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• 11 / 18 / 2009

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The Project Schools against Hurricanes is sponsored by musicians from Europe and Cuba as well as the Unicef.

Cuban and European musicians, supporters of the Project Schools against Hurricanes, will visit sites devastated by the cyclones in this province where they will perform for the students in advance to the concert next November 20 in Havana.

The Project was created to help in the recovery of educational centres which were damaged by the hurricanes. The initiative is promoted by singer-songwriter Raúl Paz, renowned in European stages, and by other Cuban musicians like Kelvis Ochoa and X Alfonso.

Supported by the UNICEF, "Schools against Hurricanes" includes also other famous French interpreters like Yannick Noah, Florent Pangy and MC Solaar together with the Spanish singer Antonio Carmona, ex member of Ketama.

The local weekly newspaper "El Guerrillero" reported the visit to Cuba´s western most region in the municipality of Los Palacios. Pinar del Rio Province was violently struck in 2008 by back-to-back hurricanes.

"We want that people see what happened here last year, the damages caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike, and also the rehabilitation work done so far", Paz was quoted as saying by "El Guerrillero".

The idea is that they also know some cultural projects underway in the community and what is being done at the workshop of artist Pedro Pablo Oliva, National Prize of Plastic Arts winner, he added.

They also will visit the Federico Engels Institute and will also perform for workers who´ve been restoring the damaged schools, Juan de la Portilla, President of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) in Pinar del Rio, told Prensa Latina.

The first concert of "Schools against Hurricanes" took place last May 27 in Paris and it gathered more than 3,000 people at the Grand Rex Theater.

So far, said Paz, through this project we have collected around 800,000 euros to help rehabilitate the schools. The second big show will be next November 20 at the Karl Marx theatre in Havana, and the third one in Seville, Spain, next December.

"Schools against Hurricanes emerged spontaneously and it has turned out to be a real program, supported by such a prestigious international body like the UNICEF", stressed the singer-songwriter.

The first concert of "Schools against Hurricanes" took place last May 27 in Paris and it gathered more than 3,000 people at the Grand Rex Theater.

Source: Prensa Latina