Listening to the album "Irakere" in 1979 changed the course of photographer David Garten's life forever. Based in Waitsfield, Vermont, David, who sometimes writes about himself in the third person, has been traveling to Cuba since 1994. His heart thinks he lives in Havana. Over the years, his camera has been his compass, sextant, periscope, seeing-eye and hearing-ear dog, divining rod and user's manual. And gotten him into - and out of - some amazing places.
His photos have been published in "Cuban Ballet" by Octavio Roca (Gibbs Smith, 2010) and "Contemporary Dance in Cuba - Técnica Cubana as Revolutionary Movement" by Suki John (McFarland, 2012). They have appeared in the New York Times, Village Voice, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Examiner, LA Times, San Jose Mercury News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Toronto Globe and Mail, Miami New Times and Miami Herald, as well as Jazziz, Jazz Times, Keyboard, Latin Beat and Bicycling magazines. They have been featured on CBS Sixty Minutes II and Al Jazeera's Consider This. They can be found on music CD's by Cuban musicians such as Chucho Valdés & Irakere, Los Van Van, Grupo Síntesis, Ibrahim Ferrer, Grupo AfroCuba de Matanzas, Bebo Valdés, Paquito d'Rivera, and César López. Since 2011 David has been the in-house photographer for Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra at Symphony Space in New York. His photos are on the cover of the liner notes for ALJO's 2014 Grammy-winning CD "The Offense of the Drum," and the cover of their new CD, "Cuba: The Conversation Continues."
In Cuba, music is like air and dance is like water.
Cubans inhale frustration and exhale style.
Can I get a witness?
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