Hip hop has been one of the most dynamic sounds emerging from Cuba over the last fifteen years. With the combination of the US blockade and the collapse of the USSR, the island faced new difficulties in the 1990s, and rap provided young Cubans, inspired by politicized US groups like Public Enemy, with a new form of self-expression. What marks Cuba out as unique, though, is the way in which the government has supported rappers by providing performance spaces, sound equipment and, from 1997, funds for an annual hip hop festival. State officials have embraced hip hop as “the new voice of an island that is besieged and assailed by the US empire” and “the sound of the Revolution, expressing the problems and hopes of young rappers.”

Obsesión, formed in 1996, are among the founding figures of Cuban rap and remain at the centre of the scene, having organized the Cuban hip hop symposium in Havana for the last two years. They have released two CDs and their work has appeared on many internationally released compilations such as ‘The Cuban Hip Hop All Stars.’

Los Paisanos formed in 1999 and have been a fixture of the Havana hip hop festival and the city’s underground rap scene since 2000. Songs from their CD ‘Paisanología’ have become favourites among the capital’s rap fans, and Randy Acosta has emerged as one of the most exciting producers at the uncompromising edge of Cuban hip hop.

Movimientos is an organisation created to bring together and give a voice to the groups, organisations and individuals active in the UK that campaign on Latin America and on issues relating to the continent.

Movimientos has been organising a monthly film and music night, currently based at the Salmon and Compass bar in Islington, for the last two years, with political and social awareness documentary films, speakers and exhibitions as well as the finest in a cross-section of Latin music.

• Wednesday 7th March - Cambridge, Fez Club
• Saturday 10th - Bristol, The Full Moon
• Monday 12th - Norwich, UEA
• Wednesday 14th - Brighton, University of Sussex
• Friday 16th – ULU, London
• Saturday 17th - Nottingham, TBC

For more information on Movimientos, and further details of the tour events in March, visit www.movimientos.org.uk.