Celebrating friendship

Barbadians in the coming months will have a chance to experience first-hand Argentine culture when the Argentina Embassy in Barbados stages a number of events.

Speaking at Friday’s Cocktail Reception to celebrate Argentina’s National Day, Ambassador of Argentina to Barbados, Gustavo Martínez Pandiani told the gathering that this year Barbados and Argentina are celebrating “half a century of diplomatic relations”. To commemorate this occurrence, the Embassy has organised a programme of activities which will take place under the theme, ‘Celebrating Our Friendship, Sharing Our Culture’.

Pandiani told attendees at his official residence in Christ Church that the “beautiful programme to celebrate our 50 years as friends symbolises our closeness and also represents the way we conceive diplomacy.”

He stated that the first activity will be an Argentine Film Festival. Three Argentine movies will be shown during this at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus.

He further said that during the coming months, Barbadians will witness history when an Argentine reggae singer for the first time performs during the annual Crop Over Festival. He said the artiste will be performing at “Pan Fusion at the Prime Minister’s residence and then at Pan Pun De Sand at Brandon’s Beach from July 14th and 15th respectively.”

Also during the Crop Over Festival on August 4th and 5th, the Embassy together with the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) will have a tango show featuring professional dancers from Buenos Aires. Additionally, during Bridgetown Market the Embassy will have a stand and will offering the best wines from Argentina.

Other events to be rolled out include on August 10th and 11th the performance of a play by an Argentine playwright at the Frank Collymore.

A series of training seminars for the performing arts community of Barbados will also be staged during this period at Queen’s Park.

Then, between September 16th and September 22nd the Embassy will have a photography and visual arts exhibit.