
The first year of Cuban concerts online
The country’s Institute of Music, Ministry of Culture and Institute of Radio and Television took action to make sure the population could continue to enjoy music during the pandemic
One year of Cuban music online was celebrated March 24, when the #EstamosContigo #MúsicosporCuba project was launched a few days after first case of Covid-19 was detected in the country.
One of the most special moments among these broadcasts was a March 15, 2020, concert that David Blanco and his group transmitted live, online, from his home.
At the proposal of the Cuban Institute of Music and the Ministry of Culture, in alliance with the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, a strategy to prevent a musical vacuum amidst the pandemic’s expansion would take shape, providing an example in the effort to keep creation alive, and bring joy to the people caught in an epidemiological emergency of quarantine and isolation that would save more than a few lives.
The concerts were broadcast at 4:30 pm on Cuban television’s Clave channel, Radio Progreso radio station, the Ministry of Culture and the Institute’s YouTube channels, and via streaming on more than 130 Facebook pages. According to data presented by the Cuban Institute of Music to Granma, in this first year of broadcasting, 262 programs #EstamosContigo and #MúsicosporCuba were broadcast on television, with 226 artistic groups participating, including more than 3500 musicians.