Cuba sees boom in blind musicians

Havana, Jan 13 (IANS) Cuba has witnessed an increase in the number of amateur blind musicians as a result of the facilities offered to the visually challenged by the music teaching institutions in the country, the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported.

Carlos Ramirez, a professor who is himself blind, said that music was among the most practised art by the blind in Cuba, though theatre and literature were not far behind.

Cuban music instructors and blind musicians have been teaching the country's blind as well as those in other countries like the Dominican Republic for over 12 years.

Jan 4, 2009, marked the bicentennial of the birth of Louis Braille. He was only 20 years old when he invented Braille, a system that is used today by millions of visually challenged people in the world.

Braille is read by moving the hand from left to right and feeling the letters by the fingers.