Cuban solo artists and groups will give homage to deceased Cuban songwriter 
and singer Polo Montañez on November 19 with a great concert, nine years after the death of the great Cuban artist. During the activity in a theatre in Havana, songs of his first CD called "Guajiro Natural" and others written by Polo Montañez will be performed, said Amauri Romero, nephew of Polo, a man who conquered hearts in stages in America and Europe. Romero said that just like years before, friends, admirers, fans of Polo Montañez will take sones, guarachas, bachatas and other things up to the stage. 
The winner of a Golden Disc and a Platinum Disc ‘cause of his first CD, Polo died ‘cause ‘f a traffic accident in November 2002. He was the author of nearly 100 musical pieces, and some of his compositions were not recorded or performed by his own voice. Polo was known as "Guajiro Natural" and is still very beloved in Cuba, Colombia and other countries where he became an idol. "The concert will be a very nice way to remember him," said Romero, who also assured the band preserves Polo´s legacy. There are unpublished texts, still preserved in their original writings or printed in a songbook, now included in the group´s first individual CD, without the voice of Polo. 
The name chosen for the CD was Question de suerte (A Question of Luck) since uncertainty was affecting the members of the band. "In that CD, we included songs like "Con Ella no puedo estar" (I Can´t Be With Her) and "Historia Uno" (Story One), two songs written by Polo that he did not have the chance to perform himself. A second CD called "Un sueño y nada más" (A Dream and Nothing Else than That) let the group perform another good song by Polo, called "La sombra loca" (The Crazy Shadow) which was later popularized by Puerto Rican singer Gilberto Santa Rosa. Romero concluded saying "We want to keep Polo´s exclusive way to sing and recreate national musical rhythms, and that every melody, contains a message of love and peace.
The Antonio Gades Company closed the 14th Havana Theater Festival last Sunday, with a program including Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding) and Suite Flamenco.
According to Eugenia Eiriz, widow of the great Spanish dancer and choreographer, with the Blood Wedding, Gades achieved for the first time 37 years ago a synthesis among flamenco, classical, and Spanish dances.
The Blood Wedding, well known by Cubans, not only pays tribute to Gades (1936-2004) for his 75-year anniversary, but also to the work's author Federico Garcia Lorca, who was murdered on August 18, 1936, for his revolutionary ideas at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Eiriz said.
"Closing with this piece had a positive effect will on the public because after watching the Blood Wedding the people feels shocked and moved by Lorca's tragedy and then comes the party, and many would feel like singing and dancing," Eiriz added.
This was the first appearance in Cuba of the Antonio Gades Company, founded seven years ago after his death. It includes in its repertoire other popular works such as Carmen and Fuenteovejuna, while in 2012 it will seek to revive the Fuego (Fire), a version of the El Amor Brujo (Love Bewitched).
After 10 days, the most important theater event in the country closed curtains, with a positive outcome for the public, who had been able to enjoy a program including performances by more than 70 national and foreign groups representing 17 countries.
The British actor Roger Lloyd Pack, world famous by his portrayal of Barty Crouch Sr. in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is expected to perform Tonight at the Havana Theater Festival.
Lloyd and a group of friends of the late British playwright and Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter came for the first time to Cuba to pay a posthumous tribute on Wednesday and Thursday to the Pinter.
The world premiere of the short play Umbrellas at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, as part of the program One Night with Harold Pinter, stands as a tribute the champion of the Cuban cause.
Lloyd explained that Umbrellas was premiered by Pintor to a small group of friends in 1960 in the United Kingdom; after that, the script disappeared.
"It is one of Pinter's first works as playwright and is a short sketch, but very interesting", Lloyd explained. Currently, Lloyd is working in Budapest, shooting the Showtime TV series The Borgias, produced by Neil Jordan.
Meanwhile, Lloyd declared to be enjoying his first visit to Havana, the nice Caribbean weather and the old US cars that travel the Havana streets.
and singer Polo Montañez on November 19 with a great concert, nine years after the death of the great Cuban artist. During the activity in a theatre in Havana, songs of his first CD called "Guajiro Natural" and others written by Polo Montañez will be performed, said Amauri Romero, nephew of Polo, a man who conquered hearts in stages in America and Europe. Romero said that just like years before, friends, admirers, fans of Polo Montañez will take sones, guarachas, bachatas and other things up to the stage. 
The winner of a Golden Disc and a Platinum Disc ‘cause of his first CD, Polo died ‘cause ‘f a traffic accident in November 2002. He was the author of nearly 100 musical pieces, and some of his compositions were not recorded or performed by his own voice. Polo was known as "Guajiro Natural" and is still very beloved in Cuba, Colombia and other countries where he became an idol. "The concert will be a very nice way to remember him," said Romero, who also assured the band preserves Polo´s legacy. There are unpublished texts, still preserved in their original writings or printed in a songbook, now included in the group´s first individual CD, without the voice of Polo. 
The name chosen for the CD was Question de suerte (A Question of Luck) since uncertainty was affecting the members of the band. "In that CD, we included songs like "Con Ella no puedo estar" (I Can´t Be With Her) and "Historia Uno" (Story One), two songs written by Polo that he did not have the chance to perform himself. A second CD called "Un sueño y nada más" (A Dream and Nothing Else than That) let the group perform another good song by Polo, called "La sombra loca" (The Crazy Shadow) which was later popularized by Puerto Rican singer Gilberto Santa Rosa. Romero concluded saying "We want to keep Polo´s exclusive way to sing and recreate national musical rhythms, and that every melody, contains a message of love and peace.
