The singer, composer and instrumentalist Bobby Carcasses received last Tuesday the 2012 National Music Award, recognition granted to personalities like Leo Brouwer, Chucho Valdes and Juan Formell.

Are you looking for a holiday with a difference? Three weeks working alongside Cuban farmers during the day plus many opportunities to engage first hand with Cubans from all walks of life and relaxing at night with a cool Mojito.

Wara, the young revolutionaries of the UK's Latin music scene, will be releasing their debut album, the genre-defying 'Leave To Remain', on 3 June on Movimientos Records, as well as taking the hot London-Havana soundclash on the road during a UK spring tour, presented by La Linea, in association with Movimientos and Global Local, supported by the Arts Council of England. For details of UK tour click here.

Cuban women play a leading role in various sectors and now account for 65.6 percent of the country's professional and technical strength, said Cuba's report for the U.N. Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

Women are concentrated mostly in education (72 percent), health (69.8) and in Cuba's system of science, innovations and technology (53.3).

Alfredo Guevara, director of the International New Latin American Film Festival of Havana, passed away last week in Havana of a heart attack, according to local media reports.

Friday 12 April – London Electric Brixton/ Saturday 13 April – Manchester

On this date in 1988, NG La Banda was officially formed and thus we consider it to be the official birthday of Timba. We want to take this opportunity to thank José Luis Cortés for his contribution to the evolution of Cuban music! Gracias Maestro! Y que sigas 25 años más! Here is a potpourri of the album "En la calle" from the very early days of timba…

The Vodu religious ceremony was the highlight of the National Afro-Caribbean Festival in memory of Eva Gaspar, that has been taking place in the central Cuban province of Ciego de Avila.

The festival was held in the Haitian community Sabicú, located in the northeast of Ciego de Avila, where they made dances, songs and rituals offering food to their gods. The traditional event brings together more than 300 participants and a dozen groups and practitioners of the music and dance of Haiti from various Cuban provinces. Organized by the Casa del Caribe, Santiago de Cuba and the Haitian Embassy in Havana, the festival is held annually in Sabicú, as the largest community of descendants of Haiti in the central region of Cuba. The celebrations honoring Eva Gaspar, a Haitian immigrant settled in the region early twentieth century, who was a cultural promoter, and rescued the festival of Santa Teresa and founded the folk group Nago, who perform Haitian rhythms and dances of that Caribbean nation.

The Women In Film International Committee, the Cuban Women Filmmakers Mediatheque, the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematograficos (ICAIC) and the American Cinematheque are taking on a huge, exciting new project-a Tri-State showcase of films by Cuban women.

In collaboration with a bevy of organizations including Women Make Movies, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, New York Women In Film & Television are bringing an exciting slate of films (shorts, documentaries and features) directed by Cuban woman to Los Angeles, New York and Miami.

Late last year, classical ballet dancer Carlos Acosta once again made history while in Cuba, when he publicly stated exactly what he was thinking. Given his reputation as one of the greatest dancers in the world, Acosta could choose to make his home anywhere in the world. But his dreams take him back to Cuba, and he doesn´t claim this achievement only for himself.

Showing undeniable courage, Acosta made the most of his advantages and tore down one of the metaphorical walls that had stood for decades, to the detriment of art and artists.

Cuban musician and Latin jazz icon Bebo Valdés died in Stockholm in March at age 94, after battling with Alzheimers disease for several years.

There are hints of Sergio Leone in the revelatory work of namesake Sergio Giral, one of the greats of Afro-Cuban cinema, says Ashley Clark.

This year's International Book Fair opened in Havana yesterday, with an anticipated 1005 new titles going on sale to the public and foreign visitors. The fair is in Havana until 24 February then moves across the island until 10 March.

Through a new cataloging service available online, the materials accumulated by libraries in historic Old Havana are now publicly available, reports the Cuban news Agency (AIN).

The new online system allows Internet users to access the massive amounts of data available in 18 specialized libraries in the city, with this service now available at the website: http://catalogo.patrimonio.ohc.cu.

Havana D'Primera, led by trumpet player, songwriter and singer Alexander Abreu have created the soundtrack to Cuban life over the last five years. With songs like "Pasaporte" and "A Final de la Vida" (whose video is hotly tipped for a LUKAS award next year) Alexander Abreu documents what it is to be Cuban in the second decade of the 21st century.