Foto: ACN.
Havana, July 2 (RHC)-- The provincial culture office in Havana, in coordination with MAMBO -Unidad de Producciones Artísticas- is promoting the celebration of "Habana Mambo Festival", set for July 15th through the 18th.
The Festival includes a broad program of recreational actions on digital platforms, and on Cuban radio and television, due to Covid-19. The main focus will be on Cuban popular music and dance.
Organizers said the event will pay homage to the Cuban capital and its designation as a UNESCO Creative City in Music.
Singer-songwriter, musical and event producer Arnaldo Rodríguez, leader of Arnaldo y Su Talismán serves as director of MAMBO. In statements to the press, he said the aim is to create a new space to promote Cuban popular genres, both music and their corresponding dance.
He stressed that artists from 10 nations have already confirmed their participation in this first, virtual edition of Habana Mambo Festival, all of them exponents and promoters of Cuban rhythms and culture, even in such far away nations as China and Russia.
Arnaldo expressed hopes that the second edition of Habana Mambo Festival in 2022 will include live, in-person performances of Cuban and foreign ensembles across Havana.
The tireless creator and promoter stressed that although it is not the ideal context for a new festival of this kind to emerge, it will contribute to enjoying the Summer Season from home, thus avoiding potentially harmful crowds associated with large in-person festivals and events in the current circumstances.
The program of activities includes dance competitions and other interactive actions that favor audience’s participation, concerts and interviews.
The line-up includes Orquesta Aragón, Septeto Habanero, Conjunto Arsenio Rodríguez, Haila María Mompié, Pupy y los que Son Son, Bamboleo, Will Campa, El Chispa y los Cómplices, Steel Band Habana, El Noro and his band Primera Clase, El Niño y la Verdad, Leo Mesa, among others.
Several dance companies will also offer their art, among them Revolution, Raíces Profundas, and The Concept.
Several community projects will also join the celebration of this first Habana Mambo Festival, notably Quisicuaba, Callejón de Hammel, Tambores Córdoba and Proyecto Akokan.
