Americans are the students in Cuba
- Submitted by: manso
- Arts and Culture
- 09 / 07 / 2010
Published: September 7 2010 02:17. Sir, I am puzzled by the quote by Christopher Sabatini in “Time to press on with our plan in Havana” (Comment, FT.com, August 31) stating: “ ... exchanges allowing certain groups of Americans to interact with Cuban counterparts, thus demonstrating the benefits of intellectual and artistic freedom, are clearly a net gain.”
What evidence is this based on?
Cuban art and culture schools are generally based on the extremely rigorous Russian conservatory tradition. Cuba’s ballet
dancers, under the careful tutelage of Alicia Alonso, are among the finest in the world.
Additionally, students in Cuban music schools are required to study years of classical music prior to learning jazz. This
disciplined and comprehensive approach has produced such towering jazz greats as pianist Chucho Valdez and drummer Dafnis Prieto.
In short, many American musicians find their role alongside their Cuban musical counterparts to be one of awestruck students rather than somewhat conceited ambassadors of “intellectual and artistic freedom”.
Matt Dubuque,
San Francisco, CA, US
Source: www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5e9e53cc-ba10-11df-8804-00144feabdc0.html
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