Activities to mark International Jazz Day will wind up in Havana today at a concert at the Cuban capital's Grand Theater Alicia Alonso, featuring Herbie Hancock and Chucho Valdés. The much-expected concert starts at 5 p.m. and is scheduled to be broadcast live by Cuban Television and projected on giant screens outside the theater.

Throughout the week renowned jazz musicians from Cuba, the US, Europe and other regions have shared the stage to celebrate the music genre. UNESCO chose Cuba for this celebration for the quality of the island’s jazz scene and the contributions of Cuban musicians to the genre at the international level. UNESCO General Director, Irina Bokova, is in Cuba for the occasion and has met with Cuban Culture Minister, Abel Prieto; Deputy Foreign Minister, Abelardo Moreno; Havana Historian, Eusebio Leal, and UNESCO regional office director, Katherine Müller. Bokova has said that the rich Cuban musical culture gave rise to the Afro Cuban jazz movement, inspired by a wonderful mixture of cultures and peoples of the region. Cuban jazz, she added, is a lesson of creative diversity that resounds in UNESCO’s deepest feelings.