Tag Archives: Dizzy Gillespie

Ana Golja’s Award-Winning Film “The Cuban” to Play at Sunset Barrie Drive-in Theatre

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Ana Golja’s latest project is headed to the big screen in a special way…

The S.N.A.P. Films Inc. production The Cuban, starring the 24-year-old part-Spanish Canadian actress, will play at Ontario’s Sunset Barrie Drive-in Theatre on Tuesday, August 11.

Ana Golja

The film, the third feature from director Sergio Navarretta co-starring legendary Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr., follows the film’s 2019/2020 festival run, including a World Premiere at the Whistler Film Festival, where the film won a Borsos Award for Cinematography, followed by a U.S. premiere in February at the Pan African Film + Arts Festival, where the film won both a Special Programmers Award and the coveted Audience Favorite for Feature Narrative Award.

The Cuban, which Golja produced, had originally been slated to open theatrically in April, but like all film and cultural events had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Ana Golja, The Cuban

However, following a successful and warmly received screening as part of the virtual edition of the Canadian Film Festival on Super Channel, the filmmakers and team at A71 have decided to bring the film to Canadian audiences.

The drive-in release is a natural follow-up to the film’s Toronto premiere event on July 20, opening the Lavazza Drive-In Film Festival presented by the Italian Contemporary Film Festival.

The Cuban is a touching story of a friendship that blossoms through music and the power of the imagination – and the film is incredibly topical at a moment that the world has its eyes on the realities of long-term care.

A naive pre-med student named Mina (Golja) gets her first job in a nursing home and meets an elderly Cuban jazz musician named Luis (Gossett). When the young woman realizes music triggers Luis’ memories, she uses it to break him out of his dementia and to create moments of lucidity and joy.

At the heart of The Cuban is music. In the film, music dissolves the boundaries of age, ethnicity, gender, culture and politics. It bridges the present with the past and has the power to trigger memory and awaken long-forgotten emotions. Afro-Cuban Jazz, permeates The Cuban, drawing in the audience in the same way it draws in the characters. It brings vibrancy and joy to a previously stale environment and it triggers the pulsating, sensuous and colorful world of Luis’ own imagination.

The film’s incredible soundtrack was composed by multi Juno Award winner and Grammy nominated artist, Hilario Duran. Duran grew up and received his musical training in Havana and has since gone on to work with legendary musicians like Chucho Valdes, Dizzy Gillespie and Arturo Sandoval. He is a widely respected piano virtuoso on the international jazz scene.

In addition to Golja and Gossett, The Cuban also stars Shohreh Aghdashloo, Lauren Holly and Giacomo Gianniotti. 

“We are extremely excited to finally be bringing this beautiful and affecting drama to drive-in theatres this summer”, says A71 CEO, Justin Rebelo. “Sergio Navarretta has crafted a thoughtful and moving film with a powerful central performance from one of the truly great actors of our time, Louis Gossett Jr., surrounded by an incredible cast of Canadian and international stars. Another star of the film is the incredible original score by Afro-Cuban artist Hilario Duran. The warmth and lyricism of the music feels like a perfect fit for a hot summer drive-in experience.”

The Cuban was written by Alessandra Piccione and lensed by Celiana Cardenas.

Angelique Kidjo to Perform Celia Cruz Tribute at the Hollywood Bowl

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Prepare to be bowled over by Celia Cruz’s music…

Singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo is set to perform a special tribute to the late Cuban singer, who passed away in July 23 at the age of 77, at the Hollywood Bowl.

Celia Cruz

It’s all part of the 2017 Jazz at the Bowl summer series, kicking off July 19, featuring eight Wednesday evening concerts.

Cruz is hailed as the most popular Latin artist of the 20th century, earning 23 gold albums. She was a recipient of the National Medal of Arts. She was renowned internationally as the “Queen of Salsa“, “La Guarachera de Cuba“, as well as The Queen of Latin Music.

Guided by Herbie Hancock, the L.A. Philharmonic’s creative chair for jazz, this year’s series features performances by a diverse lineup of established and emerging artists, including Kidjo’s Cruz tribute on August 9.

The lineup also includes performances by Jill Scott and the Robert Glasper Experiment, Andra Day, Leslie Odom Jr. and more in a salute to Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie, and Steve Winwood with Mavis Staples.

The complete 2017 Jazz at the Bowl schedule, as well as ticket information, is available at www.HollywoodBowl.com.

Iglesias to Receive Honorary Degree from Berklee College of Music

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It’s one degree of appreciation for Julio Iglesias…

The 71-year-old Spanish singer-songwriter, one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time, will receive an honorary doctor of music degree from Berklee College of Music at the prestigious school’s commencement ceremony next month.

Julio Iglesias

The recognition comes for Iglesias’ achievements and influences in music and for his enduring contributions to American and international culture, according to a press release.

Iglesias, a Grammy winner, has sold more than 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages and released more than 80 albums, with more than 2,600 gold and platinum records certified.

In April 2013, he was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Other honorees this year include Sony Music Entertainment CEO Doug Morris, jazz drummer Harvey Mason and singer-songwriter Dee Dee Bridgewater.

Past honorary degree recipients include Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie, Smokey Robinson, Steven Tyler, Loretta Lynn, David Bowie and Duke Ellington, who was the first to receive this honor in 1971.

The ceremony will be held May 9 at the campus’ Agganis Arena.

Per Berklee’s tradition, on the eve of the commencement ceremony on May 8, students will pay tribute to the honorees by performing music associated with their careers at Agganis Arena. The concert and ceremony are not open to the public.

Garcia Directs Tribute to His Musical Idol Israel Lopez “Cachao” for Martell’s New Cognac Brand Caractère

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No, it’s not a case of déjà vu…

Andy Garcia has, in fact, directed another tribute to his longtime musical idol, Israel Lopez “Cachao.”

Andy Garcia

The 57-year-old Cuban actor first profiled the pioneering Cuban bassist and mambo originator in his 1993 documentary Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos.

Now Garcia has made Cachao the subject of a six-minute film produced for Martell‘s new Caractère cognac brand. The Academy Award-nominated actor, who plays the bongo drums, tells Billboard that he plans to record an album of his own songs with members of the late Cuban great’s band.

“The only thing he asked for in life was for the youth to maintain the traditions,” Garcia says of Cachao in the short, titled Mi Maestro. “And that’s what our relationship was about, maintaining the traditions of Cuban music. And that’s what I’m dedicated to today.”

Cachao is credited with inventing the mambo rhythm together with his brother Orestes Lopez. For decades, Cachao lived quietly in exile in Miami, performing in restaurants and at weddings. Garcia, whose own family left Cuba for South Florida, was often in the audience.

“He took me in not only as a musical protegé but as an extended member of his family,” says Garcia. He brought the aging Cuban musician out of obscurity in Miami with his documentary and, with the help of Emilio Estefan, a breakthrough album, Master Sessions Vol. 1. Garcia produced a total of four Cachao albums before his death in 2008, at age 89.

The Martell short shows the actor in his younger days working in the studio with the Cuban great. In new footage created for the project, he dances along with a group of professional mambo dancers during a jam on the beach.

Garcia is the first “Icon of Caractère” named by Martell in a program for the Hispanic market to promote the launch of the cognac, described by the company as representing “the true man of character.” The actor directed and narrates the short, which he presented at a screening event in Los Angeles last week (February 11).

In addition to appearing from time to time with the Cineson Allstars, Garcia has been writing songs and is “threatening to record an album with my original music” performed by the Cuban band, he tells Billboard. He recently collaborated with trumpet player Arturo Sandoval on the score for At Middleton, the January release he stars in with Vera Farmiga.

Garcia revealed another music-related project he has on the back burner: a movie about Chano Pozo, the Afro-Cuban conga player who collaborated with Dizzy Gillespie to create some of the most important music in the history of Latin Jazz. At age 33, The Havana-born Pozo was killed by a bookie in a bar in Harlem during a fight over a drug deal.