• Submitted by: manso
• Arts and Culture
• 10 / 22 / 2010

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2010.10.21 - 13:55:13 / [email protected]. LAS TUNAS, CUBA.- The Cuban audience at the Tunas Theater give Swiss traditional band Distelfinken a big ovation after its first concert in the eastern province of Las Tunas, Cuba.

The orchestra made up of women played songs by Märku Hafner, a Swiss composer who has worked hard to promote the Helvetian cultural roots. The repertoire was a display of different Swiss folkloric rhythms.

Distelfinken had previously played in the cities of Cienfuegos and Camaguey as part of an ongoing tour of the island sponsored by the Swiss embassy in Havana, the Association of Musicians within the National Association of Cuban Writers and Artists, and by the Office of the Historian of Havana.

According to statements to ACN by director and guitar player Marie-Line Meyenhofer, the musicians have been surprised by the enthusiasm with which the concerts have been received by locals.

The idea of traveling to Cuba emerged in 2008 —she said— after a series of presentations with flute player Antipe Da Stella,
in which we saw the excellent reception of the Swiss folkloric music and the willingness of Cuban cultural institutions to facilitate this type of exchange.

Distelfinken was created in 2007 in the city of Diessenhofen, located to the north of the Switzerland, as a part of community-based project that sought favor intergenerational communication through music and culture.

Source: ACN