The most personal travel experience to Cuba Oncuba Travel specializes in creating unique experiences through a plethora of products and services that allow international travelers to experience the real Cuba. Simply said, we understand and speak Cuba better than anyone else. We’ve extensively explored, connected, and have developed an extensive network of professionals in Cuba that allow us to create unforgettable curated experiences and lifelong memories for our travelers. Imagine driving down a street in a vintage Chevrolet, Nobody knows Cuba better than us . Foodies love our cooking class Ford, Buick, Cadillac, Mercury, Dodge, Oldsmobile or Pontiac Cuban art is diverse and our tours will allow you to experience Discover the remarkable history of Havana. Colonial life and the island’s talent and maybe even meet some of the artists behind it modern time are all part of this unforgettable tour of Cuba’s capital, Havana Miami Office 3250 NE 1st Ave Suite, 310 Miami, Florida 33137 Call: (305)602-0219 Learn about the powerful African influence in Cuba, [email protected] Havana Highlights, and Cuban Cigar discovery www.oncubatravel.com UNREPETEABLE SPACES AND A DIFFERENT MEAL Calle 5ta., No. 511 altos entre Paseo y 2, Vedado, Ciudad De La Habana, Cuba (+53) 7 8362025 [email protected] EDITOR´S LETTER PRESIDENT HUGO CANCIO [email protected] EDITORIAL DIRECTOR TAHIMI ARBOLEYA [email protected] EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ARIEL MACHADO [email protected] DESIGN & LAYOUT ELIZABETH PÉREZ DIZ JOSÉ MARTÍ, PATRICIO HERRERA VEGA PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR EL BENNY, AND OTMARO RODRÍGUEZ COPYEDITING MY GRANDFATHER CHARO GUERRA TRANSLATION ERIN GOODMAN A graduate of the teacher-training college of Havana, my grandfa- We left Prado and went down Empedrado Street toward Plaza ther, Nano, taught mathematics to thousands of people. I suspect de la Catedral. Abuelo made up stories along the way, mixing the WEB EDITOR CUBA that he was an unforgettable teacher. When I tell people my last sublime with the ridiculous, talking about José de la Luz y Cabal- MÓNICA RIVERO name, sometimes I’m still asked if I’m related to Mr. Arboleya. lero, Cecilia Valdés, Conrado Marrero, or Mongo Tres Chapitas. [email protected] He was born in Batabanó, a humble fishing village south of When we were approaching the Plaza, before our much-antic- Havana. He was the only one of his many siblings who managed ipated lunch at El Patio, my sister and I prepared for embarrass- to study and have a career. He established his family in El Pilar ment—which we later remembered with mischievous complicity. —a “hot neighborhood” in Havana— where he earned the re- Abuelo stood in the center of the imposing Plaza de la Catedral spect of the people. On the street people called him “Maestro” and dedicated a song by El Benny at the top of his lungs: I don’t (Teacher). know / I can’t tell you how it happened / I can’t explain what hap- My grandfather’s gift was teaching, so he didn’t think twice, at pened / but I fell in love with you.... age 50, about participating in the literacy campaign in a little vil- José Martí: poet, cultured patriot, a free and sensitive spirit, lage in the interior of Pinar del Río. His 12- and 13-year-old children loyal, white son of Spaniards, the soul of Cubans’ thirst for inde- did the same. He had a reputation as a “tough guy”, but if you pendence. El Benny: self-taught musical genius, drinker, dancer, didn’t learn mathematics with him, you could give up the battle. good friend, sharer of everything he had, black descendant of Every year my grandfather, my sister, and I made the same the king of a Congo tribe, his voice was deep. tour of Havana. He took us along the Paseo del Prado, we sat Every year Abuelo would tell me “Come on, let’s go eat the on a bench, and he recited different poems by José Martí. Each best bread croquettes in Havana.” In fact, he was teaching me COVER: Photo: May Reguera year he told us a different story that placed a young Martí sit- about the place where I come from. ting on that bench and each year, my sister and I believed him. Articles may be reproduced, in whole or in part, as long as the source is cited. Reproduction of Little did it bother me when I learned later that, although Martí photographs without the editor’s permission is prohibited. Any views or opinions expressed are those of the articles’ authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of OnCuba. must have walked along the tree-lined dirt road that was, in his time, the Paseo del Prado, he never sat on that bench. The Paseo > OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions. we toured, with its beautiful central promenade, its stone and > OnCuba Travel is a trademark™ of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions. marble benches, its lampposts and its laurels, was inaugurated > Oncuba Travel a publication of Fuego Media Group, a division of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., a publicly traded company (FUGI). on October 10, 1928, thirty-three years after the poet’s death. > OnCuba © 2012 by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved. BENNY MORÉ: CALLEJÓN DE HAMEL: ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF GENIUS ENCHANTED ALLEY 53 Rosa Marquetti Michel Hernández Anyone interested in Cuba must Those who travel to Havana ONCUBA know Benny Moré’s music—El interested in Afro-Cuban culture Benny is Cuba. should plan a visit to this site where African knowledge is transplanted on the island. TRAVEL It’s not merely a place for tourists—this space showcases 20 the creative and transformative MUSIC MAGAZINE spirit of a vital element of Cuban culture. 30 MADE IN CUBA 14 COVER GAZES OF THE BLACK WOMAN TENTS Odette Casamayor Cisneros 24 CINEMA 36 What does it mean to be black INTERVIEW in Cuba? To be a descendant of slaves in the Americas? What strength is transmitted to us LIMARA MENESES, HAYDÉE MILANÉS: by our ancestors? Discover BEFORE AND AFTER EL BENNY the experiences of runaway MUSIC FROM WITHIN slaves throughout the centuries Cecilia Crespo Michel Hernández through very particular ways of examining and recreating reality Limara is one of the most Haydée Milanés is an artist who in the works of black Cuban successful Cuban actresses of her unleashes her whole self in each artists Sara Gómez, Belkis Ayón, generation. Mother, immigrant, song. This interview focuses María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Afro-Cuban, producer…. she on the poetic connection with Gertrudis Rivalta and Susana effortlessly takes on new her father, a founder of Cuban Pilar Delahante Matienzo. challenges across the straits. nueva trova music. CON WOMEN BOXERS. FEMINIST PORTRAITS THE DIVINO REVOLUTION.... ¡SÍ! Danay Nápoles Alicia García Beyond investigating this RETRATOS (Portraits) is the If you want to leave the city story, the closest Christopher continuation of a performative and feel the greenery of the Baker –recipient of the 2008 series of photographs of Cuban Cuban countryside, go to Lowell Thomas Award for Travel artists who, from the image and Divino restaurant in the humble Journalist of the Year– ever got from our mutual and enriching neighborhood of Mantilla, very to boxing was having his ears exchange, share part of their close to where the most famous boxed as a kid. life and work. Cuban contemporary narrator, Leonardo Padura, was born and lives to this day. 46 56 CUBA WITH PHOTO FEATURE CHRISTOPHER B. 66 GASTRONOMIC REVIEW 62 LIGHT 52 & SHADOWS COMING SOON! 42 OLAZÁBAL: DEFENDING THE ART & CULTURE ALEJANDRA ESTEFANÍA IS INSPIRED: HERITAGE OF MY ANCESTORS THE "GLADYS PALMERA" "I'LL TRAVEL TO CUBA TO MEET THE Estrella Díaz COLLECTION: A LATIN AND CUBAN BOY WITH THE FLOWER" Santiago Rodríguez Olazábal MUSICAL TREASURE TROVE Marita Pérez Díaz is an artist who cultivates a 70 deeply figurative work, which Milena Recio A Latin artist seeks inspiration is immediately evident when BILLBOARD June / July for her work on the Cuban visiting his beautiful home-studio Ale R. Chang In the hills of San Lorenzo del culture surrounding her in in the municipality of Playa. Escorial, in Madrid, a mansion Miami. She invites us to an On canvases hanging from the For these hot months, we of light treasures the wonderful exclusive trip to Havana with walls, the human figure is central suggest some 100 % Cuban ¨Gladys Palmera Collection OnCuba Travel in November. because, as he states, "Man cultural events. They’ll make you of Latin and Cuban music, She’d love to uncover the story appears in Ifá's entire body of forget the suffocating summer compiled by Alejandra Fierro behind a photo in which a literary work and even plants heat in Havana. Eleta over decades. Cuban boy holds a flower. acquire a human dimension!". ALICIA GARCÍA ROSA MARQUETTI My admiration for my father – founder CHRISTOPHER BAKER of the famous Rancho Luna and El Aljibe Contrary to what many think, I would restaurants, philosopher of gastronomy have liked to live the Havana nights Travel journalist, photographer, author, and of all things about life – has enabled of the sixties. I try to do it as much as adventure motorcyclist, tour leader, me to value the culinary and food culture possible, traveling through music and romantic (and single). Cuba—exotic, not just to delight myself but also as a its interesting characters. But someone eccentric, and enigmatic—feeds my fundamental space to understand the always comes and wakes me up from TRI insatiable curiosity and passion. I feel like human essence. I am a co-founder of the my dream! I’m Cuban in my heart and soul.