The PERCUBA International Festival, sponsored by the Cuban Percussionists Society, held its first edition in 1990 and is held annually. Dr. Lino Arturo Neira is the current president of the Organizing Committee. At each event of this festival, held in Havana in April, tributes are paid to representative figures. The rhythms of Afro-Cuban music, absorbed by musical genres such as jazz and salsa, take center stage at this festival.

PERCUBA is attended by the best national and international percussionists, as well as all those interested in and interested in percussion. Numerous concerts are held, and awards are given to the most outstanding.

Specialists in the field give lectures and talks, perform shows, exhibits, colloquia, percussion workshops, and video screenings, all of which are activities that are added to this celebration each year and are open to the public. Through practical and theoretical sessions, the event showcases the most contemporary trends. It is also common to organize a performance featuring Cuban and international musicians.

At the 1999 PERCUBA event, the event featured, among others, Tony Miceli, a prominent North American vibraphonist, and John Berkley Taylor from the Bahamas. In 2001, the Orquesta Amarilla Percussion Ensemble performed. This year, the IX National Percussion Competition was held, dedicated to Cuban percussion for the fifth time. Workshops on Cuban percussion, singing, and dance were taught by distinguished professionals in the art of percussion in Cuba.

The 2003 XIV International Percussion Festival enjoyed an intense program packed with demonstrations, lectures, recitals, and concerts. The majority of participants were students, as well as observers from various countries. Percussionists from the United States, Mexico, and Argentina were invited to share and teach. There were demonstrations and lectures in the auditorium of the Casa de las Américas (3rd and G Streets, Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución, Havana), and workshops led by musicians from Mexico, Venezuela, and the United States, including Sammy Figueroa and Alberto Murillo. On the final day, the Grand Prize was awarded to Williams Eliel, a 21-year-old musician.

In 2004, at the 15th PERCUBA International Festival, a tribute was paid to Los Papines, a prominent Cuban vocal and percussion quartet founded in the 1960s. This tribute took place in a concert at the Amadeo Roldán Auditorium Theater, featuring Amadito Valdés, Changuito, Tata Güines, and Enrique Plá.

Tributes were also paid to figures such as Domingo Faustino Araujo, Gregorio Hernández Ríos (Goyo), Amadito Valdés, Andrés Chacón and Tomás Paiste, prominent performers of instruments from the membranophone and vibrophone families.

On this occasion, more than twenty artists from eight countries gathered, including the female trio El Buscasón. The Conservatorio Superior de Música of Tenerife, Spain, presented a concert entitled Around the World in 60 Minutes. Maestro Alonso Mendoza Moreno, from Great Britain, offered a roundtable discussion on percussion and other musical instruments from past centuries.

An exhibition of handcrafted accessories and instruments from countries such as the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela, and Cuba was inaugurated. A workshop on pre-Hispanic instrument making was held by the Mexican group Yolteotl. Sergio Tullbovitz Dembovich gave a talk on traditional Candombe percussion.

In addition to Cuban artists, the 13th Competition of the 15th PERCUBA International Percussion Festival 2004 featured virtuosos from countries such as Mexico and Spain. The competition was honored by the performers of symphonic percussion instruments; the jury was composed of prestigious performers and teachers. First and second place in this competition were Cuban achievements. The winners were Juan Javier Rodríguez and Leodán Crespo. Third place went to Mexican Miguel Ángel Tobar, and a mention went to Spaniard David González.

PERCUBA showcases the most authentic and distinctive aspects of our roots. It offers participants from different countries the opportunity to share experiences, providing each of them with new techniques in their field, and enriching the Cuban percussion curriculum and Cuban music.

Throughout its editions, the PERCUBA International Festival has been a gathering filled with freshness, intensity, and enthusiasm, demonstrating that Cuba is a territory of great cultural wealth.

12.10.8 Benny Moré International Popular Music Festival

The “Benny Moré” International Popular Music Festival is an event held in honor of this distinguished figure of Cuban popular music. It brings together prestigious groups and figures of popular dance music, as well as creators and performers. The festival is held annually and has venues in Santa Isabel de las Lajas, Cienfuegos, and Havana. Its honorary president is Cuban musician Augusto Enríquez.

The “Benny Moré” International Popular Music Festival begins with a traditional pilgrimage ceremony to the cemetery where the remains of the popular Cuban musician lie. In its seventeenth edition in 2009, the tomb of Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré was declared a National Monument, an action that preserves the site’s historical memory for posterity. The National Monuments Commission (CNM) confirmed that this is the first burial site to achieve such a level of heritage protection in Cuba.

The festival features book presentations, symposia, exhibitions, concerts, film shoots, casino wheel meetings, competition awards ceremonies, and popular dances. In 2009, the festival’s program included the colloquium “Benny Moré in the Development of Popular Music,” which opened in Lajas and moved its sessions to the Provincial Museum of La Perla del Sur with the collaboration and participation of researchers and scholars of Benny’s life.

The voice of our Benny Moré will continue to be one of the doors through which the world enters Cuban music and culture. Many singers have come to Cuba after hearing Benny; and many have since explored the recordings of Cuban musicians. It should come as no surprise, then, that at this “Benny Moré” International Popular Music Festival, in addition to the best Cuban voices, singers such as Jordano Di Marzo, Lucecita Benítez, Moncho, and Danny Rivera have performed in various theaters.