Punto Guajiro Highlighted as Humankind's Heritage

The holding of peasant clubs in different scenarios of this central province on Tuesday highlighted Cuba''s Punto Guajiro as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Controversies, tunes and improvisations delight every weekend the followers of that musical expression in Ciego de Avila, where the Punto Guajiro has great representation.

Considered an authentic sonorous genre of the nation's cultural identity, Cuba's Punto Guajiro has its origins in the years of Spanish colonization, and although it was always rooted in rural areas, it has spread to the cities today.

The poet Gualberto Dominguez, from Ciego de Avila, told Prensa Latina that every other Saturday in that territory, peasant parties are held at which groups and improvisers from the community and guests from surrounding provinces perform.

One of the most dynamic peasant music clubs is 'Maria, la Matancera', which in recent days celebrated its 10th anniversary with the participation of representatives of the genre from the provinces of Ciego de Avila and Sancti Spiritus.

Different types of Punto Cubano, tunes, son, boleros, guarachas, sucu sucu and controversies, among other expressions of popular art, enliven every peasant party in the province of Ciego de Avila.

As essential instruments, they use the guitar, the tres, the lute, the claves, the bongos and guiro, which together with the interpretation of a poet achieve high poetic level in ten-line-stanza songs.