When I heard rumors about Jay-Z and Beyonce heading to Cuba, I was feeling pretty confident about my trendy choice to go that way. But then I bagged Cuba, and booked a flight to Vienna, Austria, home of the Lipizzaner stallions and Wienerschnitzel.
Only two artists of Hispanic descent have been honored in the last 35 years -- Spanish tenor and conductor Placido Domingo (2000) and actress, singer, and dancer Chita Rivera (2002).
After Celia Cruz's exile on July 15, 1960, the most famous Cuban singer was erased from television and radio programming. It was forbidden to broadcast her music, and generations grew up without that cry of "¡azucarrr!" echoing in our ears.
In addition to the already deceased Celia Cruz, many other artists have been banned for years and years. Among them are the bolero singer Olga Guillot, the saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera, and pianist Bebo Valdes.
Promised since 2008, the fiber optic cable between Venezuela and Cuba only made it to our coast this last February, and then lapsed into a silence quite suspicious for an effort that already cost more than seventy million dollars.
Beninoise singer Angelique Kidjo has had a spectacular year. In April she released her newest album, OYO, where she revisited the music that inspired ...