Four excellent recording works which were released during the last two years, won the Cubadisco 2008 International Award. CD Carioca by Brazilian Chico Buarque de Hollanda; Techari by Spanish Group Ojos de Brujo; Navega by Cape Verdean Mayra Andrade; and the collection Grabaciones inéditas del teatro de al Zarzuela, sponsored by the Autor Foundation.
"Carioca"(Biscoito Fino Label) is a reflection of an intimate and intense relationship between the author and the important city. Techari, third album of the Spanish group, in this work jazz and Hip-Hop are interwove with a touch of Cubanhood by important Cuban young pianist Robertico Carcassés, the Eastern airs are filtrate by Londres from Asian Dud Foundation, the rap in the African style of Senegalese Daara J, the flamenco by devoted Pepe Habichuela, song by Martirio and guitar by Kiko Veneno. Navega (Sony-BMG) is a sample of his vocal talent and his contribution to Cape Verdean traditional genres. Grabaciones inéditas del teatro de la Zarzuela is made up of an album that includes four CDs and a book released on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Madrid Operetta Theater.
Simao Félix da Cuna will be one of the artists invited to Cubadisco 2008 Fair by the General Society of Authors and Editors from Spain (SGAE). This singer and guitarist was born in Guinea-Bissau, in the heart of Western Africa, and he has developed his career in different African and European countries and settled permanently in Spain. In 1988 he created a group named Wede with which he cultivates his own musical style. In 1999 he recorded his first CD and the second in 2001. His last album is entitled Summia Sonhos (Sowing Dreams) and it was presented at Barradas de Hospitalet in 2004.
This time he sings solo, intimist and warm, making fusion of his African roots with jazz influences, flamenco and Mediterranean music. Guitar and voice are over any superfluous arrangements. Simplicity and authenticity in the performance of his songs converge in a special way of expressing his emotions.
Republic of Mali Culture Minister in Cubadisco
The Longest Rumba of the World in Cubadisco
Mr. Mohamed el Moctar, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Mali confirmed his attendance to Cubadisco 2008 International Fair that will be held from May 17 to 25 and will have a invited region of honor Africa and its Diaspora.
Last Saturday May 3 began The Longest Rumba of the World in Havana City, important event that will last 24 hours in each province with the performance of the main exponents of this genuine Cuban musical genre. The event also has other activities such as documentaries shows, theoretical events and lectures about the African music influences within Cuban musical context.
South African Art and Culture Ministry in Cubadisco 2008
Mayra Andrade, multi-prize winner for album “Navega”
Mr. Pallo Jordan, Minister of Art and Culture of the Republic of South Africa, confirmed his attendance to International Fair Cubadisco 2008 that will be held from May 17 to 25 and will have Africa and its Diaspora as guest of honor Africa and its Diaspora.
The delegation will be made up of important representative musicians of the best South African traditions which will allow us to approach the vast musical universe of that country.
Young Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade won several prizes in Europe with her album “Navega”. In France, where she lives, she won a Gold Disc with over 80 thousand copies sales. In Great Britain she won New Artist Prize by World Music from BBC Radio 3 and the CDs Criticism Prize, being classified as one of the 2007´s best album.
She has programmed several concerts during her tour, such as the one in Vila Moura, Portugal, on April 23, country in which she was awarded with a Gold Disc with over 10 thousand copies sales. The singer has developed her own style including jazz influences and Brazilian music to traditional rhythms such as coladeira, morna, batuque and funaná, broadening new horizons for Cape Verdean music. Mayra recorded her last CD at the end of 2008.
Nobel Prize winner in Cubadisco
Poet and writer Aime Césaire passed away
Wole Soyinka, (Nigeria 1934), 1986 Literature Nobel Prize, confirmed his attendance to Cubadisco 2008. Indispensable figure within the African and Universal letters; eminent playwright, poet, novelist, lecturer, critic, professor and editor. His works have been published in English and translated into several languages. He has also written essays about the African world and other classics. Soyinka is deeply committed with social justice, becoming an important symbol of human values. His poem books are: “Idanre y otros poemas” (1967); “Poemas desde la prisión” (1969); “A Shuttle in the Crypt” (1972) and “Ogun Abibiman” (The long poem) (1976), his two novels are entitled: “Los intérpretes” (1965) y “Season of Anomy” (1973) and his philosophical works: “Los Habitantes del Pantano”; “La Casta Fuerte” (1963); “El Camino” (1965). Cubadisco is pleased and honored by the attendance of such outstanding personality.
Great Martinican poet, writer and politician passed away last Thursday April 17 at age 94 in Fort-de-France city. He was born in 1913 in Basse-Pointe (Martinique) into a humble family. He grew up surrounded by the poverty of an island deeply marked by two slavery centuries, which had a colony status at that time.
He studied in Paris around the ´30s where he built up the blackness concept, black identity consciousness and the “pride of being black” next to Senegalese Leopoldo Sédar Senghor and Guyanese León-Gontran Damas. This movement went beyond French intellectual circles to get spread over colonized African and Caribbean countries. Then his message got a universal character which is reflected in his “Speech about colonialism”. The author of “Cahier d'un retour au pays natal” devoted his life to literature and politics. Cubadisco joins with deep respect and sorrow the physical disappearance of this great man of letters and thinking. We pay posthumous tribute with his poem “Poema para el Alba”.
Africa and Poetry
Théophile Obenga, Brazzaville (1936). He studied in his homeland, France, United States and Switzerland; university graduate plus a Master Degree of Education and Bachelor’s degrees in History and Philosophy. University professor in the Congolese capital.
His poems are published in important magazines and anthologies. Among his main works it can be found: L'Afrique dans l'antiquité: Égypte pharaonique-Afrique noire (1973); Introduction aux peuples de la République Populaire du Congo (1973); L'Afrique Centrale pré-coloniale (1974); La Cuvette congolaise: les hommes et les structures (1976) and Stèles pour l'avenir. His poem Mañanas inéditas, approaches us to his intense poetry.
Mis ojos podan un recuerdo
En la espesura de mi existencia.
África es un fuego de monte
Que conozco
Como los segundos de mis hambrientos minutos
Tan sólo tengo eso en común contigo:
El fuego que te habita, África, cuna de mi sombra.
Four excellent recording works which were released during the last two years, won the Cubadisco 2008 International Award. CD Carioca by Brazilian Chico Buarque de Hollanda; Techari by Spanish Group Ojos de Brujo; Navega by Cape Verdean Mayra Andrade; and the collection Grabaciones inéditas del teatro de al Zarzuela, sponsored by the Autor Foundation. 
"Carioca" (Biscoito Fino Label) is a reflection of an intimate and intense relationship between the author and the important city. Techari, third album of the Spanish group, in this work jazz and Hip-Hop are interwove with a touch of Cubanhood by important Cuban young pianist Robertico Carcassés, the Eastern airs are filtrate by Londres from Asian Dud Foundation, the rap in the African style of Senegalese Daara J, the flamenco by devoted Pepe Habichuela, song by Martirio and guitar by Kiko Veneno. Navega (Sony-BMG) is a sample of his vocal talent and his contribution to Cape Verdean traditional genres. Grabaciones inéditas del teatro de la Zarzuela is made up of an album that includes four CDs and a book released on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Madrid Operetta Theater. 
Simao Félix da Cuna will be one of the artists invited to Cubadisco 2008 Fair by the General Society of Authors and Editors from Spain (SGAE). This singer and guitarist was born in Guinea-Bissau, in the heart of Western Africa, and he has developed his career in different African and European countries and settled permanently in Spain. In 1988 he created a group named Wede with which he cultivates his own musical style. In 1999 he recorded his first CD and the second in 2001. His last album is entitled Summia Sonhos (Sowing Dreams) and it was presented at Barradas de Hospitalet in 2004. 
Last Saturday May 3 began The Longest Rumba of the World in Havana City, important event that will last 24 hours in each province with the performance of the main exponents of this genuine Cuban musical genre. The event also has other activities such as documentaries shows, theoretical events and lectures about the African music influences within Cuban musical context. 
Mr. Pallo Jordan, Minister of Art and Culture of the Republic of South Africa, confirmed his attendance to International Fair Cubadisco 2008 that will be held from May 17 to 25 and will have Africa and its Diaspora as guest of honor Africa and its Diaspora. 
Young Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade won several prizes in Europe with her album “Navega”. In France, where she lives, she won a Gold Disc with over 80 thousand copies sales. In Great Britain she won New Artist Prize by World Music from BBC Radio 3 and the CDs Criticism Prize, being classified as one of the 2007´s best album. 
Wole Soyinka, (Nigeria 1934), 1986 Literature Nobel Prize, confirmed his attendance to Cubadisco 2008. Indispensable figure within the African and Universal letters; eminent playwright, poet, novelist, lecturer, critic, professor and editor. His works have been published in English and translated into several languages. He has also written essays about the African world and other classics. Soyinka is deeply committed with social justice, becoming an important symbol of human values. His poem books are: “Idanre y otros poemas” (1967); “Poemas desde la prisión” (1969); “A Shuttle in the Crypt” (1972) and “Ogun Abibiman” (The long poem) (1976), his two novels are entitled: “Los intérpretes” (1965) y “Season of Anomy” (1973) and his philosophical works: “Los Habitantes del Pantano”; “La Casta Fuerte” (1963); “El Camino” (1965). Cubadisco is pleased and honored by the attendance of such outstanding personality. 
Great Martinican poet, writer and politician passed away last Thursday April 17 at age 94 in Fort-de-France city. He was born in 1913 in Basse-Pointe (Martinique) into a humble family. He grew up surrounded by the poverty of an island deeply marked by two slavery centuries, which had a colony status at that time. 