO CAFÉ BOHEMIA CAFÉ LAURENT LOS MERCADERES OTRA MANERA EXPERIMENTAL FUSION HOMELY ITALIAN CAFÉ SPANISH/MEDITERRANEAN CUBAN-CREOLE INTERNATIONAL
Beautiful colonial house.Polpular Beautiful modern decor. Interesting décor, interesting Great service, good prices. A real Bohemian feel. Great sandwiches, Attractive penthouse restaurant place whit great food and good menu. Interesting menu and good home from home. salads & juices with breezy terrace. service. service. Calle 5 e/ Paseo y 2, Vedado Calle 19 y 72, Playa Calle San Ignacio #364, Habana Vieja Calle M #257, e/ 19 y 21, Vedado Calle Mercaderes No. 207 altos e/ (+53) 7-836-2025 (+53) 7-206-1406 (+53) 7-831-2090 Lamparilla y Amargura. H.Vieja Calle #35 e/ 20 y 41, Playa. (+53) 7861 2437 (+53) 7-203-8315
CASA MIGLIS OTRA MANERA EL COCINERO CORTE PRÍNCIPE RÍO MAR D.EUTIMIA SWEDISH-CUBAN FUSION INTERNATIONAL INTERNACIONAL ITALIAN INTERNATIONAL CUBAN/CREOLE
Contemporary décor. Great sea- Oasis of good food & taste in Beautiful modern decor. Industrial chic alfresco rooftop Sergio’s place. Simple décor, with a buzzing atmosphere view. Good food. Absolutely charming. Excellent Centro Habana Interesting menu and good spectacular food. Cuban/creole food. service. Calle 26, e/ 11 y 13, Vedado. Calle 9na esq. a 74, Miramar Ave. 3raA y Final #11, La Puntilla, Lealtad #120 e/ Ánimas y Lagunas, Miramar Callejón del Chorro #60C, Plaza de la Centro Habana Calle #35 e/ 20 y 41, Playa. (+53) 7-832-2355 (+53) 5-255-9091 (+53) 7-209-4838 Catedral, Habana Vieja (+53) 7-864-1486 (+53) 7-203-8315 (+53) 7 861 1332
LA FONTANA IVÁN CHEF EL LITORAL SANTY NAZDAROVIE SAN CRISTÓBAL INTERNACIONAL SPANISH INTERNATIONAL SUSHI/ORIENTAL SOVIET CUBAN/CREOLE
Consistently good food, attentive Authentic fisherman’s shack Well designed Soviet décor Deservedly popular.Consistently Brilliantly creative and rich food. Watch the world go by at the servicing world-class sushi. excellent food & service. service. Old school. Malecón’s best restaurant. great food. Kitsch décor. Calle 46 #305 esq. a 3ra, Miramar Calle 240A #3023 esq. a 3ra C, Malecon #25, 3rd floor e Prado y Aguacate #9 esq. a Chacón, Habana Malecón #161 e/ K y L, Vedado Jaimanitas Carcel, Centro Habana (+53) 7-202-8337 San Rafael #469 e/ Lealtad y Vieja (+53) 7-830-2201 (+53) 5-286-7039 (+53) 7-860-2947 Campanario, Centro Habana (+53) 7-863-9697 (+53) 7-860-9109
JUN 2016 76 lahabana. com magazine
TOP PICK Style of food: International El Litoral Cost: Expensive Type of place: Private (Paladar)
Best for Quality décor, good service and great food. Best new place recently opened.
Don’t Miss Drinking a cocktail at sunset watching the world go by on the Malecón
Malecón #161 e/ K y L, Vedado. (+53) 7-830-2201
Style of food: Soviet TOP PICK Cost: Moderate Nazdarovie Type of place: Private (Paladar)
Best for Getting a flavor of Cuban-Soviet history along with babuska’s traditional dishes in a classy locale. Don’t miss Vodka sundowners on the gorgeous terrace overlooking the malecon.
Malecon #25 3rd floor e/ Prado y Carcel, Centro Habana (+53) 7-860-2947
TOP PICK TOP PICK Style of food: International Otra Manera Cost: Moderate Type of place: Private (Paladar)
Best for Beautiful modern décor and good food.
Don’t miss Pork rack of ribs in honey. Sweet & sour sauce and grilled pineapple
Calle 35 #1810 e/ 20 y 41, Playa (+53) 7-203-8315
JUN 2016 77 lahabana. com magazine
TOP PICK Style of food: Contemporary fusion La Guarida Cost: Expensive Type of place: Private (Paladar)
Best for Authentic, charming and intimate atmosphere in Cuba’s best known restaurant. Great food, professional. Classy.
Don’t Miss Uma Thurman, Beyoncé or the Queen of Spain if they happen to be dining next to you.
Concordia #418 e/ Gervasio y Escobar, Centro Habana. (+53) 7-866-9047
Style of food: Traditional TOP PICK Cost: Moderate Café Bohemia Type of place: Private (Paladar) Best for taking a break from long walks and seeking shelter from the stifling Cuban.. Don’t miss location in the cool inner courtyard of the colonial building.
Ground floor of the Palacio de la Casa del Conde de Lombillo, Calle San Ignacio #364 (+53) 5- 403-1 568, (+53) 7-836-6567 www. havanabohemia.com
TOP PICK Style of food: Spanish Iván Chef Justo Cost: Expensive Type of place: Private (Paladar)
Best for Spectacular innovative food. Light and airy place where it always seems to feel like Springtime. Don’t Miss The lightly spiced grilled mahi-mahi served with organic tomato relish. Try the suckling pig and stay for the cuatro leches. Aguacate #9, Esq. Chacón, Habana Vieja. (+53) 7-863-9697 / (+53) 5-343-8540 JUN 2016 78 lahabana. com magazine
TOP PICK Los Mercaderes Style of food Cuban creole Cost Moderate Type of place Private (Paladar)
Best for Beautiful colonial house.Polpular place whit great food and good service.
Don’t miss Wonderfull balcony view to the clasic street.
Calle Mercaderes No. 207 altos e/ Lamparilla y Amargura. Habana Vieja (+53) 7861 2437 y (+53) 5290 1531
TOP PICK Casa Miglis
Style of food Swedish-Cuban fusion Cost Expensive Type of place Private (Paladar)
Best for The beautifully designed interior, warm ambience and Miglis’s personality create the feeling of an oasis in Central Havana.
Don’t Miss Chatting with Mr Miglis. The Skaargan prawns, beef Chilli and lingonberries.
Lealtad #120 e/ Ánimas y Lagunas, Centro Habana www.casamiglis.com (+53) 7-864-1486
JUN 2016 79 lahabana. com magazine RESTAURANT 1800 PLAZA SAN JUAN DE DIOS CAMAGÜEY, CUBA
TRADITION AND STYLE... at your taste
STYLE AND HISTORY
Contact us
JUN 2016 80 lahabana. com magazine
HAVANA’S best Bars & Clubs
Corner Café
TRADITIONAL BARS EL FLORIDITA 1950S TRADITIONALS SLOPPY JOE’S BAR CERVECERÍA ANTIGUO ALMACÉN DE LA MADERA Y Hemingway’s daiquiri bar. Guest performers include BUENA EL TABACO Recently (beautifully) renovated. Touristy but always full of life. VISTA SOCIAL CLUB MEMBERS Microbrewery located Great cocktails. Full of history. Popular. Lacks a little ‘grime’. overlooking the restored docks Sociedad Rosalía de Castro, Egido 504 e/ Monte Simply brilliant. Obispo #557 esq. a Monserrate, Habana Vieja y Dragones, Old Havana (+53) 5-270-5271 Ánimas esq. a Zulueta, Habana Vieja (+53) 7-867-1299 Avenida del Puerto y San Ignacio, La Habana (+53) 7-866-7157 Vieja
CONTEMPORARY BARS EL COCINERO ESPACIOS TABARISH FAC
Fabulous rooftop setting, great Laid back contemporary bar with A comfortable place to chat / X Alfonso’s new cultural center. service, cool vibe. a real buzz in the back beer- hang out with your friends. Great Great concerts, funky young garden. service. scene. Calle 26 e/ 11 y 13, Vedado Calle 26 e/ 11 y 13, Vedado Calle 10 #510, e/ 5ta y 31, Miramar Calle 20 #503, e/ 5ta y 7ma. (next to the Puente de Hierro)
(+53) 7-832-2355 (+53) 7-836-3031 (+53) 7-202-9188 (+53) 5-329-6325 www.facebook.com/fabrica.deartecubano
JUN 2016 81 lahabana. com magazine
CONTEMPORARY BARS/CLUBS
TOP PICK DON CANGREJO BOLABANA CORNER CAFÉ SANGRI-LA Sangri-La CONTEMPORARY BAR/CLUBS Love it/hate it—this is the Packed night after night with For the cool kids. Basement oldest Friday night party a young dressed-up clientele Great live music every day. bar/club which gets packed place and is still going wanting to party. Don’t go very frequently by locals. at weekends. Good tapas. Best for Hanging out with the cool kids on the strong. Outdoor by the sea. looking for Buena Vista Social Club! Havana Farundula in the most popular bar/ Calle B e/ 1ra y 3ra. Plaza de la Ave. 21 e/ 36 y 42, Miramar Ave. 1ra e/ 16 & 18, Miramar Calle 39 esq. 50, Playa Revolución (+53) 7-264-8343 club. (+53) 7-204-3837 (+53) 5 -294-3572 (+53) 7837 1220
Don’t Miss The best gin and tonic in Havana.
Ave. 21 e/ 36 y 42, Miramar GAY-FRIENDLY (+53) 5-264-8343 CABARET FASHION BAR CAFÉ BAR LAS VEGAS HAVANA MADRIGAL
Can get dark and smoky but great A superb example of queer class Pop décor, fancy cocktails, and the drag show (11pm) from Divino—one meets camp, accompanied by a staff’s supercilious attitude, this is a of Cuba’s most accomplished drag fantastic floor show. gathering spot for all types of folks. acts. San Juan de Dios, esq. a Aguacate, Ave. 21 e/ 36 y 42, Miramar Habana Vieja Calle 17 #809 e/ 2 y 4, Vedado (+53) 7-264-8343 (+53) 7-867-1676 (+53) 7-831-2433
Corner Café TOP PICK CONTEMPORARY BAR/CLUBS
Best for Frequently by locals. Great tapas.
Don’t Miss Live music every day.
Calle B e/ 1ra y 3ra. Plaza de la Revolución
(+53) 5-264-8343
JUN 2016 82 lahabana. com magazine
TOP PICK Espacios CONTEMPORARY BAR/CLUBS
Best for Laid back lounge atmosphere in the garden area which often has live music. Good turnover of people.
Don’t Miss Ray Fernandez, Tony Avila, Yasek Mazano playing live sets in the garden.
Calle 10 #510 e/ 5ta y 31, Miramar (+53) 7-202-2921
CONTEMPORARY Bolabana TOP PICK
Best for Trendy new location near Salón Rosado de la Tropica.
Don’t Miss Hipsters meet the Havana Farándula.
Calle 39 esq. 50, Playa
TOP PICK BAR / TRADITIONAL Sloppy Joe´s Bar Best for Immense original bar lovingly restored. Good service, History.
Worst for Not quite grimy. Too clean.
Ánimas, esq. Zulueta La Habana Vieja, (07) 866-7157
JUN 2016 83 lahabana. com magazine
TOP PICK Fábrica de CONTEMPORARY BAR/CLUBS Arte Best for X Alfonso’s superb new cultural center has something for everyone
Don’t Miss Artists who exhibit work should demonstrate ongoing creativity and a commitment for social transformation.
Calle 26 e/ 11 y 13, Vedado (next to the Puente de Hierro)
GAY FRIENDLY Fashion Bar TOP PICK
Best for A superb example of queer class meets Havana camp, accompanied by a fantastic floor show.
Don’t Miss The staff performing after 11pm
San Juan de Dios, esq. a Aguacate, Habana Vieja (+53) 7-867-1676
CONTEMPORARY BAR/CLUBS TOP PICK Bertolt Brecht Best for Hanging out with hip & funky Cubans who like their live music.
Don’t Miss Interactivo playing on a Wednesday evening.
Calle 13 e/ I y J, Vedado (+53) 7-830-1354
JUN 2016 84 lahabana. com magazine HAVANA’S best live music venues
CONCERT VENUES
KARL MARX BASÍLICA SAN FÁBRICA DE SALA THEATRE FRANCISCO DE ARTE COVARRUBIAS ASÍS TEATRO NACIONAL World class musicians perform X Alfonso’s new cultural center. A truly beautiful church, which Recently renovated, one of Cuba’s prestigious concerts in Cuba’s Great concerts inside (small and regularly hosts fabulous classical most prestigious venues for a best equipped venue. funky) and outside (large and music concerts. multitude of events. popular!). Calle 1ra esq. a 10, Miramar Oficios y Amargura, Plaza de San Francisco de Paseo y 39, Plaza de la Revolución. (+53) 7-203-0801 Asís, Habana Vieja Calle 26 e/ 11 y 13, Vedado (next to the Puente de Hierro)
SALSA/TIMBA CAFÉ CANTANTE CASA DE LA CASA DE LA SALÓN ROSADO MI HABANA MÚSICA MÚSICA DE LA TROPICAL CENTRO HABANA MIRAMAR Attracts the best Cuban The legendary beer garden where musicians. Recently renovated A little rough around the edges Smaller and more up-market than Arsenio tore it up. Look for a with an excellent new sound but spacious. For better or worse, its newer twin in Centro Habana. salsa/timba gig on a Sat night system. this is ground zero for the best in An institution in the Havana salsa and a Sun matinee. Cuban salsa. scene. Ave. Paseo esq. a 39, Plaza de la Revolución Ave. 41 esq. a 46, Playa (+53) 7-878-4273 Galiano e/ Neptuno y Concordia, C. Habana Calle 20 esq. a 35, Miramar (+53) 7-203-5322 (+53) 7-860-8296/4165 (+53) 7-204-0447
JUN 2016 85 lahabana. com magazine
CONTEMPORARY
CAFÉ TATRO DON CANGREJO EL SAUCE TEATRO DE BERTOLT BRECHT BELLAS ARTES
Think MTV Unplugged when Love it/hate it—this is the oldest Great outdoor concert venue to Friday night party place and is hear the best in contemporary & Small intimate venue inside musicians play. Hip, funky and Cuba’s most prestigious arts still going strong. Outdoor by the Nueva Trova live in concert. unique with an artsy Cuban museum. Modern. crowd. sea.
Calle 13 e/ I y J, Vedado Ave. 1ra e/ 16 y 18, Miramar Ave. 9na #12015 e/ 120 y 130, Playa Trocadero e/ Zulueta y Monserrate, (+53) 7-830-1354 (+53) 7-204-3837 (+53) 7-204-6428 Habana Vieja.
TROVA & TRADITIONAL
BARBARAM GATO TUERTO TRADICIONALES SALÓN 1930 PEPITO´S BAR DE LOS 50 COMPAY SEGUNDO Late night place to hear fabulous Some of the best Cuban Nueva The 1950s traditionals, a project Buena Vista Social Club style set Trova musicians perform in this bolero singers. Can get smoky. created over 10 years ago, pays in the grand Hotel Nacional. small and intimate environment. tribute to the Golden Era of Calle O entre 17 y 19, Vedado (+53) 7-833-2224 Cuban music: the 1950s. Hotel Nacional Calle 26 esq. a Ave. del Zoológico. Nuevo Vedado Calle O esq. a 21, Vedado (+53) 7-881-1808 Sociedad Rosalia de Castro, Egido #504 e/ (+53) 7-835-3896 Monte y Dragones, Havana Vieja (+53) 7-861-7761
JAZZ
CAFÉ JAZZ JAZZ CAFÉ MIRAMAR
Clean, modern and atmospheric. A staple of Havana’s jazz scene, Where Cuba’s best musicians jam the best jazz players perform and improvise. here. Somewhat cold atmosphere- wise. Cine Teatro Miramar 10:30pm – 2am Galerías de Paseo Ave. 5ta esq. a 94, Miramar Ave. 1ra e/ Paseo y A, Vedado
LA ZORRA Y EL CUERVO
Intimate and atmospheric, which you enter through a red telephone box, is Cuba’s most famous.
Calle 23 e/ N y O, Vedado (+53) 7-833-2402
JUN 2016 86 lahabana. com magazine
Hotel Nacional de Cuba HAVANA’S Best Hotels
SIMPLY THE BEST…
IBEROSTAR SANTA ISABEL SARATOGA TERRAL PARQUE CENTRAL Luxurious historic mansion facing Stunning view from roof-top pool. Wonderful ocean front location. Luxury hotel overlooking Parque Plaza de Armas Beautiful décor. Newly renovated. Central Narciso López, Habana Vieja Neptuno e/ Prado y Zulueta, Habana Vieja (+53) 7-860-8201 Paseo del Prado #603 esq. a Dragones, Habana Malecón esq. a Lealtad, Centro Habana (+53) 7-860-6627 Vieja (+53) 7-862-8061 (+53) 7-860-8201
BOUTIQUE HOTELS IN OLD HAVANA
FLORIDA PALACIO DEL HOSTAL VALENCIA CONDE DE Beautifully restored colonial MARQUÉS... Immensely charming, great value. VILLANUEVA Cuban baroque meets modern Delightfully small and intimate. house. Oficios #53 esq. a Obrapía, Habana Vieja minimalist For cigar lovers. Obispo #252, esq. a Cuba, Habana Vieja (+53) 7-867-1037 (+53) 7-862-4127 Oficios #152 esq. a Amargura, Habana Vieja Mercaderes #202, Lamparilla (+53) 7-862-9293
JUN 2016 87 lahabana. com magazine
BUSINESS HOTELS MELIÁ COHÍBA MELIÁ HABANA OCCIDENTAL H10 HABANA Oasis of polished marble and Attractive design & extensive MIRAMAR PANORAMA professional calm. facilities. Good value, large spacious Cascades of glass. Good wi-fi. modern rooms. Modern. Ave Paseo e/ 1ra y 3ra, Vedado Ave. 3ra y 70, Miramar Ave. 5ta. e/ 70 y 72, Miramar Ave. 3ra. y 70, Miramar (+53) 7- 833-3636 (+53) 5-204-8500 (+53) 7-204-3583 (+53) 7 204-0100
FOR A SENSE OF HISTORY AMBOS MUNDOS MERCURE SEVILLA HOTEL NACIONAL RIVIERA A must for Hemingway Stunning views from the roof Eclectic art-deco architecture. Spectacular views over wave- aficionados garden restaurant. Gorgeous gardens. lashed Malecón
Calle Obispo #153 esq. a Mercaderes, Habana Trocadero #55 entre Prado y Zulueta, Habana Calle O esq. a 21, Vedado Paseo y Malecón, Vedado Vieja Vieja (+53) 7-835 3896 (+53) 7-836-4051 (+53) 7- 860-9529 (+53) 7-860-8560
ECONOMICAL/BUDGET HOTELS BOSQUE DEAUVILLE SAINT JOHN’S VEDADO On the banks of the Río Lack of pretension, great Lively disco, tiny quirky pool. Good budget option with a bit of Almendares. location. Popular. a buzz
Calle 28-A e/ 49-A y 49-B, Reparto Kohly, Playa Galiano e/ Sán Lázaro y Malecón, Centro Calle O e/ 23 y 25, Vedado Calle O e/ 23 y 25, Vedado (+53) 7-204-9232 Habana (+53) 7-833-3740 (+53) 7-836-4072 (+53) 7-866-8812
HAVANA’S Best Hotels
JUN 2016 88 lahabana. com magazine HAVANA’S best private places to stay
Sueño Cubano
MID RANGE - CASA PARTICULAR (B&B) 1932 MIRAMAR 301 HABANA JULIO Y ELSA Visually stunning, historically LUXURY HOUSE Beautiful colonial townhouse with Cluttered bohemian feel. fascinating. Welcoming. great location. Hospitable. 4 bedrooms private luxury villa Campanario #63 e/ San Lázaro y Laguna, Calle Habana #209, e/ Empedrado, y Tejadillo, Consulado #162 e/ Colón y Trocadero, Centro Centro Habana with swimming pool Habana Vieja. Habana (+53) 7-863-6203 (+53) 7-861-0253 ( +53) 7-861-8027
UP-SCALE B&BS (BOUTIQUE HOSTALS) SUEÑO CUBANO CAÑAVERAL HOUSE VITRALES CASA ESCORIAL Old palace carefully restored, But undoubtedly the most Hospitable, attractive and reliable Attractive accomodations with a seven rooms, suites with beautiful about private homes in boutique B&B with 9 bedrooms. panoramic view of Plaza Vieja bathrooms and featuring 24 hour Cuba Mercaderes # 315 apt 3 e/ Muralla y Teniente service. Habana #106 e/ Cuarteles y Chacón, Habana Rey, Plaza Vieja, Habana Vieja 39A street, #4402, between 44 y 46, Playa, La Vieja Calle Santa Clara número 66 entre Oficios e Habana Cuba (+53) 5-268 6881; 5-278 6148 Inquisidor. Habana Vieja (+53) 7-866-2607 (+53) 295-5700 http://www.cubaguesthouse.com/canaveral. 53 78660109 home.html?lang=en 39 339 1817730
JUN 2016 89 lahabana. com magazine
APARTMENT RENTALS BOHEMIA BOUTIQUE CASA CONCORDIA TROPICANA SUITE HAVANA APARTMENTS Beautifully designed and spacious PENTHOUSE Elegant 2-bedroom apartment Gorgeous 1-bedroom apartment 3 bedroom apartment. Spanish A luxurious penthouse with huge in restored colonial building. beautifully decorated apartment colonial interiors with cheerful, roof terrace and breath-taking Quality loft style décor. overlooking Plaza Vieja. arty accents. 360 degree views of Havana and San Ignacio #364 e/ Muralla y Teniente Rey, the ocean. Lamparilla #62 altos e/ Mercaderes y San Plaza Vieja Concordia #151 apto. 8 esq. a San Nicolás, Ignacio, Habana Vieja Centro Habana Galiano #60 Penthouse Apt.10 e/ San Lázaro y Trocadero (+53) 5- 403-1 568 (+53) 7-836-6567 (+53) 5-829-6524 (+53) 5-254-5240 www.havanabohemia.com www.casaconcordia.net (+53) 5-254-5240 www.tropicanapenthouse.com LUXURY HOUSES VILLASOL CASABLANCA MICHAEL AND RESIDENCIA Rent Room elegant and well- Elegant well-equipped villa MARÍA ELENA MARIBY equipped. Beautiful wild garden formerly owned by Fulgencio This leafy oasis in western Havana A sprawling vanilla-hued mansion and great pool. Batista. Beautiful wild garden. has an attractive mosaic tiled pool and three modern bedrooms. with 6 rooms decorated with Calle 17 #1101 e/ 14 y 16, Vedado Morro-Cabaña Park. House #29 colonial-era lamps, tiles and Louis Calle 66 #4507 e/ 45 y Final, Playa (+34) 677525361 (+53) 5-294-5397 XV furniture (+53) 7-832-1927 (+53) 5-360-0456 www.havanacasablanca.com (+53) 7-209-0084 Vedado. (+53) 5-370-5559
Bohemia Boutique TOP PICK Apartments Red
Best for 3 small balconies (facing the Patio of the Palace), 1 spacious bedroom with air conditioning
Don’t Miss The apartment is fully furbished, plenty of light and very well ventilated.
San Ignacio #364 e/ Muralla y Teniente Rey, Plaza Vieja, Habana Vieja [email protected]
(+53) 5 4031 568: (53) 7 8366 567 www.havanabohemia.com
JUN 2016 90 lahabana. com magazine Bohemia Boutique TOP PICK Apartments Blue
Best for i1 internal balcony, 1 spacious bedroom on the mezzanine with air conditioning.
Don’t Miss The apartment is fully furbished, plenty of light and very well ventilated.
San Ignacio #364 e/ Muralla y Teniente Rey, Plaza Vieja, Habana Vieja [email protected] (+53) 5 4031 568: (53) 7 8366 567
Sueño Cubano TOP PICK Best for Old palace carefully restored, seven rooms, suites with bathrooms and featuring 24 hour service.
Don’t Miss Relax at any of the four terraces, feel the mellow touch of antique and original Cuban furniture. Calle Santa Clara número 66 entre Oficios e Inquisidor. Habana Vieja 53 78660109 / 39 339 1817730 WWW.SUENOCUBANO.COM
TOP PICK Cañaveral House Best for Large elegant villa away from downtown Havana. Great for families or groups of friends.
Don’t Miss Basking in the sun as you stretch out on the lawn of the beautifully kept garden.
9A street, #4402, between 44 y 46, Playa, La Habana
(+53) 295-5700 http://www.cubaguesthouse.com
JUN 2016 91 lahabana. com magazine THANK YOU lahabana.com Wishes to thank all of the following entities for their support and involvement with La Habana.com
JUN 2016 92 INDIVIDUALINDIVIDUAL TRAVELTRAVEL to Cuba BOOK TODAY WITH CUBA TRAVEL NETWORK!
Cuba Travel Network: Definitely Dierent Come and experience Cuba with a company that's passionate about the magical island. Our on the ground team in Cuba is the first to know about the country's developments—from new hotels and tour possibilities to ever-changing travel regulations, and we love to show our beautiful home to the world. With Cuba Travel Network, experience Cuba as a traveler, not a tourist.
Why travel with Cuba Travel Network? • CTN is the premier travel service provider for the individual traveler planning trips to Cuba, handling accommodation, all domestic flights and excursions. • On-the-ground assistance from expert concierge representatives throughout the island. • Choose from fully guided, flexible and special interest tours. • Real-time availability and immediate booking confirmation for 220+ hotels and 50+ rental car locations. • Secure online payment; Visa & MasterCard accepted.
US - [email protected] | 1 800 282 2468 (Toll Free) Europe - [email protected] | +31 (0)20 794 7962 Asia - [email protected] | 1800 198 150 (Toll Free) Rest of the world - [email protected] | +53 (0)7 214 0090
CubaTravelNetwork.com