DJ Gilles Peterson among the acts at Little Havana Festival

Date Published: 02-Jun-2010

THE wonderful Cuban All Stars will kick off Galway’s newest festival, the Little Havana Festival which is taking place in the city’s Latin Quarter this weekend,

The three-day programme of mostly-free events brings the rhythms and sounds of Havana to the medieval streets of Galway as Latino DJs and percussionists and a range of related daytime street activities, promise to transform the district into a mini- Cuba.

The festival kicks off at 7pm on Friday with an outdoor performance on Mainguard Street followed at 8pm by the colourful Carnaval Parade of pulsating percussion and performance through the streets of the Latin Quarter. The street entertainment that evening concludes with the energetic and exciting Rumba Caliente.

On Saturday, DJ Giles Peterson presents Havana Cultura upstairs in Kelly’s Bar, Bridge Street. Gilles Peterson is a world-renowned tastemaker who has been entertaining millions since the late 1980s. His never-ending quest for the perfect beat led him recently to Havana. It was an experiment to witness the effect new Cuban sounds would have on him and vice-versa. He describes as a ‘musical mélange’ – something new, something fresh, and something not just Buena Vista Social Club . . . .bringing together the street, the urban and the more traditional’.

Tickets for this kicking show are €15, doors 10pm.

Other highlights include London based six-piece Cuban Combination, Sabor Cubano, DJ Florian Bravo, Rumba Caliente and the Cuban Combination. These shows can be caught in venues from High Street to the Spanish Arch and admission to many of the shows is free.