Last week in Havana we saw a fantastic celebration of British culture. Once a year, as in many other countries in the world, the Embassy organises a BritWeek when we put on a variety of events. In Havana our cinema programme included the Cuban-British film, The Day of the Flowers. Obra Blue/Orange, put on by British director Stephen Bayly and performed by Cuban group La Peña Meisner, gripped and challenged theatre audiences. Music highlights were the +Verde Festival in the Morro-Cabaña and the Tremendonga Party; at both Cuban artists mixed or played British songs. Every night we had a Secret Party in one of the new private restaurants where British cocktails and food were served or music was played.
You might be starting to detect an emerging theme here. A lot of the events weren’t simply British but were a mix of British and Cuban culture, a fusion of the two. The Day of the Flowers for example is the story of two Scottish women who take the ashes of their Cuban father back to Cuba – it’s filmed in both Scotland and Cuba and includes Cuban and British actors. Meanwhile, Blue/Orange was written by a British playwright, Joe Penhall, won prizes when first performed in London and has now been translated into Spanish for the performances in Havana (where it deserves to win prizes too). And at the Tremendonga Party, Cuban band Qva Libre sang ‘We will rock you’ to 4,000 adoring fans. I don’t lay any claim to being a great commentator on culture and I’m sure that reams of newsprint and digital text have been written about the pros and cons of cultural fusion but for me, these events were some of the real highlights of Britweek in Havana. They were intriguing, challenging and amusing. Fascinating and fun; isn’t that what you want from a good slice of culture?
You might ask though why we bother with Britweek. It’s a lot of work – a lot of people worked some very long hours in Havana to make sure it was a success – and costs a fair amount of money. These resources – people and money – could have been deployed elsewhere if we hadn’t organised Britweek. It’s a good question and there are two very good answers. The first is that culture is a fantastic way for people to engage with other countries. Through it we learn a lot about the world, about different points of view, about different people. I’ve certainly learned a lot about Cuba through some of the wonderful cultural events I’ve attended since I’ve been here. During Britweek Cubans saw a side of the UK they are not very familiar with; they will have learned that the UK is diverse, modern, creative, open and green. These aren’t qualities they normally associate with the UK (we know, we’ve asked them). Now I hope more of them do.
The other reason is that the creative industries are a big part of the British economy – approximately 6% of GDP. The UK is the second biggest exporter of music worldwide, there are over 100 film studios in the UK and a quarter of the world’s video games are produced there. The creative industries sector employs over 2 million people in the UK. It’s a sector that matters to us and matters to Cuba too. Culture isn’t just about going to the theatre or cinema or watching a DVD; it’s jobs, salaries and opportunity. The Day of the Flowers took 7 weeks to shoot in Cuba then 18 months in post-production and involved the employment of about 160 Cubans. That’s good business. And good fusion.
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Dear Tim and Rhys,
thanks a lot for these kind of help and support.
Best wishes , hawyl faur ond ne schöne Zeit
Dear Rhys ,
thank you very much for your response and information.
I ´m sure that the British Week in 2014 will be an outstanding event !
Best wishes, Ingo-Steven, Stuttgart
Dear Tim,
when I was a child in the “80 -ies” I often did listen to a song by US/Britwave Band called “Sparks”.Title. “Get in the Swing”, peaked up the UK-Charts at ‘ 5, the West- German ones at # 7 , both in Autumn ´85. I ´m only writing this to you for I really do believe , that after I ´ve read yr. great story for 3-times , that some of this songs lyrics are sthg. like a continuation to yr. article . I.e.: ” Day of the Flowers”. The song, performed by Cuban group “La Pena Meisner” or this Premendonga Party . By the way : If you are really serious by asking us :” Why do we bother you with Britweek ?” I ´m only able to answe : Can anybody bother such a fantastic Brit – culture week in Cuba ? Can ´t imagine this. Can ´t know all of the
hard work behind the performances. So, respect. Or in other words : I do full agree to you that culture isn ´t just sthg. like simply going to a movoeshow or listen to British, Spanish or Cuban groups. In my opinion it ´s much more an intercultural exchange between peopl from – in this case – the Carib/Cuban area and the British people. It ´s learning and discussing between 2 or 3 total different life- styles. So diversity or variety on a cultural level is the key. To conclude : Pls. allow me to end by just adding some few lyrics of “get inthe Swing”. You ´ll see , that they are very suitable. “Get i the swing, just get in the swing with your body and everything / All you people , all you peple let your bells ring, ring/ Get in the swing and let art sing / In Cuba, Timbuktu, Port of Spain or prison “Sing-Sing”/ So get in the swing, so get in the swing / Even Castro ´s swinging and so is Ho-Chi – Minh…(Written & Composed by Russell and Ron Mael, released on Island Records LTD, London /UK ). One last remark: I ´m Welsh-German. So I ´ve missed a little bit , that no Welsh artist has been invited to BritWeek Cuba. But dear Tim, it ´s NO critic. Only a little rmnder for next year. Maybe I can join then as a volounteer . Best wishes , Hawyl faur, liebste Grüßle, Ingo-Steven Wais , Stuttgart/Caerdydd
Hi Ingo-Steven. Tim is on leave right now but I wanted to reply on his behalf. We’re glad you are enjoying the blog. I agree about the comparisons between the Villa Clara baseball team and the Dutch football team – as well as playing in orange, both are highly successful sporting outfits. And of course Cuba’s baseball team is in the Netherlands this week competing in the World Port Tournament. Thank you too for the warm words about British Week. It was a really successful and diverse week and we are very grateful to everyone who helped make it happen. There were unfortunately no Welsh artists involved this time but we would love to hear from artists from Wales – and all parts of the UK of course – as we plan for another British Week in 2014. The more we can showcase British talent and diversity, the better.
Rhys