Kilkee festival to mark Che Guevara visit

KILKEE has yet to be associated with Cuban music, salsa dancing, Latin American food or even Cuban cigars. That will change this weekend, however, when the West Clare seaside resort will host a Latin American festival.
The town will mark the 50th anniversary of the visit to the town of Che Guevara and his entourage in September 1961, with a three-day celebration of Cuban/Latin American cultures.
The Cuban Ambassador to Ireland, Teresita Trujillo has accepted an invitation to open the inaugural festival, which runs from Friday until Sunday. The Ambassador will open the festival at 5pm on Friday at the Strand Hotel.
The festival will include performances from Cuban bands, fancy dress, American classic cars, dance and music workshops and demonstrations.
Che Guevara and Kilkee might sound like a rather unlikely combination but when one of the world’s most famous revolutionaries stayed in Kilkee in 1961, the iconic image, seen throughout the world on posters and t-shirts, was born.
The world-renowned image was created by Irish artist, Jim Fitzpatrick, after he, by chance, served a drink to the Cuban revolutionary in the Marine Hotel bar in Kilkee during that visit.
The image was based on an already existing photograph by the late Alberto Corda but once it was recreated in that most famous image by Jim, it became a worldwide phenomenon, which is still evident on political paraphernalia today.
Jim will be in Kilkee for the Che do Bheatha festival to give a talk on his chance encounter with one of the world’s most influential left-wing rebels and how the iconic poster was born as a result.
To further add to the importance of the event, a film crew that is currently making a documentary on Jim, and his connection with Guevara, will be following him around for the duration of the festival.
Amongst the highlights of the several events in Kilkee will be a talk at 12.30pm on Sunday about the work of Una Corda, who works to foster cultural links between Ireland and Cuba.
The talk will be given by Ciarán Ryan and Ellen Cranitch in the basement of the Stella Maris Hotel.