Great Results of the Artistic Teaching


By: Manuel Echevarría Gómez
Sancti Spíritus, (Escambray).- The three schools of the province that were included among the Programs of the Revolution to guarantee the development of the artistic teaching in the territory are reporting, at the start of a new school year, results without any precedent.
The Escuela de Instructores de Arte (EIA, after its initials in Spanish) (School of Art Instructors) will give to the teaching work next month 168 new graduates who will complete the coverage in every teaching level, from the first years until university and technological level, by joining to the previous promotions for a total of 513 graduates working in the artistic and aesthetic education of children and teenagers.
To have an idea of the benefits that have been registering for the first time in the education of the province, it is enough to say that in the last school year 51,795 students were attended by the technical force generated by the instructors in 229 teams, both in appreciation and creation workshops and in artistic units that complement an spectrum of integral formation of the personality through the art.
Before the first group of graduates from the EIA joined the teaching profession in the classes, the province had about 60 instructors, most of them graduated in emerging curses that could barely attend a small group of enthusiast.
The institution, located in the Cabaiguan municipality, was opened in 2001 and is graduating instructors of Dance, Music and Plastic Arts according to the needs of the eight municipalities in four years of study with a boarder regime and additionally graduates the students with a diploma of Bachelor in Humanities. Nowadays all the students are in the project of universalize the teaching in 12 degrees, among them Bachelor in Art Instruction, created to achieve the expectations of reaching the highest levels without leaving the profile of the degree.
The Escuela Profesional de Música Ernesto Lecuona (Ernesto Lecuona Profesional School of Music) graduated last year 29 students of elemental level and four of medium level; who enjoyed during that period of an study center subject to complete restoration and extension of its accommodation capacities until 120 students, thanks to the priorities given to the programs of the Revolution.
In line with this structural benefits the school shows for the next school year a registration of 240 students in elementary level and 15 in medium level and offer study options in specialties such as Piano, guitar, Violin, Bassoon, Cello, Trumpet, Clarinet, Double Bass, Flute, Oboe, trombone and Choral Sing; in a way that in a near future the musicians of the Symphonic Orchestra from Sancti Spiritus will leave their school rooms, notwithstanding some of tem will continue their higher studies or will go to cover the teaching needs as well as work as musicians in their respective instruments.
The Academia Profesional de Arte Oscar Fernández Morera (Oscar Fernández Morera Priofesional Art Academy) in Trinidad, complete the triad of centers dedicated to the artistic teaching in the province and included among the Programs of the Revolution that turned an old cavalry barracks in one of the best schools of its kind in this hemisphere.
The school graduate technicians of medium and higher level in Painting, Graphic Design, Engraving and Gold/Silversmith among many other fields that can continue their studies in the higher Art and Design institute or start the working life as specialist in cultural institutions, in the municipality education of the University or as independent artists, whose mark is becoming important in the province due to the quality of their proposal and the effective incorporation to the artistic avant-garde.
Last year the academy graduated 14 students and it is starting its 30th year with a registration of 109 students.
Thanks to the benefits given by the Programs of the Revolution, Sancti Spiritus has today great material conditions for the formation of its artists and the development of an aesthetic education at the high of the best paradigms.

Three Cuban Theater Greats on Stage


By: Bárbara Vasallo Vasallo
August 30, 2006
Havana, (Cubasí).- Outstanding actress Hilda Oates, the immortal María Antonia of Cuban theater, returned to the stage with the premiere of the monologue "Las lamentaciones de Obba Yurú", original play title by Eugenio Hernández Espinosa, renowned playwright and director of the Teatro Caribeño group. The piece constitutes a chant to the tireless force of love.
The play was only presented August 26th and 27th at the Covarrubias Hall of the National in Havana. Hernández Espinosa himself was also charged with staging and artistic direction of the piece.
The premiere enabled again the work on stage of three indispensable names from contemporary Cuban stage: Hilda Oates, Eugenio Hernández Espinosa –both National Theater Prizewinners– and Santiago Alfonso –National Dance Prizewinner–, who’s now in charge of the choreographic direction of the show. Since the 1960s, they united in the premiere of Eugenio’s play “María Antonia”, then directed by the unforgettable Roberto Blanco and turned into a classic of our theater.
"Las lamentaciones de Obba Yurú", “Segismundo” Award winning piece for Best Text at the Monologue Festival in 1999, is based on the Afro-Cuban legend of Obba and Changó and recreates the endless cycle between youth and old age.
Symbol of love in the Yoruba Pantheon, Obba establishes herself in this piece as the black Penelope that knows to suffer with dignity and is able to overcome her tragedy to insert herself into the world and to claim for peace.
Dancers from the Grupo Experimental de Danzas y Espectáculos (Experimental Group of Dances and Shows), directed by maestro Santiago Alfonso, represented the staging of “Ochún or Changó”.
Symbols of the African root of our culture are now recreated in this new premiere of the Teatro Caribeño, which made possible the reencounter on stage of three greats from the all-time Cuban performing arts.So, these shows of the monologue “Las lamentaciones de Obba Yurú” will become for sure a theater master class.
Source: www.cubasi.cu

Cuban National Library Presents Book on Egypt During Napoleon Empire


Havana, (World Data Service).- The Cuban National Library has found 41 documents belonging to one of the 20 original volumes of the collection entitled "A description of Egypt", published in France between 1809 and 1822. The book is based on the researches made by French experts at a request of Napoleon Bonaparte, while staying in Egypt during the occupation of this country by the emperor´s soldiers.

"The finding includes five volumes of the series, which ¨though very well kept¨, they were separated from the patrimonial collection of our library, an institution that keeps more than four million documents, among which we find books, pamphlets, magazines, newspapers, photos, diagrams, maps, sketches, etc¨ -declared Eliades Acosta, director of Jose Marti National Library to the local newspaper Juventud Rebelde.

Opened to the public since July 18th, at El Reino de este Mundo´s gallery, the exhibition "The Big Egypt: Center of Civilizations", shows engravings “of an enormous cultural and historical value and very expensive within the international market”, as well as diplomas in English and Spanish about that country, a philatelic collection and original Egyptian papyruses that were granted for this occasion by the Embassy of Cairo in Havana.

Considered a world rareness, these engravings reflect faithfully the Egypt perceived by Napoleón when he invaded the territory in 1798... “As we walked along the gallery, the Egyptian Ambassador, was telling me, while watching each engrave: "This column that you see in this picture, does not longer exist; this part of the temple is not already like that; this architectural element that we don´t have any more is now found at the Museum of the Louvre in Paris; and this piece of art is exhibited at the British Museum, in London; that room, so well painted, has been demolished, and that base you can so clearly see , was plundered " - revealed Acosta to the newspaper.

The five volumes rescued by the Cuban National Library are attributed to the private collection of Cuban sugar tycoon Julio Lobo Olavarria. At the time they were found they were very deteriorated, eaten by insects, spoiled, blurry, damaged, opaque and dirty", added the local newspaper Juventud Rebelde.

"In all Latin America there isn´t a complete collection of the 20 original volumes. We have done a real and valuable finding", pointed out the director of the National Library.
The edition has a thousand copies that includes engravings, maps, planes and explanatory notes made by more than 500 archaeologists, architects, mathematicians, land-surveyors, mathematicians, linguists, chemists and designers, to whom Napoleon Bonaparte entrusted in situ The description of Egypt.

Folklore, Anti Globalization Recipe


Caracas, Aug 24 (Prensa Latina) Folklore as a way to have individuals identifiedy with their nations and culture was the anti-globalization recipe provided by the artistic director of the Hungarian National Ballet Mihalyi Gabor on Thursday.
Gabor, traveling to Caracas to join Venezuelan, Greek and Irish staffs in the First Folk Dances Festival, assured that in this world marked by globalization, folklore stands as the way to be identified with our countries and culture.
The European staff, an expression of dance based on their native instrumental music, was appointed together with Venezuelan dancers to open the festival at the capital s Teresa Carreno theater.
After the opening ceremony, the company will also tour the Venezuelan states of Miranda, Zulia and Lara.
The First Folk Dances Festival will extend until August 29 and include free performances in various Venezuelan cities.

Cuban Author Wins International Short Story Prize


Cuban author Jorge Angel Perez has won the Julio Cortazar Ibero-American Prize for Short Stories in a contest involving 414 works submitted from writers in 18 countries.
The jury, made up by Francisco Lopez Sacha, Alejandro Alvarez and Margarita Mateo praised the story for its "precise, but at the same time daring, understanding of the genre; the mastery of expression; the high quality reached in establishing the atmosphere, setting and characters; and the artistic solution of a metaphor that enshrouds the coded message of the story and conversely underlines the obvious tale of a contemporary situation."
The contest was established by translator and critic Ugne Karvelis, partner of the late Julio Cortazar, the outstanding Argentine writer. It is sponsored by the Cuban Book Institute, the Casa de las Americas cultural institution and the ALIA Foundation. The awards ceremony will take place in Havana on August 28

Cuban Writers and Artists Renew Commitment to Justice


Message to Fidel Castro on the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba
A renewed commitment with dignity and justice was the center of a message from Cuban authors and artists as they celebrated the 45th anniversary of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) Tuesday in Havana.
The message addressed to President Fidel Castro was read by UNEAC president, poet Carlos Marti.
"Your dreams of humanity and social justice and the opening that embodied the idea of founding the UNEAC gave our work the dignity it deserved, as we joined together to use art and literature to defend our traditional ethical and esthetic values and to create a Cuban and international culture supported by our profoundly radical and humanist revolution."
The highpoint of the anniversary celebration was when a diploma, especially designed by national award winning artist Jose Gomez Fresquet, that recognizes Fidel as the founder of the revolutionary organization of writers and artists, was handed to Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada for delivery to the commander.

RAMONET: 100 HOURS WITH FIDEL My book is intended for the new generations.



"MY book is intended for the new generations that have not had access to the thoughts, to the work of Fidel Castro and that have difficulty learning about his work due to the wall of lies, the slander, and the systematic criticism of the Cuban Revolution, especially in Europe," affirmed French journalist Ignacio Ramonet at a press conference in Havana on May 19.
The enormous volume, launched in Cuba a few days ago under the title Cien horas con Fidel (100 hours with Fidel) is already an instant hit in Spain, where the publishing house Mondadori (Debate collection), which published it with the title Fidel Castro. Biografía a dos voces (Fidel Castro. Biography in two voices), just ran out of the first edition of 12,000 copies and has a reprint on the way.
"In Spain, some readers approached me to say that they had no idea what Fidel Castro thinks because the Spanish media talks frequently but never lets Fidel speak," said Ramonet.
The author, editor of Le Monde Diplomatique, a respected monthly publication in Paris, commented, "one of the dangers for a professional interviewing Fidel Castro is allowing oneself to be charmed by the personality."
"He has a charismatic personality for a journalist of my generation," he confessed. "He is a witness, an actor, and a protagonist of historic events of such import that obviously, there is or could be a type of fascination."
Being conscious of that danger the author contacted several friends, including well-known individuals named in the book. "I asked them what indispensable questions they would ask if they had the opportunity to talk to Fidel Castro."
"My moral obligation was that these questions would be in the book… and they are in the book."
Accused by certain media agencies in Madrid —and Miami— of having used excerpts from speeches for some pages of the book, Ramonet explained that he did this only under the direction of Fidel himself, who felt that his thoughts were more precisely elaborated in that medium on certain topics.
The author of the book joked about the origins of such criticism, stating that there were people trying to claim that the interview never happened, and that the photos of Fidel with Ramonet were phony.
He told of one Spanish individual, Arcadi Espada, who even wrote on his blog, "In truth, that interview could not have taken place because Fidel Castro has been dead for several weeks or more."
"The extent to which they go to disqualify the interview are that extreme," he commented.
To Ramonet, "a journalist is someone who goes against the current."
"fidel is one of the most censOred pUBLIC FIGURES"
"In France and Spain, Fidel is one of the most censored public figures: censorship by consensus, because when all the world says that this is an atrocious dictatorship and that Fidel is a cruel dictator, it creates such a consensus that even journalists who try to be critical do not dare to say something against prevailing opinion."
"And this is normal," he added. "I have tried to do it and I know what one can suffer. I had an opinion column in a Spanish newspaper and when an excerpt of the book came out in El Pais they censored me… In the name of liberty, they suppressed the freedom of expression, the freedom of opinion! That is consensus, censorship by consensus."
The French editor and journalist emphasized: "I feel that our duty is to try to give voice to those who have no voice. In Spain, France or Europe, the international figure with the least opportunity for expression is Fidel Castro and my duty as a journalist, my honesty as a journalist, is to let him speak."
What is the central theme of this volume of extensive conversations with the Cuban president? "The idea is to explain the mystery of how a boy born in a village far from everything, in a landowning family of extremely humble origins — without great culture we would say today — how that boy educated in the Catholic, reactionary schools of Jesuits who came during the Spanish war… how did he become a revolutionary leader? Where did it come from, how did this creativity emerge…?"
"This is what the book attempts answer."
"I WAS FRIGHTENED…"
With a tone of humor, Ramonet told how his closeness to the president during four 24-hour periods had led him to fly with Fidel to Ecuador "in his ancient airplane."
"I was frightened … I would not fly in that plane like he does… he is a brave man."
Ramonet described Fidel, in his daily activities, as "a person who always has extraordinary tact with those around him, very respectful, attentive, he doesn’t want to upset people…"
"He is very much a gentleman. You might say that is normal, but I know politicians who in public are very attentive, but in reality are dictators in their own environment," he explained.
He emphasized: "He lives in extremely frugal conditions. There is absolutely nothing luxurious about his surroundings. He lives like a soldier-monk. I asked him how much he makes and he explains this in the book. I told him that I could not live on his salary, obviously. And I am happy that I make a bit more than him!"
Ramonet’s book will soon come out in Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Poland, Greece, Russia, Korea, Japan, Italy (Mondadori), Britain and the United States (Penguin Books). In France, it will be published by the end of the year by Fayard. In Spain, 20,000 hardbound copies are for sale accompanied by a documentary on DVD featuring several hours of the exchange between the journalist and the Cuban president.