In the year of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, BBC Radio programme World Routes features a specially recorded studio session by Cuban five-piece Changui de Guantanamo. Presenter Lucy Duran first encountered this group on the road as part of her World Routes report from Cuba in June 2007.

Changui is an old style from the Eastern Guantanamo province dating back to the 19th century and combining elements of Spanish guitar and African traditions. The songs are played on instruments such as the marimbula thumb piano, the tres (a kind of three-stringed guitar), and an array of percussion including the guiro, maracas and bongos.

It is a country that follows ballet as zealously as it does more muscular national sports, yet Cuba has rarely hosted a performance by a foreign dance company in the years since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959.

More than 40,000 people attended the Cuba50 festival events in June at London's Barbican Centre, 27 & 28 June , Gillett Square in Hackney 27 June, Hackney Empire 25 June and Victoria Park 21 June . They were privileged to see Cuba's finest acts including Pablo Milanés, Harold Lopez Nussa and Son del Tropico, Yoruba Andabo and Oscar d'Leon, Changui de Guantanamo, Orquesta Aragon, Kumar, Osvaldo Chacon, Tumbao Tivoli, Omar Puente, London Lucumi Choir, Charanga del Norte and lots more.

"El problema es la homofobia, no ser gay"

LONDON, July 4, 2009 ─ More that a million people were in London for the annual gay pride parade this afternoon, police estimated. And pride chair Paul Birrell thought that up to 100,000 took part in the parade.

Sarah Brown, the wife of Prime Minister Gordon Brown was among those on the parade which passed along some of the iconic London streets.

Welcome to Paradise read the banner over Hackney's Paradise Gardens, ­ and for aficionados of Cuban music it was. The inaugural event in the Barbican's Dance Nations series kicked off with cha-cha-cha lessons in the Spiegel Tent, then went outside to strut its stuff.

Three bands, old and new: Leeds-based Charanga del Norte were an ensemble of Latin-loving northerners that included a cellist from the Liverpool Philharmonic. Their blend of European classical music and African rhythms sparkled in the afternoon sunshine, buoyed by founder Sue Miller's ubiquitous flute.

barbican film
Guests Juan Carlos Tabio and Mariela Castro
at Cine Cuba: 50 Years of Revolution in Film
Friday 3 to Thursday 9 July

http://www.barbican.org.uk/film Hotline: 0845 120 7527

Friday 3 to Thursday 9 July

Due to illness of their Musical Director Los Van Van have unfortunately had to cancel their tour dates in Europe.

Win a 14 night holiday to Cuba courtesy of Cubana Airlines and the Cuba Tourist Board.
This summer the Barbican in association with Cuba50 invite Cuba's hottest artists to play a series of concerts at the Barbican (27-28 June) and in venues across the East End of London including Hackney Empire (25 June), Paradise Gardens in Victoria Park (21 June) and in Dalston's Gillett Square (27 June).

24 JUNE 2009: For Immediate Release

Dr Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro, will be speaking at major LGBT events in July.

Pre concert receptions with Dr Aleida Guevara and other guests from Cuba
Barbican Centre
Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 June
from 5.30pm

Cuba50 VIP Receptions at the Barbican Centre

Free events at Cuba50 festival at the Barbican, London

Cuba50, the largest ever festival of Cuban culture outside of Havana, announces a spectacular showcase weekend at the Barbican Centre, London, on 27 and 28 June.

The Cuban Record Company EGREM, which received the most awards at the International Fair Cubadisco 2009, was also granted the event's Prize of Honor, in recognition of its great contribution to Cuban culture.