1938. Joaquín González Santana is born in Havana.

Throughout his professional life he became a noted journalist and writer. He managed to edit more than 20 books in the genres of novel, biography, essay and poetry. He was founder of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba.

For his work as a journalist and writer, he received several awards, including the distinction for National Culture.

1949. The Folkloric Research Institute was founded and directed by Odilio Urfé.

It had the objective of rescuing, collecting, classifying, studying, disseminating and defending all manifestations of Cuban musical culture.

In 1963 the institution was renamed the Seminary of Cuban Popular Music, an entity that from that moment became a true conservatory for the improvement of popular musicians who had no academic training.

Odilio Urfé passed away in Havana on June 6, 1988. From then on, the Cuban Popular Music Seminar was named the Odilio Urfé Cuban Music Information and Promotion Center. It is located on Calle G or Avenida de los Presidentes number 251, in Vedado.

1959. In a ceremony held in Havana, the maximum leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, delivers a speech in a meeting held with bank workers.

He highlights: “The Revolution must aspire to have the friendship and sympathy of all the peoples of the world; the Revolution must aspire to have trade relations with all the peoples of the world; the Revolution must aspire to any friendly relationship with all the peoples of the world.”

1962. The Palmas y Cañas Program, also known as the Cuban guateque, is broadcast for the first time from Havana through Cuban Television. Its initial director was Antonio Vázquez Gallo.

It is one of the television programs that includes the different expressions of country music.

One of the most emotional sections of the program is the controversy, where a counterpoint is established between the improvisers on stage, the most remembered being those established by Justo Vega and Adolfo Alfonso.

The popular space has been the ideal place for the presentation of soloists, musical ensembles and dancers identified with peasant art.

1990. Félix Pita Rodríguez dies in Havana.

He was a poet of great human and social sensitivity and a lucid, innovative and imaginative prose writer. He liked to define himself as an eternal adolescent and that spirit of youth, that kind of carefree rebellion was always present both in his life and in his literature.

In his poetry and prose production, far from opposing each other, they integrate a single tone and it is affirmed that his narrative opened a path. His prose was nourished by poetry without injuring the structure of a narrative style. He was a fiber storyteller and is considered one of the most outstanding cultivators of this literary genre.

He had a passion for the political and the social, and this was the essential core of his work as a writer.

His birth took place in the town of Bejucal, current province of Mayabeque, on February 18, 1919.

2002. Commander in Chief Fidel Castro delivers a speech at the opening of the XVIII International Ballet Festival of Havana.

He expresses: “Distinguished personalities and artists, esteemed guests. It is an honor for me to be invited to inaugurate the Eighteenth International Ballet Festival of Havana and to pronounce a few words, which will obviously be very brief. When the lights of the theater illuminate each movement and each step of the artists, this very important event will begin, which is always attended by a passionate and faithful audience, who enjoy it with enthusiasm and gratitude”.