The Warren Easton Charter High School Jazz Band is embarking on a three-year music and art journey with students from the Conservatorio Estéban Salas in Santiago de Cuba.

The Easton band will visit Cuba this May and in July 2017 for the Festival del Caribe. The Cuban students will visit New Orleans in April 2017 and during 2018 for the Tricenntennial celebration.

Santiago de Cuba is the New Orleans of Cuba, with Carnival and second-line style «Conga» processions, and is the birthplace of many of Cuba’s most important styles of music. The initiative will bring together young people to study the rich histories of each city and to share creative visions of the future.

A formal announcement of the venture will be Thurday (Jan. 14) at 2 p.m. at Easton, 3019 Canal St., New Orleans. There will be a performance of traditional Cuban music with Papo Guevara & Son Mandao, and traditional selections by the Warren Easton Jazz Band.

MORE INFO:  http://blog.nola.com/new_orleans/2016/01/warren_easton_jazz_band_studen.html