Havana, August 21 (Prensa Latina-RHC)-- The Seventh International Rumba Festival Timbalaye 2015, is taking place in Havana with the participation of artists, researchers and guests from Italy, Mexico and Cuba.

The event, led by folk dancers, Ulises Mora and Irma Castillo, will also be performed in Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Camagüey, Guantanamo, to conclude in Santiago de Cuba, according to the organizers.

“Let's take a tour of the country to collect all that euphoria of the Cuban mambisa rumba for the resistance that our people have demonstrated through time to overcome the U.S. economic blockade on Cuba,” Mora told Prensa Latina news agency.

“Therefore, the festival will demonstrate that contagious rhythm lives across the country, as a group of artists from the island showed in the Universal Exhibition in Milan and the American Museum of Madrid,” he added.

The event takes place in the context of the promotional activities, so the popular musical and dance genre is recognized as an Immaterial World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. The infectious rhythm was declared Cuba's Cultural Heritage in February 2012.

Timbalaye 2015 is dedicated to the Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz, for his scientific, social and cultural work.

The festival is sponsored by the Cuban Ministry of Culture, Fernando Ortiz Foundation, National Heritage Council, Hermanos Saiz Association, Center for Research and Development of Cuban Music, National Council for Culture Houses, and House of Africa, among others.