Thaindian News

Havana, Aug 1 (IANS/EFE) Cuba will host an international hip hop symposium that will be attended by musicians from Canada, the US, France, Haiti and Colombia, state media reported Sunday, citing organisers.

The symposium will be held Aug 17-21.

The US rap group Intikana, Canadian performers Lu Piensa and Vox Sambox, Haitians Makendi and Edu and Colombians Jaison and Lucia will be among those participating in the event, the Juventud Rebelde newspaper said.

French choreographer Jeison Tousent will offer a breakdance workshop, expert Lao Ernesto Perez, of the Cuban Rap Agency, which is part of the island’s state-run Music Institute, said.

Under the title “Hip Hop for Peace”, more than 70 musicians, deejays, dancers and scholars of the genre will participate in workshops and classes that will discuss this area of music, its movements and expression.

These annual meetings of the Cuban hip hop movement have been held since 2005 to share experiences and performances along with a debate on race, politics, gender violence and the spread of this artistic phenomenon on the communist-ruled island.

Since its emergence more than 15 years ago, the Cuban hip hop movement has oscillated between marginality, “underground” popularity and institutionalisation.

Hip hop, a musical movement based on rap, which was born in the black and Latino neighbourhoods of New York and Los Angeles, began to take hold in Cuba in the early 1990s, having its antecedents in the breakdancing craze.

Cuban rappers say that the island’s version of the genre has its own stamp resulting from the fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz, reggae, funk, soul and rock and roll.

–IANS/EFE
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