Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Tribute in Havana

Photo Feature by Elio Delgado Valdes

HAVANA TIMES – The Park located on 17th Street in the neighborhood of Vedado in  the Cuban capital, was the venue for a 50^th anniversary celebration concert for the Beatles’ award winning Sgt. Pepper’s album (1967).

Known today as John Lennon Park, it hosts the life-size statue of Lennon by the Cuban sculptor Jose Ramon Villa Soberon, unveiled in the year 2000. It is monument to an opening in cultural policy since the Beatles music was banned for decades on the local airwaves by the Castro government.

The initiative for the event was organized by the musician X Alfonso, musicologist Guille Vilar and the Ministry of Culture.

The concert included the bands Los Kents, La Vieja Escuela, La Fleta, SweetLizzy Project, Pablo Menendez, Gens and the children’s company La Colmenita, which came together to play their own versions of the thirteen songs on the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Click on the thumbnails below to view all the photos in this gallery. On your PC or laptop, you can use the directional arrows on the keyboard to move within the gallery. On cell phones use the keys on the screen.