HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 22 (acn) The Cuban Music Institute granted its Cubadisco 2009 Honor Prize to the American band Kool and the Gang, visiting the island. The award is granted to musicians whose artistic work constitutes a significant contribution to human improvement.
Cuba’s Culture Minister Abel Prieto presented the award to the band in a warm and informal meeting at the Cuban Music Institute in Havana.
The band’s director Robert Kool Bell, who received the recognition, said the group has been awarded several prizes in the United States, such as the Grammy, but he considers the Cuban prize as one of the most important recognitions they have received throughout their long-standing career.
Kool pointed out that he has visited many places in the world but Cuba is by far the best of all and that they are looking forward to come back.
The musician highly appreciated the love and energy of the more than 250,000 people who attended their concert on Sunday afternoon, who sang their songs and danced all the time.
A group of Cuban musicians who had won awards in the Cubadisco Festival earlier this year such as Felicia Perez, Yazek Manzano and Cesar Pedroso, gave their Cubadisco medals to the members of the American band in a gesture of love and fraternity.
Robert Kool promised that on his next trip to Cuba, he would bring a collection of music scores for the students of the Guillermo Tomás conservatory of Guanabacoa, visited by the band on Monday.
Natividad Valdes, director of the Musical Instruments Factory presented Robert Kool Bell with a tres, a Cuban guitar that has three pairs of strings and is a symbol of Cuban music. The American musicians had enjoyed the sonority of the tres during a concert of Pancho Amat and his group Cabildo del Son.
The concert directed by outstanding tres player Pancho Amat featured other important young Cuban musicians like trumpet player Jazek Manzano, singer-songwriter Eduardo Sosa.
http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/
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