Cuba
Jane Bunnett and Omar Sosa trace roots of Cuban music at concerts in Davie and Miami
Attired in the snow-white robe and cap of a santero, Omar Sosa looks every bit the holy man while seated at the piano. This image is reinforced by the votive candle he keeps burning atop his instrument during performances. And though his music strives to communicate deeply held spiritual beliefs, he’s no ascetic.
“Look where I am!” the Cuban-born pianist says during a FaceTime conversation in mid-February, waving his smartphone about a seaside restaurant in Rome. With temperatures in the low 50s, it’s not exactly beach weather, but Sosa’s broad smile indicates he’s exactly where he wants to be. A waiter brings him a large glass of passito, an Italian dessert wine, and a dish of...
Related "Cuba" Articles
Jane Bunnett and Omar Sosa trace roots of Cuban music at concerts in Davie and Miami
Attired in the snow-white robe and cap of a santero, Omar Sosa looks every bit the holy man while seated at the piano. This image is reinforced by the votive candle he keeps burning atop his instrument during performances. And though his music strives...
Book review: Cuban doctor on a mission to Miami in 'Havana Libre'
‘Havana Libre’ By Robert Arellano. Akashic, 224 pages, $15.95
The intrinsically linked politics and culture of Cuba and Miami combine for an unusual spy novel in Robert Arellano’s second novel about Havana pediatrician Mano Rodriguez.
Set in 1997,...
Book review: Sex, money and adventure in DeMille's 'Cuban Affair'
‘The Cuban Affair” By Nelson DeMille. Simon & Schuster, 464 pages, $28
Best-selling thriller writer Nelson DeMille continues his high standards with a heady mix of politics — both U.S. and Cuban — culture, nonstop action and believable characters.
...
'Buena Vista Social Club' pianist Ruben Gonzalez remembered on film, vinyl
As the documentary “Buena Vista Social Club: Adios” begins screening at a handful of South Florida theaters this weekend there soon will be another way to bathe in the warm nostalgia of that great Cuban music with the June 16 reissue of “Introducing…Ruben...
At Pompano Beach Cultural Center, 20 artists turn Cuba inside out
The first artwork viewers will encounter in “Shipwrecked of Reason,” the debut exhibit at the new Pompano Beach Cultural Center, is Nadal Antelmo’s vertical aerial photograph “Furrow.” Mounted on a column just outside the center’s upstairs gallery, the...
Review: Orchestra raises Florida Grand Opera's 'Before Night Falls'
The true-life narrative in “Before Night Falls” is profoundly powerful and undeniably affecting: A gay Cuban poet, inspired by the beauty of the island but brutally oppressed by the government, escapes to America only to find that the loss of his homeland...
'Before Night Falls,' opera based on the life of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, opens in Miami
Soprano Elizabeth Caballero recalls feeling elated when she boarded the Mariel boatlift in 1980. Then 6 years old, she believed her father’s lie that they were visiting her aunt in Miami, not permanently leaving Cuba, her home.
One of roughly 125,000...
Cuban band Septeto Santiaguero to play Little Havana Social Club
For the members of the Cuban band Septeto Santiaguero, the streets of their hometown are nutrition for their music.
It's where they find ideas for lyrics and rhythms. While in Havana, there can be found a mix of Cuban and Latin music, from salsa to...
Best Cuban Sandwich: It’s A Cubano B
There’s a science to a perfect Cuban sandwich, and this Pompano Beach food truck has it figured out. All the ingredients of the Big Cubano are chosen with care. The pork is marinated for 24 hours before being slow roasted. The freshly baked bread comes...
Miami festival features dancers from all over the world
Dancers from across the world will perform on South Florida stages throughout the week for the XXI International Ballet Festival of Miami.
Hailing from countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Japan, Italy and Spain, these dancers will perform...
Havana 1957 goes modern
Havana 1957
14571 SW Fifth St., Pembroke Pines, 754-210-3499, Havana1957.com
This 2-year-old Cuban eatery, in The Shops at Pembroke Gardens with vintage memorabilia, black-and-white checkered floor and classic Cuban music, has hired former...
Afro-Cuban and Indian cultures meet in choreographer's work
Growing up in India, choreographer Ranjana Warier knew little about Afro-Cuban culture.
"I knew Cuba existed. That was it," she recalls with a laugh. "I knew there was Cuba, and I knew there was Africa, but I had no exposure whatsoever."
Today, Warier...
Timbalive headlines latest Little Havana Social Club concert
Cuban percussionist Leo Garcia moved to Miami in 1999 searching for what he calls the "mecca of Latin music." Nearly a decade later, he started the band Timbalive.
Little did he know that he would find the most passionate audiences in places such as...
Mapping Cuban music from the Middle East to Spain, Havana and beyond
Most people trace the roots of Cuban music to the rhythms of Africa and the melodies of Spain. But in La Ruta de las Almas (The Soul Route), Cuban musician Pavel Urquiza has mapped an intricate musical network that spreads from the Middle East to Spain to...
New Miami spot reminiscent of 1940s Cuba
El Tucán
1111 SW First Ave., Miami, 305-535-0065, ElTucanMiami.com
On the heels of opening the European-inspired Marion café, bakery and oyster, French owners have unveiled this modern cabaret next door in the former space of The Hoxton in Brickell...
Best bets for Aug. 22
Music
TK Blu & the Uncool: The ensemble features three female vocalists and a jazzy R&B sound. Expect funky covers of songs by Sting, the Rolling Stones, Etta James and Dolly Parton. 8 p.m., Hollywood ArtsPark, 1 Young Circle, free, 954-921-3500,...
Dance festival shares stories of new lives in strange places
Neri Torres remembers the culture shock she experienced when she moved from Havana to Miami in 1991.
"Being an immigrant is not an easy ride in the park," she says. "You are leaving all your roots, what you believe in, the people that you grow up with,...
Best events this week: Beer, fireworks and Flock of Seagulls?
Monday
The 14,000 unaccompanied children who fled Castro's Cuba and arrived in the United States in the early 1960s are the subject of HistoryMiami's new exhibit "Operation Pedro Pan: The Cuban Children's Exodus," on view Monday. The museum (101 W....
Cuba Nostalgia introduces coffee-fueled 5K
It starts with a cafecito and ends with a mojito. The inaugural Guayabera 5K run/walk will begin 7 a.m. Saturday, May 15, as part of the 17th annual Cuba Nostalgia in Miami. The run/walk is designed to evoke pleasant memories of Cubans' arrival to the...
Visions of Cuba, frozen in time
On a street near Centro Habana in Cuba, as the late Sunday sunlight shone on columns of crumbling pink and yellow art deco buildings, photographer Vincent Versace stopped to meet an old man who claimed to be the best mechanic in the world. He told Versace...