Raul Rivero The head of the Cuba Press agency and the country's best-known independent journalist has been arrested on 20 March>>>
music
A cross cultural fusion of Flamenco vocalist Diego "El Cigala" and cuban pianist Bebo Valdés. Here you have the best of each other, and an unique encounter, strong enough to break anyone heart and cry "black tears" (Lagrimas negras in spanish)
Ry Cooder is back from his latest Cuban trip, and he has met another great musician from the good old times. Legend guitarist Manuel Galban is giving is best in this two guitars dialog.
Maraca shows an energy that lifts the usually languid music into the stratosphere. Led by flautist Orlando "Maraca" Valle, the ensemble of incredible musicians is mixing everything.
Maybe you thought Cuban music was just Mambo and Compay Segundo ? Try Cuban hip hop and you might have a big surprise.
Guantanamera (DVD)
This is the story of the hilarious journey of a body, making his way through bumpy cuban roads, and overly-centralized red tape bureaucraty. It shows that cuban movie enjoys a certain freedom : black market, clandestine restaurant and permanent shortage of everything is openly suggested. In my opinion, the funiest movie ever shot in Cuba.
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DVD
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selling DVD
Before Night falls (DVD)
Violent, outrageous, and magnificent : Reinaldo Arenas made a novel of his own life, and Julian Schnabel made a movie with it, using Arenas's life as its canvas. From impoverished youth to lively gay freedom in mid-1950's Cuba; imprisonment during Castro's antigay regime; till New York City exile in 1980, followed by Arenas's battle with AIDS and subsequent suicide in 1990.
books and guides
Volker Skierka
Fidel Castro, a biography
In this up-to-date reconstruction of Castro's life story, Volker Skierka provides an account of the economic, social and political history of Cuba since Castro's childhood. It draws on a number of little known sources, including material from archives of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) which were until recently inaccessible >>>more>>>
150 evocative black-and-white photographs, both recent and vintage, have been brought together to tell the story of this extraordinary city.
Hundreds of vintage graphics of Cuba from the 1920s to the 1959 revolution. Cuba Style recalls the days of glory when the island was a resort colony for Americans and Europeans