With immediacy, professionalism and authenticity through the development of artistic handicraft looks adding virtues, the Cienfuegos branch of the Cuban Fund of Cultural Goods (FCBC) will start exporting products.

The senior specialist of the Group of Imports and Exports of the FCBC, Ericel Alvarez Estopiñales, highlighted the form of non-state management that includes craftsmen and self-employed workers.

"Productions of high cultural value, he said, are made by the artists and craftsmen of the Cuban Fund for Cultural Goods branch in the province, that have recognized talent.

"We are working on the survey of the main products that can be exported to the markets. We carry out market studies, mainly in the Caribbean and Latin American regions," Alvarez Estopiñales added.

"To this end, we have set aside a workshop for the production of "guayaberas", whose basic raw materials are already in our warehouses. The intention is to improve the machinery to raise the quality of this type of clothing," he said.

Some products are identified in the spaces where they sold for tourism, and according to Ericel "we are working with a creator of the province on the subject of fibers, mainly those destined for furniture.

"I am referring to tobacco handicrafts such as cases in different formats, and works with fibers, which come from the hands of the craftsman Rodolfo Carvajal", he pointed out.

Ericel also mentioned some of the minor percussion musical instruments such as the "batá", the bongo, the "chequeré" and the African "claves", which are included in the exportable funds listed"

English version Hector Hdez.

In the face of the pronounced resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba, the theater does not stop either. The  Dramátic Center and the Guiñol Cienfuegos are transferring their performances to cyberspace, with live transmissions, at 4:00 p.m., every Sunday, from the Aida Conde Theater.

"The idea is to bring to social networks, from our institutional profiles on Facebook, small-format stagings. It is the alternative we found to be able to interact with the public and, at the same time, socialize and promote the work of the group," said Daimany Blanco Serra , general director of Guiñol Cienfuegos.

This Sunday, January 31, both groups of the Pearl of the South  premiered a new path in their respective trajectories within the performing arts. For the occasion, the most recent play of the Guiñol, Si yo te contara, was presented with the participation of the ensemble Sombrero Azul.

"Although the purpose is to resume the usual functions that until recently the Guanaroca hall offered, we will always be with something of us, as guests, said Diana Padrón Castillo, general director of the Dramático Center of Cienfuegos. For this we have the support of the Provincial Council for the Performing Arts and the Saíz Brothers Association (AHS), despite the budget limitations that exist.

"In these times of suspension of activities and closed cultural centers, such initiatives are essential for the two groups, not only in terms of collaboration and brotherhood. They allow us to continue offering spectators attractive proposals for all ages," he added.

According to Blanco Serra, "it will be a challenge, because theater is face-to-face and now we will try to connect with people through a camera. What happens at the moment will be broadcast live on the different online platforms, but I am sure it will look good. These are -she concluded- new circumstances that force us, from the cultural point of view, to reinvent ourselves".

English version Hector Hdez.

 

This January that we said goodbye dressed in pandemic costume also marked a special birthday: a quarter of a century ago, the musical group Cumanay appeared for the first time on the scene, although at that time, another was its name.

As current circumstances limit free movement, I use technology to talk to Oslando Chacón Terry, director of the group.

"It was Rubén Rojas Valladares, who was deputy director of 'Lácteo', who came up with the idea of having a musical group in the Company to guarantee recreation. The group began its artistic life as an amateur group on January 25, 1996 at the Escambray Dairy Products Company, and the first performance took place during an emulation check-up at the pasteurizer.

"At that time we were called Lactoson, and the music we played was mainly son and its variants. During that stage we participated in national CTC festivals and won several awards; we also attended national popular art fairs. A very special moment was in 2000, the open forum for the return of Elián González, held in Cumanayagua. It was there, for the first time, that we called ourselves Cumanay.
               In its work, Cumanay shares with other peasant artists /Photo: Taken from the Internet

It may seem distant in time and, obviously, that category cannot be avoided; however, each experience is very close and deep in the members of Cumanay whose representation, its director unravels memories common to all:

"In December 2001 we began life as a group of the music marketing company 'Rafael Lay'. Our first contract was in the recreational center of Yaguanabo, and we also did several activities in the municipality and other settlements. We hosted the 'Montaña y son' festival.

But it didn't stop there. With peasant music as baggage, they participated in national events of the Turquino Plan and in assemblies of the National Association of Small Farmers at different levels, both as an independent group or accompanying other artists who also cultivate the genre.

And then came the radio, Radio Cumanayagua to be more precise, and the program "Así es mi tierra" became a sort of magical stage to bring the group's creations to everyone.

"In 2010 we presented ourselves for the first time in Palmas y Cañas," Oslando Chacón Terry tells me, and it seems to me that it is that, another magical scenario, now through images that have brought them closer to all of Cuba. "In that program we have been awarded three times in the Eduardo Saborit contest". Other television programs have also embraced Cumanay.

Hotel facilities such as Pasacaballo and Rancho Luna, here in Cienfuegos, know about their dedication and tenacity, and many people have enjoyed their peculiar style in social meetings and international tourism fairs, among other venues.

The members of Cumanay have many goals, and right now, some of them are "(...) to have the opportunity to record our own album, because we have our own repertoire and it is difficult for us; also to record a new video to defend our Cuban music", the director of the group finally tells me.

Eliover Villalpando Valdés, Yoel Ramos Palmero, Osvaldo Carmona Alonso, Raidel Capote Toledo, Javier Leandro Reyes Castillo and Oslando Chacón Terry are the "staff" members of the group Cumanay, who gladly share with Jorge Félix Roja, guest lute player.

Twenty-five years have passed since the start, but neither time nor the pandemic have been able to tear Cuban music from the hearts of the Cumanay group.  They, from the Entre Ríos valley that is Cumanayagua, continue making music to dance and touch the hearts of Cubans.

English version Hector Hdez.