1.
Cuba
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Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and it is south of both the U. S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti, and north of Jamaica. Havana is the largest city and capital, other cities include Santiago de Cuba. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of 109,884 square kilometres, prior to Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian tribes. It remained a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, as a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Further unrest and instability led to Batistas ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nuclear war broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America, Cuba is a Marxist–Leninist one-party republic, where the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of human rights abuses. It is one of the worlds last planned economies and its economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee, according to the Human Development Index, Cuba is described as a country with high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America. It also ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including health care, the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language. The exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant, authors who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal. Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Taíno, the Guanajatabey, and the Ciboney people. The ancestors of the Ciboney migrated from the mainland of South America, the Taíno arrived from Hispanola sometime in the 3rd century A. D. When Columbus arrived they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having a population of 150,000. The name Cuba comes from the native Taíno language and it is derived from either coabana meaning great place, or from cubao meaning where fertile land is abundant. The Taíno were farmers, while the Ciboney were farmers as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers, Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain and named it Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias. In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa, other towns soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital
2.
Havana
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Havana is the capital city, largest city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city extends mostly westward and southward from the bay, which is entered through a narrow inlet, the sluggish Almendares River traverses the city from south to north, entering the Straits of Florida a few miles west of the bay. King Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of City in 1592, walls as well as forts were built to protect the old city. The sinking of the U. S. battleship Maine in Havanas harbor in 1898 was the cause of the Spanish–American War. Contemporary Havana can essentially be described as three cities in one, Old Havana, Vedado and the suburban districts. The city is the center of the Cuban government, and home to various ministries, headquarters of businesses, the current mayor is Marta Hernández of the Communist Party of Cuba. In 2009, the city/province had the third highest income in the country, the city attracts over a million tourists annually, the Official Census for Havana reports that in 2010 the city was visited by 1,176,627 international tourists, a 20% increase from 2005. Old Havana was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, the city is also noted for its history, culture, architecture and monuments. As typical of Cuba, Havana also features a tropical climate, in May 2015, Havana was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, Doha, La Paz, Durban, Beirut, and Kuala Lumpur. Most native settlements became the site of Spanish colonial cities retaining their original Taíno names, an alternate theory is that Habana is derived from the Middle Dutch word havene, referring to a harbour, etymologically related to the English word haven. All attempts to found a city on Cubas south coast failed, however, an early map of Cuba drawn in 1514 places the town at the mouth of this river. The town that became Havana finally originated adjacent to what was then called Puerto de Carenas, the quality of this natural bay, which now hosts Havanas harbor, warranted this change of location. Pánfilo de Narváez gave Havana – the sixth town founded by the Spanish on Cuba – its name, the name combines San Cristóbal, patron saint of Havana. Shortly after the founding of Cubas first cities, the served as little more than a base for the Conquista of other lands. Havana began as a port, and suffered regular attacks by buccaneers, pirates. The first attack and resultant burning of the city was by the French corsair Jacques de Sores in 1555, ships from all over the New World carried products first to Havana, in order to be taken by the fleet to Spain. The thousands of ships gathered in the bay also fueled Havanas agriculture and manufacture, since they had to be supplied with food, water. On December 20,1592, King Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of City, later on, the city would be officially designated as Key to the New World and Rampart of the West Indies by the Spanish Crown
3.
Son cubano
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Son cubano is a genre of music and dance that originated in the highlands of eastern Cuba during the late 19th century. It is a genre that amalgamates elements of Spanish and African origin. Among its fundamental Hispanic components are the style, lyrical metre. On the other hand, its characteristic clave rhythm, call and response structure, around 1909 the son reached Havana, where the first recordings were made in 1917. This marked the start of its expansion throughout the island, becoming Cubas most popular, while early groups had between three and five members, during the 1920s the sexteto became the genres primary format. By the 1930s, many bands had incorporated a trumpet, becoming septetos, and in the 1940s a larger type of ensemble featuring congas and piano became the norm, the cojunto. Besides, the son became one of the ingredients in the jam sessions known as descargas that flourished during the 1950s. The international presence of the son can be traced back to the 1930s when many bands toured Europe and North America, similarly, radio broadcasts of son became popular in West Africa and the Congos, leading to the development of hybrid genres such as Congolese rumba. In the 1960s, New Yorks music scene prompted the rapid success of salsa, in Spanish, the word son, from Latin sonus, denotes a pleasant sound, particularly a musical one. In eastern Cuba, the term began to be used to refer to the music of the highlands towards the late 19th century, to distinguish it from similar genres from other countries, the term son cubano is most commonly used. In Cuba, various qualifiers are used to distinguish the variants of the genre. These include son montuno, son oriental, son santiaguero and son habanero, Son singers are generally known as soneros, and the verb sonear describes not only their singing but also their vocal improvisation. The adjective soneado refers to songs and styles which incorporate the tempo and syncopation of the son, generally, there is an explicit diffenrece between styles that incorporate elements of the son partially or totally, as evidenced by the distinction between bolero soneado and bolero-son. The term sonora refers to conjuntos with smoother trumpet sections such as Sonora Matancera and Sonora Ponceña, although the history of Cuban music dates back to the 16th century, the son is a relatively recent musical invention whose precursors emerged in the mid-to-late 19th century. Musicologists agree that the ancestors of the son appeared in Cubas Oriente Province. These forms flourished in the context of rural parties such as guateques, where bungas were known to perform, such early guitars are thought to have given rise to the tres some time around 1890 in Baracoa. The addition of a section composed of percussion instruments such as the bongó. Due to the very little historiographical and ethnomusicological research devoted to the son and this fallacy stemmed from the apocryphal origin story of a folk song known as Son de Má Teodora
4.
Buena Vista Social Club
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The original Buena Vista Social Club held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s. The recording, named Buena Vista Social Club after the Havana institution, became a success. The success of both the album and film sparked a revival of interest in traditional Cuban music and Latin American music in general, some of the Cuban performers later released well-received solo albums and recorded collaborations with stars from different musical genres. The Buena Vista Social Club was a club located in the populous Marianao neighborhood. Buena Vista means good view in Spanish, according to Juan Cruz, a former master of ceremonies at the Salon Rosado Benny Moré nightclub in Havana, the club was located on Calle 31 between 46 and 48. When musicians Ry Cooder, Compay Segundo and a crew attempted to identify the location of the club in the 1990s. The club was run along the lines of a Cabildo, a community dating back to Spanish colonialism. According to American guitarist Ry Cooder, Prominent musicians who performed at the club during the 1930s and 1940s include bassist Cachao López and this had an immediate impact on the livelihoods of local entertainers. Consequently, the cultural and social centers were abolished, including the Afro-Cuban mutual aid Sociedades de Color in 1962, private festivities were limited to weekend parties and organizers funds were confiscated. The measures meant the closure of the Buena Vista Social Club, the emergence of pop music and salsa, a style derived from Cuban music but developed in the United States, meant that son music became even less common. Groups such as Los Van Van and Irakere established modern forms of Cuban music, paving the way for new rhythms, Cubas dance music had already inspired a change from the older son-style dances, as younger Cubans broke free of step-oriented dances. On Cooders arrival, it transpired that the musicians from Mali had not received their visas and were unable to travel to Havana, Cooder and Gold changed their plans and decided to record an album of Cuban son music with local musicians. A search for additional musicians led the team to singer Manuel Puntillita Licea, pianist Rubén González and octogenarian singer Compay Segundo, the sessions also produced material for the subsequent release, Introducing. Rubén González, which showcased the work of the Cuban pianist. One of the songs featured on the album was Buena Vista Social Club, a song written by Orestes López. The song spotlighted the piano work of Rubén González and it was recorded after Cooder heard González improvising around the musical theme before a days recording session. After playing the piece, González explained to Cooder the history of the social club, when searching for a name for the overall project, manager Nick Gold chose the songs title. According to Cooder, Upon release on 17 September 1997, the CD became a word of mouth hit. It sold more than five copies and won a Grammy award in 1998
5.
Gorillaz
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Gorillaz are a British virtual band created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. The band consists of four animated members, 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle and these members are fictional and are not personas of any real life musicians involved in the project. Their fictional universe is explored through the website and music videos, as well as a number of other media. In reality, Albarn is the only permanent musical contributor, writers and critics have described their music as alternative rock, Britpop, trip hop, hip hop, electronica, indie, dub, reggae and pop. The bands 2001 debut album Gorillaz sold over seven million copies and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2001, but the nomination was later withdrawn at the bands request. Their second studio album Demon Days went five times platinum in the UK, the band has won other awards, including one Grammy Award, two MTV Video Music Awards, an NME Award, three MTV Europe Music Awards, and have been nominated for nine Brit Awards. The bands third album, Plastic Beach, was released in March 2010. Their fourth studio album called The Fall was released in December 2010 as a download for fan club members. After a five-year hiatus, Gorillaz announced their fifth studio album Humanz, musician Damon Albarn and comic book artist Jamie Hewlett met in 1990 when guitarist Graham Coxon, a fan of Hewletts work, asked him to interview Blur, a band Albarn and Coxon had recently formed. The interview was published in Deadline magazine, home of Hewletts comic strip, Hewlett initially thought Albarn was arsey, a wanker, despite becoming acquaintances with the band, they often did not get on, especially after Hewlett began seeing Coxons ex-girlfriend Jane Olliver. Despite this, Albarn and Hewlett started sharing a flat on Westbourne Grove in London in 1997, Hewlett had recently broken up with Olliver and Albarn was at the end of his highly publicised relationship with Justine Frischmann of Elastica. The idea to create Gorillaz came about when Albarn and Hewlett were watching MTV, Hewlett said, If you watch MTV for too long, its a bit like hell – theres nothing of substance there. So we got this idea for a band, something that would be a comment on that. Although not released under the Gorillaz name, Albarn has said one of the first ever Gorillaz tunes was Blurs 1997 single On Your Own. The bands first release was the EP Tomorrow Comes Today, released in 2000, the bands first single was Clint Eastwood and was released on 5 March 2001, reaching No.4 in the UK. The Phi Life Cypher version of Clint Eastwood appears on the B-side album G Sides, Later that same month, their first full-length album, the self-titled Gorillaz, was released, producing four singles, Clint Eastwood, 19-2000, Tomorrow Comes Today, and Rock the House. In June 2001, 19–2000 charted at No.6 in the UK, the end of the year brought the song 911, a collaboration between Gorillaz and hip hop group D12 and Terry Hall about the September 11 attacks. Gorillaz performed at the 2002 Brit Awards in London on 22 February, the band was nominated for four Brit Awards, including Best British Group, Best British Album and Best British Newcomer, but did not win any awards
6.
Santiago de Cuba
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Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some 870 km south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana. Historically Santiago de Cuba has long been the second most important city on the island after Havana and it is on a bay connected to the Caribbean Sea and is an important sea port. In 2004 the city of Santiago de Cuba had a population of about 509,143 people, Santiago de Cuba was the fifth village founded by Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar on July 25,1515. In 1516 the settlement was destroyed by fire, and was immediately rebuilt and this was the starting point of the expeditions led by Juan de Grijalba and Hernán Cortés to the coasts of Mexico in 1518, and in 1538 by Hernando de Sotos expedition to Florida. The first cathedral was built in the city in 1528, from 1522 until 1589 Santiago was the capital of the Spanish colony of Cuba. The city was plundered by French forces in 1553, and by British forces under Christopher Myngs in 1662, the city experienced an influx of French and British immigrants in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, many coming from Haiti after the Haitian slave revolt of 1791. This added to the citys cultural mix, already rich with Spanish. It was also the location where Spanish troops faced their main defeat at San Juan Hill on July 1,1898, after capturing the surrounding hills, General William Rufus Shafter laid siege to the city. Spain later surrendered to the United States after Admiral William T. Sampson destroyed the Spanish Atlantic fleet just outside Santiagos harbor on July 3,1898, Cuban poet, writer, and national hero, José Martí, is buried in Cementerio Santa Efigenia. Pope Francis visited Cuba in 2015, Santiago was also the home of the revolutionary hero, Frank País. On July 26,1953, the Cuban Revolution began with an armed attack on the Moncada Barracks by a small contingent of rebels led by Fidel Castro. Shortly after this incident, País began talking with students and young working people informally. This developed into highly organized cells coordinating a large scale urban resistance that became instrumental in the success of the Cuban Revolution, País group prepared carefully, accruing weapons, collecting money, collecting medical supplies. They published a newsletter that reported news that criticized the government. In the summer of 1955, País organization merged with Castros July 26 Movement, País became the leader of the new organization in Oriente province, though two years later he was betrayed to the police and was shot after his capture. On January 1,1959, Fidel Castro proclaimed the victory of the Cuban Revolution from a balcony on Santiago de Cubas city hall, Santiago de Cuba was the hometown of poet José María Heredia. It is the birthplace of the world-famous Bacardi Brand, which was started by Facundo Bacardi Masso in 1862 and it now houses a museum that displays the extensive art collection of the Bacardí family. Santiago de Cuba is well known for its cultural life, some of Cubas most famous musicians, including Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer and Eliades Ochoa and trova composer Ñico Saquito were born in the city or in one of the villages surrounding it
7.
Street performance
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Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries the rewards are generally in the form of money but other such as food. Street performance is practiced all over the world by men, women and children, People engaging in this practice are called street performers or buskers. Performances are anything that people find entertaining, the term busking was first noted in the English language around the middle 1860s in Great Britain. The verb to busk, from the word busker, comes from the Spanish root word buscar, the Spanish word buscar in turn evolved from the Indo-European word *bhudh-skō. It was used for many acts, and title of a famous Spanish book about one of them. Today, the word is used in Spanish but mostly relegated for female street sex workers. There have been performances in places for gratuities in every major culture in the world. For many musicians street performance was the most common means of employment before the advent of recording and personal electronics. Prior to that, a person had to any music or entertainment, save for a few mechanical devices such as the barrel organ, the music box. Organ grinders were commonly found busking in the old days, Busking is common among some Romani people, who are called gypsies, a description that is no longer socially acceptable in some societies. Romantic mention of Romani music, dancers and fortune tellers are found in all forms of poetry, prose. The Roma brought the word busking to England by way of their travels along the Mediterranean coast to Spain and the Atlantic Ocean and then up north to England, in medieval France buskers were known by the terms troubadours and jongleurs. In northern France they were known as trouveres, in old German buskers were known as Minnesingers and Spielleute. In obsolete French it evolved to busquer for seek, prowl and was used to describe prostitutes. In Russia buskers are called skomorokh and their first recorded history appears around the 11th century, mariachis, Mexican bands that play a style of music by the same name, frequently busk when they perform while traveling through streets and plazas, as well as in restaurants and bars. Around the mid-19th century Japanese Chindonya started to be using their skills for advertising. Another Japanese street performance form dating from the Edo period is Nankin Tamasudare, in the United States, medicine shows proliferated in the 19th century
8.
Drum
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The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone, Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the players hands, or with a drum stick, to produce sound. There is usually a head on the underside of the drum. Other techniques have been used to cause drums to make sound, Drums are the worlds oldest and most ubiquitous musical instruments, and the basic design has remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years. Drums may be played individually, with the using a single drum. Others are normally played in a set of two or more, all played by the one player, such as drums and timpani. A number of different drums together with form the basic modern drum kit. Drums are usually played by striking with the hand, or with one or two sticks, in many traditional cultures, drums have a symbolic function and are used in religious ceremonies. Drums are often used in therapy, especially hand drums, because of their tactile nature. In popular music and jazz, drums usually refers to a kit or a set of drums. Drums acquired even divine status in places such as Burundi, where the karyenda was a symbol of the power of the king, the shell almost invariably has a circular opening over which the drumhead is stretched, but the shape of the remainder of the shell varies widely. In the western tradition, the most usual shape is a cylinder, although timpani, for example. Other shapes include a design, truncated cones, goblet shaped. Drums with cylindrical shells can be open at one end, or can have two drum heads, single-headed drums typically consist of a skin stretched over an enclosed space, or over one of the ends of a hollow vessel. Drums with two heads covering both ends of a shell often have a small hole somewhat halfway between the two heads, the shell forms a resonating chamber for the resulting sound. Exceptions include the African slit drum, also known as a log drum as it is made from a tree trunk. Drums with two heads can also have a set of wires, called snares, held across the head, top head. The heads tension can be adjusted by loosening or tightening the rods, many such drums have six to ten tension rods
9.
Latin Grammy Award for Best New Artist
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The award is given to solo artists or groups that first establish an identity to the public as a performer and release a Spanish or Portuguese language recording during the period of eligibility. In 2012, the Academy announced the category would include ten nominees to reflect changes within the music industry, the award for Best New Artist was first presented to the Cuban performer Ibrahim Ferrer in 2000. Benefiting from the release of the documentary Buena Vista Social Club, the next three award recipients were Juanes, Jorge Moreno, and David Bisbal. In 2004, Brazilian singer Maria Rita became the first female winner, Spanish singer-songwriter Bebe announced her retirement one year after receiving the 2005 award, however, she returned to the music business five years later with the release of her second album, Y. The bands Calle 13 and Jesse & Joy won the two awards, followed by singers Kany García, Alexander Acha, Alex Cuba, Sie7e, Mexican DJs 3Ball MTY, Gaby Moreno. The award has been presented to six male and five female artists, 3Ball MTY, Calle 13, Jesse & Joy, since its inception, the award has been presented to musicians or groups originating from Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Spain. ^ Each year is linked to the article about the Latin Grammy Awards held that year, Grammy Award for Best New Artist Lo Nuestro Award for New Artist of the Year Official site of the Latin Grammy Awards
10.
September 11 attacks
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The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11,2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia and it was the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively. Suspicion for the attack fell on al-Qaeda. The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. Although al-Qaedas leader, Osama bin Laden, initially denied any involvement, al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U. S. support of Israel, the presence of U. S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives. Having evaded capture for almost a decade, bin Laden was located and killed by SEAL Team Six of the U. S. Navy in May 2011. S. many closings, evacuations, and cancellations followed, out of respect or fear of further attacks. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site was completed in May 2002, on November 18,2006, construction of One World Trade Center began at the World Trade Center site. The building was opened on November 3,2014. The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan and helped organize Arab mujahideen to resist the Soviets. Under the guidance of Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden became more radical, in 1996, bin Laden issued his first fatwā, calling for American soldiers to leave Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden used Islamic texts to exhort Muslims to attack Americans until the stated grievances are reversed, Muslim legal scholars have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries, according to bin Laden. Bin Laden, who orchestrated the attacks, initially denied but later admitted involvement, in November 2001, U. S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In the video, bin Laden is seen talking to Khaled al-Harbi, on December 27,2001, a second bin Laden video was released. In the video, he said, It has become clear that the West in general and it is the hatred of crusaders. Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, the transcript refers several times to the United States specifically targeting Muslims. He said that the attacks were carried out because, we are free, and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours, Bin Laden said he had personally directed his followers to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
