The band Akorin Cuba, directed by the oboe player Gema Celia Merlo Rivero, will be the host of the new cultural show Mis Raíces, having the House of Chinese Arts and Traditions as venue, located at #313, between Gervasio and Escobar, in the municipality of Centro Habana.

In this event, which will take place for the first time on March 9th, at 2 pm, Akorin Cuba will perform: Preludio y Danza de los Peces, by the Chinese ballet La Sirenita; the suite Ancestros y Zixuan, and the Afro-Cuban songs Eggun, Orichaoko, Babà Sire, and Babà Shangò.

The show will take place once a month, and after April, it will occur at 3 pm, on the third Saturday of every month.

In a conversation with the band’s director, we learned that besides spreading Akorin Cuba’s music, the event will also make public the life and work of several personalities of Cuban society with Chinese ascendency.

This will be done through online interviews, which will alternate with the host’s music, who rises up as a representative of genres worldwide, focusing on Cuban ones.

The personality invited to the next event will be Dr. María Teresa Montes de Oca Choy, a full professor and consultant of History of Asia and president of the Group for Chinese Migration Studies of the University of Havana.

The scholar will present matters of great interest for the understanding of our national history from a multicultural perspective.

The band Akorin Cuba is formed by 8 members organized in string quartet, Cuban percussion, two vocalists and a DJ; though Gema (the director) sometimes alternates oboe playing with singing, as a display of professional versatility.  

Translated by Armando Hernández Vizoso

Edited by Francisco Martínez Chao