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Cuban Beat Books
Releases
the Next Volume
in the “Songbooks” Series

Gape (pronounced GA-pay) is the stage name of Yunier Pérez García, one of the most outstanding Cuban troubadours of his generation. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Art History in 2010 from the University of Havana and has since become a fixture in the Cuban music scene. Both as a composer and as a performer, Gape brings a unique and compelling voice to Contemporary Cuban Songs. After winning the Ignacio Villa Music Scholarship in 2018, awarded by the Hermanos Saíz Association—an organization of young artists and intellectuals in Cuba—he recorded his first album, Oda al plagio, “Ode to Copycatting” (EGREM). The recording was nominated in both the Best Opera Prima and Singer-Songwriter categories for Cubadisco 2020–2021 and won in the latter. In 2022, he began production of a second recording and the filming of his first video for the song “Ode to Copycatting.” With it, he won three Lucas Awards (Premios Lucas) in 2023: in the categories of Best Music Video by a New Artist, Best Animated Video and Best Trova Video. As a troubadour, he performs regularly alongside important figures such as Silvio Rodríguez, as well as with various members of his generation of singer-songwriters. Additionally, in November 2011 he joined the prestigious Ópera de la Calle Theater Company, with which he has performed not only in Cuba but also on stages in Montreal, Canada.  As a composer for musical theater, he has written the story, libretto and music for the show Soldemar. Cuban Beat Books is excited to present this collection of Yunier “Gape” Pérez’s lyrics, as part of the bilingual series, Songbooks, featuring the works of contemporary Cuban singer-songwriters expertly translated into English and accompanied by informative introductions.

Indira Rodríguez Ruiz is the editor of the performing arts magazine Tablas and has coordinated the Havana Theater Festival (2017 and 2019) and the Latin American Monologue Festival (2012). She graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte (2007) and is a member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC). Her journalistic work has appeared in various media, such as Tablas, Hypermedia, La Jiribilla, Esquife, and Escenarios (Portugal). She is also the translator of Charly Salgado: Songbook (Cuban Beat Books, 2023).

Click here to purchase.

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The First Volume
of the
“Songbooks” Series is Out!

Cuban Beat Books is thrilled to present Songbook by Charly Salgado, a collection of lyrics translated by Indira Rodríguez Ruiz, as the inaugural volume in the new bilingual Songbooks series. Each songbook features a selection of works by a contemporary Cuban singer-songwriter expertly translated into English and accompanied with an informative introduction.

Combining the best of Cuban Trova, Nueva Trova, Rock, and Heavy Metal, along with a love of poetry and philosophy, Charly Salgado is undoubtedly one of the most eclectic Cuban singer-songwriter of his generation. As a witness to the unfolding history of the island over the past five decades, he explores and questions not only the reality of life on the island but also his role in chronicling the ever-changing situation. A reflection of all he has seen and heard, as well as all that he has experienced firsthand, he composes songs that fuse his many influences, taking both lyrical and musical risks, and all the while remaining true to his roots and identity as a trovador (troubadour).

Charly Salgado has been a member of the Asociación Hermanos Saiz since 1999 and the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) since 2001. Born in Manzanillo, he moved to the capital at an early age and was strongly influenced and inspired by international pop and rock sounds in addition to the trova, as his compositions reflect. He is part of a group of artists who gathered at the Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau in the early 2000s, both participating in the Puntal Alto showcase for younger artists and, later, headlining a concert for the A guitarra limpia concert series. His most recent recordings include Buscando caminos (2003) and Entre la trova y la postrova (2006).

Indira Rodríguez Ruiz is editor of the performing arts magazine, Tablas, and has coordinated the Havana Theater Festival (2017 and 2019) and the Latin American Monologue Festival (2012). She graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte (2007) and is a member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC). Her journalistic work has appeared in various media such as Tablas, Hypermedia, La Jiribilla, Esquife, and Escenarios (Portugal).

Click here to purchase.

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Cuban Beat Books
Announces Its Latest Publication!

For the first time, the voice of one of Cuba’s most important Afro Cuban singer-songwriters is available to an English-speaking public in this deluxe bilingual edition, Universal Songs by Gerardo Alfonso.

Known for his unflinching and objective analysis of contemporary Cuba, Alfonso explores the many challenges and contradictions inherent to life on the island. As Musicologist Robin Moore writes in his introduction, “Alfonso chooses themes that are significant in a social sense, as well as politically charged, but he treats them in a way that avoids dogmatism.” This representative selection of lyrics, translated by Robert Nasatir, has examples of Alfonso’s earliest writings of the 1980s through to the present, compositions that coincide with the most complicated and transformative decades in Cuban history.

I am history, I am culture
I have glory, I have stature
There is no vengeance, no mischief
Patience is my armor
Sometimes I dream of slave ships and the foreman’s whip
I sing with all my strength, don’t forget, my song is universal.

Gerardo Alfonso, “My Song is Universal”

GERARDO ALFONSO (1958-) joined the Movimiento de la Nueva Trova (New Song Movement) in 1980. He is well known throughout Cuba for the songs “Sábanas blancas” (“White Sheets”), a tribute to the city of Havana, and “Son los sueños todavía” (“They’re Still Dreams”), an homage to Ernesto “Che” Guevara. His music combines complex harmonic and rhythmic ideas with a pop sensibility. He is also one of only a few Afro Cuban trovador singer-songwriters, and he often explores issues of race and racism in his compositions. Among his recent recordings are La ruta del esclavo (The Route of the Slave) (2022), La cima (The Peak) (2009), A orillas del mar (On the Seashore) (2005), and Raza (Race) (2004). He has also published an autobiography, Son los sueños todavía (2013).

Click here to purchase.

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Indira Rodríguez Ruiz Wins Song Lyric Translation Contest

Cuban Beat Books is pleased to announce that Indira Rodríguez Ruiz is the winner of the Song Lyric Translation Contest. Her translations of the lyrics of trovador Charly Salgado will appear in Spring 2023 as the first volume of Cuban Beat Books’s new bilingual series, “Cancioneros/Songbooks”. Indira Rodríguez Ruiz is editor of the performing arts magazine, Tablas, and has coordinated the Havana Theater Festival (2017 and 2019) and the Latin American Monologue Festival (2012). She graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte (2007) and is a member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. Her journalistic work has appeared in various media such as Tablas, Hypermedia, La Jiribilla, Esquife, and Escenarios (Portugal).

Charly Salgado (1973–) has been a member of the Asociación Hermanos Saiz since 1999 and the UNEAC since 2001. Born in Manzanillo, he moved to the capital at an early age and was strongly influenced and inspired by international pop and rock sounds in addition to the trova, as his compositions reflect. He is part of a group of artists who gathered at the Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau in the early 2000s, participating in both the Puntal Alto showcase for younger artists and, later, headlining a concert for the A guitarra limpia concert series. His most recent recordings include Buscando caminos (2003) and Entre la trova y la postrova (2006).

Cuban Beat Books se complace en anunciar que Indira Rodríguez Ruiz es la ganadora del Concurso de Traducción de Letras de Canciones. Sus traducciones de las letras del trovador Charly Salgado aparecerán en la primavera de 2023 como el primer volumen de la nueva serie bilingüe de Cuban Beat Books, “Cancioneros/Songbooks”. Indira Rodríguez Ruiz es editora de la revista de artes escénicas Tablas y ha coordinado el Festival de Teatro de La Habana (2017 y 2019) y el Festival de Monólogos Latinoamericanos (2012). Es egresada del Instituto Superior de Arte (2007) y es miembro de la Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba. Su trabajo periodístico ha aparecido en diversos medios como Tablas, Hypermedia, La Jiribilla, Esquife y Escenarios (Portugal).

Charly Salgado (1973–) ha sido miembro de la Asociación Hermanos Saiz desde 1999 y la UNEAC desde 2001. Nacido en Manzanillo, se trasladó a la capital a una edad temprana y fue fuertemente influenciado e inspirado por internacional sonidos pop y rock además de la trova, como reflejan sus composiciones. Es parte de un grupo de artistas reunidos en el Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau a principios de los 2000, participando tanto en el escaparate de Puntal Alto para jóvenes artistas y, más tarde, encabezando un concierto del ciclo de conciertos A guitarra limpia. Sus grabaciones más recientes incluyen Buscando caminos (2003) y Entre la trovay la postrova (2006).

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Where Are You From, Asere?
News of Cuban Music
and Musicians
from the
Editors of Cuban Beat Books

Cuba organized a concert for 50th anniversary of Nueva Trova Movement
By JBT
Havana, Dec 11 (JBT). Havana-based Casa de las Americas was organizing a concert on Thursday as part of the activities for the 50th anniversary of the New Trova Movement in the Che Guevara hall of this institution.

Recognized as the site where the first meetings of the protest song were held in Cuba, artists such as Ariel Díaz, Mauricio Figueiral, Silvio Alejandro, Annie Garcés, Leonardo García, Rochy Ameneiro, Nelson Valdés, Ariel Barreiro and Lién Rodríguez, among others, performed that Thursday.

Several cultural institutions on the island, led by the Cuban Institute of Music, organized a broad program of initiatives to commemorate the 50 years of the Nueva Trova Movement, recalling significant dates of the trova song, making it visible and promoting the work done by the founders and performers of this genre.

Photographic and poster exhibitions associated with the movement, and the screenings of films that narrate the history of the so-called intelligent song in the Caribbean nation took place, in coordination with the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, .

Another activity was the declaration of trova music as a Cultural Heritage of the Caribbean nation during the 27th edition of the Carlos Puebla In Memoriam National Festival in Manzanillo, eastern Cuba, the city where the New Trova Movement emerged.

Work of Cuban lyric singer Esther Borja recalled in Cuba
By PL
Havana, Dec 5 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban Institute of Music on Monday recalled outstanding singer Esther Borja, known as the Cuban dame of lyric singing, who had a prolific career for over half a century.

“Esther Borja was a renowned Cuban singer who sang pieces of famous composers such as Gonzalo Roig, Rodrigo Prats and Ernesto Lecuona.

We treasure the album “Esther Borja canta a dos, tres y cuatro voces” (Esther Borja sings in two, three and four voices) with maestros Luis Carbonell and Numidia Vaillant,” the Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales de Cuba (Enterprise of Recordings and Musical Editions of Cuba) tweeted.

Known as the “Damisela encantadora” (the Charming Damsel), due to one of the songs by famous Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona that she used to sing, this singer sang zarzuelas and operettas. She also worked on the radio, theater, movies and television, where she hosted the musical program “Album de Cuba” (Album of Cuba) for several decades.

Esther Borja recorded many albums and gave concerts in Spain, the US, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, countries in which she perfomed alongside Argentinian artists Libertad Lamarque, Tita Merello and Alfredo La Pera, Spanish Rosita Moreno and Mexican Pedro Vargas.

Born in Havana (1913-2013), she was awarded with the National Culture Prize, the Alejo Carpentier Medal, the Felix Varela Order, and the national prizes of Music and Television.

Ibeyi: ‘Once we put a song out, it’s not ours anymore’
Monday 5 December 2022   By Gisselle Babaran
French Afro-Cuban musical duo Ibeyi are currently booked and very busy. When we meet with the twin sisters – Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz – they’re in the middle of a sound check at one of London’s most iconic music venues, KOKO, as they prepare for their show later that evening. At the moment, the pair are on the road in the midst of their highly anticipated, six-month global headline tour to promote their latest studio album, Spell 31.

Taking inspiration from the ancient Egyptian Book Of The Dead for the album’s name, the project explores and builds on ideas around healing, ancestry and sisterhood. Much like their two previous albums, 2015’s Ibeyi and 2017’s Ash, Spell 31 is charged with a spirituality and mysticism that directly speaks to the sisters’ cultural identity as Afro-Cuban women. This homage to their heritage, alongside their various musical influences, is what continues to enthral their ever-growing global fan base.

Here, we caught up with them both to find out more about the artists and music that inspire them, as well as the up-and-comers we should be paying attention to.

Can you plot the exact moment when you first discovered your love for music?

Lisa-Kaindé Diaz: ‘I think it started when we watched our dad play when we were two in our pushchairs. Both he and our mum had music around them all of the time. But the moment I knew I wanted to sing was when I went to my first gig, and I felt a visceral pain of not being on stage and being a part of what I was looking at.’

Which artists’ albums did you first buy?

Naomi Diaz: ‘Shakira, of course.’

LKD: ‘Anastasia.’

What’s your comfort track?

ND: ‘It changes all the time, but at the moment it’s “Parabel” by Superpoze. He’s a French artist who composes and produces music for movie soundtracks.’

LKD: ‘For me, it’s anything by Nina Simone.’

Do you ever listen back to your own music?

ND: ‘Yes, but more when we’ve just released something.’

LKD: ‘For me, I’ll listen to our music a lot before it gets released. Once it goes out I don’t see it as mine anymore. Also, I can’t change it then, which makes me want to listen to it less.’

Who are your key musical influences?

LKD: ‘Artists like Amy Winehouse, James Blake and D’Angelo.’

ND: ‘Lauryn Hill, among so many others.’

If you could play any other instrument, what would it be?

ND: ‘Piano and guitar.’

LKD: ‘Bass.’

If you had to pick a soundtrack to your life, what would it be?

ND: ‘Spaces by Nils Frahm – especially the track “Says”.’

LKD: ‘MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 by Lauryn Hill.’

Which new artists are you most excited about right now? 

LKD: ‘I love Saya Gray – she’s half Japanese, half Canadian. She’s a bass player too and has played for Daniel Caesar.’

ND: ‘Ezra Collective.’

What’s your pre-performance ritual?

LKD: ‘Drinking honey, lemon and ginger tea.’

X Alfonso was guest artist for the opening gala of the Havana Film Festival
By JBT
Havana, December 2 (JBT) Cuban singer-songwriter, arranger and producer X Alfonso was the guest artist at the opening gala of the 43rd edition of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema.

The opening of the event took place on Thursday, December 1st, at 7:00 p.m. local time, at the Charles Chaplin cinema and the film chosen for the first screening is Argentina, 1985.

Recently, X Alfonso, together with his sister Eme, his parents Carlos Alfonso and Ele Valdés and the group Síntesis, won the Latin Grammy in the category of Best Folk Album for the album Ancestros Sinfónico.

The 43rd edition of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema will be held from December 1 to 11 in several theaters in the Cuban capital.

Lopez-Nussa family to give concert in Havana
By PL
Havana, Dec 1 (Prensa Latina) The members of the Cuban Lopez-Nussa family will give a concert on December 23 at the Covarrubias Hall of Havana’s National Theater, the Cuban Music Institute (ICM) announced.

With support from the National Center of Concert Music, Maestro Ruy (father) summoned pianists Ernan (brother), his first-born son Harold, renowned percussionist and pianist Ruy Adrian (son), as well as trumpeter Mayquel Gonzalez and bassist Julio Cesar Gonzalez, who have accompanied him on other occasions, to join him in this recital.

As part of the show, scheduled for 8:00 p.m., local time, singer Mayito Rivera and percussionist Yaroldy Abreu, both from Cuba, will also join them.

Since the first occasion in 2006, the quartet integrated by the Lopez-Nussa gave recitals in Cuba and abroad, whose shows have enjoyed great popularity and success due to their unique artistic proposals, the ICM indicated.

Percussionist Ruy Lopez-Nussa has worked with outstanding Cuban musicians such as singer Beatriz Marquez and composer Pedro Luis Ferrer, as well as with singer songwriter Santiago Feliu, with whom he performed in several concerts in Latin America

Cuban President Diaz-Canel celebrates Silvio Rodriguez’s birthday
By PL
Havana, Nov 29 (Prensa Latina) President Miguel Diaz-Canel congratulated renowned singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez, one of the founders of the New Song Movement (Nueva Trova) in Cuba on his 76th birthday.

“With your ‘Pequeña Serenata Diurna,’ I wake up on your 76th birthday. If it were mine, I would give it to you today. May you have a happy birthday with those you love. #Cuba and the world celebrate your fertile life, poet,”the Cuban president wrote on Twitter.

Considered an icon of the Cuban New Song Movement, with songs that have become the soundtrack of the last decades in the country and many Latin American nations, Rodriguez is celebrating his birthday after a prolific career on stages all over the world.

Mexican university to grant doctorate degree to Pablo Milanes
By PL
Mexico, Nov 30 (Prensa Latina) The Autonomous University of Zacatecas will keep the proposal to grant posthumously Pablo Milanes the Honoris Causa doctorate that the University Council was scheduled to deliver to him in person on December 2.

It was confirmed by Rector Ruben Ibarra Reyes, who lamented the death of the Cuban artist.

Pablo’s death, he said, is a very sad event for the world of the arts and for society in general.

He was a great artist, a great composer, and a great singer-songwriter, and of course, it is a very heartfelt loss for the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, due to the closeness of our institution with the Cuban people and government.

He pointed out that, after the artist’s death, the awarding ceremony of the Honoris Causa doctorate in person was frustrating.

Ibarra Reyes said that, for now, we are going to respect the prudent time for the mourning that the family of Pablo Milanes has to live, and after that, we will talk with them and see the issue.

He repeated that the special session of the University Council to grant the Honoris Causa award to Pablo Milanes was originally scheduled for September 27, but it was necessary to postpone it, due to his health condition, which was already delicate and impossible for him to come to Zacatecas.

Therefore, it was rescheduled for Friday, December 2. But after his death, we can only mourn him and his family respectfully, and then we will see a future date and do it posthumously.

THE FIRST STONE

We are pleased the announce the release of our latest title, The First Stone: Essays On Contemporary Cuban Song and Society by Ariel Díaz. Available for the first time in English, the book collects writings on music and the contemporary arts scene in Cuba. Ariel Díaz is one of the leading voices of his generation of singer-songwriters. For music lovers and anyone curious about Cuba, this book is a must have! 

Check out Ariel talking with Oni Acosta about the book on Buenos Días.