Photo: Jorge Luis Borges | CN360
Text: Cuba News 360 Newsroom
The National Center for Popular Music of Cuba announced that it is preparing a program of activities to celebrate International Jazz Day, a date proclaimed by the General Conference of UNESCO a decade ago.
In a statement from the state agency Prensa Latina (PL), it was announced that for the time being only one concert by the renowned Cuban guitarists Emilio Hernández and Héctor Quintana had been announced. The event will take place on April 30 at the Theater of the National Museum of Fine Arts.
“The conference stems from the need to educate the public about the value and importance of the music genre, about its roots and impact, and the compositions contributed by its leaders,” says PL.
The Cuban Music Institution reported that this type of space, “dedicated to the promotion of this style, defends jazz as an essential resource and language in worldwide exchanges, and in the case of Cuba, Havana was selected in 2017 for the uniqueness of its proposals to be awarded by UNESCO capital at that time”.
According to PL, the musicians who will perform at the celebratory concert for that date are trained in Cuban institutions and have recognized artistic careers.
In the case of Quintana, he has an academic education in electric guitar and in 2011 he won the first prize for interpretation among adults at the Jojazz competition and four years later he won a Cubadisco prize in the first opera category.
Emilo Hernández has been a member of the group Habana Ensamble since 2005, “diffusers of the music of the island on numerous stages at home and abroad and with an eclectic repertoire of boleros, salsa, instrumentals, congas and versions of jazz classics,” he told the Cuban media.