Cuba’s Saratoga Hotel Ranks among Top-100 in the Americas

The specialized British magazine Condé Nast Traveller UK included again the Saratoga Hotel, located in Old Havana, as one of the best 100 in its kind in the Americas and the Caribbean.

Executives from the British magazine released its traditional Readers’ Travel Awards, where the Saratoga ranked 16, among the over 7,000 in the region that were evaluated by the readers, using different criteria, which includes region, design, facilities, food, services, location and rooms.

This is the fourth time the Cuban hotel has been included in this exclusive list, and last year placed 10th in the same category.

Tourism industry experts, journalists and professionals have shown their admiration for the Saratoga, and included it among the top 60 hotels in the world in the 2006 The Hot List.

Also, the Saratoga won the Best for Ambience & Design in the 2008 Gold List gathered by the Condé Nast Traveller UK, one of the leading magazines for this sector in the world.

It is a five-star hotel with over 90 rooms, including seven suites, and a wide range of services aimed at providing comfort to its guests.

Cuban Artist Awarded at International Puppet Festival

YAQUI SAIZ, director of the Cuban Nueva Línea puppet group, won the Silver Prize for her individual performance during the 2nd International Puppet Festival held in Hanoi.

The young artist was awarded for her sobriety in the handling of puppets and her vocal work for the piece "Historia de Burros", according to the assessment made by the jury, composed of prestigious master puppeteers from the Asian continent.

"The prize was a surprise, because we’re talking about an Asian country, the Mecca of puppets," said Yaqui in reference to Vietnam, the Festival’s venue.

The Cuban delegation was also made up by Armando Morales, director of Cuba’s National Puppet Company, who presented “Canturía de títeres”; and Cristian Medina, director-actor of the group Retablo, from Cienfuegos province, with the piece “Pico sucio”.

Participating in the event were representatives from Egypt, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, China and Singapore.

Cuban Artists: Latin Grammy Nominees

Cuban artists Silvio Rodríguez and Leo Brouwer, and the groups Septeto Habanero and Sierra Maestra, were nominated to the 2010 Latin Grammies, and the winners will be announced on November 11.

Silvio Rodriguez will compete for the Award of Best Songwriter, against others such as Panamanian Ruben Blades, Uruguayan Jorge Drexler, Dominican Pavel Nuñez, Brazilian Maria Gadu and Colombian Santiago Cruz.

This is the second time Silvio Rodriguez is nominated to the Latin Grammies. In 2007, he was nominated, with a song called "Erase", to compete in the same award.

Leo Brouwer is considered among the world’s five best guitarists, and is now a competitor for the Award for Classic Music, with a CD called "Integral Cuartetos de Cuerda", with the participation of a Cuban quartet.

Septeto Habanero and Sierra Maestra are two of the oldest groups in Cuba. For Septeto Habanero, specifically, this would be its first Grammy Award if it becomes a winner finally, after 90 years of uninterrupted work.

Young Cuban composer Decemer Bueno also appears among the nominees, looking for the triumph at the competition for Best Song of the Year, with a song called "Cuando Me Enamoro" that has been performed by Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias and Dominican songwriter and singer Juan Luis Guerra.

Indonesian Movies To Be Screened in the City

Havana’s Infanta Movie Theater will host a Festival of Indonesian Cinema from September 16th through the 22nd, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of relations between Cuba and that Asian nation.

The film Three Wishes, Three Loves, by Nurman Hakim, will inaugurate the cycle, made up by six recently produced movies on varied themes, according to a note by the Cuban Film Institute’s Information Center.

This drama will be shown in premiere on September 16 by invitation only, as well as on the 17th. Made in 2008, Three Wishes, Three Loves obtained the Special Prize of the Jury at the International Film Festival in Vesoul, France, in 2009.

The other movies are Rainbow Troops, Get Married (comedy), Love to Share (drama) and Forbidden Door, the winner of the Best Film prize at the International Film Festival of Cine of Puchon, South Korea, in 2009, as well as Denias, a Song from Heaven, a drama based on a true story, which won the prize in Best Film at JiFFest 2006; best film and favorite film in the Indonesian Cinema Awards (2007); Best Actor in the 2006 Citra Awards, and the Prize to Humanity at BiFFest 2006.

European Rock Livens up Cuban Rock Festival

Six rock bands from France and Switzerland had their own baptism of fire in this capital during the recently ended rock festival Brutal Fest, one of the best for the national rock movement in 2010.

French rock ensembles Sedative, Stortregn, and F.O.A.D., and Swiss bands Cardiac, Deadly Sin Orgy, and Destronork, performed at the Maxim Rock Theatre in Havana for four days, with their own melodic proposals, mixed with a wide and varied rank of styles.

Defending the European underground style, these European bands shared the stage with Cuban groups such as Combat Noise, Escape, Ancestor, and Jeffrey Dahmer.

After performing in Havana, the rock groups went to the Cuban western province of Pinar del Rio, where local group Medula joined them for a show with hundreds of spectators, for several hours.

Organized by the Cuban Rock Agency, French company Brutal Beatdown Records and Swiss Vrockal Metal Fest, the objective was for European rock music to strengthen links with Cuban groups.

Swiss group Destronork was one of the mostly applauded with the deployment of all its sound load, mainly formed by rhythmic cells coming from so-called "black metal."

National Ballet to Dedicate Performance to Cuba-China Relations

The National Ballet of Cuba will dedicate a special performance to the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Cuba and China on September 10 at the Great Theater of Havana.

The program incorporates both classical and contemporary choreographies, among them Danzantes, a work by prima ballerina Alicia Alonso inspired by the music of figures of the Chinese culture Reng Guang and Huan Yijun.

The presentation also includes Las silfides (The Sylphs), Alonso’s version of Mijail Fokin’s ballet with designs by Salvador Fernandez on those by Alexander Benois, who is one of the artists behind the theatrical and scenographic conceptions Diaghilev’s Russian ballets.

The show will close with another work by Alonso, Dido abandonada (Abandoned Dido), based on the homonymous piece by Gaspero Angiolini, who is also the author of the music and libretto.

Award in Austrian Festival for Cuban Soprano

Cuban soprano Johana Simon won the third award of the Grandi Voci International Singing Contest sponsored by the Oper im Berg Festival of Salzburg in Austria.

The competitors from countries such as Germany, Russia, Brazil, Japan, China and the host country participated in the event.

The jury of the competition was presided over by Ingo Kolonerics, director of the Oper im Berg Festival, and it included personalities and orchestra directors from renowned European opera houses.

Simon will perform on September 29 at the Opernloft of Hamburg, Germany, accompanied by Cuban pianist Marcos Madrigal. The program includes pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and several Cuban authors.