Festivals and major events in Cuba during 2009, including Cuban jazz festival, international Latin American film festival

31 January-8 st February / Where: Old Havana
Esteban Salas Early Music Festival

This is an annual festival of the music of Cuban composer Esteban Salas, which has been celebrated since 2003-the 200th anniversary of his death. Every year the event gathers outstanding performers of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music who perform in Old Havana headed by Ars Longa, the City Historian's Office early music ensemble.

12 February-8 March
Where: Havana´s San Carlos de la Cabaña Fortress and some 40 other cities throughout Cuba
International Book Fair

What began as a modest book fair founded by the famous Cuban writer, scientist and philosopher, Alejo Carpentier, eventually became the most important literary event on the island. Every year tens of thousands of people pack the San Carlos de la Cabaña Fortress in Havana, attracted by book launchings of all genres and topics from Cuban and foreign publishing houses, along with panel discussions, poetry readings, concerts, children’s events, and a crafts fair. After Havana, the fair travels to other Cuban cities.

19-23 March / Where: Casa de la Trova and Sala de Conciertos Dolores in Santiago de Cuba
International Pepé Sánchez Trova Festival

The festival began in 1962 in homage to local Santiago de Cuba composer José (Pepe) Sánchez (1856-1918), considered the father of Cuban trova (the troubador genre of voice, song and poetry that is usually accompanied by a guitar). Several generations of musicians from different musical trends within trova participate in this event, including exponents of more traditional trova, of filin (an evolution of bolero and trova), and of nueva trova (the very Cuban genre of personal commentary influenced by British, US and Brazilian popular music). Santiago de Cuba—the cradle of trova—hosts this festival which takes the city’s streets and parks by storm in a celebration where musicians and singers from abroad join their Cuban counterparts. The closing of the festival on Troubador Day, March 19th, commemorates the anniversary of the birth of Pepe Sánchez.

15-19 April / Where: Old Havana
International Urban Dance Festival: "Old Havana, City in Motion"

This unique International Urban Dance Festival was first held in 1996 in two or three small museums located in Havana’s Historical Centre, eventually bringing into play most of the institutions, plazas and streets of Old Havana. Aiming to link dance choreography with the visual and expressive nature of the old city, as well as seeking to interact with passers-by, the event, organized by the Retazos Dance Company directed by dancer and choreographer Isabel Bustos, is attended by hundreds of foreign and Cuban guests.

13-19 April / Where: Gibara, Province of Holguín
International Low-Budget Film Festival

Since 2003, the International Low-Budget Film Festival has been held in the small town of Gibara close to the eastern city of Holguín. Besides the competition itself, which awards prizes for fiction and documentary films, there are also meetings, concerts, recitals and art exhibitions. The festival guarantees a broad range of approach and topics, aspiring to become an alternative to commercial filmmaking - promoting artistic quality with production costs kept to a minimum.

July / Where: Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba Carnival

Carnival festivities in Santiago de Cuba go back to the late 17th century with the annual procession on the feast of Santiago Apóstol, the patron saint of the town. During colonial times, slaves were granted permission by the Spanish authorities to celebrate the Epiphany with their own music and dance. By the end of the 19th century, these festivities were also held in June and July in celebration of various patron saints days. At the beginning of the 20th century, comparsas (neighbourhood dance groups) and processions of decorated floats began to parade down the streets-a tradition that is still observed. Although many Cuban towns hold their own carnival festivities, none attracts a greater crowd than the Santiago carnival: the whole city seems to move to the rhythm of conga lines, the sound of the Chinese trumpet and dozens of percussion instruments, both traditional-bass drums, congas-and unconventional-pots and pans, and spoons-which lead dancing crowds down the steep roads of the city.

24 October - 6 November 2008
Where: Gran Teatro de La Habana and other theatres in Havana and in various provinces.
International Havana Ballet Festival

Presided over since 1960 by the legendary Alicia Alonso, this festival brings together international soloists and companies alongside the Cuban National Ballet in Havana and other venues across the island. With more than 200 world premieres to its name, thousands of guests always show up for the Havana Ballet Festival. Last year’s 20th festival saw unforgettable moments: the farewell performance of the role of Siegfried in Swan Lake by Argentinean virtuoso Julio Bocca on the same stage where he danced the role for the first time; a performance by prima ballerina Carla Fracci of a piece specially choreographed for her by Alicia Alonso; and spectacular performances by Cuban international stars Carlos Acosta and José Manuel Carreño.

December 24, 25, 26 and January 1st / Where: Bejucal, Province of La Habana
Charangas de Bejucal

Like many other festivals of this type in Cuba, the charangas (popular son-influenced Cuban music that began in the 1940s emphasizing flute, violin and piano orchestra) are related to Christmas celebrations, when white Catholics and black slaves would take to the streets with their musical instruments to pay tribute to their deities. Eventually, they divided into two groups, which represented the criollos (freed blacks and slaves), and the Spaniards. Thanks to the fusion of cultures that characterizes Cuban identity, racial and class differences were lost with time, and belonging to one or another side was simply determined by each person’s preference. Rivalry between both sides today consists in the ability to construct the most colourful and striking floats. The traditional music of the orchestra Los Tambores de Bejucal accompanies this festivity now attended not only by the inhabitants of the town, 20 km south of Havana, but by hundreds of visitors who enjoy the fantasy and creativity of designers, engineers, painters, musicians, choreographers, and dancers whose talent guarantees the vitality of one of the oldest popular celebrations in Cuba.

3-9 July / Where: Santiago de Cuba
"Fire Fiesta" Caribbean Festival

Initiated in 1980, this annual popular festivity of Caribbean cultures aims at harmonizing the identities of the peoples of the region beyond geographic and linguistic diversity. Considered Cuba's most Caribbean city, Santiago de Cuba is the natural venue for this colourful and joyful celebration-dedicated to fire and its genesis symbolism-which combines dances, rhythms and rituals of strong African centuries-old presence syncretized into the national identity. The "El Caribe que nos une" (The Caribbean which Unites Us All) international colloquium focuses on issues related to the preservation, development and dissemination of Caribbean cultural diversity, as well as actions which could contribute to the unity of the region and promote a cultural exchange with the rest of America and the world.

5-18 April / Where: Gran Teatro de La Habana
International Meeting of Ballet Academies

Organized for the first time in 1993, this meeting of ballet academies has made it possible for dancers, teachers and students to become familiar with the technical and stylistic peculiarities of the Cuban School of Ballet through workshops, courses, and methodological and master lessons. Similarly, dancers and pedagogues from other countries have conveyed their experiences in a fruitful exchange with their Cuban colleagues. In addition, since 1995, an international competition for students is held in different categories (13-14, 15-16 and 17-18 years old) and four prizes are awarded: revelation, best partners, best individual performance and the Grand Prix.

2-8 May / Where: Holguín city
Romerías de Mayo

Continuing a tradition that dates back to colonial times, in 1993 a group of young artists decided to organize this popular festivity with the arrival of Spring. This festival, which was held for the first time at the foot of the cross which Father Antonio Alegría placed on 3 May, 1790 at the top of a hill, 275 metres above sea level, is presided over by the Hacha Taína (the Taino Axe) and the Cruz de Madera (the Wooden Cross), symbols of the mixture of elements that constitute the Cuban culture. Following this spirit, every year musicians, actors, researchers, artists, writers and dancers come together to share their artistic endeavour during intense days and nights in which the diversity of their propositions is exhibited, and Cuban and foreign artists join the locals to enjoy a marathon-like programme in various parts of the city.

8-13 March / Movie theatres Cuba and Rialto, Santiago de Cuba
International Documentary Festival Santiago Álvarez In Memoriam

Created in 2000, this festival aims at highlighting the prominent role of the documentary, a film genre that has been somewhat consigned to oblivion by the promotional mechanisms of the larger movie festivals, yet with a tradition of significant quality and acknowledgement in Cuba, among other factors, thanks to the work of the late prize-winning Cuban film-maker, Santiago Alvarez. Although the festival began as a national event dedicated to the memory of the most relevant Cuban documentary maker of all time, throughout the years it has attracted the attention of a number of filmmakers from Latin America, Europe and the United States. With films in competition, parallel screenings and theoretical discussions, the Festival constitutes a space for exchanging opinions and experiences among filmmakers and lovers of this genre.

3-13 December / Where: Havana movie theatres and other venues in several other provinces
New Latin American International Film Festival

Since 3 December 1979, Havana has been the venue for the immensely popular New Latin American International Film Festival. Millions of film buffs across Cuba attend the event which has served as a launch pad for Latin American cinematography and become one of the leading film festivals of the region. The variety and creativity of films shown at the Havana Film Festival every year has attracted celebrities such as Steven Spielberg, Pedro Almodóvar, Francis Ford Coppola, Carlos Saura, Oliver Stone, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson, Robert de Niro, Jack Lemmon, Gregory Peck, and Danny Glover, among many others.

24 December / Where: Remedios, Province of Villa Clara
Parrandas de Remedios

Legend has it that during the 1820s, a young priest officiating in Remedios-the eighth town founded by the Spaniards in Cuba-decided to have a group of children make noise with whatever they had to hand in an effort to awaken lazy parishioners to attend mass in the chilly mornings of 24th December. From then on, neighbours would go out into the streets on the nights prior to Christmas for music and merrymaking. From 1871, a competition or "parranda" between two neighbourhoods-El Carmen and San Salvador-took place, each with its own hymn, colours, kites and lanterns. In 1875, complicated floats lit by flares and fireworks were paraded by each side at the town's Plaza de Armas (town square). To this day, the two neighbourhoods continue with a rivalry characterized by the beauty and originality of these floats, as well as by the amazing pyrotechnics that from 9 pm on 24th December to dawn on 25th December illuminate the city sky. Both sides keep their floats secret from each other during the course of the year with even members of the same family on either side of the fence sworn to secrecy against each other. Although these festivities have spread to other nearby localities of Guayos and Camajuaní, the Parrandas de Remedios are the oldest and most well known on the island.

5-11 February / Where:Movie theatres in Havana and Santiago de Cuba
Travelling Series of Films from the Caribbean

Initiated with great success in February 2007 in Havana with the aim of acquainting audiences with the cinematic production of the region, the series of films were exhibited in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Bahamas, Saint Lucia, Belize, Aruba, Antigua and Barbuda, Curaçao, Surinam, Guyana, Martinique, Guadalupe, Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republican and Puerto Rico. This year, the event, which is organized by UNICEF and UNESCO, will be dedicated to feature-length films, documentaries and animated films for children and adolescents, and will include countries from the Caribbean continent, such as Colombia, Venezuela and Panama.

2-12 February / where:Casa de las Américas
Premio Casa de las Américas

Initiated in Havana in 1960 to draw attention to the most significant literary production in Latin America—and at a later date, the Caribbean, too—in the genres of poetry, novel, short story, essay, theatre and testimony, as well as works in other languages spoken in the region, the Casa de las Américas Literary Award has gathered outstanding figures of contemporary writing, including Miguel Ángel Asturias, Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortázar, Alejo Carpentier, Allen Ginsberg, Nicolás Guillén, Nicanor Parra, Jaime Sabines, Alfredo Bryce Echenique, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Eduardo Galeano, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, José Lezama Lima, Italo Calvino, Camilo José Cela, José Saramago, to name a few. Throughout the years, many of the prize-winning works have become classics of the continent’s literature; thus, each year’s announcement creates great expectations among the public, who also have the opportunity to attend collateral activities programmed during the event.

26-29 March / where:Santa Isabel de las Lajas (Cienfuegos)
International Benny Moré Festival

Founded in 1980, orchestras and soloists from Cuba and other countries get together to sing and dance in homage to a legend of Cuban music, admired by Cubans not only for his talent as singer, composer and bandleader, but also for his warmth, unpretentiousness and a touch of eccentricity: Beny Moré. The festival includes tours to Beny’s hometown, Santa Isabel de las Lajas, and to which he dedicated one of his most popular songs. Lectures and exhibitions also accompany the good music played by famous Cuban groups like Van Van, Paulo FG and Adalberto Álvarez y su Son, which turn Lajas and the nearby city of Cienfuegos into gigantic dancing floors.

27 March- 30 April / Where:Historical Centre of Havana and other venues
X Bienal de La Habana

Founded in 1984 and initially conceived as a competition, this event was reformulated to focus on key issues concerning contemporary art, embracing artists from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, with the gradual incorporation of European, US and Japanese artists. Every two years, Havana swarms with activity with the attendance not only of artists, but critics, curators, dealers, collectors, and art lovers in general. A wide-ranging presentation takes over all the city’s principal galleries and spills out into numerous public arenas, turning Havana into a massive art gallery. The Tenth Havana Biennial will open on March 27, 2009, on the date of the 25th anniversary of its foundation and this year’s theme will be “Integration and Resistance in the Global Era”. Havana, which during the Biennial is transformed into the largest gallery in the world, becomes a place for debate and reflection on essential problems of our contemporary world.

November / Where: Sala de Conciertos Dolores, Santiago de Cuba
International Chorus Festival

It was in the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba where the first known choir pieces in the Island were composed by Havana-born composer Esteban Salas (1725-1803), who for years was chapel master. Honouring this tradition, in 1961 Electo Silva, who has been for decades director of Orfeón Santiago, organized the First Choir Festival. Throughout the years, choral groups from different countries have also participated in the festival together with their Cuban counterparts, winners at prestigious international competitions. An intensive programme of concerts in theatres, schools, factories, hospitals and public squares characterizes these days in which audiences can enjoy the best of the repertoires of choral music.

10-20 December / Where: Pabexpo, Havana
International Craft Fair

Held as a way of expressing the identity and cultural diversity of different countries, this fair has promoted arts and crafts attracting thousands of visitors each year. Lectures, exhibits, fashion shows, sales and the crafts themselves offer an opportunity for interaction and exchange between artists and the public. In its 11 previous editions, the original treatment of contemporary design in handicrafts has been remarkable, in pieces which, without losing their ancestral nature, exhibit an undisputable touch of modernity, whether applied to textiles, fibres, leather, precious and semiprecious stones, metals, clay, or any other material ready to be fashioned and beautified through the sensitivity of craft artists.

14-17 February / Where: Teatro Amadeo Roldán and other locations in Havana
International Jazz Festival

One of Havana’s most famous music events, the Jazz Festival is a display of the link between Cuban rhythm and jazz, which goes back to the late 19th century when newly freed slaves emigrated to New Orleans. Started in 1979 pretty much as a local event at the Casa de la Cultura de Plaza, the festival has grown in size and scope with venues that include several large theatres and nightclubs. International stars such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Haden, Steve Coleman, Michel Legrand, Ivan Lins and Ronnie Scott are just a few names in the list of past participants, who, together with Cubans Chucho Valdés, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Bobby Carcassés and Ernán López-Nussa, to mention just a few, attract fans from all over the world.