• Submitted by: manso
• Arts and Culture
• 09 / 05 / 2011

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2011.09.04 - 19:24:45 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu. Havana, Cuba.- In the presence of a public who loves dance and defends its roots, the 3rd edition of the Timbalaye International Cuban Rumba Festival was inaugurated in Havana on Thursday.

Delegates to the event, coming from Italy, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Uruguay, Mexico and Venezuela, enjoyed and danced to the rumba rhythms performed by the Group of the University Students Federation (FEU) and the folk group “Los Criollitos” from the Callejon de Hamel (Hamel Alley) to Trillo Park, where the Timbalaye fiesta began, with the participation of residents from the neighborhood of Cayo Hueso.

The opening speech was in charge of Ulises Mora, creator and president of the event who, on behalf of organizers, acknowledged the support received for this 3rd edition from the Association of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC) and the Pagugu or Baston de Eggun, in a symbolic way, for the significance it has in the history of Santeria and in Yoruba religion in Cuba, since it’s one of the accessories used to invoke our ancestors, precisely in the International Year of Afro-descendants.

Several institutions have joined to pay tribute in this event to Don Fernando Ortiz and to show - by way of a program that includes keynote lectures on dance, colloquiums and live performances of groups like Columbia del Puerto, Muñequitos de Matanzas, Clave y Guaguanco, Timbalaye, Los Papines, Yoruba Andabo and other prestigious artists- the importance of rumba in Cuba as well as in other parts of the world.

Timbalaye has been scheduled to run from September 1st through the 7th in the provinces of Havana and Matanzas.(ACN)