Soycubano joins the activities our people has been carrying out for some months due to the 100th birthday of Francisco Repilado Muñoz, Compay Segundo, virtuous musician and composer, and we would like to dedicate the main article of this edition to this unforgettable Cuban artist.

Also find out what the International Fair of Craft FIART`07 will bring to us and know some of the awards granted at Lucas Award Ceremony, annual recognition to the best Cuban video clips. If you are looking for a New Year gift, visit Soycubano stores and you will find offers specially designed for you.

Compay Segundo’s guitar would still be playing except for that renal disease he suffered, and his voice would delight the hearts of the people who like Cuban traditional music.

Francisco Repilado Muñoz was born in Siboney, Santiago de Cuba, from a very humble origin, he never imagined to enjoy success as much as he did during his last years in national and international stages.

Compay Segundo left indelible marks within the universal music. His alias was taken when at the end of the 40´s last century he made the second voice in duo Los Compadres next to Lorenzo Riezuelo.

His work includes more than one hundred compositions and among the most famous are El Chan Chan, El camisón de Pepa, Las mujeres de Mayarí, El cuarto de Tula, Francisco Guayabal and in particular Macusa, dedicated to a Santiaguera he loved being very young.

He was acclaimed during the decline of his life thanks to the successful CD Buenavista Social Club, in which he joined other veterans of the Cuban music and received a Grammy Award.

His death moved the world on July 14, 2003. Once, humorously, Compay Second expressed: I hope to get to 100 years old and ask for an extension.

Article by Marlene Montoya, taken from Cubarte.

FIART`07

PABEXPO Trade Fair will host again the XI edition of the International Handicrafts Fair FIART ´07, which is organized by the Cuban Fund of Cultural Heritage and will be held from December 8 to 16 under the slogan ‘Handicrafts, design, identity’. The event has as goal to promote works in which craft abilities and techniques are present as an expression of people’s identity and diversity and the contemporary design applied to the handicrafts, integrator vehicle of tradition and modernity.

As usual the fair offers different spaces for promoting and marketing the works, as well as interchanging experiences between creators and the audience. Expo-sales, workshops, fashion parades, collateral exhibitions and theory events are some of the activities of the fair. Artex will have an important attendance in this event through its agencies Bis Music and Lauros offering a valuable sample of the cultural products it markets.

Other countries will also honor us with their attendance bringing the autochthonous voice of their peoples, as craftsmen from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, and Puerto Rico among others.

Lucas Awards 2007: Cuban video clip is streghthened

Besides music, an authentic sample of the robustness of the Cuban culture, the national video clip has been able to get consolidated, which is corroborated with the twenty works awarded with Lucas Prizes this year.

The award ceremony was a great opportunity to appreciate the quality of musical bands from different genres and at the same time audiovisual works that this year has showed artistic pieces on national television with notable technical and of content success.

The best video clip of the year was Apagón total by Eddy K Band, directed by Bilko Cuervo, who has won Lucas awards several times and this year he also won the prize on Reggaeton category.

With ten years of excellent work, Lucas project granted its laurel for best popular dance music to the video clip Sabrosona directed by Santana, and performed by the orchestra of Manolito Simonet y su trabuco that also won best band video clip prize. (…)

There are many other laurels left to be reviewed, because they seem to be too many for one night of awards, that suggests f or future editions more simplicity or separate the awards especially if what seemed to be an isolated attempt ten years ago is nowadays a vigorous reality of the Cuban video clip.

Fragments from article written by Alina Martínez Castillo published at Cubarte and taken from Cubasi website