Longina Sings to Corona Troubadour Festival Returns to Santa Clara Starting Tomorrow

The 30th Longina Sings to Corona Troubadour Festival will take place from January 7 to 11 in the center of the country. This year's event is dedicated to the Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez.

A highlight many are anticipating is the conversation between Silvio Rodríguez and troubadours, scheduled for next Saturday, January 10, at the Provincial Martí Library in Santa Clara. The wisdom of "El aprendiz de brujo" will be shared, providing a fitting moment to discuss music, songs, poetry, chords, and inspiration, as well as emotions, convictions, loyalties, and integrity.

This new feature of the festival will allow attendees to connect with the human being, the creator, the artist, the man of thought and legacy to whom this edition is dedicated. Consequently, the concert on Friday, January 9, at 9:00 p.m. at the Camilo Cinema and the exhibition by photojournalist Kaloian Santos Cabrera, titled Carto (fotografía) de una gira de Silvio, will be inaugurated on the first day at 5:00 p.m. in the Pórtico Gallery.

The festival, sponsored annually by the Hermanos Saíz Association, will also express the repudiation of all the young Cuban creators and those from different parts of the world in attendance towards the United States' attack on Venezuela. Will Silvio sing, play...?, many ask. Whether he does or not, many of his songs have already become anthems for just causes, like the one Cuba supports.

The 30th edition of the well-known Longina festival—in permanent tribute to Manuel Corona—also offers special moments at the theater of the Central University "Marta Abreu" of Las Villas, the Casa del Joven Creador, the Centro Latinoamericano, the Mejunje and Luna Naranja cultural centers, the provincial Uneac headquarters, the Guiñol Theater, and the Museum of Decorative Arts. Events will also be held in various spaces in Manicaragua, Santo Domingo, and Caibarién. In the latter city, a pilgrimage to the tomb of the author of Longina, Santa Cecilia, and Aurora, among other songs, will take place.

Another highly anticipated concert will be the one at Mejunje on Saturday, January 10, at 9:00 p.m., featuring the 2025 National Music Prize winner, Amaury Pérez Vidal, who has not performed in the country for years.

Among others, Cubans Nelson Valdés, Adrián Berazaín, Tony Ávila, Marta Campos, Rey Montalvo, Ariel Barreiros, Pedro Beritán, Yeni Turiño, Lucía Travieso, Jesús Pérez, Santa Massiel, Erick Sánchez, Dúo Mango, Roly Berrío, Irina González, Enrique Téllez, Leonardo García, and members of the Trovuntitis will share their art.

From other latitudes, artists performing in Santa Clara will include members of Ella Trova from Colombia; Ernesto Luis from Venezuela; Xóchitl Ramos and Darío Parga from Mexico; Anita Tripodi Paz from Argentina; and Tobias Thiele from Germany, among others. They will join those born on this island to assert the power of song in these tumultuous times.