By Jay Amberg Bloomberg Lifestyles.
Bloomberg.com. Tue, 13 Mar 2001,
10:20am EST
New York, March 13 -- Singer Harry Belafonte will perform a rare benefit
concert March 26 at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in New York, to raise
funds for the Center for Cuban Studies, a New York non-profit organization whose
mission is to improve relations between the U.S. and Cuba.
Born in Harlem, New York, in 1927, Belafonte has become known as the "King
of Calypso.''
"We want to celebrate Cuban culture, especially Cuban music, with this
concert,'' Belafonte said. "It's such a major part of the cultural heritage
of the Americas. It would be very difficult to find a nation more committed to
the culture of its people and the development of the culture than I have
witnessed in Cuba.''
The event is sponsored by the Artists and Writers Committee for
Normalization of Relations with Cuba. Founding member, actor Danny Glover, will
host the evening.
The Center for Cuban Studies, founded in 1972 by a group of scholars,
writers, artists and other professionals, aims to help counter the effects of a
40-year break in diplomatic and trade relations by serving as a communication
link between Cuba and the U.S.
It organizes tours to Cuba, sponsors cultural exchange programs and presents
exhibits in its Cuban Art Space gallery. It has a library of original sources
from Cuba, publishes CUBA Update magazine and presents educational and cultural
events.
The center's Lifeline Fund sends medicines and other material aid to Cuba.
As a er of a new policy toward Cuba and UNICEF's Goodwill Ambassador
for the past 14 years, Belafonte has traveled throughout the U.S., Africa and
the Caribbean.
Belafonte's tour of Cuba resulted in the award-winning Cuban feature film "Sometimes
I Look at My Life.'' In the late 1980s, Belafonte led the USA for Africa relief
effort, "We are the World Cultural Mobilization,'' which delivered medical
and technical aid to help the famine-stricken continent.
Belafonte hasn't performed in Manhattan for five years.
Tickets to the concert, which begins at 7:30 p.m., range $25- $150. Benefit
level tickets, which include a post-concert reception, are available for $500,
$1,000 and $1,500.
For tickets or information, call (212) 242-0559 or visit the concert hall's
Web site at http://www.lincolnctr.org.
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