Cuban Musicians Celebrate International Jazz DaY

Cuba is celebrating today the International Jazz Day with a great virtual concert that brings together musicians from Cuba and other Caribbean nations.

Pianist Roberto Fonseca, artistic director of the initiative, told Prensa Latina that this will be a special recital because it integrates the Caribbean and the quality of the artists.

We will reflect our jazz, he added, from its trends and different generations as of the performance by National Music Prizewinner Bobby Carcasses, Jose Luis Cortes and Cesar Pedroso.

The participation of other outstanding Cuban instrumentalists, such as saxophonists Cesar Lopez and German Velazco, flutist Orlando Valle ‘Maraca,’ young percussionist Brenda Navarrete and Los Bandidos All Stars Jazz Plaza Festival Band, is also confirmed.

Casandra Nuñez (Dominican Republic), Reginal Policard (Haiti), Andre Wood (Barbados), Oshane Love (Jamaica) and James Sanker (Belize), along with Barbara Cadet (Santa Lucia), Michele Henderson (Dominica) and Gairy Knight (Saint Kitts and Nevis), will be part of the cast for the other Caribbean countries.

The event framed in the Transcultura program, which integrates Cuba, other Caribbean countries and the European Union through culture and creativity, is set for 18:00 hours, local time.

Cuban institutions such as the Ministry of Culture and the Jazz Plaza Festival will broadcast the musical concert live on Facebook profile.

International Jazz Day has been celebrated annually on April 30 since 2011, established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to recognize the genre and its exponents.

UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay and UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassador, legendary jazz musician Herbie Hancock, announced that the ‘the freest of music’ celebration will culminate in a spectacular All-Star Global Concert presented by actor Michael Douglas.