Cuba

No place is more defined by its music than Cuba. Music pours out of every doorway and vintage taxicab. A party in Cuba without music? Unthinkable. Indeed, there are three essential elements to a cumbancha (Afro-Cuban slang for party): good company, a bottle of rum and musical instruments (the rum bottle can work, as can tables, boxes, pots, pans and any other household object that makes a noise when banged or plucked). You don’t have to be particularly accomplished, just willing to participate.

From the leading photographer of Cuba, A Taste of Cuba is a stunning culinary and visual journey through Cuba that presents 75 authentic, never-before-shared recipes from the world’s most inventive chefs.

Insight Guide to Cuba is a pictorial travel guide in a magazine style providing answers to the key questions before or during your trip: deciding when to go to Cuba, choosing what to see, from exploring old Havana to discovering Valle de Vinales or creating a travel plan to cover key places like Santiago, Santa Clara. This is an ideal travel guide for travellers seeking inspiration, in-depth cultural and historical information about Cuba as well as a great selection of places to see during your trip.

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Joe Cuba Sextet’s debut album on Tico Records with this remastered reissue. This album set the stage for Joe as a premier Latin artist in late ’60s. The band reinvented the Latin sound several times over, giving salsa some swagger and swing. Starring Puerto Rican singers Jimmy Sabater and Cheo Feliciano, the album’s hits include “El Ratón,” “Niña” and “Flaco’s Cha Cha.”

Cuba: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 2 is the new album compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) that takes off in exactly the same vein as the much-acclaimed Vol. 1 - exploring the many styles that came out of Cuba in the 1970s as Latin and Salsa mixed with heavy doses of Jazz, Funk, and Disco to create some of the most dancefloor-friendly music every made!

Omara Portuondo, Eliades Ochoa, Francisco Repilado (Compay Segundo), Ibrahin Ferrer y Rubén González, all legendary figures of the Cuban music scene, shine in the recording world for their invaluable contribution to the success reached by Buenavista Social Club. This collection offers us five compilations on 5 CD’s, each dedicated to these five legends. They include selected themes of anthologies previously published from these great artists. It also includes a booklet with wide comments of noted musicologists deepening the history of each one of these figures and their significance in the Cuban musical context.

Fidel Castro was powerless, in prison, when the Cuban Revolution was launched - by a tiny woman named Celia Sánchez. A fearless and brilliant organizer and recruiter, she created, nurtured, and led the insurgency that ousted the U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista, the Mafia, the Communist Party of Cuba, and the U.S. capitalists from Cuba in 1959.