Even with the open wounds caused by COVID-19 and a devastating economic crisis, during 2022 most of the institutions dedicated to promoting artistic and literary culture in Cuba gradually recovered spaces and projects that had closed or turned to virtuality. during the health emergency.
The “face to face” is vital for the creators, who were able to recover the public live thanks to the reopening of galleries, cinemas, theaters (those that survive). A dynamic rhythm returned, although the movement of previous years has not yet been achieved.
In 2022, unprecedented emigration also meant the displacement of musicians, filmmakers, playwrights, actors… In these long and overwhelming months, marked by scarcity, goodbyes, and uncertainty about the future, Cuban culture has experienced moments of all kinds: celebrations, losses, premieres, and awards.
We have witnessed passionate polemics, censorship, acts of justice… In the center of everything, Cuba.
Celebrations and tributes
On October 20, Culture Day, the International Ballet Festival of Havana Alicia Alonsowhose 27th edition began the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the National Ballet, which will last until 2023.
For her part, the Cuban radio celebrated its centenary and throughout the country they recognized the work of those who have dedicated themselves entirely to that world. The island has a hundred radio stations and for some this continues to be a lively and dynamic medium.
From the visual arts, in addition to the personal and collective exhibitions of various creators, the gaze was concentrated on the 120th anniversary of the birth of the most universal Cuban painter: Wifredo Lam. The National Museum of Fine Arts inaugurated the exhibition Wifredo Lam indivisible which will remain until February 2023. Colloquiums and conversations about the author of “La Jungla” were also organized.
The organizers of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema opted for the presence of spectators in the cinemas.
In its 43rd edition, despite the small number of theaters available in Havana, more than one hundred feature films and shorts arrived. An inaugural gala marked by controversy, the pronouncement of a group of filmmakers in favor of creative freedomthe tribute to documentary filmmaker Nicolás Guillén Landrián and the award ceremony Choir of Honor to the singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez were the topic of conversation during the event.
From the eastern city of Manzanillo it was declared trova as Cultural Heritage of the Nation, just on the date that marked the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Nueva Trova Movement. The Movement of Cuban Light Rum Masters was declared Cultural Patrimony of Humanity.
There was also no shortage of tributes to personalities such as the dancer and choreographer Ramiro Guerra on his centenary and the Dulce María Loynaz Cervantes Award for the 120th anniversary of her birth.
Between awards and farewells
Pedro Luis Ferrer turned seventy years old in 2022 and chose the James L. Knight in Miami to celebrate his “fruitful and modest artistic work”.
The Cuban-Spanish CHanel Terrero was the third classified in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “SloMo” and gave Spain the best result since 1995 in that event, while in Havana the musician Alexander Abreu won the Cubadisco Grand Prix for his album It will be over in addition to two recognitions in the categories of Dance Music and Sound Design.
The band Síntesis, X Alfonso and Ele Alfonso won the Latin Grammy Award for their album symphonic ancestors, a production that had the advice of the teacher Leo Brouwer and the researcher Natalia Bolívar. The phonogram is included among the 15 best Latin albums of 2022made by the broadcasters of public radio stations in the United States, NPR.
For her work dedicated to music, teacher and composer Tania León became the first music teacher from public universities in New York City to receive the prestigious Kennedy Center Award, along with other figures such as George Clooney and Gladys Knight.
Among the most exciting live shows of 2022 rolling stones highlighted the young musician Erick Iglesias and his band Cimafunk. your disk The food is listed in the Latin Rock/Alternative category of the 2023 Grammy Awards.
The filmmaker Manuel Herrera received the National Film Award for the work of a lifetime and, outside the Cuban borders, Ana de Armas won applause at important festivals around the world for her role in the film Blonde where she embodies the iconic Marylin Monroe. Her critically acclaimed portrayal has so far earned her a nomination for the Golden Globe Awards on January 10.
Jorge Perugorría, Mirtha Ibarra, Luis Alberto García and Ana de Armas deserved the Gold Medal of the Spanish Film Academy “for enriching the cinematography” of that country, according to the board of directors of the institution.
Also in Spain, the filmmakers Pavel Giroud and Carlos Lechuga premiered at the San Sebastian Festival the works: Vincent B. Y The Padilla Case, respectively, both with notable support from specialized critics.
The National Prize for Theater in Cuba went to the actress and teacher Corina Mestre and Humor for actor Mario Aguirre, both with popular careers in radio, film, and television.
The painter Flora Fong received the National Plastic Arts Award and stage designer Eduardo Arrocha was distinguished with the National Dance Award for the work of a lifetime.
Cuba: Eduardo Arrocha is awarded the 2022 National Dance Award
Long awaited and postponed, this year the National Literature Award finally arrived for Holguin writer and poet Delfín Prats.
“Death is a chimera”
Despite all the positive that art brings, the physical departure of various personalities mourned Cuban culture. happened with the singer and producer Suylén Milanésthe playwright Eugenio Hernández Espinosa, the actors Mario Balmaseda, Aurora Basnuevo, Herminia Sánchez, Alexis Díaz de Villegas and Gina Cabrera.
Equally heartfelt were the games of the admired poet and essayist Fina García Marruz, the researcher and musician Radamés Giro, the young dj Ernesto Hidalgo (Tiki Sk8), the painter Cosme Proenza, the soloist Ernesto Bacallao and the artist from Matanzas Agustín Drake.
It was unfortunate to know that the designer Rafael Morante, the painter Carmen Herrera, the researcher Magaly Muguercia, the painter Ernesto Rancano and the musicians José Luis Cortés (El Tosco), Lázaro García, Aurelio de la Vega, Elpidio Chapottín, Mongo Rives and the rapper Osmel Francis.
Paul, eternal
Five months after his last concert at the Ciudad Deportiva de La Habana, the great singer, poet and endearing musician, Pablo Milanés, died. Reactions came from all over the world, social networks were flooded with condolences for his relatives. Hundreds of Cubans living in Spain came to the burning chapel in Madrid to sing his songs and pay him the honors that only a musician of his stature and importance deserves. With Pablo, as expressed by many, a part of Cuba left.
From the publishing world
This year we got the book Celia in Cuba. (1925-1962) by the researcher Rosa Marquetti, published by Desmemoriados Ediciones, Spain, 2022. The work, the only one of its kind written by a Cuban author, has been described by most musicographers, journalists and musicians as a clean and careful portrait, a rigorous analysis from respect and truth.
More than 860 thousand books were sold during the 30th International Book Fair 2022 and more than 800 titles were presented. The novel decent people, by Leonardo Padura, was among the most prominent in Spain and during the International Book Fair in Guadalajara, Mexico, Carlos Manuel Álvarez received the Anagrama de Crónicas Award for intruders.
“Decent People” by Padura, among the outstanding novels of 2022
The writers Rogelio Riverón, Francisco López Sacha and Joaquín Borges Triana won the Alejo Carpentier Prize and the Nicolás Guillén Poetry Prize went to Carlos Esquivel.
For her part, Cuban-American historian Ada Ferrer, author of Cuba: an American History won the Pulitzer Prize for best history book published last year.
the counter to zero
As of January, several record and literary productions have been announced. The National Museum of Fine Arts will celebrate the 110th anniversary of its foundation and the Book Fair will honor the poet Fina García Marruz on her centenary, among other novelties that will make 2023 a better year, according to promises.
