The popularity of Uilleann Piping is growing in Cuba and on Wednesday night in Liberty Hall, Dublin, the Clé club hosts a fundraising event featuring one of the finest Cuban exponents of the traditional Irish art.
Alexander Suarez Mendez from Havana, Cuba, who recently performed at the Skibbereen Arts Festival as support to Liam Óg O’ Flynn and Paddy Glackin, is the special guest at the Clé Club on Wednesday July 16 in Liberty Hall, beginning at 8pm.
Mendez , from Havana, is 23 and began learning music at 14 on the Galician Pipes. He started learning the uilleann pipes in 2011 from Gay McKeon at workshops in Havana.
Surprising as it may seem, there are now more than a dozen uilleann pipers in Havana and Pinar Del Rio.
Mendez learned how to make reeds for the uilleann pipes from Donnacha Dwyer, who also visited Cuba. He now teaches Irish music on uilleann pipes and tin whistle to young people in Cuba.
