Music group from Cuba to perform in Little Havana

Cuba's historic son group Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro will play the Little Havana club Hoy Como Ayer on Nov. 21, quietly breaking a six-year blackout on officially sanctioned performances in Miami by Cuban musicians from the island.

The group, founded in 1927 by famed son composer Ignacio Piñeiro, began a U.S. tour in New York on Nov. 7 that will also take it to Puerto Rico, San Francisco, Chicago and Hartford, Conn.

Fabio Diaz, co-owner of Hoy Como Ayer at 2212 SW Eighth St., said he did not expect problems with the performance. ``This is a traditional Cuban music group,'' Diaz said. ``They don't have anything to do with politics, and that's why we're presenting them.''

El Septeto Nacional: victoria de la música cubana

L os historiadores aún no se han puesto de acuerdo para afirmar la fecha exacta en que surgió el son. Se dice que desde mediados del siglo XIX se escuchaba en las montañas del oriente cubano unas cuartetas rítmicas tan deliciosas que mantenían a la gente bailando toda la noche. También se dice que un tresero llamado Nené Manfugás fue quien lo tocó por primera vez en los carnavales de Santiago de Cuba a principios del siglo XX. Lo que sí se sabe, sin embargo, es que en los años 20, Miguel Matamoros, un mulato santiaguero que trabajaba de chofer de un habanero rico, compuso una canción, Son de la loma , que convirtió en universal al son, y que pocos años después Ignacio Piñeiro, un mulato habanero, que trabajaba de albañil en la casa de un santiaguero rico, llevó al son a alturas insospechadas cuando su canción Echale salsita le dio la vuelta al mundo. El resto, como suele decirse, es historia.

A más de 80 años de haberse fundado el Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro, la música del poeta del son y de

New York, Keys Draw Cuban-Born Musician

The musicians in the two-time Grammy-nominated band Tiempo Libre were born, raised and classically trained at Cuban conservatories but now make their home in Miami. Focusing on timba, a sizzling combination of Latin jazz and Cuban sound, the group has been touring the U.S. to support its latest CD, "Bach in Havana." We talked to pianist and music director Jorge Gómez, 37, about touring with the band. Click here for full story

Cuban musicians trickle into US under Obama

One by one, musicians from the renowned Cuban salsa band Los Van Van made their way past immigration officials at Miami International Airport and into the bright lights and cameras of the Spanish-language media.

One reporter offered them Cuban pastries. Another asked what it meant to play in Miami. Maintenance workers took pictures with their cell phones. One said she had grown up dancing to Los Van Van. Another denounced them as tools of the island's communist government. When they last played Miami 10 years ago, a mini-riot broke out between fans and protesters.

"I didn't come to do anything political," bassist Juan Formell said. "We came to play music."

U.S., Cuban artists stage a collaboration

A groundbreaking multimedia theater performance created in an unprecedented collaboration between U.S. and Cuban artists was set to debut Friday in Havana.

La Entrañable Lejania ( The Closest Farthest Away ) is part of the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, commonly called the Havana Film Festival, one of the island's biggest cultural events. It will have its U.S. debut at Miami Beach's Byron-Carlyle Theater in March.

The complex story of an American man in love with a Cuban woman, The Closest Farthest Away breaks ground artistically, politically and technologically. American actors perform onstage while Cuban cast members are seen on large video screens, embodying the political separation between the two countries.