At the conclusion of the diplomatic reception in Barbados on the 58th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, Havana Ensemble, a group of 13 talented music students from Barbados Community College (BCC), pleasantly surprised everyone in attendance with an excellent performance directed by their teacher, Darren Massiah, as they combined several Cuban rhythms that spread the public to dance with Cuban officials and collaborators. The additional surprise was the interpretation of most songs in Spanish language; among them a very symbolic one, "Hasta Siempre, Comandante" by popular singer Carlos Puebla, which was dedicated to the memory of commanders Che Guevara and Fidel Castro and which was toned down and/or hummed by almost all the audience gathered in the Grande Salle Of Frank Collymore Hall. This is the second experience of this type, since the Cuban Embassy discovered this opportunity during the visit to the BCC in 2015, encouraging Professor Darren to make his first presentation on October 20 of that year as part of the celebration of the Cuban Day of the National Culture. As they posed for a photo for the memory with the group, the Cuban Ambassador thanked their excellent work and highlighted it as an example of the cultural integration of our sister Caribbean nations.
