The Cuban Art Factory -- Fábrica de Arte Cubano -- and Havana’s Metropolitan Park were the venues of the Havana World Music Festival from March 23rd through the 26th.

The music event was designed to take a look at what’s going on in the area of alternative music in the world and to exchange with local musicians.  A dozen international bands performed in Havana for the occasion, including the successful Norwegian urban music band Madcon; Colombia’s band Systema Solar that cultivates “cumbia”, “fandango” or “champeta” mixed with hip hop and techno; and France’s Lindigo, featuring powerful stage performances.

Cuba was represented by the popular Cuban dance band Alexander Abreu y Havana D’Primera; La Flota, made up of rock and pop musicians X Alfonso, David Blanco, Ernesto Blanco and jazziest Yissy García;  Cuban singer-songwriter David Torrens; young jazziest Daymé Arocen and the troubadours band La Trovuntivitis. The gathering’s artistic director, Eme Alfonso, says that the festival was aimed at participating bands to showcase their roots by the use of any music genre as long as their cultural legacy was present in their performance.