The Cuban Hip Hop Symposium will take place from August 18th to 22nd at the Casa de la Cultura de Plaza (Plaza Cultural House) in Vedado neighborhood, Havana. The event is sponsored by the Cuban Music Institute and the Cuban Rap Agency in cooperation with the Asociación Hermanos Saíz Association and the Culture Houses National Council.

The Maids of Havana
By Pedro Pérez Sarduy
Authorhouse 2010, ISBN 9781449070700

Poet and writer Pedro Perez Sarduy was born in Santa Clara, Cuba in 1943 and is now resident in London. He has devoted much of his life to exploring the complexities of the Afro-Cuban experience.

Carnival in Santiago de Cuba is celebrated every July for about a week, with parades in the streets, conga groups come out of the barrios to parade and invade other barrios.

The short-feature film Haiti (Haiti will come back), a creative symbiosis by Cuban musician and composer Chucho Valdés and documentary maker Roberto Chile can be seen in Youtube, or at www.cubadebate.cu and www.fao.org.

After a year of comings and goings between Cuba and the UK, Cuban Photographer Alejandro Gortazar has finally found a space in London that makes him like home. Having searched across North and East London for a commercial space the last three months, he fell in love with El Pueblito Paisa (Seven Sisters Indoor Market); full of the vibrancy of Latin America and the Caribbean: Colombian, Brazilian, Jamaican, Guyanan, and now Cuban, cultures blend in this very unique Market.

Following an exhausting two weeks, the complete refurbishment of Unit 43 has been acomplished and Alejandro Gortazar has finally opened the doors of his small studio-gallery to the public.

A great film by LatineyeTV of the opening night of the 'Celebrating Cuba-50 years of revolution' photo exhbition on 3 March 2010 at Bolivar Hall, London. Features interviews with the photographer Alejandro Gortazar, the Cuban ambassador and guests at the event.

Cuban dance music returns to US stages with renewed success, after eight years of silence. The group Pupy y los que Son Son keeps decibels high in that nation, something Los Van Van, the Charanga Habanera and other bands did before them.

The first Latin American graduates in Sign Language are proudly showing off their degrees this week after completing their studies at the emblematic University of Havana.

This first graduating class includes 11 Cubans who began studying for their degrees in 2004 in workers´ courses, which require extra effort and a lot more motivation.

Cuban film director Juan Carlos Cremata endorses Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Titón, opinion, who said that art doesn't change reality but influences the people's way of thinking, which does have the power to change it.

Rough Guide to the Music of Cuba 2009 Compiliation CD plus bonus CD Sierra Maestra:Soul of the Nation
The Rough Guide series of CDs has succeeded in bringing to the fore the idea that many people who visit a country do so in search of the music. This is especially true in the case of Cuba, a country with unparalleled musical riches.

Enter the competition to win a 5-seat Stalls box for you and your friends at the Thursday 29th July 2010 show of Carlos Acosta: Premieres at the London Coliseum

Watch a fascinating video of Carlos Acosta interviewed during rehearsals for his new show: PREMIERES. Click here for link to video

Gilles Peterson presents Havana Cultura – New Cuba Sound
Havana Club & Brownswood Recordings 2009 – 2 CDs & booklet

Havana Cultura- a global cultural initiative by Havana Club rum – has pulled a master stroke by inviting the great DJ and lifelong enthusiast Gilles Peterson to compile a CD of new Cuban sounds.

Asere: Junio Groove
Astar 2009

Win a pair of tickets to see Cuban band Asere at RichMix arts centre, London Thursday 1 July 2010