(Prensa Latina - Cumbancha) Havana, Cuba - World renowned Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés, several times Grammy award winner, opened the Irakere Jazz Club in Havana in an effort to lure local and international musicians to jam in the Cuban capital. Valdés, one of the musicians who best represents Cuban jazz, helped kick off the club´s opening over the weekend. The club "is a longtime dream come true and will be a source of inspiration for young musicians, Cuban music and Latin jazz, in general," Valdés told Prensa Latina. The nightclub is located in Havana´s former Rio Club, a hotspot for Cuban jazzmen over the past 20 years, and will hold early and late evening performances.

Valdés, director of the jazz group Irakere for 30 years and winner of four Grammy awards, said the club would be one of the main venues for Havana´s Jazz Plaza International Festival, which he organizes. Starting this year, the event will be held annually "so as to not fall out of step with musicians around the world and to maintain an enriching exchange with them," the musician said.