Cuban artists, exponents of bolero music have expressed their support for an ongoing campaign seeking to declare the music genre as National Intangible Cultural Heritage. In that sense, the artists highlighted the strong influence of the genre, which emerged over 150 years ago, on contemporary Cuban music and culture.
Cuban musicologist and popular music expert Rafael Lara, said the campaign will culminate with the official declaration of bolero music as Intangible Heritage of the Cuban Nation on August 24th, coinciding with the 102nd birthday anniversary of Cuban singer, songwriter and bandleader Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré -- better known as Benny Moré—one of the greatest all-time exponents of the music genre.
Declaring bolero music as intangible heritage of the nation means an essential step forward toward asking the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to include it on its Intangible Heritage of Humanity List.
A Cuban national commission, made up of musicologists, experts and bolero exponents, is currently preparing the corresponding documentation that will be submitted before UNESCO for that purpose.
Other Cuban genres included on the UNESCO Intangible Heritage of Humanity Lists include Tumba Francesa in 2008, Rumba in 2016, Punto Cubano in 2017.
Cuba’s Parrandas de Remedio Festival was also included in the UNESCO list of Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2018, while a campaign is underway, seeking to include Cuban son music in the prestigious UNESCO list –a compendium of the different oral and intangible treasures of humankind worldwide. Cuban son was declared intangible heritage of the nation in 2012.
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