MDT March 28, 2016

The Cantores de Cienfuegos choir pose after a performance in Cienfuegos, Cuba in late 2013.(Photo: Photo courtesy of KERRY CALLAHAN BRONSON)

Great Falls community activist Kerry Callahan Bronson is excited about President Barack Obamaas recent visit to Cuban and thinks there is a good possibility that Montana could become one of the first states to receive a touring group of ordinary Cubans this summer.

Callahan Bronson and her sister Maureen Wicks of Chester have visited Cuba twice on people-to-people trips with educational groups, and heard a remarkable young adult choir, Cantores de Cienfuegos, perform on their first visit in November 2013.

aThe sound of their singing was unbelievable, so good it made our jaws drop,a Bronson recalled.

The group combines classical music with an ample dose of ainfectious Afro/Latin/island music that is unique to Cuban,a she said.

Back in Montana, the sisters met with other residents who marveled after hearing the same choir perform on their own trips.

They formed a group that has asked the choir to come to Montana to take part in the International Choir Festival in Missoula in July 2016.

The director of Cantores said it would like to come but had no money for travel.

Sisters Maureen Wicks, left, and Kerry Callahan Bronson stand with an older American taxi at the Havana airport during their November 2013 visit to Cuba.