The real “Salsa”

According to Juan Foyette, Cultural Promoter of the National Black Ethnic Group Council, this event was organized to show the public: “how important it is to recognize where the Cu-Bop music originated.”

The project documents Afro-Cuban Jazz all the way through to Be-Bop, helping refresh the public's memory on where Cuban music came from by exploring Cuban genres such as 'Danzon' from the 1870's to Cu-Bop by Chano-Gillespie in 1947.

At the event, the organizers will talk about the contributions made by Cuban musicians and their influence in the music market over the years.

“It will be a manifestation of the composers of Cuban music”, said 72 year old Gregorio Hernandez a well known Cuban personality and one of the “Cuban Brothers” behind the organization of “Cu Bop, La Gran Fusion”.

Besides being an Abakuá, a member of a popular Cuban secret society created in the first decade of the XIX century as a reaction to hostility towards slaves and the black man, Hernandez is also an investigator and professor at the Are Superior Institute.

Pedro Luis Martinez one of the Cuban musicians and collaborators involved in the event says that the goal of the group is to teach the public why the term “salsa” is misused, and how the music genre it represents is just a fusion of different Cuban musical elements.

With the project they would like to counteract the cultural and economic consequences of using the term “salsa” by dissecting the so-called music into different Cuban music genres.

The event “Cu Bop, La Gran Fusion” (The Great Fusion) will be held Thursday March 26 at 7:00 p.m. at the 'Anita Villalaz' theater. The entrance is free however they will accept donations to support the “Cuban Brothers” work.