Cuba

Juan Of The Dead

Cuban zombie comedy features cheerful mixture of political comment and splatter

4 May 2012

Another zombie film. Really? It sounds like the last thing anyone would want to encourage but Juan Of The Dead overcomes any zombie fatigue with a cheerfully anarchic mixture of splatter and political comment. If that just brought the early films of…

Time Zone - Crossing The Line

London-based sextet bring together contemporary jazz with music of Cuba

7 Dec 2011

(Spherical Records) This London-based sextet led by trumpeter Loz Speyer are on a mission to bring together restless contemporary jazz and the music of Cuba, with a touch of Eastern European rhythm thrown in. This latest outing, featuring seven of…

Soy de Cuba

Song and dance spectacular a real feel-good Fringe show

11 Aug 2011

This is not so much a feel-good Fringe show as a feel-sizzling-hot-and-leave-dripping-with-sweat show. Song and dance spectacular Soy de Cuba is so full of perma-grins, saucy winks and jazzily acrobatic moves it could be a cruise ship act. But, minutes…

Soy de Cuba brings Havana dance, music and song

The sound of contemporary Cuba visits 2011 Edinburgh Festival

28 Jul 2011

With influences from South America, Spain and Africa dating back centuries, it’s fair to say Cuba is a melting pot of styles. So it stands to reason that the latest music and dance sensation to come out of the Caribbean island is equally diverse.

AfroCubism latest project from makers of Buena Vista Social Club

Musicians from Mali and Cuba record album and play live dates

19 Nov 2010

AfroCubism was for several years one of world music’s great what-ifs? In 1996, Nick Gold of World Circuit Records invited the Malian musicians Djelimady Tounkara and Bassekou Kouyate to Havana to record with the cowboy-hatted Cuban singer and guitarist…

Chico & Rita - Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal profile

Directors on Cobi, Cuba and backgrounds in music and design

16 Nov 2010

Names Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal Background Javier Mariscal is a Spanish artist and designer who designed Cobi, the mascot for the Barcelona Olympics. Other iconic designs including the room chair that was used in the second series of…

Chico & Rita

16 Nov 2010

(15) 93min This Spanish-made, English-language, feature-length animation joins the ever-growing list of highly unconventional, beautifully realised, adult-oriented cartoons made outside of America that also includes The Illusionist, Waltz with Bashir…

The Creole Choir Of Cuba - Tande-La

27 Oct 2010

(Real World) What an inspiring story: only weeks after the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, The Creole Choir of Cuba were working with the Cuban medical mission singing the same exuberant songs to survivors living in makeshift tents that they…

Raices en Viaje by Proyecto Evocacion is full of surprises

The Festival del Caribe gives birth to five-piece set.

23 Jul 2010

World Proyecto Evocación Raíces en Viaje – Roots en Route (Spherical Records) Just occasionally an unexpected recording captures a magical moment. So it happened when ex-Happy End trumpeter Loz Speyer got into a basement home-studio in Santiago de…

Sierra Maestra - Sonando Ya

10 Mar 2010

(World Village) Music doesn’t come more seductive than Havana’s glorious Sierra Maestra, who sparked the revival that lead to Buena Vista Social Club’s music sweeping the globe. About to tour the UK (dates in Dunfermline, Sat 27 Mar; Stirling, Sun 28…

Adrian McKinty: Fifty Grand

9 Jul 2009

Seeking to avenge the death of a father she hardly knew, cop Mercado flees unrelentingly bleak Cuba for the celebrity-filled Colorado ski resort where he was killed in a hit-and-run, his demise covered up with a pay-off to the sheriff. With a luxurious…

Havana Rakatan

27 Mar 2008

CUBAN DANCE Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Tue 8–Sat 12 Apr To the untrained eye, Cuban dance can seem like one big mass of hip-rolling passion. When in fact the country is rich with individual dance styles, each with its own tale to tell. The history of…

Loz Speyer’s Time Zone

The Tolbooth, Stirling, Sat 5 May

23 Apr 2007

JAZZ London-based trumpeter Loz Speyer has been spending a lot of time in Cuba since he last toured Scotland, and that will be reflected in the music he will perform with Time Zone. This short Scottish tour (they also play Montrose and some Highland…