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Beyond the Blockade: AnEthnomusicological Study of the Policiesand Aspirations for U.S.-Cuban MusicalInteractionTimothy P. Storhoff

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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF MUSIC

BEYOND THE BLOCKADE:

AN ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE POLICIES AND ASPIRATIONS FOR

U.S.-CUBAN MUSICAL INTERACTION

By

TIMOTHY P. STORHOFF

A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2014

ii

Timothy Storhoff defended this dissertation on April 2, 2014.

The members of the supervisory committee were:

Frank Gunderson

Professor Directing Dissertation

José Gomáriz

University Representative

Michael B. Bakan

Committee Member

Denise Von Glahn

Committee Member

The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and

certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements.

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To Mom and Dad, for always encouraging me to write and perform.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This dissertation was made possible through the support, assistance and encouragement

of numerous individuals. I am particularly grateful to my advisor, Frank Gunderson, and my

dissertation committee members, Michael Bakan, Denise Von Glahn and José Gomáriz. Along

with the rest of the FSU Musicology faculty, they have helped me refine my ideas and ask the

right questions while exemplifying the qualities required of outstanding educators and scholars.

From the beginning of my coursework through the completion of my dissertation, I could not

have asked for a finer community of colleagues, musicians and scholars than the musicologists at

the Florida State University.

As this dissertation explains, traveling to Cuba is not easy. I depended on the help of

numerous individuals to make it happen. I would like to thank the various administrators and

staff at FSU who supported my field research efforts and made it possible. Additionally, I am

grateful to the kind individuals who made my time in Cuba so memorable, particularly Carlos,

Anier, Amparo and Leo. I also need to thank all of the musicians who took their time to speak

with me, whether it was while they were trying to enjoy their time in Havana or over the phone

months later in the United States. Additionally, my research efforts with the National Symphony

Orchestra of Cuba were made possible with the assistance of Eric Amada, Leonid Fleishaker,

Aurora Herrera, and all of the individuals at the Kauffman Center in Kansas City, the Krannert

Center in Urbana, and the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach.

I am grateful to my coworkers at the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs for their

encouragement and understanding as I balanced working full-time with research and writing. I

am indebted to the Property Crimes Unit of the Tallahassee Police Department for recovering my

computers and research after two unfortunate burglaries. I would also like to thank all of the

wonderful friends I have in Tallahassee for providing feedback on my ideas, driving me to the

airport time after time, and indulging me with fun and laughter during what could be a trying,

solitary process. I especially want to thank Caleb Murphy, Lorin Brand, Josh Durden, Ian Pawn

and all the members of the Steve Holt! trivia team. Finally, I need to thank my family. I could

not have done this without the faith and support of my parents, sister and grandparents.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................................viii 

LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... x 

ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................... xi 

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................... 1 

Purpose and Significance ............................................................................................................ 1 

Background Overview ................................................................................................................ 2 

Review of Literature ................................................................................................................... 5 

Cuban History, Music, and U.S. Relations ............................................................................. 5 

Festivals and Tourism ............................................................................................................. 9 

Music and (Late) Socialism .................................................................................................. 13 

Music, Politics, and International Relations ......................................................................... 16 

Theoretical Approach................................................................................................................ 19 

Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 21 

Research Location and Participants ...................................................................................... 22 

Participant Observation......................................................................................................... 23 

Interviews.............................................................................................................................. 24 

Musical Analysis................................................................................................................... 25 

Content Overview ..................................................................................................................... 25 

1. U.S.-CUBAN MUSICAL RELATIONS BEFORE AND AFTER THE REVOLUTION....... 27 

Pan-Americanism and U.S. Musical Diplomacy ...................................................................... 27 

The U.S. as the “Good Neighbor”......................................................................................... 28 

Post-War Musical Diplomacy ............................................................................................... 31 

Pre-Revolutionary U.S.-Cuban Musical Interactions................................................................ 33 

Art Music and Institutional Interaction ................................................................................. 33 

Popular Music and Commercial Interaction ......................................................................... 35 

Latin Jazz and the Mambo Craze .......................................................................................... 37 

From America’s Playground to Revolutionary Enemy......................................................... 39 

U.S.-Cuban Relations from Kennedy to Ford........................................................................... 41 

The Havana Jam and the Carter Years...................................................................................... 44 

The 1980s: Reagan, Dizzy, and the Cold War .......................................................................... 49 

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The Special Period and Buena Vista Social Club ..................................................................... 53 

Beyond the Axis of Evil: U.S.-Cuban Musical Interaction and George W. Bush .................... 57 

Conclusion: The Promise of Change......................................................................................... 61 

2. U.S.-CUBAN RELATIONS IN THE OBAMA ERA: POLICIES, OPPORTUNITIES AND

AN ETHNOMUSICOLOGIST’S CHALLENGES............................................................. 64 

Barack Obama and Raúl Castro ................................................................................................ 65 

Obama’s New Beginning with Cuba..................................................................................... 65 

Cultural Policies and Economic Transformation in Cuba..................................................... 68 

Navigating Bureaucracies: My Personal Challenges in Traveling to Cuba.............................. 73 

Academic Travel and Research at the FolkCuba International Folklore Laboratory ............... 75 

Conclusion................................................................................................................................. 82 

3. THE 2012 HAVANA JAZZ PLAZA FESTIVAL.................................................................... 83 

Introduction: The Importance of Improvisation........................................................................ 83 

Jazz After the Revolution.......................................................................................................... 85 

History of the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival ............................................................................ 89 

Jazz Plaza 2012: Jazz on All Chords......................................................................................... 92 

U.S. Musicians at Jazz Plaza 2012.......................................................................................... 103 

Friends University............................................................................................................... 104 

Will Magid .......................................................................................................................... 107 

Trio Los Vigilantes ............................................................................................................. 111 

Defining Jazz at the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival .................................................................... 115 

Conclusion............................................................................................................................... 119 

4. LICENSING MUSICAL INTERACTION: FOUR CASE STUDIES ................................... 121 

The State Department’s Blessing: Juanes and Peace Without Borders .................................. 121 

Visiting Family: Tania León at the Leo Brouwer Festival ..................................................... 126 

Voices from the Heart, the National Choir of Cuba, and Specific Licenses for Cultural

Exchange ................................................................................................................................. 131 

99 Problems: People-to-People Licenses and Jay-Z’s Cuba Travel ....................................... 135 

Conclusion............................................................................................................................... 139 

5. CUBAN MUSIC FESTIVALS AND TOURS IN THE UNITED STATES.......................... 141 

Miami, Exile Ideology, and the Latin Music Industry ............................................................ 142 

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Cuban Music Festivals and Transformation in Miami............................................................ 147 

Cuban Music Festivals Elsewhere in the U.S.: New York and Chicago ................................ 152 

The National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba’s First U.S. Tour ............................................... 159 

Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera .................................................................................................. 161 

Tour Locations and Repertoire............................................................................................ 163 

The Disengagement of Politics in U.S.-Cuban Musical Interactions...................................... 169 

Conclusion............................................................................................................................... 173 

6. PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE, MUSICIAN-TO-MUSICIAN: NEW PERFORMERS AND

TRAVELERS IN CUBA ................................................................................................... 176 

Social Networks in Facilitating U.S.-Cuban Musical Exchange ............................................ 177 

The Nachito Herrera Foundation and Minnesotans at Cubadisco 2013 ............................. 179 

Why Visit Cuba? ..................................................................................................................... 186 

Pilgrimage ........................................................................................................................... 188 

Tourism and Purposeful Travel........................................................................................... 192 

Tourists, Citizens, and Two Cubas ..................................................................................... 193 

Impressions and Impact........................................................................................................... 197 

Conclusion............................................................................................................................... 201 

CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................... 204 

APPENDICES............................................................................................................................. 208 

A. OFAC CUBA TRAVEL LICENSE GUIDELINES.......................................................... 208 

B. THE FLORIDA TRAVEL ACT........................................................................................ 254 

C. VEDADO MAP ................................................................................................................. 256 

D. U.S.-CUBAN POLITICAL AND MUSICAL TIMELINE............................................... 257 

E. NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF CUBA 2012 TOUR ITINERARY

AND PROGRAMMING.................................................................................................... 262 

F. SELECT INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS .......................................................................... 265 

G. HUMAN SUBJECTS COMMITTEE APPROVAL

AND DEPARTMENTAL LETTERS................................................................................ 282 

REFERENCES............................................................................................................................ 288 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...................................................................................................... 296 

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LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 The percussion rehearsal room at the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional. Photograph by

author (July 15, 2011). .......................................................................................................... 79  Figure 2.2 Anier Alonso del Valle (front center) teaching the author (rear center) a

rhythm associated with the Arará ethnic group as Chi Saito (second from right) studies the bell pattern. Photograph taken for the author by a class visitor, name unknown (July 16, 2011). ............................................................................................ 80 

Figure 3.1: The front of the Mella Theatre with the Jardines de Mella on the left, photographed

from the other side of Línea. Photograph by author (December 22, 2012). ......................... 96  Figure 3.2: Sintesis performing in the Jardines del Teatro Mella. Photograph by author

(December 21, 2012)............................................................................................................. 97  Figure 3.3: The Casa de Cultura de Plaza before the performances on the opening night of the

festival. Photograph by author (December 20, 2012). .......................................................... 98  Figure 3.4: The Casa de Cultura Plaza stage during an evening performance. Photograph by

author (December 20, 2012). ................................................................................................ 99  Figure 3.5: Outside the Bertolt Brecht after an afternoon children’s play. Photograph by author

(December 22, 2012)........................................................................................................... 100  Figure 3.6: Inside the Sala Tito Junco as the Friends University Jazz Band performed.

Photograph by author (December 22, 2012). ...................................................................... 100  Figure 3.7: Bobby Carcassés singing in the cigar bar of the Melía Cohiba accompanied by

Guillermo Rubalcaba on keyboard. Photograph by author (December 23, 2012).............. 103  Figure 3.8: A flyer advertising Will Magid’s performance posted outside the Casa de la Cultura.

Photograph by author (December 20, 2012). ...................................................................... 109  Figure 3.9: The 2012 Havana Jazz Plaza Festival as Washburne’s Latin Jazz Continuum........ 116  Figure 4.1: The entrance to Riis Park during Festival Cubano. Photograph by author (August 4,

2012). .................................................................................................................................. 157  Figures 4.2: The main stage during Isaac Delgado’s performance. Photograph by author (August

5, 2012). .............................................................................................................................. 157  Figure 4.3: The Chicago to Cuba travel booth as the first tent inside the festival. Photgraph by

author (August 4, 2012). ..................................................................................................... 159 

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Figure 4.4: Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera rehearsing with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba at the Kauffman Center in Kansas City. Photograph by author (October 15, 2012). 162 

Figure 4.5: Protestors outside the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach during the

National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba’s performance. Photograph by author (November 11, 2012). .............................................................................................. 170 

Figure 5.1: Nachito Herrera’s network comprising the Minnesota musicians and his Cuban

collaborators before Cubadisco 2013.................................................................................. 185  Figure 5.2: The same network with new and strengthened connections following Cubadisco

2013..................................................................................................................................... 185

x

LIST OF TABLES

Table D.1: Political and Musical Timeline ................................................................................. 257  Table E.1: 2012 NSOC Tour Itinerary and Programming .......................................................... 262 

xi

ABSTRACT This dissertation explores musical exchanges between Cuba and the United States during

a four-year period from 2009 to 2013. The work focuses specifically on international music

festivals in Cuba and on international tours involving performances in the U.S. by Cuban musical

artists and bands. Examination of these musical exchanges provides a lens through which to view

not only U.S.-Cuban musical relations in particular, but the larger political, economic, social and

cultural implications and effects of musical interactions between the two nations as well. Policy

shifts in the wake of Raúl Castro assuming the Cuban presidency and the election of U.S.

President Barack Obama are allowing musicians to more easily traverse the Florida Straits than

in the recent past. These musicians aspire to renew the once thriving musical relationship

between Cuba and the United States, and the international travels taken for this purpose take on

the qualities of a musical pilgrimage.

The analysis of international musical exchanges at this crucial time in U.S.-Cuban

relations illustrates how festival and tour participants conduct international relations at the level

of musical interaction, a cultural domain which functions as a testing ground for political change.

Performances themselves reflect the promise and tensions of U.S.-Cuban relations by featuring

music that represents a more harmonious international relationship or subverts listeners’ musical

expectations. As a result, musicians can often achieve a level of political expression and debate

that diplomats may fail to cultivate because the latter are more constrained by the limits of verbal

expression, and musicians often have more freedom in reaching new audiences and individuals

by avoiding simple political classifications. While these performers distance themselves from

any overtly political stance, the organizational challenges, venues, participants, musical

selections, and reactions to these exchanges reveal further political realities about the U.S.-

Cuban relationship and its future. As more musicians travel between Cuba and the United States,

they cultivate transnational networks that encourage further musical interaction, which in turn

fosters socio-political change. Musicians may, as a result, shape and determine the dynamics of

U.S.-Cuban interactions as much as they reflect them.

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INTRODUCTION

Purpose and Significance

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze how participants in U.S.-Cuban musical

exchanges navigate complex and regularly changing policies while aspiring to revive the once

thriving musical dialogue between these two countries. The study focuses on exchanges that

have occurred in Cuban music festivals and in international tours featuring Cuban musical artists

between 2009 and 2013. I describe how performances during these exchanges are able to

transcend their political contexts to create transnational networks that encourage the

transformation of attitudes about the U.S.-Cuban relationship. In order to do this, I identify why

musicians and other travelers organize or participate in these exchanges, and the extent to which

the Cuban and U.S. governments facilitate or dictate how these individuals participate. Travel

between the U.S. and Cuba has many logistical challenges, and it was important to determine

how musicians overcame those difficulties and what impact travel procedures had on their

overall experiences. Furthermore, the challenges individuals must overcome to make these

performances happen reflect the complicated and intransigent nature of the U.S.-Cuban

relationship and the difficulties of repairing it.

Careful examination of these musical exchanges has generated a wealth of information

that illustrates some of the transnational processes at hand. Through participant observation,

interviews, and performance analysis, I have determined that while acting as individual

musicians, performers are also seen as representing and challenging various national and

international interests through their actions, speech, and music. Even when they want their music

to speak for itself, the larger political contexts of the U.S.-Cuban relationship cannot be avoided

and the music is politicized.

The performances themselves also reflect the promise and tensions of U.S.-Cuban

relations. These dynamics manifest themselves in music through the styles and genres American

musicians choose to present in Cuba and Cuban musicians choose to present in the U.S. In

selecting music that represents a more harmonious international relationship or subverts

listeners’ musical expectations, performers can be critical of the status quo without making overt

political statements. Musicians can often achieve a level of political expression and debate that

diplomats may fail to cultivate because the latter are more constrained by the limits of verbal

expression, and musicians often have more freedom in reaching new audiences and individuals

2

by avoiding simple political classifications. Musicians may, as a result, shape and determine the

dynamics of U.S.-Cuban interactions as much as they reflect them.

The U.S. embargo and ban on travel to Cuba, which is now over fifty years old, deserves

close analysis. For decades it has impacted the lives of Cuban and American musicians by

limiting their relationships, interactions, and professional opportunities. Now under President

Obama, Cuban-Americans can more easily travel to Cuba to visit family and U.S. citizens are

gaining the freedom to visit Cuba, so musicians have begun actively trying to build relationships

with their Cuban contemporaries. Cuban President Raúl Castro has also called for policy changes

during this period, including some free market economic reforms and loosened travel restrictions

that are impacting the U.S.-Cuban musical relationship. For more than fifty years musicians have

been some of the first individuals to test any changes in U.S. and Cuban policies, and their

actions create connections and pathways for other individuals to follow.

Cuban music holds a special significance for music scholars in the U.S. because of

Cuba’s close geographic location and its pervasive influence on our conceptions of “Latin

music.” Scholarship on music in modern Cuba has been limited by legal and travel restrictions

on American academics, but like the relationship between Cuba and the U.S., those restrictions

are currently in a period of transition. Because cultural exchanges are the basis for this

ethnography, I hope that this research can potentially benefit individual musicians in the U.S.

who want to perform in Cuba and Cuban musicians interested in performing in the U.S. The near

future will most likely bring about either further engagement or another severing of ties. Either

way, the political and economic relationships between these two nations, which are only ninety

miles apart, and the policy decisions that govern that relationship (many of which have been

made by near-mythic figures in modern history), affect the daily lives of musicians both in Cuba

and in the United States.

Background Overview

Musical interactions between Cuba and the U.S. have significantly impacted musical

developments in both countries, particularly in the first half of the twentieth century (Acosta

2003; Moore 1997; Sublette 2004). The political relationship between the two nations, however,

has been delicate due to the imperialist attitude of the U.S. towards Cuba. Before the American

Civil War, many in the American South wanted to annex Cuba as a slave state, and even after the

abolition of slavery, the desire to establish control over Cuba remained. Following decades of

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Cuban rebellions against Spanish rule and the abolition of the Cuban slave system in the late

1800s, the U.S. intervened. In 1898, with help from U.S. forces, Cuba won its independence

from Spain, but it was independent in name only. The following years included U.S. occupation

followed by an extended period in which American politicians had the power to select Cuba’s

leaders. This presence brought the influence of North American capitalism and culture to the

island (Sublette 2004). Following Fidel Castro’s rise to power after the 1959 revolution, the

relationship between Cuba and the U.S. became openly antagonistic. When Castro allied Cuba

with the USSR, the United States responded with an economic embargo and travel ban. These

actions seemed momentarily to bring the long history of musical interaction between Cuba and

the United States to a screeching halt.

The majority of those who had to flee Cuba for safety, political and economic reasons

settled in South Florida, transforming the demographics of the Miami region and U.S. electoral

politics. The Cuban exile community’s strong anti-Castro positions have shaped national policies

towards Cuba because of Florida’s importance in presidential elections and the many inroads

Cuban immigrants made in the financial and political realms. As a result, a powerful political

coalition works to keep the embargo in place while opposing U.S. to Cuba travel and any

attempts at diplomatic reconciliation while either of the Castro brothers are in power. Their

policies have limited opportunities for musical interaction by creating numerous logistical

challenges for U.S. musicians trying to visit Cuba and limiting the opportunities for visas to

Cuban musicians who chose to remain on the island.

The end of Soviet subsidies to Cuba in the early 1990s, along with the ongoing U.S.

embargo, brought economic catastrophe to Cuba. In response, the Cuban economy turned to

tourism as a primary industry. This illustration of the revolutionary government’s willingness to

compromise by returning to a dependence on foreign tourist dollars in order to persevere is

striking, because it was partly the exploitation of Cuba by foreign tourists that inspired many to

support the revolution in the first place. Almost overnight, musical ensembles overseen by the

Cuban government, which had already proven their international appeal through European and

African tours in the 1960s, assumed new importance by helping to build international support

and attract tourists. International music festivals and similar events became new tools for

drawing tourists to Cuba, bringing badly needed currency into the economy, and forging ties

4

with other nations. By making new international allies and building a strong tourism industry, the

Cuban political and economic system has been able to endure (Moore 2006).

Since 1990, Cuba’s cultural institutions have been organizing music festivals on an

almost monthly basis each year to attract international visitors. The Cuban festivals analyzed in

this research include: the Havana Jazz Festival, which began in the early 1980s and is now held

every December; the Cubadisco International Festival, which brings national and international

attention to the Cuban recording industry each year; the Leo Brouwer Festival, which brings a

series of chamber music concerts and foreign guests each fall; and the FolkCuba International

Folklore Laboratories that bring Cubans and international visitors together twice a year to study

traditional Afro-Cuban singing, dancing and drumming. There are many other music festivals

that are not a primary focus of this dissertation but engage in similar processes. The International

Electroacoustic Music Festival is held in the early spring and features a wide variety of musical

styles often with extensive musical experimentation. The International Pepé Sánchez Trova

Festival, also held in the spring, is dedicated to the poetic, guitar-accompanied genre of trova,

which often has lyrics that address political topics, making it a potentially important site for

political discourse. The International Benny Moré Festival invites fans and musicians from

around the world to celebrate traditional Cuban dance genres. Finally, the International Ballet

Festival of Havana that takes place every two years in the fall invites large dance companies

from American universities and other major institutions around the world.

Interest in visiting Cuba specifically for musical purposes can be partly attributed to what

Moore calls the “Buena Vista phenomenon” (2006, 131). The documentary Buena Vista Social

Club and its accompanying soundtrack were released in 1997 to unprecedented international

success for productions focusing on Cuban music and musicians. The film documents American

musician Ry Cooder bringing together a group of elderly Cuban musicians who experienced the

prime of their careers in the pre-revolutionary period to record an album and perform a concert in

the U.S. It was criticized in Cuba for its focus on select aspects of Cuban history, the depiction of

poverty and dilapidated buildings in Havana, and Cooder’s ignorance of Cuban culture.

However, because of its international popularity, the Cuban government has used it for

promoting tourism despite their misgivings.

While the relationship between the U.S. and Cuban governments consists primarily of

hostile rhetoric, Cuba has been open and welcoming to U.S. citizens who want to visit the island

5

and are able to get there. This hospitable attitude has been extended to musicians from the U.S.

by inviting them to participate in Cuba’s international festivals. Until recently, however, any

travel to Cuba has been extremely difficult. President Obama has called for a new beginning for

U.S.-Cuba relations. His administration has loosened travel restrictions to permit purposeful

travel and started issuing visas to Cuban artists for the purpose of cultural exchange. In Cuba,

Raúl Castro’s administration is letting more Cuban musicians travel and stay abroad for extended

tours. While both the U.S. and Cuban governments have avoided direct rapprochement,

musicians from both countries have had restrictions lifted and been welcomed after crossing the

Florida straits.

But while small changes have occurred, the embargo remains in place. President Obama

has stated that further changes will depend on the actions of the Cuban government in the areas

of human rights and democratic reforms. Recently, however, both Houses of Congress have

discussed ending the travel ban and easing restrictions on agricultural trade. Raúl Castro has also

stated that he would be willing to discuss such reforms, but he continues to espouse anti-U.S.

rhetoric. Changes are occurring, but very slowly. This examination of U.S.-Cuban musical

exchanges explains how these changes are turning performers into international actors who are

pushing changes forward in ways diplomats alone cannot.

Review of Literature

Cuban History, Music, and U.S. Relations

This research will build upon existing musicological scholarship on Cuban music, both

by scholars from Cuba (Acosta 2003; Carpentier 2001) and the United States (Hagedorn 2001;

Manuel 1987; Moore 2006; Rodriguez 1998; Sublette 2003). While scholarship on developments

in Cuban music and culture since the fall of the Soviet Union has been limited, my research will

expand upon those writings with a transnational perspective. The following segment of the

literature review will discuss relevant and fairly recent texts on Cuban history and music while

simultaneously using those texts to provide a brief historical outline illustrating the complex

relationship between Cuban music, political changes in Cuba, and the U.S.-Cuban relationship.

There have been many books published about Cuban music and its history; one of the

most significant and comprehensive studies to be released in the last decade was Cuba and Its

Music by Ned Sublette (2004). The book traces the origins of Cuban music to West Africa and

6

southern Spain before colonization of the Caribbean even began, which gives the book a greater

historical arc than the majority of texts on Cuban music. The development of Cuban music, as

Sublette explains, was highly dependent not only upon the interactions between African and

Spanish traditions but also the musical practices, cultural movements, and political upheavals in

places like Haiti, Mexico, and Paris. Throughout his book, which ends its coverage in the mid-

1950s, connections between the United States and Cuba receive special attention because their

musical and political connections had been particularly important to the development of music in

both countries. Sublette’s focus on the transnational relationships in the development of Cuban

music is refreshing, and it provides a foundation on which aspects of my transnational study can

be built.

During the first half of the twentieth century, the Cuban people reacted to North

American hegemony in various ways; one of these was the cultivation and promotion of

distinctly Cuban musical forms between 1920 and 1940, specifically Afrocuban genres. Later,

the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro was the most extreme reaction to U.S. influence over

Cuban politics, and it would impact musical production in Cuba in myriad ways. Robin Moore

outlines both of these developments in two separate books, Nationalizing Blackness (1997) and

Music and Revolution (2006). In Nationalizing Blackness, Moore investigates how Cuban

conceptions of race and nation were transformed in the early twentieth century. He focuses on

the afrocubanismo movement of the 1920s and 1930s that pushed African-influenced musical

forms and mass-mediated images of dark-skinned Cubans into the national mainstream. This

period saw the popularization of Afro-Cuban dance genres such as rumba and son, which

underwent significant commodification in the 1930s; they are still powerful symbols of Cuban

nationalism. Afro-Cuban musical elements also began appearing in middle class music such as

light opera and salon piano music, and it came to be a defining feature of Cuba’s burgeoning

tourist industry as the rumba craze took off in the U.S. and prohibition further encouraged

tourists to visit Cuba. Moore’s discussion of race and the appropriation of black music by a

largely white-controlled music industry is reminiscent of music history in North America; during

this same period, the market for “race records” was growing in North America as white record

producers began recording African American genres including blues, jazz and gospel music. The

explanation of Cuban racial conceptions and terms that Moore provides are still very relevant

today. This book successfully points out the relevance of Cuban music in the 1920s and 1930s to

7

modern Cuban conceptions of race and music, and furthermore shows how music not only

reflects but also can encourage social change. In part this dissertation will look at how Afro-

Cuban ethnicity and culture is mobilized and marketed by the Cuban government and

impresarios for financial gain in the tourist industry, which will illuminate various parallels

between contemporary and pre-revolutionary Cuba.

The afrocubanismo movement ended as the 1940s began, and Music and Revolution

picks up approximately a decade later with the beginning of the Batista regime. While Moore

(2006) dedicates the majority of the book to revolutionary Cuba, he begins with a discussion of

Cuban music in the 1950s and explains how U.S. hegemony impacted musical production. While

music on the island was flourishing, the profits from record sales were largely going to American

companies such as RCA Victor and Columbia, who started recording there in the early 1900s. By

the 1950s, U.S. companies virtually controlled radio, television, and record distribution in Cuba,

and they used Cuban media to disseminate North American rather than Cuban genres.

Fidel Castro’s revolutionary movement forced Batista into exile on New Year’s Eve 1958

and quickly began instituting socialist and anti-imperialist reforms. After Cuba allied itself with

the Soviet Union, the U.S. began its economic embargo, and musical interaction between Cuba

and its northern neighbor essentially stopped. Castro remained in power despite the embargo, the

Bay of Pigs invasion, and other attempts by the United States to depose him. Within months of

the revolution, the fledgling Cuban government established new centers of music, film, theatre,

and literary production. They instituted a free educational system with a curriculum including the

arts, worked to preserve Cuba’s folklore, and allocated a significant amount of money to training

professional musicians and organizing and sponsoring musicological research. Enterprises were

created for contracting and programming the nation’s musicians, who were guaranteed steady

employment and pay (Moore 2006).

These organizations initially fell under the auspices of the Consejo Nacional de Cultura

(CNC) or the National Culture Advisory. The Ministry of Culture was then created in 1976 in an

attempt to streamline bureaucracy in cultural institutions and standardize them at the national

level. Cuba’s government organizations enacted various initiatives like the Amateurs’

Movement, which was started by the CNC in 1960 as an effort to democratize music and the

other arts. Castro and the socialist thinkers he surrounded himself with came to believe that there

was a divide between artists and workers, and they tried to correct it by encouraging as many

8

people as possible to participate in the arts. For the first three decades of the revolution, there

would occasionally be small changes in how Cuban music institutions functioned and what

musical styles they promoted, but their role and function largely remained stable (Moore 2006).

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the announcement that Russia would no

longer provide economic subsidies to Cuba after 1992, many assumed that Cuba’s economy

would collapse, thus allowing the emergence of a new government with a market-based

economic system. Fidel Castro’s socialist state proved surprisingly resilient, however, and

through various reforms during this “Special Period,” which included limited privatization,

foreign investment, and increased tourism, the Cuban political and economic system has been

able to endure, and the embargo has endured with it. Moore (2006) discusses this current period

in his final chapter and conclusion, where he shares his own frustrations in conducting research

on this topic and considers how U.S. politics have exacerbated some of those challenges and

frustrations. My work will pick up where Moore leaves off by looking at the current political

situation, which has changed in both countries since his research. In my analysis of international

music festivals, I will analyze how the revolutionary institutions discussed by Moore both

facilitate and hinder transnational festival interactions.

Various other anthropological and ethnomusicological writings describe the

transformations that have taken place since the start of the Special Period. Katherine Hagedorn’s

(2001) ethnography Divine Utterances describes the musical practices of Santería, a syncretic

Cuban religion with African origins, during the 1990s. While focusing primarily upon Santería

music and rituals, Hagedorn provides some insights into Cuba’s attempts to engage the

international tourist economy with Afro-Cuban folklore. It is common for folkloric ensembles to

perform choreographed and staged versions of Santería ritual dances for tourists and give

workshops in which visitors can learn the rhythms and dances. She does not interview tourists or

international participants as I do, but instead she focuses solely on the musicians who explain

how the meaning of the music is transformed when being staged for tourists in exchange for

financial remuneration. Adrian Hearn (2008) describes how local religious organizations that had

previously been ignored or discouraged by the government took on important new roles during

the Special Period as the state recognized independent community initiatives and worked to

incorporate their productive strengths into its own. Hearn’s discussion of social capital and the

complex negotiations between state and non-state actors inform my understanding of similar

9

interactions related to music festivals. Peter Sanchez and Kathleen Adams (2004) explain the

unequal impact that increased tourism has had on Cuban society since the 1990s. The influx of

foreign dollars has created a rift between most Cubans and those who have access to work in the

tourist industry, which largely falls along racial lines. Thus the Cuban government profits and

tries to inspire external political sympathies through tourism but in doing so may be creating

internal challenges to socialism.

Both Daniel Erikson’s The Cuba Wars (2008) and Ann Louise Bardach’s Without Fidel

(2009) focus on recent Cuban history, specifically after Fidel Castro relinquished his position as

President of Cuba in July 2006. Both books also address how politics in the U.S. has impacted

and reacted to recent events in Cuba with an emphasis on the power of certain individuals in the

Miami community to sway Cuba policy. While neither book is about music, the discussion of

U.S.-Cuban politics sheds light on the complex ideological and international issues my musical

study will address. As an analyst for the Inter-American Dialogue think tank, Erikson (2008) is

highly critical of U.S. politicians including the Bush administration and congressional Democrats

and Republicans for failing to address Cuban policy. His writing allows many of the actors in

question to speak for themselves, including those in the Cuban-American exile community,

opposition figures on the island, and political figures in both countries. In the end he suggests

that the U.S. adopt a policy of engagement that would increase expectations among Cuban youth

through open travel, cultural interaction, and economic exchange. Journalist Ann Louise Bardach

(2009) uses historical sources and living informants to create an engaging narrative that is part

Fidel Castro biography, part analysis of the Miami exile community, and part study of Raúl

Castro and the potential of his presidency. While the book speculates on Cuba’s future, the most

fascinating information is the historical data about the relationships between the Castros, the

Bush family, and politicians in Miami. As these books were written before the inauguration of

Barack Obama, this dissertation contributes to the current discourse on U.S.-Cuban relations by

adding an updated cultural perspective that is typically overlooked in political analyses such as

these.

Festivals and Tourism

Much of the literature on festivals from the fields of anthropology and folklore focuses on

festivals as ritual events. It has become an overused trope to draw upon Victor Turner’s (1969)

discussion of ritual communitas, a possible collective state achieved through ritual where

10

personal differences disappear, which can be achieved through shared festival experience and

performance. Beverly J. Stoeltje (1992) draws upon some of these ideas in the “Festival” entry in

the Folklore, Cultural Performances, and Popular Entertainments handbook. She largely frames

festivals as related to rituals, resulting from modern religious systems’ attempts to obliterate

native religions, causing their indigenous practices to take on new festival names and often adopt

a secular character. It is because of these connections that much of the literature on ritual,

festival, fiesta, or carnival does not distinguish between these forms. She explains how festivals

create their own mode of communication and often adhere to standard structures and symbolic

processes. Most of what she describes is very different from the type of festival I will be

exploring, but her explanations of how festivals have a transformative potential and manipulate

temporal reality by encouraging expressions of tradition and change to confront each other will

inform my understanding of music festivals’ power.

The last decade has seen an increase in literature that addresses modern festivals in ways

more meaningful to my research by placing them within the context of globalization, tourism,

and contemporary socioeconomic processes. David Picard and Mike Robinson (2006)

summarize the relationship between festivals and tourism in scholarship while also laying out

many of the theoretical issues that arise in studies of festival practice. The authors explain that

since the 1960s there has been a steady increase in the number of newly created festivals

throughout the world. This festival boom, they claim, relates to communities reasserting their

identities in response to feelings of cultural dislocation caused by rapid structural change, social

mobility and globalization processes. There have been few studies to position festivals in a fluid

context that understand them as open to multiple transnational cultural and societal vectors that

resonate with realities of ongoing change. While the festival has often been perceived as a

unifying and practical concept for the analysis of human behavior, the festival must be

understood as a contextualized concept that is directed internally and externally by other social

interactions, economic systems, and communicative networks. The authors briefly explain many

of the standard theoretical angles used in festival studies such as the festival as a liminal space or

as a ritualized transgression but also touch on concepts related to international issues. ‘Culture’ is

mobilized through festivals as a concept to produce signs that differentiate social entities from

one another and make them globally visible. Through this process, cultures and destinations are

packaged in ways paying tourists can understand, but tourists are not just passive consumers of

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the festival product. Any change enacted through tourism at a festival must be understood as a

complex reflexive process. This transnational process is focused at the level of the individual, but

change cannot come from an individual’s unidirectional impact.

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (1998) describes the festival as a form of environmental

performance in which tourists can access in a concentrated form what they would normally try to

locate in the diffuse culture they are visiting. Large festivals easily absorb tourists and prevent

them from casually attending smaller events they might disrupt. As festivals have proliferated

around the world in the last half century with the intention of drawing tourists, they risk giving

the impression that intercultural encounter occurs while people are at play; travelers risk only

knowing another society while in festival mode. The primacy of spectacle as a presentational

mode when staging folk culture can increase this problem because spectacle tends to suppress

issues of conflict and marginalization.

The journal The World of Music published an issue on the topic of “Music, Travel, and

Tourism,” which includes relevant articles by Timothy Cooley, Judith Cohen, Jeff Todd Titon,

and Martin Stokes. Cooley’s article (1999), “Folk Festival as Modern Ritual in the Polish Tatra

Mountains,” describes tourist festivals as rituals in two ways: first as symbolic representations of

objects, beliefs, or truths of special significance to a group, and second as transformative or

effective for both individual participants and the entire group. The festival performances of the

Górale people are both about folk music while also being folk music; they contain some qualities

of ritual but are intended to be entertainment as well. While this understanding of festival as

ritual has become almost cliché in anthropological literature, Cooley updates the idea by putting

it within the context of a tourist festival organized to capitalize on the emerging post-Soviet

tourist economy while also allowing the participants to symbolically perform and reaffirm their

identity in the face of a changing world. This has clear parallels to contemporary Cuban festivals

as Cuba becomes more and more integrated in the global economy; I will be looking for similar

processes in the festivals I attend.

Judith Cohen’s “Constructing a Spanish Jewish Festival” (1999) explains how the past is

reconstructed in three different festivals celebrating medieval Jewish heritage in Southern Spain.

In order to attract visitors to these festivals, music and traditions have been appropriated from

other sources and even freshly created to fit peoples’ expectations. Festivals are used to represent

not only living groups but also the past, which has no living representatives to speak for it. These

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historical constructions require close scrutiny to understand why the past is inaccurately

recreated for festival audiences and how the display of historical inaccuracies impact people in

and around the festival. Questions these and similar practices pose for ethnomusicologists are

brought up in this article, but Cohen provides no hard answers. Many of the Cuban festivals are

based around musical styles that are no longer contemporary and therefore include some degree

of reconstruction of the past, which will need to be viewed critically.

“‘The Real Thing’: Tourism, Authenticity, and Pilgrimage among the Old Regular

Baptists at the 1997 Smithsonian Folklife Festival,” by Jeff Todd Titon (1999), raises important

issues about how practitioners of a musical tradition visiting a festival experience the event and

consider issues of authenticity and representation. The participant’s viewpoint in this article was

taken from a letter written by one of the Old Regular Baptists whose festival visit was framed in

terms of travel, tourism and pilgrimage. There is no sense of paradox from the author as her

group transitioned from being tourists to performing for tourists, and she stressed the sense of

community that developed amongst the Old Regular Baptists who went to the festival together.

Titon believes that the most powerful impact of a festival comes not from performances that

claim to be “authentic” in and of themselves, but rather through the emotional bonds forged

among participants (including audience members) when the power of authenticity is

acknowledged. While Titon is only using the descriptions of a single participant’s experiences in

his analysis, it still acknowledges valuable aspects of how performers may conceive of their

involvement in a music festival as well as the other events that are facilitated through festival

participation. The framing devices of travel, tourism and pilgrimage will be useful for

understanding the experiences of both U.S. musicians in Cuba and vice-versa. For those who

expend the effort needed to navigate the bureaucratic difficulties of U.S.-Cuban travel, the trip

often becomes a pilgrimage in which being a tourist at times and interacting with other tourists is

practically inevitable.

Martin Stokes (1999) points out many of the issues faced by researchers interested in

tourism ethnomusicology. He explains that as the researcher is studying and representing the

representation of others it is imperative to remember that people have sophisticated ways of

thinking about representation, and the consciousness of this issue can have a direct impact on

how tourist events are designed. As a result, ethnographers are encouraged to consider how

participants describe their representation. He also suggests a close analysis of the relationship

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between tourism, work, and music since how and whether musicians get paid can touch on

important issues of communal identity and value. While this concluding article to the travel and

tourism issue of World of Music does not address any specific event, the broader discussion of

tourism studies within ethnomusicology is a helpful one that will inform my approach to these

topics.

Music and (Late) Socialism

In order to understand the role of music in Cuban culture today, it is necessary to put it

into the larger context of how music has functioned in socialist states more generally. One

unifying element of socialist musical policies and initiatives is a push for musical nationalism

and a more unified music-culture (Askew 2002; Baranovitch 2003; Edmondson 2007; Manuel

1987; Moore 2006). The two examples most relevant in comparison to Cuba are the Soviet

Union, for its close economic and political relationship to revolutionary Cuba before perestroika,

and modern day China, which provides a valuable contemporary parallel. Both China and Cuba

are socialist states that have developed their own approaches to dealing with the outside world,

and various scholars (Hernandez-Reguant 2008; Kinkley 2007) have adopted the speculative and

teleological label of “late socialism” for these countries in reference to processes of economic

liberalization and their strained but necessary ties to the globalized outside world.

Theodore Levin (2002) explained how Soviet culture policy beginning in the 1920s

united under the slogan “Nationalist in form, Socialist in content” and impacted musical

production in Uzbekistan. In order to produce music that had socialist content, traditional Uzbek

scales were officially abandoned for the European scales used in Moscow to allow musical

rapprochement and the creation of a socialist musical culture. Certain folk musics were

cultivated and promoted by the state so long as they abandoned religious connotations and had

not been associated with feudal courts. The top-down cultural control insisted that music not

only promote national but class solidarity. Despite all these restrictions, when Uzbekistan

became independent during the collapse of the Soviet Union, the styles developed under

socialism were not abandoned although their ideological purpose was.

In addition to impacting musical production, socialist policy has also impacted music

research. Izaly Zemtsovsky (2002), a Russian folklorist, described the state of music scholarship

under the Soviet Union. Everything had to be adapted to furthering the goals of the state, greatly

restraining any sense of academic freedom. In order to have research published it needed to be

14

filtered through the theoretical lens of Marxism-Leninism, although sometimes just applying a

Marxist title allowed something to slip past censors that would otherwise not have been

published. Zemtsovsky refuses to fully reject the official Marxist approach because it did

produce some valuable scholarship, but he also acknowledges demagoguery and repression

inherent in that system. Musical scholarship in Cuba also increased under socialism, and

although the state can apply pressures on researchers, it does not force a Marxist-Leninist

approach on all musicological studies.

Keith Howard (2004) describes how North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea, instituted ideological policies that fused the socialist realism of the Soviet

Union with statements and policies of Mao Zedong. Songs were meant to inspire the people’s

revolutionary struggle, and genres and instruments previously associated with the elites and

literati had to be abandoned. Musical production became centralized along with the economy,

which now insures that all music in North Korea aims to glorify the leader of the state. Musical

production at the professional level is impossible outside of state institutions where composer

collectives often write music based on themes dictated by the Supreme Leader. Regular festivals

and mass youth events with singing and dancing are held in honor of Kim Jong-Il throughout the

country, but the government dictates what songs and choreography will be used. Like most

socialist states, in North Korea extreme censorship and ideological conformity in the arts are the

norm, but the glorification of first Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and now Kim Jung Un to almost

god-like levels goes beyond what is found in most other socialist countries.

The Chinese Communist Party maintained tight control over the content and style of

music during the Maoist era of 1949 to 1965 and enacted attempts to create a single,

homogenous national public culture. This reflected the state’s control over not only the

production and dissemination of culture, but also the economy. Helen Rees (2009) describes the

treatment of folk music in Communist China where under Mao folk music was looked down

upon, and Chinese musicological writings declared that folk music needed to be improved to

serve socialist purposes. Traditional musics under Mao were dominated by state socialist

ideology that “privileged communal creation, discouraged individual ownership and profit-

making, favored production of catchy propaganda ditties, and tended to view folk music as raw

material waiting to be improved by conservatory-trained composers” (2009, 45). The fact that

ethnic minorities produced many of these traditional musics was another reason for their

15

marginalization. After the death of Mao and the opening up of China, however, minority folk

musics found acceptance through greater access to recordings, increased live performances, and

success abroad. The reintroduction of copyright law in 1990 led to discussions about the

ownership of folk music and the remuneration of certain musicians for previous recorded work.

Various transformations in cultural production and dissemination, and the expansion of

popular music in China also took place after the death of Mao. Nimrod Baranovitch (2003)

focuses on pop and rock in the People’s Republic of China from 1978 to 1997. By citing

examples from the rise of Communism, the Cultural Revolution, the 1989 democracy movement,

and the turn of the century, he explains that music both mirrors and shapes society and culture

during times of transition. He specifically addresses how popular music has played an important

role in the transformation of attitudes towards ethnicity and gender. Although pop and rock were

once banned and then were considered somewhat subversive after they were first allowed, in the

1990s the state controlled media adjusted its propaganda arm to incorporate popular stars and

appeal to the country’s youth.

Peter Manuel (1987) looked at popular music in Cuba before the Special Period in his

article “Marxism, Nationalism and Popular Music in Revolutionary Cuba.” He explains how in a

socialist country like Cuba, popular music is still influenced by supply and demand, but supply is

largely determined by official cultural policy and demand is strongly affected by revolutionary

rhetoric, so Cuban popular music must be understood as dependent on socialist ideology. Within

a few years of gaining power, the revolutionary government followed Marxist ideology by

making the democratization of access to culture a fundamental goal. The institutionalization of

music, however, led to various complaints from musicians about bureaucratic delays and

restrictions on the ensembles with which they could perform or the number of live concerts

permitted. Unlike many other socialist states at the time, the Cuban government actively

promoted popular music because Cuba had its own vital popular music styles, while in the Soviet

bloc, popular music consisted mostly of styles imported from the capitalist West. North

American and British rock and pop, however, were still allowed in Cuba and even broadcast on

Cuban radio in order to keep young fans from tuning into U.S.-based stations that could be

picked up on the island, although the music had been prohibited before. So like many other

socialist states, Cuba has and continues to try to control musical expression and reception but

must also contend with the intrusion of musical styles from abroad.

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Ariana Hernandez-Reguant (2008) describes more recent developments in “Copyrighting

Che: Art and Authorship under Cuban Late Socialism” such as the shift in signifying authorship

and applying copyright since the beginning of the Special Period. In order to attract much needed

funds to the Cuban economy, Cuba’s culture industries have become globalized and now

function largely as what she terms “copyright industries” designed to create copyrighted

material, distribute it internationally, and collect royalties. So as professional musicians now

profit from working in contact zones where transnational corporate capitalism and state socialism

meet, they have become distanced from other Cuban workers. Hernandez-Reguant successfully

illustrates the strange relationships where Cuban state socialism and Cuban artists find

themselves. Manuel (2006) looks at the transnational history of the Cuban song “Guantanamera”

and provides another example of the socialist state changing its stance on copyright in search of

profit.

Music, Politics, and International Relations

Over the last three decades, ethnomusicologists and historical musicologists have

acknowledged and studied the political meanings that can be found in any performance or

composition (Ballantine 1984; Bohlmann 1993, 1996; Goehr 1994; Leppert & McClary 1987).

Susan McClary argues “Music is always a political activity” (1991, 26). It is not just reflective of

socio-economic and political realities but can also be predictive of future realities; through

music, Thomas Turino explains, “new possibilities leading to new lived realities are brought into

existence in perceivable forms” (2008, 17).

Turino (2008) conceives of music not as a single art form but as a term that refers to

various activities essential to modern human life that foster social integration. One aspect of

music’s importance in the link it provides between the Actual of our day-to-day lives and the

Possible, which includes dreams, hopes, and ideals; the perception of the Possible is most often

manifested through communal musical acts. He divides music into four distinct fields:

participatory performance, presentational performance, high fidelity music recorded music, and

studio audio art recordings. Each field is valued in different ways by different people and

functions differently in different societies. Music’s importance to political movements arises

when specific manifestations of these different fields have or are given iconic and indexical

connections allowing them to be harnessed for political purposes. He uses a negative example,

the use of music by the Nazi party to build support among the German people, and a positive

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one, the use of songs to build community and encourage resistance during the U.S. Civil Rights

movement. Both of these examples show how participatory music can be a powerful political

tool.

While scholars have acknowledged music’s political meanings, uses, and potential to

make new political realities perceivable for centuries, Jacques Attali (1985) goes a step further

and claims that music is prophetic of future changes in a society’s political economy. In order to

illustrate his assertion, he goes through European cultural history displaying how transformations

in musical structure prefigured transformations in societal structure from feudalism, the

emergence of capitalism, industrial capitalism, and the prediction of a new social order still to

come. His argument is devoted to a macro-level study of transformations in European society at

large so discussions of the connection between music and societal transformations in individual

countries is limited.

Because of music’s ability to embody past and present political realities while also

suggesting future ones, a number of scholars have recently called for greater attention to music in

the study of international relations. In the book Culture and International Relations, Estelle

Jorgensen (1990) cites seven international processes in which music plays a part: image

preservation, loyalty maintenance, personification, socialization, information exchange,

cooperation and competition. All of these processes can be found in some form in the Cuban

music festivals and tours studied in this dissertation. While her discussion is devoted to the

political uses of music internationally, many of Jorgensen’s arguments are based upon the

political uses of music within a single state. Her examples primarily come from the European art

music tradition and include the use of music as a propaganda weapon or as a cover for espionage.

She also describes the use of music in promoting political goodwill between nations but says that

the exchange of musicians is only possible when there are already diplomatic links in place.

When looking at the U.S.-Cuba relationship, however, the opposite seems to be true; political

and diplomatic links are minimal and strained while cooperation between musicians is becoming

more frequent.

M.I. Franklin (2005) asserts that politics and international relations can be construed as

audible and studied as sound, and furthermore that musicking can be constitutive and not just

reflective of political realities (Small 1998). He calls for a link between musicological and

international relations research that can detect micro-level subtleties and give voice to counter-

18

narratives as opposed to the macro-level analyses and universal predictive models that

predominate studies of international relations.

“Of Things We Hear but Cannot See: Musical Explorations of International Politics” by

political scientist Roland Bleiker (2005) argues for music as an essential element in the

examination of key political dilemmas of our day. Music provides insights that cannot be gained

through standard methods of trying to understand the political because art challenges the modern

tendency to reduce the political to the rational. The problematic aspects of governance that have

become common sense through years of habits can be politicized through art. Another reason for

the political importance of music is that it can express emotional insights, which are ignored in

prevalent scholarship on international relations even though emotions are often closely related to

international political events. Finally, in his call for making music more central to political life,

Bleiker wrote:

Music offers us the opportunity to reach a broader understanding of the emergence, meaning and significance of key political challenges. By provoking new insights, music demonstrates … that politics is far too important a domain to leave to politicians, or to political scientists for that matter. While musicians and philosophers, such as Barenboim, Said, and Nussbaum, have long made this point, international relations scholarship has so far paid far too little attention to knowledge that can emerge from drawing upon artistic sources. (2005:194)

Part of the political importance of music is that it can express emotional insights, and

Bleiker (2005) points out that this is generally ignored in prevalent scholarship on international

relations even though emotions are closely related to international political events. In an analysis

of intercultural exchange in Chinese festivals in Toronto, Margaret Chan explains how

intercultural understanding “…lies in our interrogation of the roots and disjunctures of our

emotional experiences and investments. The tension involved in music border crossings, indeed

brings to light the contingency of such emotions and boundaries” (Chan 2001). So while this

study has focused primarily on the challenges in bringing these musical interactions about, the

music itself is also of central importance and should not be discounted. Navigating the awkward

nature of U.S.-Cuban relations, which has separated friends and families, is tense and emotional,

and the music reflects that.

While this literature on the relationship between music and international relations very

much informs my approach to this project, the current literature lacks an in-depth discussion of

methodology for analyzing international relations through music. Franklin suggests a “critically

19

conscious phenomenological approach” but does not expand upon the idea any further (2005,

15). Bleiker (2005) provides some suggestions on what should and should not be done, although

his approach is devoted to the analysis of specific musical works and not performances or

musical acts. He explains that a composer or musician’s political leanings and intentions must be

understood independently from the political relevance of their music. He points out important

areas of inquiry such as the use of music in political representation, the way music can provide

critical alternatives to conventional knowledge, and music’s potential insights into emotional

knowledge. In general, however, a more coherent methodology for studying music and current

international relations has yet to be established. The theoretical approaches and methodologies

with which I pursued the study of U.S.-Cuban relations through festival performances are

outlined in the following sections.

Theoretical Approach

Festival events have long been the focus of anthropological inquiry for many of the

reasons previously stated; they create an opportunity for the inversion of typical power relations

and the transgression of social norms bringing tradition and change into contrast with one

another, which is part of what gives festivals their transformative power (Dudley 2008; Picard

and Robinson 2006; Stoeltje 1992). When individual travels such as those required for a

performance in a foreign country take on the qualities of pilgrimage, they also take on the

transformative power of ritual (Turner and Turner 1978). Musical exchanges in festivals and

tours thus provide an opportunity to analyze how musical performances can be reflective of

current political realities while encouraging socio-political transformation. The musical

exchanges made possible by the recent, albeit subtle, changes in U.S.-Cuban politics are creating

transnational social networks connecting musicians and other social actors who participate in

these performances. Both U.S. and Cuban musicians must already have accumulated some

amount of social capital or have access to the human resources necessary to navigate

complicated bureaucracies and gain permission to traverse the Florida Straits and participate in

these exchanges. Through participation they gain access to this emerging transnational social

network and the various contacts and resources it contains. The knowledge and resources

provided by the social network then expedites and encourages future musical exchanges. Beyond

being a resource for individual musicians, this network can be understood as a reflection of U.S.

and Cuban aspirations for diplomatic and transnational ties. My understanding of this social

20

network will draw upon Benjamin Brinner’s (2009) studies of musical networks in Israel. I will

describe how the brief musical interactions between actors in musical exchanges give rise to a

network whose shape extends over international boundaries, is constantly transforming yet

durable, and has political implications.

Although McClary claims “Music is always a political activity,” for the purposes of this

study, I will strive for an ethnographic understanding of what is and is not political (1991, 26).

Many U.S. musicians who have been given the opportunity to perform in Cuba have been asked

about the politics of their performance, and the musicians almost always claim their performance

is non-political. Cultural anthropologist Matei Candea (2011) suggests that instead of

immediately dismissing these claims and assuming everything is political, we should take into

account what is considered political and non-political by our informants with the same

ethnographic sensitivity anthropologists traditionally accord to their informants during fieldwork.

He argues this is important, because “Post-60s political anthropology has accustomed us to think

of the discipline as an intrinsically political or critical project; for such a project to have any

effect, however, anthropology still must retain its distinctive ability to separate (at least

momentarily) ethnographic sensitivity from critical intent" (2011, 321). Any suspicions of these

non-political claims would be justified. All musicians who travel between the U.S. and Cuba

must be granted political permission to do so. Castro’s 1961 “Words to Intellectuals” speech, in

which he declared, “Within the Revolution everything, against the Revolution nothing,” further

complicates any claims of non-political intentions (Moore 2006, 277).

In saying that they are not performing for political reasons, the musicians are not lying.

Definitions of what is and is not political varies from person to person, but the many of the

musicians I spoke with consider a performance to be political when it is intended to support or

oppose a specific policy, party, candidate or political ideology. The musicians involved in these

exchanges had no such intentions, but they also believed that their performances had the

potential to make a political impact by fostering international goodwill. Furthermore, because of

the status of the U.S.-Cuban relationship, musicians cannot avoid having their music politicized.

By understanding how musicians attempt to distinguish the political and non-political in their

performances, additional elements and themes emerge that would be overlooked with a

premature critical reflex. This political gray area helps illuminate the greater political

implications of U.S.-Cuban musical exchanges in festivals and tours.

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The connections created by U.S.-Cuban musical interactions, like other global economic

processes, are awkward, uneven and discontinuous; they consist of both areas of dense

interconnections and others of exclusion and immobility. The uneven nature of these connections

combined with the disparate goals and political intentions of both actors within festivals and

institutions that facilitate access to them give rise to what anthropologist Anna Tsing (2005) calls

friction. As she describes it, friction is a metaphorical image that illustrates how “heterogeneous

and unequal encounters can lead to new arrangements of culture and power” (2005:5). It is

common in anthropological discourse focusing on transnational connections such as these to

describe them with the word “flow,” but as Stuart Rockefeller (2011) points out, the term “flow”

elicits harmonious overtones that ignore the discontinuity of these connections and removes the

agency of individual actors. The implications of international Cuban music festivals for the U.S.-

Cuban political relationship are a result of individual participants enacting their agency for either

political or non-political purposes in musical performance. These actions are taking place within

a transnational social network of musical interactions that is uneven and awkward but still

productive, because it facilitates additional musical interactions, which increase the potential for

new political arrangements.

Methodology

My research methods were largely shaped and determined by the U.S.-Cuba travel

restrictions discussed throughout this dissertation. From the formulation of my initial plan for

this project through the data collection process, I faced many hindrances in conducting research

in Cuba. My initial plan was to take multiple three to six month trips to Cuba where I would

document the festivals and musical interactions taking place. Various financial and travel

restrictions made that research plan impossible. I altered my plans and improvised when

necessary in order to gather all of the information that was needed despite these challenges. In

the end, the barriers and obstacles I faced while investigating this topic only reinforced the

importance of this study, and the hindrances themselves became an integral and relevant aspect

of the work as they exemplify the difficulties faced by musicians who wish to advance the U.S.-

Cuban musical relationship.

22

Research Location and Participants

President Obama eased Cuban travel regulations in 2011, which made it possible for me

to visit Cuba, but university guidelines and various state and federal statutes limited my options

in terms of available grants and when I could go to Cuba. As a result, I was limited to two trips

to Cuba. I conducted field research for three weeks during summer 2011 while I attended the

FolkCuba International Folklore Laboratories and for an additional ten days during the 2012

Havana Jazz Plaza Festival. I supplemented these international trips with domestic fieldwork

surrounding Chicago’s Festival Cubano in August 2012 and four performances by the National

Symphony Orchestra of Cuba during their first U.S. tour in October and November 2012. While

restrictions on funding research in Cuba prevented me from following my initial research plan, I

made up for the change by conducting additional telephone interviews with festival participants,

studying and analyzing videos of festival performances I could not attend, and carefully

procuring and studying news articles and online resources containing first person accounts of

events I could not attend in person. Library, archival and internet research elicited a significant

amount of the data discussed in the following chapters and allowed this dissertation to cover the

breadth of musical interactions related to this topic.

The participants in this research included musicians, audience members, and other

individuals involved in the planning and logistics of the musical exchanges. I chose participants

with purposive as opposed to random sampling in selecting participants and informants.

Musicians were selected based upon their participation in music festivals and tours and to

represent a variety of musical styles and genres. The professional and celebrity musicians

discussed in this study were difficult to contact, so the majority of musicians that I interviewed

were students, early career professionals, and professionals working at a local level. In this study,

the stories of the “side stage” performers is particularly compelling, as they were forced to

navigate U.S.-Cuban bureaucracy and regulations with fewer resources than their “main stage”

counterparts. I was not permitted to interview the Cuban musicians on tour in the U.S. with the

National Symphony Orchestra, but I spoke with Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera, the Cuban expatriate

pianist and featured guest artist on the tour, to learn about the musicians’ impressions of their

time in the United States. I used convenience sampling to select audience members willing to

take the time to talk with me and be interviewed because subjects in this group were available for

a shorter time and trying to enjoy themselves during events (Bernard 2006). Those organizing

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exchanges comprised the third group of informants, and I again used convenience and referrals

to select these participants because they were often preoccupied and difficult to contact.

Participant Observation

Perhaps most importantly, I collected data on the festivals and tour performances through

the method of participant observation. My two trips to Havana gave me a degree of insight into

modern life and music in Cuba. During my daily interactions with Cuban citizens, musicians,

and international tourists both inside and outside of the festival atmosphere, I took notes to

constantly reform and re-evaluate my understanding of the situations I was witnessing and in

which I was participating (Agar 1986). Participant observation contributed to the validity of my

total data, strengthened my interpretations, provided otherwise inaccessible insights into the

culture and events in question, and helped me form more meaningful questions (Myers 1992).

During my international trips I stayed in casas particulares, private homes with rooms

that Cubans are licensed to rent to foreigners, where I ate breakfast and interacted with the

owners and other visitors. These interactions played a primary part in my immersion in Cuban

culture. Being an active audience participant at performances allowed me to gauge audience

responses to different performers and observe the action on stage. I also participated as a

performer with Cuban musicians during FolkCuba because, as Helen Myers declared, “there is

no substitute in ethnomusicological fieldwork for intimacy born of shared musical experiences”

(Myers 1992, 31). I additionally took informal dance lessons from a Cuban friend, which

provided a fun and mutually beneficial way of connecting. During my time outside of festival

events I allowed myself the freedom to explore the city while meeting new people and observing

the nonstop activity surrounding me. Through a friend I met on the street during my first trip I

was brought into the homes of his extended family, a Santería shrine, restaurants and shops not

normally visited by tourists, and even a maternity ward in a Cuban hospital.

I documented my time in Cuba as a participant observer with extensive field notes about

the places I went, the people I interacted with, and what I observed as well as my personal

interpretations, questions, and feelings. These notes were combined with documentation of my

experiences through photo and video. The data obtained through participant observation not only

shed some light on daily life in Cuba, it also helped me understand the culture shock and

excitement of being in Cuba felt by the U.S. musicians I spoke to.

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My experiences at concerts and festivals in the U.S. were similarly documented.

Attending the Chicago Festival Cubano provided important insights about how Cuba is

represented in a bounded festival atmosphere and what type of individuals are drawn to such

events. When the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba was on tour, I attended rehearsals and

performances in Kansas City, Urbana and Palm Beach. Rehearsals allowed me to observe their

preparation process while interacting with tour organizers; before and after performances I was

able to hear audience members discuss their expectations, reactions and feelings about U.S.-

Cuban politics.

Interviews

Some brief informal and unstructured interviews were conducted at the festival and tour

events in question in both English and Spanish. These allowed me to build rapport with my

informants and become more comfortable with one another in an interview situation (Bernard

2006, Myers 1992). Because everyone was quite busy during the events analyzed here, they were

unable to sit down for formal interviews at that time. However, the brief informal interviews

conducted before or after performances allowed me to collect their contact information for more

extensive interviews to be conducted over phone and email at a later date. Semi-structured

interviews were conducted in English as a follow-up to the musical exchanges were specifically

tailored for each informant through pre-formulated questions. Semi-structured interviews were

taped and transcribed for analysis along with the data obtained through participant observation.

These interviews were used to obtain data about informants’ interpretation of festival events and

music as well as how those things may relate to the U.S.-Cuban relationship.

Data from semi-structured interviews with musicians who performed at the 2013

Cubadisco Festival provided the information necessary to conduct an event-based social network

analysis. This data was obtained by asking musicians which of the other participants they

interacted and performed with before, during and after the festival either in Cuba or the U.S.

(Brinner 2009; Knoke and Yang 2008; Prell 2012). This data shows how international festivals

and musical performances featuring U.S. and Cuban performers create international networks of

musicians that reflect U.S. and Cuban aspirations for diplomatic and transnational ties while also

creating musical networks that help facilitate further musical exchanges and travel between the

U.S. and Cuba.

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Musical Analysis

Analyzing and understanding the festival performances themselves illustrates how the

music performed during these exchanges subtly critiques and reflects the political status quo. I

recorded festival performances with a video camera when possible, and documented relevant

information related to the style and classification of music performed as well as the title,

composer, and history of performed pieces. I paid particularly close attention to those pieces that

were created in the context of U.S.-Cuban interaction.

Content Overview

While this dissertation is primarily concerned with activity occurring after the

inauguration of President Barack Obama between 2009 and 2013, Chapter One provides a

historical context for this otherwise contemporary focus. An overview of musical diplomacy and

how various institutions and government agencies have used music to foster relations with other

countries in the Western Hemisphere sets up a specific account of the U.S.-Cuban relationship.

Starting with the rich pre-revolutionary musical relationship that existed in art music, popular

song and jazz this description shows how that relationship has been stifled since 1960. Policies

governing the U.S.-Cuban relationship have changed under various Presidential administrations

but history shows how relaxations of the travel ban have been brief and change with the whims

of politicians.

The second chapter picks up where the first chapter leaves off with the end of the George

W. Bush administration and the election of Barack Obama. Since his inauguration, President

Obama has enacted numerous policy changes and paid lip service to improved relations with

Cuba. The Cuban government and economy have also been undergoing changes instituted by

current President Raúl Castro. Together these changes have allowed increased musical

interaction, but my personal challenges in getting permission to travel to Cuba illustrate the

continuing difficulties in establishing musical connections between the two countries.

Chapter Three consists of an in-depth ethnographic analysis of Havana’s 2012

International Jazz Plaza Festival. Cuba’s relationship to jazz has been complicated after the

revolution as performers had to negotiate their desire to perform with the music’s imperialist

status. This event ethnography and primary case study for the dissertation describes many

different aspects of the festival and its participants both historically and in 2012. Three groups of

musicians from the U.S. who played at the festival are analyzed in-depth to show the process of

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navigating U.S.-Cuban relations required to perform in a festival that uses jazz as a form of

intercultural dialogue.

Chapter Four presents a collection of four brief case studies that each outline a different

licensing procedure to arrange travel from the U.S. to Cuba. The musical exchanges discussed

involve Colombian American rocker Juanes, Cuban American composer Tania León, the New

Hampshire choir Voices from the Heart, and the celebrity couple of Jay-Z and Beyonce. An

analysis of the performers and others who have been licensed to travel in these different

categories shows that current regulations make travel awkward by treating potential travelers and

musicians inconsistently and unequally.

The fifth chapter describes the history and current transformation of Cuban politics in the

U.S. and how they impact musical production and exchanges in the present. The political and

musical situation in Miami has resulted in a range of reactions to Cuban musicians ranging from

controversy to acceptance. These South Florida festivals are contrasted with festivals in New

York and Chicago with different purposes and reactions. The first U.S. tour of the National

Symphony Orchestra of Cuba is presented as a case study to show how Cuban music and

musicians are largely receiving favorable responses from curious audiences throughout the

country. Yet despite their stated apolitical intentions, it is impossible for Cuban musicians

visiting the United States to avoid politics.

Chapter Six focuses on why musicians want to visit Cuba, how social networks help them

get there, and what impacts musical exchanges are having. An analysis of the social network that

brought a group of Minnesota musicians to the 2013 Cubadisco Festival shows how networks are

being created and strengthened through these events. This annual event celebrates the Cuban

recording industry while also recognizing musicians and recording artists from around the world.

Individuals wishing to visit Cuba as pilgrims and tourists can then use the transnational social

networks and the resources they provide to facilitate travel.

Finally, the Conclusion summarizes how these festivals and tours are impacting U.S.-

Cuban politics. I also look forward to what the current situation says about future developments

for musical interaction and potential challenges for the political, economic and musical

relationship between these countries.

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CHAPTER ONE

U.S.-CUBAN MUSICAL RELATIONS BEFORE AND AFTER THE

REVOLUTION

The relationship between Cuba and the United States has been complicated and tense

since Cuba was a Spanish colony and the U.S. was a young, expanding nation. In the twentieth

century, when the U.S. began exercising its economic and political strength in the Western

Hemisphere, that relationship became particularly close and problematic as the giant to the North

began exercising control over its small island neighbor. At the same time, there were attempts to

increase positive relationships and foster goodwill between the U.S. and the rest of the

hemisphere. This Pan-Americanism often manifested itself through music when the U.S. used

the arts as a way of exercising soft power in Latin America. While formal musical diplomacy

with Cuba was not a priority for the U.S. government before the Cuban Revolution, musicians

themselves took action to create a long-lasting transnational relationship.

This chapter outlines the history of Pan-Americanism and the emergence of music as a

diplomatic tool intentionally used to promote friendly attitudes towards the United States. These

direct efforts contrast with the close musical ties that existed between Cuba and the U.S. at a

time when perceptions of the United States were deteriorating in Cuba because of U.S.-backed

dictator Fulgencio Batista. An analysis of the U.S.-Cuban musical relationship in the pre-

revolutionary period through art music, popular song, and Latin dance music illustrates these

close connections. Following the Cuban Revolution, however, those connections were broken,

and interaction between musicians became increasingly difficult with the institution of the Cuban

embargo and a travel ban. An analysis of the changing policies the U.S. had towards Cuba from

1960 through 2008 illustrates that while musicians were unable to traverse the Florida Straits

with any consistency, the desire for musical interaction between these two countries continued to

grow since its pre-revolutionary peak.

Pan-Americanism and U.S. Musical Diplomacy

In the twentieth-century, while folk, art, and popular musics were used to promote U.S.

interests throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, Cuba was effectively ignored both before

and after the revolution. A study of state-sponsored musical diplomacy in the Americas quickly

illustrates how Cuba has typically been treated as a point of exclusion. Analyzing this process

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over the last century in the context of a greater Pan-American consciousness provides a better

understanding of current musical exchanges between these two countries and the challenges

involved. Musical diplomacy, based upon the definition used by the Institute for Cultural

Diplomacy, is any effort to use music as a designated representative of one nation or culture

while interacting with representatives from another to strengthen relationships, enhance socio-

cultural cooperation or promote national interests. Individual members of civil society as well as

the public or private sector can practice musical diplomacy.1 Because of its nationalist intentions,

musical diplomacy is not an inherently good or bad thing. An individual musician’s intention

might be altruistic but he or she may also be representing a government that is promoting

political or economic interests different from their own.

Before the late-1930s, the U.S. government did not have any direct financial involvement

in musical and cultural exchanges with other countries. Private foundations and organizations

facilitated connections between performers, composers and music students within the Americas,

usually under the auspices of educational institutions and promoting American musicians to

compete with their European counterparts. These included the Rockefeller Foundation, the

Guggenheim Foundation and the Carnegie Endowment. The Pan-American Association of

Composers was another institution that created some of these connections between 1928 and

1934; it was initially organized in the United States, and included composers from throughout

the Americas and the Caribbean including Edgard Varèse, Henry Cowell, Amadeo Roldán and

Alejandro García Caturla who organized concerts, exchanged musical compositions, and

generally promoted art music composed in the Americas.

The U.S. as the “Good Neighbor”

Official U.S. efforts to promote Pan-American ideals were institutionalized under

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration through the adoption of a “Good Neighbor”

policy with Latin America. Pan-Americanism, or the belief that American nations are bound by

common aspirations, often has its origins traced to the beginning of the nineteenth century when

Simón de Bolívar penned his 1815 Jamaica Letter or in 1823 when the Monroe Doctrine was

1 The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy uses Dr. Emil Constantinescu’s definition, which states “Cultural Diplomacy may best be described as a course of actions, which are based on and utilize the exchange of ideas, values, traditions and other aspects of culture or identity, whether to strengthen relationships, enhance sociocultural cooperation or promote national interests; Cultural diplomacy can be practiced by either the public sector, private sector or civil society.” This definition is at http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/index.php?en_culturaldiplomacy (accessed October 5, 2013).

29

adopted. These two conflicting views on the beginning of Pan-Americanism reflect two separate

readings of the concept: Bolívar’s anti-imperialist vision and the history of U.S. hegemony in the

Western hemisphere. U.S. officials became newly committed to Pan-Americanism in the late

nineteenth century when North-South relations were stressed by events including the U.S.-

Mexican War. One initiative under President Benjamin Harrison was the formation of the

Commercial Bureau of American Republics in 1890, which was later known as the Pan

American Union, and was designed to open up potential Latin American markets to U.S.

commercial interests (Hess 2013, 195).

These imperialist attitudes were criticized by José Martí, a Cuban poet, writer and

intellectual who became a key figure in the island’s fight for independence from Spain. He spent

much of his life in the United States first in New York and then in the Cuban communities of

Tampa and Key West where he raised money and support for the Cuban independence

movement. Martí was killed by Spanish troops in 1895 at the age of forty-two, but before his

death he wrote about the North American threat to Cuba’s sovereignty. In his last letter, Martí

wrote of the United States, “I have lived in the monster and I know its guts” (Sublette 2004a,

287). Although the U.S. military helped Cuba escape Spanish control, Martí’s fears about U.S.

attitudes towards Latin America and Cuba were realized after his death.

Political relations with Latin America largely deteriorated after the Spanish-American

War when the U.S. established political control over Cuba through the Platt Amendment (1903),

destabilized the Colombian government in order to construct the Panama Canal (1903), and

intervened militarily in countries including Nicaragua (1912), Mexico (1914), the Dominican

Republic (1916-24), and Haiti (1915-34). These actions coincided with increased U.S. business

interests throughout Latin America that took advantage of cheap local labor and natural

resources. Businessmen, government officials, and academics justified U.S. political, economic,

and military interference at the time by using Social Darwinist concepts in describing the “sick

nations” to the South. Another concept that encouraged U.S. interest in Latin America was the

idea of “newness” and “freshness.” After World War I had devastated Europe, the idea of the

Western Hemisphere as a place filled with unspoiled territories with people free from European

dogmatism became a foundational myth for the United States that was easily extended to all of

the Americas in a continuation of nineteenth century manifest destiny that contributed to the

appeal of Pan-Americanism.

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In his inaugural address on March 4, 1933, President Roosevelt outlined the essentials of

his Good Neighbor policy, which institutionalized Pan-Americanism as a part of his

administration. Discussion about the Americas’ shared history of overcoming colonialism,

mutual commitments to democratic ideals, and the ties of geographic proximity replaced the

previous terminology that had exoticized and infantilized the people of Latin America. Roosevelt

declared that the U.S. would reverse its imperialist conduct militarily and economically and

instead undertake cultural efforts to win the hearts and minds of “sister republics” in the

hemisphere (Ibid., 196). Cultural and musical diplomacy was in its infancy at that time in the

United States but it soon became coupled with Pan-Americanism to make Latin America a

testing ground for expressing soft power through culture while simultaneously combating the

increasing presence of Axis propaganda throughout South America.

In 1938, the same year that the Platt Amendment was repealed, the Division of Cultural

Relations (DCR) was established within the State Department along with its own music

committee. Ben Cherrington, who was established as the first chief of the Division in July of that

year, maintained that “Culture in its essence is cosmic” and regionalizing it would stultify its

inherent universalism. However, the Division concentrated initially upon Latin America, he said,

to focus “…our efforts in one area of the world where the door seems to be wider open”

(Ninkovitch 1981, 30). Unlike later efforts, the DCR did not directly support musical exchanges

and tours. Instead, it acted as a facilitator and clearing-house for performance groups that wished

to undertake such tours and matched them with private donors and organizations willing to

finance them, while easing the bureaucratic requirements related to overseas travel. Before any

federal dollars were spent, the committee members and officers in the State Department wanted

to see how successful these tours could be. However, the DCR’s function of cultural diplomacy

was overtaken before it could directly sponsor any tours or travel (Campbell 2010).

President Roosevelt founded the Office of Inter-American Affairs (OIAA) in 1940 and

put Nelson Rockefeller in charge. The OIAA also had a Music Committee, with a membership

that included composer Aaron Copland and Yale music professor Marshall Bartholomew, among

others. Together, they created the basic blueprint for what cultural diplomacy through music

would look and sound like during ensuing decades. The OIAA had a significant federal budget to

sponsor musical exchanges and used it prudently. The Music Committee carefully considered

how to have the greatest impact by promoting music that would have a degree of popular appeal

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while also encouraging hemispheric bonding, so they decided they needed music accessible to

the masses with content that they thought sounded Latin American. They avoided modernist

works that could alienate listeners, and considered a plan for commissioning new works by Latin

American composers that could then be performed by symphony orchestras throughout the

United States. However, some members like Evans Clark, Executive Director of the Twentieth

Century Fund, worried about elitism regarding art music’s effectiveness in promoting

hemispheric identity. He wrote that “except in so far as composers of concert music make use of

local themes and rhythms, their music tends to be … in a sort of international – usually European

– musical language,” and therefore “concert, classical or ‘art’ music is far less useful both for

mass entertainment or for an understanding of the life of other countries” (Hess 2013, 200). As a

result, the Committee agreed they should not fund concerts with only classical and European

music, but they also did not go so far as to sponsor performances of only folk or commercial

music. The Music Committee ended up using their budget to support three tours of Central and

South America in 1941 by the Yale Glee Club, the League of Composers Wind Quintet, and the

American Ballet Caravan.2

Once World War II began, there was much less attention given to the Americas, and the

focus shifted from using the arts for cultural diplomacy to propaganda for the war effort. The

OIAA Music Committee had their last meeting in the fall of 1941, and although they would not

sponsor any more performances for the purpose of cultural diplomacy, they created the model for

selecting, organizing and promoting musical events for this purpose that would become

standardized from that point forward.

Post-War Musical Diplomacy

Musical diplomacy resumed in the post-war years. Initially, music was primarily used for

de-Nazification efforts in Europe, but as the Cold War intensified in the 1950s the geographic

arena for using music to combat Soviet ideology extended around the world. A number of U.S.

government institutions organized musical performances for the purpose of cultural diplomacy

during the Cold War, including the Executive Branch’s U.S. Information Agency (USIA), the

Congressional Fulbright Program to fund international arts projects, various divisions within the

2 The specific details of these tours and their outcomes are thoroughly covered in Jennifer Campbell’s 2010 dissertation, Shaping Solidarity: Music, Diplomacy, and Inter-American Relations, 1936-1946.

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Department of State, and the attempts to use music for propaganda as Psy-Ops by the CIA.3

However, these efforts did not reflect any desire for hemispheric solidarity, and made previous

efforts at being a Good Neighbor appear to some as nothing more than the result of crisis-driven

self-interest instead of genuine compassion (Hess 2013, 217).

The post-war years included an emphasis on jazz in cultural diplomacy because it was a

distinctly American style of music that had already gained popularity around the world and it

helped combat Soviet propaganda about the U.S. as a racist country. Therefore, state sponsors of

musical performances were particularly drawn to integrated groups that promoted an image of

racial harmony, even though that was not an accurate depiction of the post-war United States.

Many popular jazz groups received funding from the USIA or State Department to tour overseas,

and these tours were accompanied by the promotion of jazz as U.S. propaganda over the

international radio station the Voice of America.4 Dizzy Gillespie performed in state-sponsored

tours of the Soviet Union and the Middle East before being asked to tour South America and the

Caribbean in 1956. He had popularized Latin jazz in the U.S., so he seemed especially fitting for

such a tour. Duke Ellington also visited Latin America on a state-sponsored tour of Mexico,

Puerto Rico, and South America in 1971. Although it was near the end of his life, Ellington still

toured extensively and was held up as an ideal musical diplomat because of his music, poise and

demeanor.

State-sponsored cultural diplomacy tours at this time generally had a number of elements

in common. They were presented as attempts to combat Soviet propaganda by encouraging

mutual understanding. The political leanings of the touring performers were not given much

weight, and tour organizers did not give musicians explicitly political duties while abroad.

Instead, the performers were chosen based upon their musical ability, style and repertoire, as

well as their perceived good diplomatic demeanor and manners that would positively represent

the U.S. in other countries. The government wanted musicians who would be able to interact

with foreign media without getting flustered, and who would not negate the attempts at cultural

diplomacy with ill-mannered behavior. Organizing institutions also realized early on that the

3 Psy-Ops (Psychological Operations) are military efforts to influence emotions, motives and behaviors of individuals and ultimately organizations and governments to encourage behavior favorable to U.S. objectives. It differs from musical diplomacy because of its military associations and by being more results-driven and having more specific goals than building relationships and encouraging goodwill. 4 For a list of the many well-known jazz musicians to participate in these state-sponsored tours see Von Eschen 2004 and Monson 2007.

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planning and coordination of performances could be just as important as the performances

themselves. Organization efforts required effective interaction between U.S. musicians and

managers with foreign government officials as they collaborated with one another in order to

achieve a mutual goal. As the Cold War came to a close, the use of music for cultural diplomacy

by the U.S. government decreased dramatically.

State-sponsored efforts at cultural diplomacy tend to increase during times of war and

international conflict. For example, after the attacks of September 11, 2001, there was a renewed

effort to use the arts as a tool for building connections between the U.S. and the Middle East.

The importance of cultural diplomacy and musical exchanges has again been emphasized, but

Cuba is not included on the current list of countries where exchanges supported by the

Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs are taking place.

Pre-Revolutionary U.S.-Cuban Musical Interactions

The close physical proximity between Cuba and the United States, combined with a long

history of political and economic ties in the pre-revolutionary period, led to a variety of musical

interactions in various genres and styles. Some of these were very intentional as composers from

the two countries sought to learn from one another and join organizations to promote their music

throughout the hemisphere. Others were the result of travel and economics as producers and

songwriters from the U.S. visited Cuba in the hopes of securing the next big hit. Jazz musicians

were drawn to Cuban music for its rhythms and began integrating it heavily into bebop in the

1940s. During the following decade a number of Cuban dances including the mambo and cha cha

cha gained widespread popularity in North America and peaked just as the revolution severed

ties between the two countries.

Art Music and Institutional Interaction

After Cuba won its independence from Spain at the end of the nineteenth century, it was

occupied and politically controlled by the United States. The 1901 Platt Amendment gave the

U.S. the ability to intervene in Cuban affairs and select political leaders, and the U.S. largely

maintained its hegemonic role throughout the first half of the twentieth century. There was very

little Axis propaganda in Cuba in the 1930s, and therefore little need for cultural diplomacy to

combat it (Sublette 2004a, 287-95). There were, however, important U.S.-Cuban musical

connections being established through non-governmental agencies. In art music, this was largely

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facilitated by the Pan American Association of Composers (PAAC), an organization founded by

Edgard Varèse in 1928 with the goal of promoting and connecting composers from throughout

the Western hemisphere (Root 1972). When Henry Cowell assumed leadership of the

organization in 1929, he began establishing connections with Cuban musicians and recruited

composers Alejandro García Caturla and Amadeo Roldán. Their pieces were regularly featured

in PAAC concerts. In 1933, the organization’s most active year in the Western Hemisphere,

PAAC gave five concerts in New York and seven in Havana. Caturla and Roldán were both

conducting orchestras in Cuba that they used to promote PAAC, making them “the Latin

American members most dedicated to the organization’s political mission of inclusive cultural

exchange” (Stallings 2009, 91). PAAC disbanded in 1934, however, because of a lack of

organization and an inability to remain solvent under the pressures of the Depression, and major

organizational efforts to encourage cultural exchange through art music that included Cuba

largely came to a standstill.

Individual performers and composers, however, continued to visit Cuba as cultural

diplomats. One of the most prominent individuals to represent the U.S. abroad, which included

some trips to Cuba, was former OIAA Music Committee member Aaron Copland. Before one of

his first trips in 1941, which was organized with the help of the State Department, he was

advised that although he was neither a government employee nor a designated “representative of

the United States Government,” it was “inevitable that [he would] be regarded in Latin America

as a representative of the United States” (Hess 2013, 203). He visited Cuba twice that year, in

April and again in December. During his first trip, Copland penned a letter to Leonard Bernstein,

in which he wrote:

I wish you were here to share the music with me. I have a slightly frustrated feeling in not being able to discuss it with anyone, and a sinking feeling that no one but you and I would think it so much fun. Anyway, I’m bringing back a few records, but they are only analogous to Guy Lombardo versions of the real thing. I’ve sat for hours on end in 5¢ a dance joints, listening. Finally the band in one place got the idea, and invited me up to the band platform. “Usted musico?” Yes, says I. What a music factory it is! Thirteen black men and me – quite a piquant scene. The thing I like most is the quality of voice when the Negroes sing down here. It does things to me – it’s so sweet and moving. And just think, no serious Cuban composer is using any of this. It’s awful tempting, but I’ll try to control myself. (Copland 2006, 140-1)

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The composer wasn’t able to fight that urge long, however, as in 1942 he composed Danzon

Cubano for two pianos.

Copland completed eight trips to Latin America after World War II, four of which were

funded by the U.S. government. During his travels he would conduct his own works, give

lectures, and meet with other composers. These activities led to some fruitful interactions, such

as those with Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera and Spanish-born Cuban composer Julián

Orbón. Orbón first interacted with Copland when he studied at Tanglewood in 1946, but they

crossed paths again at the first Festival of Latin American Music held in Caracas, Venezuela, in

1954. Following the festival, Copland called Orbón “Cuba’s most gifted composer of the new

generation.”5 The following year, Orbón was invited to perform at Columbia University’s

Composers Forum in New York City, where he would settle following the Cuban Revolution

(De la Vega).

The festival in Caracas featured forty orchestral works performed over two-and-a-half

weeks. A second but shorter festival was held in 1957, and Copland served on the prize jury.

Copland’s support for Latin American composers typically took the form of sympathetic reviews

and sponsored concerts of their music, professional recommendations for prizes and

scholarships, and personal advice (Pollack 1999, 231-33). His ideas for cultural diplomacy

throughout the Americas were fairly ambitious, and he suggested initiatives involving record

production and distribution, music libraries, scholarships, and schools (Ansari 2010). Although

he fell out of favor with the State Department after being investigated as part of the McCarthy

hearings in the 1950s, Copland continued to travel extensively through the 1970s as a

representative of the U.S.

Popular Music and Commercial Interaction

Earlier in the century, the U.S. political and economic presence in Cuba had led to

connections in popular and commercial music as well. Irving Berlin, one of Tin Pan Alley’s most

prolific composers, played upon the U.S.-Cuban connection in some of his songs. In 1911, he

collaborated on the song “There’s a Girl in Havana” with lyricist E. Ray Goetz. A year later,

Berlin married Goetz’s twenty-year-old sister Dorothy, and for their honeymoon, the new Mr.

and Mrs. Berlin vacationed in Havana. While there, Dorothy caught typhoid, and died five

5 Eleanor Blau, “Julian Orbon, 65: Cuban Composer, Pianist and Critic,” New York Times, May 23, 1991.

36

months later in New York. The distraught Berlin wrote a song for his late wife, the sad waltz,

“When I Lost You,” which became a million-seller in 1913 (Sublette 2004a, 329). Although this

trip to Cuba had negative consequences for him, it was also one of the few memories that Berlin

had of his brief marriage to Dorothy. These experiences would help to inspire his 1920 song,

“(I’ll See You In) Cuba.” This song was a direct response to the recent passage of the 18th

Amendment and alcohol prohibition in the U.S., as it advertises the island where “wine is

flowing.” It also reflects the status of Cuba as “America’s playground” at that time, which many

Cubans would come to resent over the ensuing decades. Like most Tin Pan Alley songs, “(I’ll

See You In) Cuba” features simple rhythms and melodies and no direct Cuban musical

influences. However, its transmutability easily allowed arrangers to give it a more Latin, and

therefore exotic, feel through instrumentation.

Berlin’s “(I’ll See You In) Cuba” appealed to an interest in “exotic” subjects amongst

U.S. consumers. Although they were not yet familiar with actual Cuban music, the tropical topic

was appealing. Perhaps the most influential song in terms of introducing U.S. listeners to Cuban

music and showing the potential for marketing Latin music to American audiences was “El

Manisero,” or “The Peanut Vendor.” The young Cuban pianist Moisés Simons wrote the song,

which is based on a pregón or vendor’s call, in 1928. That year the song gained some popularity

after Rita Montaner recorded it for Columbia Records and it was distributed in Cuba. The real

money at this time, however, was still in music publishing, not recording. So after Herbert

Marks, the son of music publisher E.B. Marks, heard the song while in Havana for his

honeymoon in 1929, he acquired the publishing rights from Simons. The song was released in

the United States the following year (Sublette 2004a, 392-9).

“The Peanut Vendor” found huge success after being performed by Don Azpiazu and his

Havana Casino Orchestra in 1930 at the Palace Theater in New York City. A costumed Antonio

Machín, who had been billed as the Cuban Rudy Vallee, sang the piece as he pushed a vendor’s

cart and threw peanuts into the audience. The popularity of the performance prompted a

recording by the group for RCA-Victor, which became an international hit in 1931. Many

different groups started performing versions of “The Peanut Vendor,” which was given English

lyrics. The song was marketed as a rumba, although it was actually a Cuban son. It sold over a

million copies of sheet music in the 1930s, and the E.B. Marks Company who published it made

Latin songs a major part of their catalog. In his autobiography, E.B. Marks wrote, “The blow of

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the depression was softened, for our firm at least, by our introduction of a new popular musical

genre – the rumba … Although the catchiness of the Cuban rhythms was at once apparent, I had

to get danceable arrangements and singable translations to put them over in the United States”

(Marks 1934, 219).

In fact, the song’s success encouraged multiple publishing companies to open offices in

Havana for the purpose of signing Cuban composers, and a songwriting industry reminiscent of

New York City’s Tin Pan Alley quickly gained a foothold in Havana. Most of the songs that

came out of Cuba’s Tin Pan Alley, however, did not gain much popularity on the island even if

they became hits abroad. The dual nature of Cuban popular music, with one strain of music

produced for domestic consumption and one produced for foreign markets, would be consistent

in the pre-revolutionary period even as the focus changed from publishing to recording (Marks

1934). While music production was flourishing, the profits from record sales were largely going

to American companies such as RCA Victor and Columbia. By the 1950s, U.S. companies

virtually controlled radio, television, and record distribution in Cuba, and they used Cuban media

to disseminate North American songs over Cuban genres (Moore 2006).

Latin Jazz and the Mambo Craze

Jazz in particular connected the U.S. and Cuba from its early Spanish Caribbean

influences through the development of Latin jazz. These initial ties came through New Orleans

and the Spanish influences that remained there even after Spain’s control of the city had ended.

Jelly Roll Morton referred to this continuing influence that was present in his music as the

“Spanish tinge” (Garrett 2008, 52). Travel also played a role in developing the connections

between jazz and Cuban music. In 1900, W.C. Handy visited Cuba where he reported seeing

multiple dance bands performing, and he would later add Latin sections to some of his jazz

arrangements like “St. Louis Blues.” The presence of U.S. tourists in Cuba after prohibition also

created a demand for dance bands both from Cuba and the United States. North American jazz

bandleaders such as Jimmy Holmes, Max Dolin, Ted Naddy and Earl Carpenter all led groups in

Havana in the 1920s, and they began hiring Cuban musicians to perform with them because they

found they could get away with paying them less than their U.S. counterparts. At the end of the

1920s and through the 1930s, the number of American bands in Cuba would drop off and be

replaced by Cuban groups. In fact, Moisés Simons, the composer of “El Manisero,” was leading

a jazz band in Havana’s Plaza Hotel from the mid-1920s until his hit song was released in the

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U.S. in 1930. Even Roldán occasionally played violin with some jazz bands and Caturla was a

huge jazz enthusiast, leading a jazz band while at the University of Havana (Acosta 2003, 18-

30).

Although Cuban jazz bands were becoming more common and gaining popularity,

Leonardo Acosta argues that there was still not a unique style of Cuban jazz:

Our musicians would play jazz just as they would any type of Cuban music, but there still didn’t exist an integration of the two languages. As might be expected, Cuban musicians took as their reference the styles of American jazz instrumentalists, orchestras, and arrangers. It is also difficult to determine precisely what the repertoires of ensembles at this time were like with respect to American music, whether we’re dealing with the authentic jazz production or with the Tin Pan Alley song arsenal, which was later added to jazz in the United States as well as in Cuba. (Acosta 2003, 57)

Geographic proximity, instantaneous radio broadcasts, and the ease of travel between

Havana and New York City allowed popular numbers to appear in Cuba shortly after they

premiered in the United States.

The actual genre of Latin or Afro-Cuban jazz developed simultaneously and gradually in

both New York and Cuba, although in Cuba it was an almost imperceptible process because no

one was seeking a new fusion. It was in New York that Latin jazz exploded in the 1940s because

the musicians were consciously bringing these musical styles together, and the music they

created was widely disseminated and popularized through records and broadcasting. The

musicians who fused these styles included Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants as well as black

and white U.S. citizens already living in New York City. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, a

number of Cuban jazz musicians, including Machito, Mario Bauzá, and Chano Pozo, moved to

New York in hopes of having successful recording careers (Sublette 2004a, 459-64). When

Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory after the Spanish-American War and Puerto Ricans became

U.S. citizens, immigration to New York became much easier, and there was a massive influx of

Puerto Ricans into New York City in the first half of the twentieth century. Puerto Ricans had

already appropriated Cuban dance music as their own nationalist music, so Puerto Rican jazz

musicians like Juan Tizol, who wrote “Caravan” for Duke Ellington’s band, brought those

influences with them (Manuel 1994, 249-61).

Established New York jazz musicians began working with these Cuban and Puerto Rican

performers, and they brought Cuban elements to the forefront of their music to forge the genre

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that eventually became known as Latin jazz. Bebop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie was central to this

process. Gillespie had the opportunity to form a big band in the mid-1940s, and when looking for

a conga player in 1947, Mario Bauzá recommended Chano Pozo. With Pozo in the group they

performed Latin tinged pieces like “Cubana Be, Cubana Bop” and “Manteca,” which became the

biggest selling record Dizzy Gillespie ever had. Pozo, who could not speak English, composed

“Manteca” by singing out the individual lines for the instrumentalists and the arranger, and

Dizzy wrote the bridge, creating a fusion of aesthetics in the piece. After “Manteca,” bongos and

congas became standard in jazz bands, and the addition of Latin jazz songs to repertoires was

widespread (Sublette 2004, 536-42).

While Latin jazz was developing in the United States, Pérez Prado was experimenting

with Cuban dance arrangements for jazz orchestration in Cuba. Prado divided the band into two

registers, “one high register with the trumpets and one low one with the saxes, both in constant

counterpoint and contrast, also making the function of the sections more melodic-rhythmic than

melodic-harmonic” (Acosta 2003, 88-9). The dance genre that emerged from Prado’s

arrangements, which incorporated rumba and son rhythms around a constant clave, was the

mambo, which became a huge hit in the United States shortly after emerging in Cuba. In fact,

mambo’s popularity in the U.S. far outweighed its popularity in Cuba in the early 1950s, as big

bands led by musicians like Machito, Tito Rodríguez, and Tito Puente turned it into a national

fad. New York City’s Palladium Ballroom became the center of the mambo craze, and it was the

place to be seen for people who dressed to impress. Couples danced the mambo competitively at

the Palladium, and it was thoroughly covered by the nation’s media. There was a mambo section

in West Side Story, and Desi Arnaz appeared with his Cuban band on I Love Lucy. Cuban music

and dance expanded well beyond New York City in the early 1950s and could be found all over

the country. The connection between Cuban musical elements and Latin music had been

cemented in the minds of the American public.

From America’s Playground to Revolutionary Enemy

Following the collapse of direct, positive pan-American engagement as part of

Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor policies, anti-U.S. sentiments gained traction throughout Latin

America but they became particularly strong in Cuba. The country’s political system had been in

disarray for decades, and in 1952, Fulgencio Batista organized a successful coup to reassume

control of the country. Batista was backed by the United States during his rule, but his right-wing

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dictatorship polarized Cuban society. While musical diplomacy was being used to counter

growing leftist ideologies elsewhere in Latin America, any perceived threat to U.S. interests in

Cuba was seen as a military issue for the Batista regime to deal with and not a cultural or social

issue. The revolutionary movement that would eventually topple Batista began on July 26, 1953,

when charismatic revolutionary Fidel Castro staged a failed attack on the Moncada military

barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Almost two-thirds of his revolutionary force was captured or

killed, and Castro himself was arrested within a week of the attack. He was given a fifteen-year

prison sentence but was released in 1956 under a general amnesty granted by the Batista

government. Castro traveled to Mexico where he met Ernesto “Che” Guevara, an Argentine

doctor and ardent socialist; together they reorganized the 26th of July Movement. In December of

that year, Castro led a force of just over eighty Cuban dissidents back to Cuba on the yacht

named the Granma. While only twelve individuals survived the landing and initial clash with the

Batista military, they were able to flee to the Sierra Maestra and for the next three years instigate

a bloody guerilla war while spreading socialist ideology across the Cuban countryside.

Following the fall of Santa Clara to revolutionary forces on December 31, 1958, Batista fled the

country for the Dominican Republic, and Fidel Castro took control of the capital shortly

thereafter. Following his victory, Castro gave a speech in Santiago de Cuba outlining the

foundation for the new government that, at that time, he said would guarantee civil liberties

including freedom of speech and press and be based upon the popular will of the Cuban people.6

However, it soon became clear that Castro would be in direct control of this new government.

The U.S. government under Eisenhower was initially ambivalent regarding the changes

taking place in Cuba until Castro’s leadership started to seize property for redistribution and

nationalize American companies. These actions followed a speech in 1960 in which Castro

openly rejected U.S. Pan-Americanism and announced Cuba’s alliance with the Soviet Union.

He stated:

In the presence of a hypocritical Pan-Americanism, which is only the predominance of Yankee monopolies over the interests of our people and Yankee handling of governments prostrated before Washington, the Assembly of the People of Cuba proclaims the liberating Latin-Americanism that throbs in Marti and Benito Juarez. And, upon extending its friendship to the North American people--a country where Negroes are lynched, intellectuals are persecuted and

6 Fidel Castro, “Castro Speaks to the Citizens of Santiago,” Castro Speech Database, January 3, 1959, http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1959/19590103.html (accessed August 10, 2013).

41

workers are forced to accept the leadership of gangsters--reaffirms its will to march “with all the world and not with just a part of it.”7

By 1962, the state controlled eighty percent of industry, ninety percent of exports, and thirty

percent of the island’s agricultural land (Crandall 2008, 166). An attitude of friendship with the

U.S. people but open antagonism with the U.S. government and business interests has continued

in varying degrees to the present day.

As a result, direct, reciprocal U.S.-Cuban musical interaction came to a halt. The

Eisenhower administration declared an economic embargo against Cuba in October 1960.

Although few would have predicted it at the time, the embargo has lasted for over fifty years.

The revolutionary government began instituting socialist and anti-imperialist reforms, and many

of the country’s most prominent musicians fled the island nation to continue their careers abroad.

International travel for Cubans became difficult if not outright impossible, and “foreign” music,

primarily defined as North American or British, was shut out of the Cuban media (Moore 2006,

13). During Fidel Castro’s tenure as head of the Cuban government, he faced off against ten

different U.S. Presidents. While specific policies towards Cuba would slightly vary between

administrations allowing for occasional musical interactions, the overall antagonistic relationship

between the U.S. and Cuba remained in place.

U.S.-Cuban Relations from Kennedy to Ford

U.S.-Cuban relations underwent some of their tensest moments during President John F.

Kennedy’s administration. As a result of Cold War-fueled antagonism from both sides, the U.S.

strengthened its embargo against Cuba and instituted a travel ban, which has largely defined the

relationship between these countries for the last half-century. In April 1961, following a plan

initially conceived by the Eisenhower administration, Kennedy oversaw what resulted in a failed

mission by C.I.A.-trained exiles attempting to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. Hopes were that

the Cuban people would rise up against Castro and aid the invasion, but the exiles grossly

underestimated Castro’s popularity at the time and instead of initiating a revolt, the invasion

actually bolstered his support. The attempted invasion resulted in a radicalization of the

revolutionary government as Castro quickly began rounding up and imprisoning suspected

counterrevolutionaries. In November of that year, as Soviet weapons and military advisors began

7 Fidel Castro, “The Havana Declaration,” Castro Speech Database, September 2, 1960, http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1960/19600902-2.html (accessed August 10, 2013).

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arriving on the island, Castro declared that he had always been a socialist and affirmed Cuba’s

relationship with the Eastern Bloc.

On September 26, 1962, Congress passed a joint resolution giving the president the right

to intervene militarily in Cuba if U.S. interests were threatened. The Trade Expansion Act of

1962 followed on October 11, which extended the Cuban embargo and prohibited the U.S.

government from pursuing diplomatic relations with Cuba until it was “determined that Cuba is

no longer dominated or controlled by the foreign government or foreign organization controlling

the world Communist movement” (Crandall 2008, 169). Weeks later, U.S. reconnaissance planes

discovered Soviet missile-construction sites in Cuba, setting off what came to be known as the

Cuban Missile Crisis. The tense thirteen-day confrontation ended with an agreement between

Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev that the U.S. would not invade Cuba again, and

the Soviet missiles were removed from Cuba. However, covert missions to destabilize the Cuban

government and attempts to assassinate Castro as part of “Operation Mongoose” continued to be

authorized by the administration. Kennedy further curtailed opportunities for U.S. citizens to

visit Cuba in February 1963 when his administration directed the Department of Treasury’s

Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to institute and enforce stronger anti-Cuba policies. On

July 9 of that year, the OFAC issued a comprehensive set of prohibitions in the Cuban Assets

Control Regulations that did not ban travel directly, but restricted any financial transactions

incident to visiting Cuba, which effectively resulted in a travel ban.8

Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent a memo to the Secretary of State that argued for

lifting the travel ban only a few weeks after his brother was assassinated and Lyndon Johnson

was inaugurated as President. He claimed that “the present travel restrictions are inconsistent

with traditional American liberties,” and that “it would be extremely difficult to enforce the

present prohibitions on travel to Cuba without resorting to mass indictments” (Kennedy 1963).

However, the policy preventing travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba remained in place, and there was

little change in the U.S. isolationist policy towards Cuba during the Johnson, Nixon, and Ford

administrations.

While it was legally impossible U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba, more Cuban exiles,

including musicians, arrived in the U.S. each year. The Freedom Flights program, which airlifted

8 Mark P. Sullivan, “Cuba: U.S. Restrictions on Travel and Remittances,” Congressional Research Service, April 16, 2010, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL31139.pdf (accessed October 5, 2013).

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Cubans seeking asylum in the U.S., was started in November 1965; it enabled 250,000 Cubans to

come to the U.S. by 1971. President Johnson signed the Cuban Adjustment Act into law on

November 2, 1966, which gave legal status to Cubans who arrived in the U.S. and allowed them

to remain in the country. The U.S. intended to isolate Cuba with these policies, but Castro was

expanding Cuba’s influence around the world and making calls for Pan-American unity to a

world-wide fight against imperialism. In January 1966, Cuba convened the inaugural meeting of

the Organization of Solidarity of African, Asian and Latin American Peoples, bringing 483

delegates from 82 countries to Havana. The goal of the organization was “to increase the anti-

imperialist battle on three continents” while rebuking U.S. involvement in Vietnam and the

spread of U.S.-style capitalism. Over the next decade, Cuba sent arms, aid, and troops to regions

of Africa and Latin America, expanding Cuba’s international influence (Gronbeck-Tedesco

2008, 659). President Ford would later cite Cuba’s attempts to interfere in the U.S. relationship

with Puerto Rico and Cuba’s intervention in Angola as the primary factors precluding any

improvement in U.S.-Cuban relations during his administration.9

Despite the active travel ban, a number of U.S. individuals including musicians flaunted

the law to visit Cuba. Folk singer Pete Seeger traveled to Cuba in 1971 through Spain in defiance

of U.S. policies. As a popular musician with socialist sympathies, he received VIP treatment on

his trip, which included a suite in the Havana Hilton and a chauffeured car to take him around.

What he wanted, however, was time interacting with the Cuban people, and while he looked

forward to offering his labor cutting sugar cane he was only able to spend about two hours out in

the fields (Dunaway 2008, 371). Seeger had some earlier connections with Cuba and Cuban

music, as his version of the Cuban song “Guantanamera” became an international hit in 1966.

U.S. laws, however, prevented royalties from being sent to Joseíto Fernández, the Cuban

musician credited with setting José Martí’s verses to music. Seeger had the opportunity to meet

Fernández during his 1971 visit, but the payment of royalties to the Fernández family has still

been prevented by the embargo.10 The number of U.S. musicians visiting Cuba would continue

to be minimal until President Carter attempted to improve U.S.-Cuban relations in 1977.

9 Gerald R. Ford Library, “Foreign Relations,” President Ford ’76 Factbook, http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/document/factbook/foreign.htm (accessed November 2, 2013). 10 For a full discussion of this issue and the complicated transnational history of “Guantanamera,” see Manuel 2006, “The Saga of a Song: Authorship and Ownership in the Case of ‘Guantanamera.”

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The Havana Jam and the Carter Years

For almost two decades since 1959, no U.S. musicians had legally visited Cuba. U.S.

President Jimmy Carter, who promised a new foreign policy less obsessed with preventing

possible Soviet communist expansion, began moving towards improved relations with Cuba very

quickly after his inauguration in 1977. The travel ban was lifted, and in lieu of embassies,

“Interests Sections” were created to permit limited diplomatic contacts (Loicano 2010). The U.S.

Interests Section, which sits along the Malecón in Havana, has since become a site for concerts

and events to protest U.S. policies and actions. While Carter’s actions allowed musicians to

travel between the two countries, the U.S. government’s role in official musical diplomacy was

limited.

A group of jazz musicians including Dizzy Gillespie became the first U.S. performers to

openly travel to Cuba during this period. Musicians on the cruise included Gillespie’s quartet,

Earl Hines, Stan Getz, Lionel Hampton, Roberta Flack, Ry Cooder, and Joe Williams. They were

originally scheduled for stops in Jamaica and the Bahamas, but the tour promoter substituted

Havana for Montego Bay as a port of call after Carter eased travel restrictions. The performers

were initially nervous about this prospect after Juanita Castro, Fidel’s sister, had organized a

dockside protest of exiles chanting slogans against the Cuban leadership as the musicians’ ship,

the Daphne, was leaving New Orleans. Hampton, Flack, and Williams even pulled out of the tour

because they believed a performance in Cuba could hurt their careers, so multi-instrumentalist

David Amram’s group was brought in to replace them (Maggin 2005, 347). The Carras Lines

cruise, when initially announced, sold fewer than 100 bookings, but the cruise became a sellout

with 320 booked passengers after the Cuban stop was added. This number was in addition to the

musicians, staff, and over 40 members of the press.

Although the revolutionary government enacted multiple policies to support Cuban

musicians and musical production on the island, Fidel Castro saw little worth in jazz and was

skeptical of U.S. musical genres. While he permitted the ship to dock it was neither promoted

nor greeted by official dignitaries. Moreover, the Cuban government did express that no Cuban

exiles would be welcome and that none should be on the ship. Nonetheless, two Cuban couples

did manage to make it aboard for the cruise, which caused some concern for other passengers

who were worried it could hamper their own visit to the country. While the stop in Havana lasted

only a little more than twenty-four hours, the musicians aboard were still able to participate in

45

multiple jam sessions and a formal concert that took place at the Teatro Mella, which is now the

primary venue of the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival. In an August 1977 article of Down Beat

magazine entitled “Voyage of the Jammed,” reporter Arnold Jay Smith described the ship’s stop

in Cuba, which included interactions with the previously little known Cuban group Irakere and a

meeting with the Cuban Vice-Minister of Culture at the time, Quentin Pino Machado.

The Down Beat article described the highlight of the stop in Havana at the end of the

Teatro Mella performance, which peaked with a performance by David Amram accompanied by

Cuban musicians:

Then came Amram. While the entire concert was a dedication to Chano Pozo, it took David’s fluent Spanish to tell the crowd about it. For his piece in memory of the late drummer, he had two Cuban groups on stage with him. As it turned out, they were not supposed to be there. David had convinced the authorities to allow their appearance, and while Hines was playing, Amram hummed their parts to them. The effect of all those people up there pounding out the most intricate Cuban rhythms was cathartic. The audience rose to its handclapping best. On one side David had them clapping fours. On the other he had them doing a clavé beat. Unlike American audiences who get confused, these people kept it up and added things on top of it all. David was like a kid in F.A.O. Schwarz’s. He didn’t know what to do next. He played piano, flutes, whistles, percussion, xylophone, French horn. He conducted Los Papines de Cuba, a four man multi-percussion band, and Irakeres, all of whom were on stage. Mantilla sat in with Los Papines in what may have been a personal highlight of his career. There were tears in his eyes. Amram worked at his set. The textures of sound that he elicited showed how diligently he thought about what he was doing. His conception is at once well-researched and spontaneous. Everything that followed was almost anti-climactic. … But the finale was not to be believed, and it may never be topped anywhere in the world save right back here in Cuba. Everyone was on stage – there were nine percussionists playing 25 drums, with Los Papines giving a dazzling display of their own. The tune was Manteca, but they literally marched off to Straight, No

Chaser. It was all they could do, march off. It’s a cinch they weren’t going to get off any other way. The audience was on its feet screaming the Cuban equivalent of “more!” It sounded like a demand rather than a request. Birk thanked everyone from Bird to Mao and off we marched to the ship and our disembarkation point, Nassau, Bahamas.11

Most Cuban jazz fans, however, were not able to attend the concert because tickets were not

made available to the public and were distributed on an invitation-only basis. As a result, the

audience primarily consisted of sons and daughters of Cuban officials, while others were turned

away at the box office. Leo Brouwer, who was involved in the decision, defended himself by

11 Arnold Jay Smith, “Voyage of the Jammed,” Down Beat 44, no. 14 (August 1977): 46.

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saying “It all happened so fast.” As a result, a major concert in one of the capital city’s largest

venues was like an underground event, and the Cuban press did not cover it. However, it still had

a positive impact on Cuban musicians as it created relationships between musicians and opened

the door for Irakere to enter the international jazz festival circuit (Acosta 2003, 216).

Irakere was led by keyboard player Chucho Valdés and included among others Arturo

Sandoval on trumpet and Paquito D’Rivera on saxophone. Because of their experimental sound,

which blended jazz with traditional folkloric Cuban music and international popular music, they

were a unique and sometimes controversial group in Cuba. Sandoval went to meet the U.S. jazz

cruise when it arrived in port and drove Gillespie around the island, showing him Havana and

introducing him to musicians, before explaining that he was a trumpet player himself. They had

the chance to jam together along with Amram, Getz, and the other members of Irakere in the

Hotel Habana Libre’s Caribe Room the morning before the concert at the Mella, and at one point

Gillespie reportedly waved a white handkerchief in surrender to Sandoval’s playing. Upon

returning to the U.S., Gillespie and the other musicians spoke so highly of Irakere that they were

invited to perform in the Newport Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1978. Through

an agreement between Columbia Records and Cuba’s EGREM label, selections from these

festival performances were commercially released on an LP simply called Irakere and sold in the

U.S. (Acosta 2003, 217). Other important musical interactions included a late 1978 tour of major

Cuban performers headed by the legendary Orquesta Aragón in the U.S., although their

performance at Lincoln Center was canceled when the Cuban-American terrorist group Omega 7

set off a bomb in the performance hall. Then, in February 1979, trova musicians Pablo Milanés

and Silvio Rodríguez played a tour throughout the U.S. East Coast (Sublette 2004b).

One of the most significant events took place in March 1979, when a group of high-

profile U.S. musicians traveled to Cuba for the Havana Jam festival. Following the positive

response to the 1977 jazz cruise, Columbia Records in conjunction with officials in the U.S.

State Department and the Cuban Ministry of Culture organized “Havana Jam ’79.” The three-day

festival included performances by U.S. musicians such as Weather Report, Kris Kristofferson,

Rita Coolidge, Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom (a group created just for

this occasion consisting of John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius, and Tony Williams), salsa’s Fania

All-Stars, and Billy Joel. The Cuban groups Irakere, Orquesta Aragón, and the Cuban Percussion

Ensemble also performed. Like the previous performance with U.S. musicians, tickets to the

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performance were not made publicly available and the event was not promoted in Cuban media,

so the audience was again primarily made up of individuals with connections to the government.

Despite the audience not being wholly representative of the Cuban public, a number of

the U.S. musicians made special efforts to connect with the Spanish-speaking audience in

attendance at the 4,800-seat Karl Marx Theater. Stephen Stills wrote a new song in Spanish,

entitled “Cuba al Fin” (“Cuba at Last”) for the audience. The song reflected Stills’ political

attitude towards both the trip and the Cuban people. He said, “They’re very proud of what

they’ve done. So you have to give them their due respect, because they have a unique form of

socialism that’s very significant in the scheme of world history. So, as long as you give ‘em

respect, you’re cool” (Zimmer 2000, 209). For his part, Kris Kristofferson added references to

the Cuban Revolution in Spanish while performing his song “Living Legend” with the

accompaniment of a Cuban tres guitar. After singing the line “Was it bitter then with our backs

against the wall?” he asked “¿En Oriente?” (“In the east?”), and he responded to the line “Say, if

she came again today, would you still answer to the call?” with “¿En la Sierra Maestra?” (“In the

Sierra Maestra?”). Both references were to Castro’s guerilla war against Batista’s forces in

Cuba’s eastern mountain range.

The Fania All-Stars, who had recently popularized salsa in the U.S. by playing a

combination of Cuban son and other Latin genres, were not as enthusiastically received as the

musicians and Fania president Jerry Masucci had hoped. It seemed as if the music was not as

exciting to the primarily Cuban audience, because it was so similar to music that they already

heard in their own country. Instead, the audience was most excited about U.S. pop musicians like

Rita Coolidge and Billy Joel, whose current hits could still be picked up from Miami radio

stations (Perna 2005).

In addition to the many musicians who came, a number of music journalists were brought

along to document the event, and a small number of U.S. music fans took advantage of the

newfound opportunity for legal travel as well. The New York Times described the cross-cultural

interactions as follows: “For the Americans in attendance here (and that includes some 35

hippies from the Florida Keys who have sailed over for the occasion), the festival has offered a

chance not only to see how well revolutionary Cuba has managed to preserve the island’s rich,

diverse musical traditions, but also to hear how those traditions have grown and changed.”12

12 John Rockwell, “Music of U.S. and Cuba Mixes at Havana Festival,” New York Times, March 5, 1979.

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People Magazine went even further in speculating about the potential for this musical

interaction, stating that the Havana Jam “might do the same thing for Cuban relations with the

U.S. that Ping-Pong diplomacy did for the Chinese.”13 Although Columbia Records had some

cooperation with the State Department in this endeavor, their primary goal was not to actively

influence U.S.-Cuban relations. Instead, their intentions were much more practical and

commercial: the production of a concert film and record. Billy Joel, however, refused to allow

his performances to be used on either project. He told People, “I'm not down here on some

capitalist venture. I'm here to play music for these people.” Despite the wide variety of intentions

among those involved, it had some important musical and commercial results. The Havana Jam

record was so successful that a sequel album was released with additional performances from the

festival, and many of the participating musicians would fondly recall their experiences in Cuba

through interviews and written accounts. Irakere, now Cuba’s best-known jazz group, followed

the performers back to North America to go on tour in the U.S. as an opening act for fellow

Havana Jam performer Stephen Stills.

The liner notes for the album release of Havana Jam ’79 by Variety music editor Frank

Meyer boldly and hyperbolically declared:

If music hath charms to soothe the savage beast, “Havana Jam ‘79” also proved it hath charms to blow away cobwebs from years of non-communication and to help start a small breeze of change blowing across the waters between Cuba and the United States which can some day lead to a roaring wind which will return our peoples to complete understanding of each other and our music. (1979)

However, that breeze of change did not expand and bring complete understanding. Over 25 years

later when Sony reissued the Havana Jam ’79 album, the travel ban had been reinstated, and

former Irakere member Paquito D’Rivera, who played in the concert but had since defected to

the U.S., criticized the political statements of his fellow performers. In a 2005 open letter to

Stephen Stills and Kris Kristofferson, D’Rivera wrote:

Hi Kris and Stephen: Long time no see!!! 27 years to be exact. Last time was at the Karl Marx theater in (what was left of) our former beautiful Capital City … On that occasion, probably you didn’t (want to) notice that you guys and me, along with many other

13 The term “ping-pong diplomacy” is a reference to the practice of table tennis players traveling between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China in the early 1970s, which paved the way for Nixon’s visit to Beijing in 1972; Jim Jerome, “Billy Joel Rocks Cuba,” People, March 19, 1979, 34.

49

American and Cuban artists, performed on that historic event in front of a strictly government controlled audience, to a house full of Castro’s supporters. Watching the tape now I can see you singing songs to the dictator, then already 19 years in power, who as expected didn’t attend our concert. … So I wonder if after all these years of repression, divided families and innocent people killed by firing squad or dying in the sea, still you guys really want to keep those lamentable songs to the oldest dictator on this planet on that SONY reissue? I would really think about it! I hope all is well in your life. Sincerely: Paquito D’Rivera Cuban exiled musician-author14

The 1980s: Reagan, Dizzy, and the Cold War

Any long lasting political results failed to materialize from the musical exchanges during

the thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations under Carter. In April 1980, following a sharp downturn in the

Cuban economy and thousands of Cubans requesting asylum in the Peruvian embassy, Fidel

Castro announced that any person wishing to leave Cuba had free access to depart from the port

of the city of Mariel. As a result, hundreds of boats left Miami to pick up refugees. With the

cooperation of President Carter, the flotilla eventually brought 125,000 Cubans to the United

States over a period of five months. When it was later revealed that the boatlift contained

numerous “undesirables” released from Cuban prisons and mental institutions, it had negative

political implications for Carter and created challenges for Reagan’s Cuban policy. This influx of

Cubans brought a group that greatly differed from the initial wave of immigration in 1959 that

was largely made up of white professionals and their families who established the Cuban

presence in Miami. In contrast, many working class individuals of African descent arrived in

1980, which created new tensions in the Cuban American community that continue into the

present.

Following President Reagan’s inauguration in 1981, he had to address both the Mariel

boatlift and the flow of Soviet weapons through Havana to Marxist guerillas in Nicaragua.

Following failed talks to repatriate the Mariel undesirables and end Cuban military shipments to

Central America, the relaxed Cuba policies established by Carter were reversed. By April 1982,

14 D’Rivera’s references to “27 years ago” and Castro being “19 years in power” erroneously dates the concert to 1978 although it actually took place in 1979; Paquito D’Rivera, “Letter from Paquito D'Rivera to Kris Kristofferson and Stephen Stills,” Latin American Studies, May 31, 2005, http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/music/paquito-carta.htm (accessed September 3, 2013).

50

the travel ban was reinstated and charter flights between Miami and Havana were halted, again

stopping American tourist and business trips to the island that had been unrestricted since 1977

(De la Cova 1997, 381-3). Attempts to challenge these restrictions failed in the Supreme Court.

Diplomatic communications were halted, and Cuba was placed on the U.S. list of “state sponsors

of terrorism.” Reagan’s National Security Advisor Richard Allen then assisted anti-Castro Cuban

Americans in Miami in the formation of the Cuban American National Foundation, which gained

easy access to politicians and has exercised great influence over Washington’s Cuba policy ever

since (Sublette 2004b, 9). Musical interaction was further halted with Reagan's Presidential

Proclamation 5377, under section 212F of the Immigration and Nationality Act, prohibiting "any

class of aliens into the United States [that] would be detrimental to the interests of the United

States," specifically those "considered to be officers or employees of the government of Cuba or

the Communist Party of Cuba." Because the Cuban government controlled all industry in the

country, the restriction against government employees could easily be applied to all Cubans, and

U.S.-Cuban musical flows were hindered yet again.

However, in 1985, the same year that Reagan issued Proclamation 5377 keeping Cubans

from visiting the U.S., Dizzy Gillespie was granted permission to perform at the Havana Jazz

Festival thanks to his status as an elder musical statesman who had performed in a televised

White House concert for Nancy Reagan a couple years prior. His trip was documented in the

1988 film, A Night in Havana. Cutting between Gillespie’s festival performance, his travels in

Havana, and interviews, the film captures musical performances as well as Gillespie’s opinions

about Cuba and the close connections he feels to the country’s people and music. While there is

some political content, it is largely glossed over and certainly not a focus of the film. During this

trip, Fidel Castro met personally with Gillespie and treated him like an honored guest. They are

seen discussing the history of jazz and connections to Cuban music, and at the end of their

conversation the dictator encouraged the musician to come back to visit Cuba’s beautiful

beaches. Early in the film, Dizzy recalls his 1977 trip on the jazz cruise and how they were

slightly anxious and concerned going to Cuba the first time, but on this trip eight years later he

was very comfortable and excited to spend more time in the country. There are short clips of

Gillespie playing with Arturo Sandoval for Cuban students and interacting with the Conjunto

Folklorico Nacional, the country’s national Afro-Cuban folkloric ensemble. While walking

around Havana with a cigar constantly in his mouth, Gillespie reflected upon the similarities and

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differences in race relations between Cuba and the U.S., as well as his own role in popularizing

Afro-Cuban music through jazz forty years earlier. In that spirit, he visited Chano Pozo’s sister

in her home to discuss his journey from Cuba to the U.S. and the musical impact he had.

Gillespie also appeared on a television talk show to promote his appearance at the jazz

festival, which marked a clear difference from the earlier performances by U.S. musicians in the

Carter years when they were not publicized and only individuals with political connections could

attend. The Havana Jazz Festival, discussed more thoroughly in Chapter Three, showed the

government’s renewed openness to jazz music and the Cuban people hearing U.S. musicians.

This gave Gillespie the opportunity to speak directly to Cuban citizens during his mainstage

performance, when he announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, we are here tonight to demonstrate

what one brother can give to the other in the spirit of unity. If our respective governments cannot

join hands in the spirit of brotherly love, we will demonstrate to them how tonight.” That

performance included appearances by Arturo Sandoval and pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, who

Gillespie later tried to bring to the U.S. for a performance after the documentary film was

released, but the musicians were denied visas by the State Department (Thomas 1989).

A number of other U.S. jazz stars followed Gillespie’s lead to perform at the jazz festival

in the late 1980s and 1990s. Dizzy Gillespie himself returned to Cuba for the jazz festival the

following year and again in 1990 while retaining his political connections. He received the

National Medal of the Arts from President George H.W. Bush in 1989. Gillespie’s trips to Cuba

reinforced his other international travel experiences and Baha’i faith in encouraging him to

conceive of a new idea that would embody his dream of bringing together diverse musical

cultures to create and share intercultural music with listeners around the world. The resulting

United Nation Orchestra included Cubans Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, and Ignacio

Berroa, along with performers from Panama, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and

the United States.

When in Cuba for the 1990 Havana Jazz Festival, Gillespie was informed that Arturo

Sandoval wished to defect from Cuba with his wife and young son. Dizzy pledged Sandoval his

support and assisted by creating a long European tour for the United Nation Orchestra, which

allowed Sandoval to obtain permission for his family to be based in London for a couple of

months. With the assistance of a member of President George H.W. Bush’s National Security

Council, Sandoval and his family were able to declare asylum in U.S. embassies and then be

52

flown to the United States (Maggin 2005, 373-6). Dizzy Gillespie died in January 1993 of

pancreatic cancer, and never saw the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba normalized as

called for in his performances, but his musical legacy of bringing together the musical styles of

these two countries survived him on both sides of the Florida Straits.

While Gillespie and a small number of other U.S. jazz greats were able to visit Cuba

under the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, traveling between the countries was

nearly impossible for most everyone else. In 1988, however, members from a Cuban dance

troupe from the Tropicana nightclub were granted two-week visas for performances in New

York and Los Angeles. Their visa requests were initially denied, but the State Department

reversed its course following positive U.S.-Cuban talks regarding the withdrawal of Cuban

troops from Angola and the shortening of the visa request from sixteen to two weeks.15 That

same year, an amendment to the otherwise unrelated Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act

exempted “information and informational materials, including but not limited to, publications”

from the Cuban embargo. Intended to protect the First Amendment rights of U.S. citizens, it also

had the effect of legalizing the sale of records from Cuba in the United States. This policy

change now allows visitors to Cuba to bring back books, music and other media without fear of

breaking embargo-related restrictions, while returning to the U.S. with items like rum and cigars

remains illegal. While this policy only allowed the licensing of already-made recordings and did

not permit U.S. companies to create and sell new records of Cuban artists, the law facilitated the

release of hundreds of albums by Cuban musicians and created new audiences for Cuban artists

(Sublette 2004b, 11). The ability of those artists to perform in the U.S., however, would remain

curtailed as a larger thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations in the late 1980s did not occur. New

restrictions were created regarding who could arrange travel to Cuba for licensed individuals

from the U.S., and those legal travelers were also restricted to spending less than $100 per day.16

Although the Cold War only had a few short years left, Cuban travel restrictions would outlast

the global conflict for decades.

15 Mary Vorobil, “Cuban Troupe Granted Visas for Shows in U.S.,” Miami Herald, April 30, 1988. 16 Roque Ruiz, “Cuba Travel Restrictions,” Miami Herald, April 11, 2009, http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/04/10/994427/cuba-travel-restrictions.html (accessed September 10, 2013).

53

The Special Period and Buena Vista Social Club

When the Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991 and the Cold War came to a close, it

cost Cuba an estimated $5 billion a year in Soviet aid. The end of the Cold War also erased the

original justifications for the Cuban embargo and travel ban, which were established to isolate

Cuba until it was no longer aligned with the U.S.S.R. and the world Communist movement. Yet

there were no significant attempts to repeal them at the time. Many U.S. politicians hoped and

assumed that a collapse of the Cuban regime was inevitable, and to ensure an end to the Castro

regime the embargo was actually strengthened. During his Presidential campaign, Bill Clinton

endorsed the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, commonly known as the Torricelli Bill, which was

passed by Congress and signed into law by then President George H.W. Bush. The legislation

prohibited foreign-based subsidiaries of U.S. companies from trading with Cuba, banned foreign

ships that had carried goods to Cuba from entering U.S. ports, and strictly limited remittances

and the sale of medical supplies to Cuba. The focus in Cuba policy had changed from stopping

Communist expansion and limiting the threat the Soviet Union posed to the United States to

concerns for human rights and democratic reform. These policies faced little resistance and were

supported by both Democrats and Republicans in attempts to win votes from the powerful Cuban

American voting block in Miami. Because of Florida’s status as a “swing state” with the

potential to determine federal elections, this group has been able to exact a disproportionate level

of power to sway political policy.

While Bill Clinton was campaigning for President in October 1992, Los Muñequitos de

Matanzas were on their first U.S. tour. Los Muñequitos originally formed in 1952 in the town of

Matanzas and are one of the best-known folkloric ensembles in Cuba. The drum and dance

ensemble primarily performs traditional rumba and staged recreations of Afro-Cuban religious

music and dance. Organized with the help of writer and record producer Ned Sublette, the 1992

tour was carefully planned for two years to comply with the strict U.S. regulations. According to

Sublette:

Each performer had to be individually exempted from President Reagan’s Presidential Proclamation 5377. … The itinerary had to be approved by Washington. Performances had to be purely cultural or academic, not commercial, in nature – thus requiring bureaucrats to differentiate between culture and commerce, a distinction nowhere else clear in American society. The performers could not be paid for their work; they could only receive per diems. (Sublette 2004c, 76)

54

The nine-week tour was a great success, and marked the beginning of what the Clinton

administration adopted as a two-track U.S. policy towards destabilizing the Cuban government.

State Department spokesman Lou Fintor explained this policy as "tightening some aspects of the

embargo but also exposing [Cuban] citizens to American freedom and democracy."17

Yet Fidel Castro’s socialist state proved surprisingly tenacious. Through various reforms

during this “Special Period,” which included limited privatization, foreign investment, and

increased tourism, the Cuban political and economic system was able to endure. The state’s

control of foreign trade was relaxed, opening Cuba up to foreign investment and offering

investors up to 49 percent ownership in joint ventures. In 1993, Castro announced the

reintroduction of the U.S. dollar into the unstable Cuban economy, opened over 100 businesses

in the service sector to private ownership, and created agricultural co-ops to replace large

government-operated farms. At the same time, there were strict rations on food, gas, and oil,

along with periodic power blackouts to decrease energy consumption. While Castro opened

some of these reforms for ratification by public referendum, public dissent was forcefully

suppressed and exit visas were denied to individuals wishing to leave the country. Tensions

reached a peak on July 13, 1994, when the Cuban Coast Guard attacked seventy-two dissidents

on a tugboat they had commandeered to escape to Florida. The boat was sunk and forty-one

people on board were killed. Major political demonstrations followed over the next month, and

Castro responded by opening the borders to those who wished to leave. As a result, over 30,000

Cubans fled for the United States. Concerned about the social and economic repercussions of a

massive influx of Cuban refugees, President Clinton altered the formerly welcoming immigration

policy towards Cubans. The resulting “wet foot-dry foot” policy allowed Cubans who made it to

shore to remain in the country while having the U.S. Coast Guard apprehend and detain Cuban

refugees caught in the water (Crandall 2008, 172).

Along with capitalistic reforms, the growth of tourism helped the Castro government to

survive the economic and social crises of the 1990s. In the 1970s and 1980s, tourism was

minimal, as officials believed it could be a threat to national security and that foreign visitors

would spread unhealthy capitalist ideas or anti-revolutionary ideologies. By the early 1990s,

17 Larry Blumenfeld, “Rumba, Interrupted: The Bush Administration Breaks Up the Long-Running Dance between American and Cuban Musicians,” The Village Voice, January 18, 2005, http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-01-18/music/rumba-interrupted/ (accessed October 1, 2013).

55

however, tourism was an important source of hard currency for the country. The Cuban

government expanded the José Martí International Airport, opened new restaurants and bars

catering to tourists, and started to advertise Cuban tourism packages overseas. As a result,

musicians had new performance venues and more opportunities to make a better living. Overall,

however, much of Cuba’s population did not benefit from the increased tourism. Cities were

divided between tourist zones where foreign currency was accepted and the poorer areas that ran

on Cuban pesos.

Even though Cuba had new income streams primarily from Canadian, Mexican, and

European tourists, the U.S. government still tried to keep Cuba economically isolated. In 1996,

Congress passed the Cuban Liberty and Solidarity Act, more commonly known as the Helms-

Burton Act, which further codified existing sanctions against Cuba and placed power over

altering or ending the embargo in the hands of Congress instead of the President. The bill

stipulated that trade restrictions would not be lifted until Cuba had a democratically elected

government not affiliated with either of the Castro brothers. It also stipulated that the new

government would have to undertake measures to return property that was seized and

nationalized in the 1960s to its original owners. Clinton initially threatened to veto the bill

because it was extreme and controversial. Then, on February 24, 1996, the Cuban government

shot down two planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a group of Cuban exiles who flew

over the Gulf of Mexico to pick up Cubans attempting to reach the U.S. in defiance of the “wet

foot-dry foot” policy, and Clinton signed Helms-Burton on February 28 in response to the attack

(Crandall 2008, 174).

Yet while the embargo was strengthened during his administration, Clinton eased

restrictions on musical exchanges. Los Van Van, Cuba’s most popular dance band at the time,

received visas to cross the Florida Straits for their U.S. debut in the fall of 1996. Their six-city

U.S. tour was a commercial success as many fans were already familiar with this progressive

Cuban band’s timba music, which combined traditional Cuban dance music with elements of

rock and other foreign influences. They would return regularly to the U.S. over the next few

years, but the tensions inherent in such musical exchanges were still apparent when the band

faced large protests outside their first Miami concert in 1999.18 Los Van Van was just one of

many groups to visit the U.S. in the late nineties during a massive influx of Cuban musicians

18 For a more in-depth look at these protests and the reactions towards Cuban performers in Miami, see Chapter 4.

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receiving permission for such tours. American presenters had become familiar with the

complicated rules for getting cultural exchange visas for Cuban musicians, and figured out how

to successfully organize performances when they weren’t allowed to pay the performers directly.

These musicians built up audiences who followed them from city to city despite what was often

an unfavorable, staunchly anti-Castro Spanish language press in the U.S. (Sublette 2004b, 12).

Exposure to and awareness of Cuban music became much more prominent following the

release of the Buena Vista Social Club album and subsequent documentary film in 1997 and

1998, respectively. Recorded in 1996 at Havana’s EGREM studio, the album featured primarily

elderly Cuban musicians performing traditional son and Cuban dance music from the pre-

revolutionary era. American guitarist Ry Cooder, who had visited Cuba with the aforementioned

1977 jazz cruise, produced the album and accompanied some of the tracks on slide guitar. It was

recorded for the British World Circuit label and released in the U.S. on Nonesuch Records in

September 1997. The album became a runaway hit in the U.S. and Europe and spawned a

feature-length documentary film the following year. Together, these productions largely

redefined how those outside of Cuba perceived Cuba and Cuban music even though the full

album was never released for sale in Cuba. According to musicologist Geoffrey Baker, “Even

when trying to break free from it and represent or (re-present) Cuban music in other ways,

musicians, producers, and writers know it as the primary lens through which international

audiences observe Cuba, and therefore a useful point of reference” (2011, 2). As a result, the

album’s opening track, “Chan Chan,” overcame “Guantanamera” as the song most commonly

played by Cuban bands in tourist hotels. While the Clinton administration had been facilitating

U.S.-Cuban musical exchanges and was not overly concerned with punishing individuals who

illegally traveled to Cuba through a third country, the impact of Buena Vista Social Club was too

much to ignore. Many U.S. citizens began calling the Department of Treasury seeking the same

permission Ry Cooder had received. However, Cooder traveled without a license, so to make an

example of him he was fined $25,000 in 1999 for flouting the travel ban. Had he financed the

production of the record himself, he likely would have faced an even greater punishment

(Sublette 2004c, 79).

With the hunger for Cuban music at a new high in 1999, Clinton opened the door for

U.S.-Cuban exchanges even further. First, he quietly exempted Cuban artists from Proclamation

5377, making it much simpler for Cuban musicians to perform in the U.S. and for promoters to

57

arrange their visits and concerts. Additionally, the Clinton administration allowed U.S. citizens

to visit Cuba for religious, humanitarian, and academic purposes, and many musicians were able

to justify trips as educational experiences. Legal travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens was made easier

by traveling with an organization that possessed a “people-to-people” license from the OFAC.

These licenses specifically forbade tourism as an acceptable activity, so trips to beaches and

resorts were not permitted, and travelers were instead required to stick to itineraries of

educational experiences and structured interactions with Cuban citizens (Sublette 2004b, 12).

The hardline Cuban exile community was already unhappy with Clinton’s reforms in

1999 when the U.S. Coast Guard picked up eleven-year-old Elián González floating in the

Florida straits after the boat his mother and several other Cuban refugees were on sank off the

Florida coast. After an extended custody battle between the boy’s father who was still in Cuba

and some of his relatives who had settled in Miami, the Supreme Court ruled that he should be

returned to his father. Clinton’s enforcement of that decision with armed troops on top of his

previous Cuba travel reforms led to a harsh backlash by the South Florida exile community.

When Florida became the deciding state in the 2000 U.S. presidential election between Al Gore

and George W. Bush, Gore won a paltry eighteen percent of the Cuban American vote compared

to the thirty-nine percent Clinton had won in 1996, and many pundits speculated that the Clinton

administration’s handling of the Gonzalez case and opening of people-to-people travel likely

caused the swing in South Florida votes.19 Following the controversial 2000 election, President

George W. Bush’s administration modified Cuban policy to be one of confrontation and reversed

many of the policies that allowed musical interactions the previous decade.

Beyond the Axis of Evil: U.S.-Cuban Musical Interaction and George W. Bush

At the beginning of the George W. Bush administration, Cuban musicians were still

performing in the U.S. with regularity and the OFAC was issuing licenses that allowed U.S.

citizens to visit Cuba legally. However, when terrorists attacked the United States on September

11, 2001, international policies drastically changed. Any country considered to be involved with

terrorism in any way was considered an enemy, and Cuba already on the list of seven state

19 Ann Louise Bardach, “Kerry’s Cuban Problem,” Slate, April 26, 2004, http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2004/04/kerrys_cuban_problem.html (accessed September 15, 2013); Isabel Vincent, “Gore punished by Cuban-Americans for Elian's return,” National Post, November 9, 2000, http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y00/nov00/09e2.htm (accessed September 15, 2013).

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sponsors of terrorism along with Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, and North Korea.20 It became

much more difficult for Cuban performers to enter the country because in addition to receiving a

visa, they each had to individually pass a stringent security check. The delays caused by the new

requirements forced many musicians to miss their scheduled performances, essentially having

the same impact as an outright visa denial. The administration also began issuing increasingly

antagonistic messages regarding Cuba. In May 2002, Undersecretary of State John Bolton gave a

speech entitled “Beyond the Axis of Evil: Additional Threats from Weapons of Mass

Destruction” to the conservative Heritage Foundation. He announced that Cuba was harboring

terrorists from other countries, was actively collaborating with Iran and other state sponsors of

terror, and had an active biological weapons program. The evidence presented for this weapons

program was merely that Cuba had a “well-developed and sophisticated biomedical industry”

that was “one of the most advanced in Latin America and leads in the production of

pharmaceuticals and vaccines that are sold worldwide.”21 In essence, Bolton was claiming that

any country capable of producing its own pharmaceuticals was a threat. The speech also

contained a fabricated quote that Bolton claimed Castro made while in Tehran about bringing

America to its knees (Sublette 2004c, 80). While Secretary of State Colin Powell later backed off

of these allegations, the message received by the Castro regime was that the Bush administration

considered Cuba a threat.

With the Bush administration’s enhanced anti-Castro propaganda efforts and stated

intentions to seek regime change in other countries, Fidel Castro repeatedly voiced his concern

that the United States was preparing to invade Cuba. As a result, in a 2003 meeting of the

Communist Party, new military contingency plans on how to respond to a possible attack were

drafted (Bardach 2009, 63-4). Castro simultaneously cracked down on political dissidents by

arresting opposition leaders, activists, and journalists and on April 11, 2003 ordered the

execution of three individuals who had commandeered a ferry in an attempt to flee to the United

States. The Cuban leader also reversed many of the reforms from the Special Period. The U.S.

dollar was removed from the Cuban economy to be replaced by the new “convertible peso” that

would be used in tourist zones, and almost half of the nation’s private entrepreneurs who

20 The September 11 hijackers themselves were from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates, none of which were on the State Department list. 21 John R. Bolton, “Beyond the Axis of Evil: Additional Threats from Weapons of Mass Destruction,” Heritage

Foundation, May 6, 2002, http://www.heritage.org/research/lecture/beyond-the-axis-of-evil (accessed September 15, 2013).

59

emerged in the nineties were forced back into public employment when their licenses were

revoked (Crandall 2008, 183).

Much of the George W. Bush administration’s Cuba policy was shaped with the help of

Representative Lincoln Díaz-Balart, a Miami Republican and Fidel Castro’s nephew by

marriage. Díaz-Balart had worked with fellow representative and exile hardliner Ileana Ros-

Lehtinen to win Bush the 2000 election, and as a result they helped draft the administration’s

anti-Castro programs and ensured that they were well funded (Bardach 2009, 61). When

amendments ending the Cuban embargo and travel ban were added to the House Treasury-

Transportation Bill in 2003 and it was on track to pass in both the House and Senate, the

provisions were eventually removed because Bush threatened to veto the whole bill if it

contained any references to Cuba (Crandall 2008, 184). The next year during the run-up to the

2004 election, the Bush administration enacted some of the most stringent measures against

Cuba since the Cold War, criminalizing travel to Cuba for most Americans and severely limiting

the ability of Cuban-Americans to visit their families.

In a February 5, 2004 letter from the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, the Bush

administration stated that they would again be applying Reagan’s Proclamation 5377 to artists.

The letter stated, “We decided to return to the policy in effect before March 1999, because the

Castro Regime has taken advantage of the [artists’] exemption to enrich the government, not to

enhance people-to-people exchanges” (Sublette 2004b, 14). In 2004 alone, major Cuban

musicians including Chucho Valdés, Carlos Varela, Los Van Van, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas,

and Buena Vista Social Club singers Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo were forced to cancel

performances in the U.S. due to visa denials. While all five nominees in the Traditional Tropical

Latin category at the 2004 Grammy Awards were Cuban, none of the nominees was permitted to

enter the United States for the ceremony.

The Bush administration also stopped issuing licenses for purposeful travel, by slightly

changing the written regulations and instructing the Treasury Department to deny all applications

while actively prosecuting violators of the travel ban. A 2007 government report found that 61

percent of the OFAC’s investigations meant to enforce sanctions against countries harboring

terrorists since 2000 had been aimed at Cuba alone. In 2000, the last year of the Clinton

administration, 188 Cuba cases were filed by the OFAC; the next year, the George W. Bush

administration more than tripled that number by penalizing 788 parties for illegal travel to Cuba.

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So even before the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration was directing the Department

of Treasury to target Cuba travel, and a 2004 congressional hearing revealed that tax dollars

earmarked for the war on terrorism were being spent to track unauthorized travelers to Cuba. In

that same hearing, the OFAC acknowledged that while they had only four employees following

the funds of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, they had twenty full-time investigators

devoted to probing individuals violating the Cuban embargo (Bardach 2009, 239-40).

While these restrictive policies were a victory for South Florida Representatives Mario

and Lincoln Díaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, U.S. musicians also took note of the changes

and criticized the Bush administration. In a March 2004 op-ed in the New York Times, singer-

songwriter Jackson Browne expressed his dismay that Carlos Varela’s visa was denied. Browne

and Varela had previously toured together in Europe, but they were forced to cancel their U.S.

performances. Browne wrote:

In a profound way, our government takes on the role of oppressor when it tries to control which artists will be allowed access to our minds and our hearts. We may think we are isolating Cuba with our embargo and our travel restrictions, but it is we Americans who are becoming isolated. … The policy of punishing Cuba works only when Americans see the angry face of Cuban repression. But in the face of Carlos Varela, and the language of his music, Americans would not find the mask of a demon, but hear the aspirations of people just like themselves. I believe in justice and human rights in the United States and abroad. I am saddened by the treatment by the Cuban government of the political dissidents in their country. I long for the day when there is freedom for both Cubans and Americans to travel in both directions across the Straits of Florida without undue interference by their governments. I want this freedom not just for artists but for all people, American and Cuban, who live each day in the hope for a just and prosperous future. Giving Carlos Varela a visa to sing in America would be a good way to begin.22 Cuban-American jazz musician and leader of the Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz

orchestra Arturo O’Farrill echoed that sentiment stating, "My father was betrayed by the Castro

regime, and I am not a Castro supporter. But to play with a Cuban musician does not mean you

are supporting the regime. Playing music should transcend politics. And right now I feel betrayed

by the Bush administration and the stance it is taking toward Cuba.”23

22 Jackson Browne, “Songs of Cuba, Silenced in America,” New York Times, March 22, 2004. 23 Larry Blumenfeld, “Rumba, Interrupted,”Village Voice, January 18, 2005, http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-01-18/music/rumba-interrupted/full/ (accessed October 5, 2013).

61

There was one major exception to this policy, however, and in May 2005, American rock

band Audioslave received a license to perform a concert in Havana. Why this band was granted a

license is not immediately clear, but according to their lawyer, Bill Martinez, who helped arrange

the trip, it was “a wonderful coincidence of agendas” as both governments wished to reach

Cuban youth.24 The band members made it clear that they were not there to make a political

statement. It seems particularly ironic for Audioslave to claim an apolitical stance because of the

band’s close association with the non-profit organization Axis of Justice, which uses music to

promote social justice, and the instrumentalists’ association with the very political band Rage

Against the Machine. Over sixty thousand Cubans attended the concert at the José Martí Anti-

Imperialist Plaza, and Audioslave was able to claim the title of the first American rock band to

play an open-air concert in Cuba.25

In the final days of the George W. Bush administration, the U.S. and world economy

were in shambles, and despite the administration’s best efforts, George W. Bush became the

tenth American president to be outlasted by the Castro regime. The Cuban political and

economic system remained in the hands of the Communist Party even though Fidel Castro was

functionally no longer in power. In July 2006, Fidel Castro provisionally relinquished the office

of President of the State Council to his brother Raúl because of poor health. Despite the parties in

Miami’s Little Havana and the Bush administration’s previous statements that the Cuban

succession process was unstable, it all took place relatively smoothly and the Cuban system

continued. With the Coast Guard on standby to prevent a potential refugee crisis, the White

House urged Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits to remain where they were. Press

Secretary Tony Snow issued a statement to both Cubans and Cuban Americans that reflected

what the administration had been telling most musicians since 2001: “Stay where you are. This is

not a time for people to try to be getting in the water and going either way” (Erikson 2009, 12).

Conclusion: The Promise of Change

Hopes were high for U.S. proponents of Cuban policy reform during the 2008

presidential election, as Democratic nominee Barack Obama issued a statement that the U.S.

24 Reuters, “Audioslave Concert a First for Cuba,” New Zealand Herald, May 6, 2005, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10124202. (accessed September 15, 2013). 25 The performance itself can be found in the concert documentary Audioslave: Live in Cuba, Epic Music Video, DVD, 2005.

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should “…begin taking steps to normalize relations and to ease the embargo of the last five

decades.”26 Musicians and fans of Cuban music alike began tentatively planning for the

resumption of U.S.-Cuban musical interaction in the event of Obama’s election. Obama’s

rhetoric signaled a return to positive relations with the rest of the Western Hemisphere, and a

pan-Americanism based on cooperation rather than coercion that was more in line with

Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor policy than the strong-armed stance of the George W. Bush

administration. Music played a fairly prominent role in the history of U.S. engagement with

Latin America during the twentieth century. At times the U.S. government directly managed

musical diplomacy through organizations like the Office of Inter-American Affairs or the U.S.

Information Agency, but some of the most productive musical diplomats were musicians who

took their own initiative to interact with another culture.

While the U.S. and Cuba had close musical ties in the pre-revolutionary period, it was not

the result of coordinated musical diplomacy. Some individuals and institutions including Aaron

Copland and the Pan American Association of Composers intentionally used music to foster

positive relations with Cuban composers and musicians, but most musical ties between the two

countries were the result of commercial interests. Music and musicians flowed across the Florida

Straits with regularity, and the musical relations reflected the uneven economic relationship

between the two countries. When a market for Cuban songs was discovered in North America,

music publishers and record companies set up shop in Havana to find musical resources that

could be profitably exploited. At the same time, U.S. commercial interests started shaping Cuban

radio to push North American popular music and products while the most successful Cuban

musicians left their home country behind for more lucrative careers in New York City.

Following the Cuban Revolution, the musical connections between the U.S. and Cuba

appeared to be severed. The embargo and travel ban established by Kennedy would continue

with few exceptions for over fifty years. When U.S. policy towards Cuba changed in sometimes

subtle and sometimes dramatic ways under different presidential administrations, musicians were

often some of the first people to test new policies and start creating new transnational

connections. The 1977 jazz musicians’ cruise was the first major direct interaction between U.S.

and Cuban musicians since 1960, and it led directly to further interactions with Cuban groups

26 Council on Foreign Relations, “The Candidates on Cuba Policy,” CFR.org, 2008, http://www.cfr.org/world/candidates-cuba-policy/p14758 (accessed September 15, 2013).

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visiting the U.S. and the Havana Jam Festival in 1979. The ability of U.S. musicians to perform

in Cuba was then tightened in the 1980s, relaxed in the 1990s, and once again tightened in the

2000s.

During the post-embargo years when restrictions were relaxed and Cuban groups were

able to tour the U.S., some musicians claimed political asylum and defected and others extended

their stays without completely defecting. Most, however, returned home after making

international connections and taking new musical ideas back to Cuba with them. Their visits to

the U.S. along with albums like Buena Vista Social Club fed a growing curiosity about Cuba

among an American populace that was unable to visit the country legally. It often seemed that as

soon as it was possible to satisfy that curiosity, political forces would again bring the U.S.-Cuban

relationship to a standstill.

The next chapter describes the most recent opening of U.S.-Cuban relations under U.S.

President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro. Whether or not these most recent

opportunities for musical interaction are actually a sign of a larger transformation or yet another

chapter in the continuing cycle of starts and stops is still unknown. Wherever the current policies

may lead, the history of U.S.-Cuban musical interaction exhibits how musicians have

passionately believed in these exchanges before the revolution and continued to pursue them

afterwards whether or not they were a part of more extensive socio-political changes.

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CHAPTER TWO

U.S.-CUBAN RELATIONS IN THE OBAMA ERA: POLICIES,

OPPORTUNITIES AND AN ETHNOMUSICOLOGIST’S CHALLENGES In the 2008 U.S. Presidential race between the Democratic candidate Barack Obama and

his Republican counterpart John McCain, Cuba policy was far from the defining issue of the

contest. Neither candidate advocated dramatic changes to the embargo or Washington’s

relationship with Havana, but there were still stark differences between the two candidates’

approaches to the U.S.-Cuban relationship. In separate speeches on Latin American policy given

before Cuban American audiences in South Florida in the summer of 2008, they each made their

positions clear. While McCain advocated for continuing the strict policies of George W. Bush

and used rhetoric reminiscent of the Cold War era to gain the support of prominent anti-Castro

politicians, Obama pledged to engage in dialogue with the Castro government and called for

dramatically expanding the ability of Cuban Americans to travel to Cuba (Erikson 2009, 305-8).

Since that time Obama has been elected and re-elected, but as in the 1960s it is still

illegal for U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba and spend money as tourists. However, many

individuals have made the trip either illegally by traveling through a third country such as

Canada or Mexico, or legally thanks to policies that permit “purposeful” travel under certain

circumstances. Even with these legal options, Americans face a number of bureaucratic

challenges in order to legally spend money while visiting Cuba. How this authorization is

obtained varies depending on the traveler’s occupation, political connections, and relationship to

Cuba. Most U.S. citizens are forced to travel under the auspices of a license from the Office of

Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in the U.S. Department of Treasury, and many of the musicians

who have used these licenses to journey across the Florida Straits legally under the Obama

administration have participated in one of Cuba’s many music festivals.

This chapter will look at the U.S.-Cuban relationship and the reforms that have taken

place under both Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro. At the same time that policies have

been enacted to permit a greater number of U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba, the Cuban

government is enacting policies to bring the island into the increasingly connected world of the

twenty-first century. Policy changes, however, are being developed slowly and inconsistently.

These reforms have facilitated the travel of musicians going both ways between the U.S. and

Cuba, but travel is still not simple. To illustrate some of the challenges that are currently in place,

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the second part of the chapter will spotlight my own difficulties traveling to Cuba and my

experiences in the country while on an academic license.

Barack Obama and Raúl Castro

Obama’s New Beginning with Cuba

Following the 2008 election of Barack Obama, advocates for changes in Cuba policy

were cautiously optimistic. One of the new administration’s first opportunities to address a

relationship with Cuba was at the April 2009 Summit of the Americas, held in Trinidad and

Tobago. All thirty-four countries in the Americas were invited to participate except for Cuba,

which was expelled from the Organization of American States in 1962. A resolution stated that

“adherence by any member of the Organization of American States to Marxism-Leninism is

incompatible with the inter-American system and the alignment of such a government with the

communist block breaks the unity and solidarity of the hemisphere” and therefore “the present

Government of Cuba, which has officially identified itself as a Marxist-Leninist government, is

incompatible with the principles and objectives of the inter-American system.”27 Yet Cuba’s

participation and the U.S.-Cuban relationship became the defining issue for the summit, because

the new U.S. President was to be in attendance.

Days in advance of the summit, a White House adviser held a press conference with

members of the Latin American press that was dominated by questions about Cuba, but the

administration insisted that Cuba should not be invited because it remained an undemocratic

state. Then on April 13, four days before the opening of the summit, the White House announced

a series of policy changes under the label “Reaching Out to the Cuban People,” which lifted all

restrictions on transactions related to the travel of Cuban Americans to visit family members and

removed restrictions on remittances to family members in Cuba.28 When President Obama

addressed the gathered Latin American leaders on the opening night of the summit, he said, “I'm

here to launch a new chapter of engagement that will be sustained throughout my

27 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, “Six Reports on the Situation of Political Prisoners in Cuba.” Organization on American States, 1979, http://www.cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Cuba79eng/intro.htm (accessed October 16, 2013). 28 White House, “Fact Sheet: Reaching Out to the Cuban People,” Office of the Press Secretary, April 13, 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Fact-Sheet-Reaching-out-to-the-Cuban-people (accessed October 17, 2013).

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administration,” echoing many of the sentiments that were previously a part of Franklin

Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor policy. He later addressed Cuba policy more directly:

There's been several remarks directed at the issue of the relationship between the United States and Cuba, so let me address this. The United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba. I know there's a longer journey that must be traveled to overcome decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day. I've already changed a Cuba policy that I believe has failed to advance liberty or opportunity for the Cuban people. We will now allow Cuban Americans to visit the islands whenever they choose and provide resources to their families - the same way that so many people in my country send money back to their families in your countries to pay for everyday needs.29

Following the summit, the future of U.S.-Cuban relations was still in the air, and further changes

would not materialize for another two years.

While Cuban Americans were quickly able to take advantage of the changing policies,

starting a “new beginning” with Cuba was far from easy. The Office of Foreign Assets Control

was instructed to again start issuing licenses for Cuba travel to qualifying applicants, and the

administration made it easier for Cubans to visit the United States. The administration’s early

overtures led U.S. music promoters to apply for permission to bring increasingly more Cuban

musicians stateside. By October 2009, the State Department had issued 5,500 more visas for

Cubans to visit the U.S. than were issued in 2008.30 Yet when Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio

Rodriguez applied to visit the U.S. for Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday concert in May 2009, his visa

was denied. In a letter to Seeger, Rodriguez wrote “I tried to come back to be with you today,

but, as you well know, I was not allowed to get there by those who do not want the US and Cuba

to get together, to sing to each other, to talk to each other, to understand each other.”31

Possibilities for greater developments in the U.S.-Cuban relationship were complicated

when U.S. communications specialist Alan Gross was arrested in Cuba in December 2009. Gross

had been bringing communications equipment to Cuba’s Jewish community and helping them to

bypass the Cuban government’s blocks on internet access. His employer, Development

29 White House, “Remarks by the President at the Summit of the Americas Opening Ceremony,” Office of the Press Secretary, April 17, 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-the-Summit-of-the-Americas-Opening-Ceremony (accessed October 17, 2013). 30 Mary Murray, “Cuban Musicians Get U.S. Encore,” MSNBC, November 3, 2009, http://worldblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2009/11/03/4376225-cuban-musicians-get-us-encore (accessed January 23, 2010). 31 Silvio Rodriguez, “Letter written by Silvio Rodriguez to Pete Seeger,” Peteseeger.net, May 6, 2009, http://peteseeger.net/wp/?p=160 (accessed October 17, 2013).

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Alternatives, Inc., had been hired as a U.S. government contractor for a controversial USAID

(United States Agency for International Development) democracy-promotion program. While the

U.S. government and Gross’s employers argued Gross was neither an intelligence agent nor was

he assisting Cuban dissident groups, Raúl Castro defended Gross’s imprisonment, calling him a

“U.S. citizen, euphemistically labeled as a government contractor [who was] devoting himself to

the illegal distribution of sophisticated satellite communications equipment."32 Gross was

sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

The Obama administration did not change their policies related to Cuba again until

January 2011, when it was announced that restrictions on purposeful travel would be eased even

further. When the new rules were published by the OFAC a few months later and went into

effect, it was possible for religious and academic groups to travel to the island nation with only a

general license, meaning they did not need specific permission from the Department of Treasury

or other government agency. They also made it possible for travel providers to organize cultural

exchange tours, and permitted more airports to allow charter flights to Cuba. The administration

announced that these changes, which were largely in line with Clinton-era restrictions, were

meant to increase people-to-people contact with the goal of what an administration official

described as “helping strengthen Cuban civil society and, frankly, making Cuban people less

dependent on the Cuban state."33

According to statistics kept by the Cuban government on people entering the country,

350,000 Cuban Americans visited Cuba in 2012 along with another 98,000 U.S. citizens who did

not have Cuban heritage, up from 73,500 in 2011. Previously, the peak number of U.S. visitors in

Cuba annually was around 70,000 under President Bill Clinton before dropping to an average of

30,000 in the last term of President George W. Bush.34 While Obama’s policies have made it

possible for many more individuals to legally travel between the U.S. and Cuba than under the

previous administration, the President is limited in what policies he can change. Much of the

power to change Cuba policy is now with Congress, which has a small but powerful pro-

embargo group with members of both parties that are strongly against negotiating with Cuba for 32 Bonnie Goldstein, “What Was Alan Gross Doing in Havana?” Politics Daily, February 11, 2010, http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/11/what-was-alan-gross-doing-in-havana/ (accessed October 17, 2013). 33 Mary Beth Sheridan, “Obama loosens travel restrictions to Cuba,” The Washington Post, January 15, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/14/AR2011011406748.html (accessed December 14, 2012). 34 “Americans Traveling to Cuba in Record Numbers,” World Bulletin, October 18, 2013, http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=120942 (accessed October 18, 2013).

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any purpose. And as the Helms-Burton Act states, full diplomatic relations with Cuba cannot be

restored until a new democratic government not associated with either of the Castro brothers is

installed. The common explanation given by U.S. politicians is that further changes will require

reforms on the part of the Cuban government, some of which have recently been instituted by

Cuban President Raúl Castro.

Cultural Policies and Economic Transformation in Cuba

In July 2006 at the age of seventy-nine, Fidel Castro handed control of the government

over to his younger brother Raúl in what was meant to be a temporary measure as the elder

brother recovered from intestinal surgery. While some Cuba watchers speculated about Fidel’s

death and waited for a collapse of the country’s socialist system and revolutionary government,

nothing happened. Fidel made occasional public appearances and regularly wrote his

“Reflections” column about the state of the revolution and other issues in the state newspaper

Granma. Then on February 19, 2008, Granma published a message from Fidel in which he

addressed his recovery and his brother’s time as interim President. His message concluded with a

statement that brought his forty-nine year tenure as Cuba’s leader to a close: “I will neither aspire

to nor accept, I repeat, I will neither aspire to nor accept the positions of President of the State

Council and Commander in Chief” (Erikson 2009, 3). Days later, Raúl Castro was confirmed as

president of Cuba by the National Assembly, which marked an historic but anticlimactic

transition. While news of Fidel’s illness had sparked celebrations in South Florida, the official

end of his presidency was greeted quietly. It did not signal the grand changes in Cuban society

the exile community had desired, but Raúl Castro’s term as President has been marked by a

series of cautious but deliberate changes to Cuba’s economic and political system.

Raúl Castro publicly stated that the revolution had made errors, such as fostering an

“excessively paternalistic, idealistic and egalitarian approach instituted by the Revolution in the

interest of social justice,” and allowing for “the excessively centralized model characterizing [the

Cuban] economy at the moment” that had become more of a problem than a virtue. He declared

that the Cuban system would move forward from the centralized model inspired by the former

Soviet Union to something uniquely Cuban with “a socialist feature of management, albeit

without ignoring the current market trends” and learning from others, “even from the positive

experience of capitalists” (August 2013, 143). An admission of fault alone was something the

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Cuban people were not accustomed to hearing from the government, and the announcement of

potentially dramatic economic changes brought an air of uncertainty to Cuba.

The economic changes have been varied, but generally involve an easing of government

interference and more opportunities in the private sector, with early reforms focused on small

business and farmland. Cuban residents can now buy and sell homes and used cars, where

previously they were only allowed to trade for items of equal value. This has allowed home-run

businesses to flourish, including small restaurants known as paladares and casas particulares, the

private homes licensed to rent out rooms to foreign travelers. In October 2013, it was announced

that the state-run tourism industry had been authorized to contract out lodgings, meals,

excursions, and other activities to private businesses; with tourism as the country’s largest

industry, this change will significantly benefit private businesses. About 400,000 Cubans work in

the budding private sector of small business and self-employment, up from 150,000 in 2010.

Farms have also been moved into the private sector as large state farms have been broken up, co-

ops have been created, and private farmers can now sell their surplus produce to hotels and

restaurants at market value after providing the government their quota at a set price.35

A major upcoming change to Cuba’s economy is the planned unification of Cuba’s twin

currencies. Currently, most state-owned cafeterias and shops set prices in Cuban pesos (CUPs),

which is also how Cuban citizens working in the public sector are paid. Approximately 25 CUPs

equal a dollar, so the average monthly wage of a state-employed worker of 466 CUPs is worth

just $19. The tourist economy, on the other hand, operates with “convertible” pesos (or CUCs)

set at equal to the dollar. Income inequality has risen dramatically as a result of this dual system

with more Cubans obtaining CUCs, either as remittances from relatives abroad or because they

work in tourism or the growing private sector. As a result, a waiter in a popular tourist restaurant

who is tipped in CUCs typically makes more than a highly trained doctor working in a state-run

hospital. Economists are currently drafting plans for currency unification, which was officially

announced in October 2013.36

35 Marc Frank, “Cuba allows tourism industry to hire private contractors,” Chicago Tribune, October 9, 2013, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-cuba-reform-20131009,0,4626537.story (accessed October 19, 2013); Carol Pucci, “Cuba: On boulevards and back streets, its real life is revealed,” Seattle Times, October 19, 2012, http://seattletimes.com/html/pacificnw/2019397374_pacificpcubatravel21.html (accessed October 19, 2013). 36 “Money starts to talk,” The Economist, July 20, 2013, http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21581990-and-eventually-perhaps-one-currency-tempo-reform-accelerates-money-starts?zid=305&ah=417bd5664dc76da5d98af4f7a640fd8a (accessed October 19, 2013); Patrick Oppman, “Cuba to

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In order to maintain social, and therefore political, stability, limited reforms are first

piloted in selected provinces and industries before being rolled out nation-wide. In addition to

these economic reforms, Raúl Castro’s government has also instituted a number of significant

political changes. There have been efforts to rout out corruption in all levels of government and

state-run operations. In 2011, Castro called for a limit of two five year terms in top political

positions, including his own. Castro has also called for younger leadership in government, as ten

of the fifteen Politburo members (the top committee in the Communist Party of Cuba) are in their

seventies or eighties.37 There have been no calls from within the government to significantly

change how leaders are elected.

One of the most significant political changes has involved the ability for Cubans to travel

abroad. Previously, if a Cuban wished to leave the country they had to apply to the government

for an expensive and difficult to obtain exit permit. The cost and requirements of these permits

made such travel nearly impossible for most Cubans. Now, however, individuals do not need to

purchase the $150 permits or have letters of invitation from their foreign hosts, which the

government previously charged up to $200 to process. They will, however, still need a passport

and a visa for the country they plan to visit, which can take time to obtain and are still

prohibitively expensive to most Cubans who make around twenty dollars per month. The amount

of time Cubans can spend outside of the country without losing rights and property has also been

extended from eleven to twenty-four months.38 Previously, only musicians favored by the

government had been able to tour outside the country, but this change has made it easier for all

musicians to perform in other countries including the United States.

Despite political and economic changes, the Castro government’s human rights record

shows no signs of reform. While Castro has freed 52 political prisoners that have been jailed

since a 2003 crackdown on dissent, repression has continued to take place. In 2012, a record

6,200 short-term detentions for political dissent were reported.39 The livelihood of Cuban

do away with dual currency system,” CNN, October 22, 2013, http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/22/world/americas/cuba-single-currency/ (accessed October 31, 2013). 37 Juan Tamayo, “Five years later: Cuba under Raúl: He’s tinkered but it’s the same old machine,” Miami Herald, February 24, 2013, http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/23/3250831/cuba-under-raul-hes-tinkered.html (accessed October 18, 2013). 38 Gay Nagle Myers, “Cuba's new visa policy greeted warmly, but warily, by industry,” Travel Weekly, October 23, 2012, http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Tour-Operators/Cuba-new-visa-policy-greeted-warmly-but-warily-by-industry/ (accessed October 18, 2013). 39 Juan Tamayo, “Five years later: Cuba under Raúl.”

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musicians continues to depend on their willingness to comply with the government and not

publicly criticize elements of the revolution. Jazz musician Roberto Carcassés discovered

firsthand that this was still the case when he expressed his discontent at a major concert in

Havana on September 12, 2013. The concert was held outside the U.S. Interests Section to

protest the U.S. government for the release of the Cuban Five on the fifteenth anniversary of

their arrest.40 Near the end of the concert, which featured more than a dozen popular Cuban

musicians and was televised live throughout the country, Carcassés performed with his group

Interactivo. The song featured a call and response between Carcassés and his backup singers, but

after introducing the song and calling for the release of the Cuban Five, the singer called for

marijuana legalization, freedom of information, direct elections, and an end to the embargo.41 He

sang:

Este coro es facilito. Y todos lo pueden hacer.

(This chorus is easy. And everyone can do it.) Porque somos cubanos y queremos muchas cosas.

(Because we are Cubans and we want many things.) Queremos que regresen nuestros hermanos y muchas cosas más.

(We want to return our brothers and much more.) Y el coro dice así:

(And the chorus goes like this) Quiero, acuérdate que siempre quiero.

(I want, I always want to remember.) Yo quiero que liberen a los cinco hérores y que liberen a María.

(I want to release the five heroes and to release Mary.) Quiero, acuérdate que siempre quiero.

(I want, I always want to remember.) Libre acceso a la información, para tener yo mi propia opinión.

(Free access to information, for I have my own opinion.) Quiero, acuérdate que siempre quiero.

(I want, I always want to remember.) Yo quiero elegir al presidente, por voto directo y no por otra vía.

(I want to elect a president by direct vote and not by other means.) Quiero, acuérdate que siempre quiero.

(I want, I always want to remember.) Ni militantes ni disidientes, cubanos todos con los mismos derechos.

40 The Cuban Five were a group of Cuban intelligence officers arrested in Miami for spying on anti-Castro exile groups and military installations. Cuban officials claim that they were only monitoring violent exile groups to prevent terror attacks on the island, and their imprisonment is one of Havana’s chief grievances against the U.S. Driving through Havana, references to the Cuban Five and calling for their freedom 41 “Improvisación de Roberto Carcassés,” Youtube video, September 15, 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZT9UE5YmnI (accessed 19 October 2013).

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(Neither militants nor dissidents, Cubans all with the same rights.) Quiero, acuérdate que siempre quiero.

(I want, I always want to remember.) Que se acabe el bloqueo y el autobloqueo.

(An end to the blockade and the self-blockade.)

The next day, Carcassés was informed that for making comments that went against the

revolution, he was banned from performing in all venues governed by the Ministry of Culture

effective immediately. He could still perform with his group, but not in any of the places at

which Interactivo regularly played, so all of the upcoming performances on their schedule had to

be canceled. The punishment caused a stir, receiving attention throughout Cuba and in the Cuban

American community. It reached a resolution after Silvio Rodriguez issued a statement that said

Carcassés should not have made those comments when and where he did but that he also did not

agree with the excessive sanctions being imposed upon the musician. Six days after the scandal

erupted, the Ministry of Culture announced that Interactivo and its director could again perform

in state operated halls and theaters.42

This case is a musical example of how the Cuban government is struggling with

balancing previous practices of being highly involved in all aspects of public life and a potential

future that is more open to individual autonomy. While Carcassés spoke out against the state of

the government and was able to return to his professional routine, many others remain

imprisoned or have been forced to leave the country for similar statements. The economic

changes that have begun under Raúl Castro have not been adopted to reject the revolution and

socialism but instead are intended to safeguard it, albeit in a new context. In fact, Castro insists

that they are not “reforms” but “updates.” The overall impact these economic and political

changes may have on Cuba and the U.S.-Cuban relationship remains to be seen. Raúl Castro has

repeatedly offered to engage in talks with the Obama administration, but the continued

imprisonment of Alan Gross and the lack of improvement to Cuba’s human rights record are

cited by U.S. officials as the primary impediments to any talks. While U.S. and Cuban politicians

are not engaging one another directly, the recent changes have made it much easier for musicians

42 “Ministry of Culture Pardons Robertico Carcassés.” OnCuba, September 18, 2013, http://www.oncubamagazine.com/culture/ministry-of-culture-pardons-robertico-carcasses/ (accessed October 19, 2013).

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and other individuals to travel back and forth and expand the transnational dialogue in other

ways.

Navigating Bureaucracies: My Personal Challenges in Traveling to Cuba

My own desire to visit Cuba developed over a number of years until legal reforms finally

made it possible for me to land in Havana. While performing in the Afro-Cuban Drum and

Dance Ensemble at the University of Iowa, I heard stories from the instructors about their trips to

Cuba when they had brought the ensemble there only a couple years earlier. They planned to

take a trip every four years, but when President Bush clamped down on travel to Cuba for

educational purposes in 2004, all plans for future trips were put on hold. My interests in traveling

to Cuba had been piqued, but I realized that I wouldn’t be able to go there legally until there was

a new administration in the White House.

I began planning to visit Cuba again when I had started my Ph.D. coursework in

ethnomusicology at the Florida State University. After Barack Obama’s election, I closely

followed his approach to Cuba and formulated my own plans to visit the country for the Havana

Jazz Festival in December 2010. The written OFAC regulations in 2010 were largely in line with

the ones instituted by the Bush administration in 2004, and they required a specific license for

most types of travel. Applications were considered on a case-by-case basis; the policy under the

Bush administration was to not issue any new licenses, but after his inauguration Obama directed

OFAC to again start processing applications and issuing them to individuals and organizations

that qualify. Under the guidelines, I would require a specific license for academic activities

permitting me to spend money incident to “noncommercial academic research in Cuba

specifically related to Cuba for the purpose of obtaining a graduate degree.”43 Academic

licenses, however, were typically issued to “accredited U.S. degree-granting academic

institutions” to cover “the institution, its students enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree

program at the licensed institution, and its full-time permanent employees to engage in travel-

related transactions.”44 When students from an institution without a specific license wished to

engage in travel for a permitted purpose, they could personally apply for a license from the

government.

43 OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control), U.S. Department of the Treasury, Comprehensive Guidelines for License

Applications to Engage in Travel-Related Transactions Involving Cuba, September 30, 2004, http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cuba_tr_app.pdf (accessed October 5, 2010). 44 Ibid.

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University administration and offices related to international programs were unable to tell

me if the Florida State University possessed the specific license I needed. I was told the

University did not have any programs visiting Cuba, and no one I asked was familiar with the

Office of Foreign Assets Control or their licensing procedures. As a result, I applied for my own

specific license. The OFAC website linked to a form for travel license applications, and it

required a “detailed description of the proposed research or formal course of study,” and a

written statement from an appropriate representative of the academic institution certifying that:

1) the U.S. academic institution is accredited by an appropriate national or regional accrediting association; 2) you are enrolled in an accredited degree program at that institution; 3) you will receive academic credit toward that degree for your educational activities in Cuba; and 4) your study or research in Cuba is taking place with the knowledge and approval of the relevant dean or the academic vice-president, provost, or president of the institution.45

After explaining my research and Cuba travel restrictions to the relevant deans in the College of

Music and having my travel approved as a type of independent study, I submitted my completed

application at the beginning of August. Over a month later, I received a phone call from the

OFAC telling me I was ineligible for a specific license because the university already had one.

After again contacting the officials in international programs with this new information, I

was referred to the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs in the office of the Provost

who administered international programs. He had me pen a letter to the International Travel

Oversight Committee, where I explained my research and the current state of Cuban travel

restrictions. As far as I was concerned, I had reached the highest level of University bureaucracy

related to this matter, so all the confusion should finally be resolved. On October 6, 2010, just

over two months from when I planned to leave for Cuba, I received a short email from the

Associate Vice President, stating:

Two things I need to point out. Number one, you may not use state money or grant money to fund your trip. Second, we can only give you approval contingent upon your getting approval from the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Please provide me documentation indicating you have received this approval. Thanks.46

Because the University had a license, I did not need and could not get any additional approval

from the OFAC, which I would have to clarify. What I had not previously realized, however, was

45 OFAC 2004, 31. 46 Joe Nosari, email to author, October 6, 2010.

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that the Florida Legislature had created additional challenges I would have to face in order to

conduct research in Cuba.

In 2006, the Florida Legislature passed a law banning the use of any state resources for

academic travel to Cuba. Florida Senate Bill 2434, described as an “act relating to travel to

terrorist states” and known as the Florida Travel Act, was instituted after Florida International

University professor Carlos Alvarez and his wife were arrested and admitted to spying for Cuba

for almost thirty years.47 The resulting law prohibits the use of public or private funds by Florida

colleges or universities from being used to “implement, organize, direct, coordinate, or

administer activities related to, or involving, travel to a terrorist state” and tying the definition of

a terrorist state to the U.S. Department of State’s list of state sponsors of terrorism. The Reagan

administration added Cuba to that list in 1982. After the bill was passed, the Florida American

Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the state and in 2008 a south Florida U.S. District Court

ruled the law unconstitutional. A U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision and the

Supreme Court declined to hear the case, affirming the law’s constitutionality. As it stands, no

money that is handled by a state university in Florida, even a private grant, can be used to fund

travel to Cuba, severely limiting my ability to conduct field research.

By the time I investigated the Florida Travel Act and explained OFAC licenses to

University officials, it was too late for me to get to the 2010 Havana Jazz Festival. However,

Obama further eased travel restrictions to allow academic travel under a general license shortly

thereafter, so when I went to the FolkCuba International Folklore Laboratory in July 2011, I only

needed to carry a signed letter from the musicology area head on official University letterhead.

No further permission from OFAC was needed, but coordinating U.S. to Cuba travel still creates

numerous challenges.

Academic Travel and Research at the FolkCuba International Folklore Laboratory

The 2011 reforms to OFAC regulations greatly increased the number of people who can

travel to Cuba on a general license. These reforms represent one of the most significant steps

President Obama has taken in easing the travel ban. Now an individual traveling with a religious

group, conducting professional research, or participating in academic activities as part of an

47 Jason Lawrence, “Cuba Travel Ban: Five Years Later,” Famuan, March 20, 2011, http://www.thefamuanonline.com/news/cuba-travel-ban-five-years-later-1.2517442?pagereq=1#.Ukh1ymTEqFd (accessed September 28, 2013).

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accredited U.S. graduate or undergraduate academic institution no longer needs to request a

specific license from the OFAC. Numerous universities have already set up programs in Cuba,

many of which have a musical focus. And as long as they are part of “a structured educational

program in Cuba as part of a course offered for credit by the sponsoring U.S. academic

institution,” university ensembles have been able to perform in Cuban festivals under these new

rules.48

The Berklee College of Music’s Interarts Ensemble was one of the first University groups

to travel to Cuba after these rule changes went into effect, when faculty member Neil Leonard

brought the group to the 2011 Cubadisco International Fair. The Interarts Ensemble was awarded

a Cubadisco International Prize for one of their albums and performed with various Cuban

musicians during the ceremony. This trip was followed by subsequent interactions with Cuban

musicians visiting Boston for performances at Berklee, and Leonard returning to Cuba for a

performance in the Havana Jazz Festival.49 The International Havana Jazz Festival has been the

site of many U.S.-Cuban interactions and is very welcoming of U.S. universities. In addition to

Neil Leonard, who performed in the 2011 festival with the Berklee Faculty Jazz Quartet, the

University of Texas Jazz Orchestra and the jazz ensemble from Friends University in Wichita,

Kansas, have played there in recent years. These performances are discussed more thoroughly in

Chapter Three.

My own trips to Cuba have taken place under the general license for academic travel,

which permits visits to Cuba for the following purposes:

(1) Participation in a structured educational program in Cuba as part of a course offered for credit by the sponsoring U.S. academic institution;

(2) Noncommercial academic research in Cuba specifically related to Cuba and for the purpose of obtaining a graduate degree;

(3) Participation in a formal course of study at a Cuban academic institution, provided the formal course of study in Cuba will be accepted for credit toward the student’s graduate or undergraduate degree;

48 OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control), U.S. Department of the Treasury, Comprehensive Guidelines for

License Applications to Engage in Travel-Related Transactions Involving Cuba, April 19, 2011, http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cuba_tr_app.pdf (accessed 28 April 2012): 20. 49 “The Berklee College of Music Awarded the CubaDisco International Prize,” Cubaheadlines, May 15, 2011, http://www.cubaheadlines.com/2011/05/15/31309/the_berklee_college_of_music_awarded_the_cubadisco_international_prize.html (accessed October 29, 2012).

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(4) Teaching at a Cuban academic institution by an individual regularly employed in a teaching capacity at the sponsoring U.S. academic institution, provided the teaching activities are related to an academic program at the Cuban institution and provided the duration of the teaching will be no shorter than 10 weeks;

(5) Sponsorship, including the payment of a stipend or salary, of a Cuban scholar to teach or engage in other scholarly activity at the sponsoring U.S. academic institution; or

(6) The organization of, and preparation for, activities described in (a)(1)-(5) above by members of the faculty and staff of the sponsoring U.S. academic institution.50

My travel was justified as noncommercial academic research in pursuit of a graduate degree, but

because my first trip involved taking percussion classes as part of the FolkCuba International

Folklore Laboratories it could have also been justified as participation in a formal course of

study.

While travel restrictions had been eased before my trip, Miami-based charter air carriers

were still accustomed to serving Cuban Americans visiting family and had not updated their

internal policies to accommodate new regulations. The companies wanted me to show I was

issued a specific license from the OFAC when purchasing plane tickets. I neither had nor needed

a specific license, so I flew through Mexico. As the one American on a plane from Mexico City,

the Cuban customs officials thoroughly searched my bags when I arrived and scrutinized my

official University letter but then let me proceed without issue. I spent nineteen days in Cuba on

that trip, studying Afro-Cuban percussion with members of the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional,

exploring and making contacts in Havana, and even traveling outside of the city for a couple

days.

Studying percussion with members of the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba allowed

me to learn Afro-Cuban rhythms on conga and batá, the double-headed hourglass-shaped drums

played in sets of three during Santería religious ceremonies. But working closely with and

getting to know the other musicians in my class, both from Cuba and elsewhere, was the most

rewarding part of the experience. The Conjunto Folklórico was formed in 1962 as part of the

Teatro Nacional’s Department of Folklore to act as an institution that could retrieve and maintain

Cuba’s music and dance traditions while integrating them into the post-revolutionary national

culture. By adapting Afro-Cuban religious musical traditions for the stage with modern theatrical 50 OFAC 2011, 20.

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aesthetics, the Conjunto Folklórico’s dramatizations of rituals were the first of their kind

(Hagedorn 2001, 136-41). They have since become a major part of the Cuban tourism industry

with various ensembles putting on staged folkloric performances throughout the country.51

The website for the Conjunto Folklórico describes the FolkCuba International Folklore

Laboratories as “15 days of rhythm beginning on the third Monday in January and the first

Monday in July [where] the most outstanding figures of the National Folklore Group of Cuba

will impart the secrets of Cuban folk dances, with their African and Hispanic roots, and the

magic sounds produced by Cuban percussion instruments.”52 That was about all of the

information I had before showing up on the first Monday in July. I waited outside of the

Conjunto Folklórico’s building in the Vedado district of Havana, and it was apparent to me I was

the only person who was not a native Spanish speaker. After we were ushered into the building

and gathered on the wooden floor of the auditorium, everyone introduced himself or herself. The

majority of participants were Cubans, but there were also visitors from Panama and Mexico, and

they ranged from elementary school kids to middle aged adults but most participants were in

their late teens or early twenties. We sang some songs and then were asked to start dancing when

one of the other participants and I realized we were not in the percussion class. After explaining

the situation to the dance instructor, we were sent to fill out our registration paperwork and were

then told that the percussion instructor was not there. Our lessons did not start until the next day.

Our instructor was Anier Alonso del Valle, a young but very talented member of the

Conjunto Folklórico. We learned various rumba patterns and other Afro-Cuban rhythms on

congas and cajon. When learning batá, we only learned the rhythms on okonkolo, the smallest of

the three drums, but over the course of the lessons we memorized the patterns for twenty-one

orishas, the deities in Santería religious practices, and learned to play them in the proper cycle.

My experiences learning rhythms associated with the worship of Afro-Cuban deities confirmed

Hagedorn’s assertion that “folklore seems to exist without religion in the context of the

FolkCuba workshops” (2001, 127). We learned many rhythms, but they were taught almost

entirely without context. While Anier had participated in traditional Santería ceremonies before

and he could provide descriptions of the orishas, he approached FolkCuba as a professional

51 For a thorough discussion on the history of the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba, its role in the tourism industry, and ethnographic descriptions of studying with the group during the Special Period, see Katherine Hagedorn, Divine Utterances: The Performance of Afro-Cuban Santería, 2001. 52 “FolkCuba,” Conjunto Folklórico Nacional, http://www.folkcuba.cult.cu/laboratory.htm (accessed October 6, 2013).

79

musician and percussion instructor. We moved very quickly from one rhythm to the next only

being told the name of its affiliated orisha. After two days, I started asking what the orisha

represented when we learned a new rhythm, and Anier started sharing whether the orisha was

male or female and the elements or activities they represented. I learned much more about actual

Santería practices from a young man named Leo I met on the street who invited me into his

family’s home where his grandmother showed me the shrines for various orishas in their home.

She also offered to arrange a ceremony for me the next time I was in Cuba to determine my

guardian orisha, although I would have had to pay for it. Afro-Cuban religious practices

contribute to the allure of Cuba, which is evidenced by how it has been monetized by religious

practitioners and the Conjunto Folklórico through these paid initiations and FolkCuba.

Figure 2.1 The percussion rehearsal room at the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional.

Photograph by author (July 15, 2011).

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Figure 2.2 Anier Alonso del Valle (front center) teaching the author (rear center) a rhythm

associated with the Arará ethnic group as Chi Saito (second from right) studies the bell

pattern. Photograph taken for the author by a class visitor, name unknown (July 16, 2011).

The percussion classes ran in the mornings Monday through Saturday for two weeks, and

Saturday afternoons were scheduled for performances by the Conjunto Folklórico on the patio.

However, the first Saturday was rained out and the second Saturday was the student performance

and graduation. Four total students participated in our percussion class: two Cubans, myself, and

a man named Chi Saito who was Japanese but now lived and worked as a musician in Los

Angeles.53 Chi joined the class after the first week, and while his English was very good, he did

53 Chi had flown through Cancun, Mexico and was aware that regulations were in place to prevent travel between the U.S. and Cuba. While this did not stop him from visiting Cuba, he was concerned that it could potentially be a threat to his green card and legal status in the U.S. What he did not realize at the time was that as a professional musician, he would have most likely been able to justify his travel as professional research. According to the 2011 OFAC regulations, “Research requires a full work schedule of noncommercial, academic research that has a substantial likelihood of public dissemination and is in the traveler’s professional area,” and participation in the FolkCuba International Folklore Laboratories would have qualified (OFAC 2011, 16).

81

not speak any Spanish. That meant I very quickly had to become a translator in order for our

class to function.

During my time in Cuba, I stayed in a casa particular, a private Cuban home where the

owners are licensed by the government to rent out rooms to foreign visitors, and they have

become popular amongst academics visiting from the United States. My casa during this trip was

operated by a man named Carlos Peña Avila and was located on the third floor of a four story

building in Vedado only a short walk from the Conjunto Folklórico. It had three bedrooms that

could be rented out, some of which were occupied by other visitors from U.S. universities during

my two weeks there. For two nights there was a group of faculty and administrators from the

University of Georgia who were in Cuba to set up a study abroad program, and near the end of

my stay there was a Professor of Chinese dance from New York University who stayed with

Carlos while her students participated in a dance workshop. Although tour companies are

typically contracted to book foreign tourists in Cuba’s hotels, academic visitors often arrange

their trips with the help of Cuban university officials or other personal contacts who put them in

casas particulares.

While the 2011 expansion of general license categories to include academic travel made

it possible for these educators and myself to visit Cuba, traveling there a second time for

academic research created further questions and complications. When I participated in FolkCuba

in 2011, I was not yet conducting formal interviews or working with human subjects, but by the

time I returned for the 2012 Havana Jazz Festival my research needed to receive approval from

Florida State University’s Institutional Review Board and Human Subjects Committee. My

research methods met all requirements and my application was marked for expedited review, but

an attorney in the Office of Research delayed its approval with questions about the legality of my

travel. After two weeks of meetings, emails, and phone calls, I was able to thoroughly explain

how OFAC licenses worked and how my previous and upcoming trips qualified for a general

license. My research was then approved, and I was able to take a flight from Miami to Havana in

December 2012. While the process of obtaining the necessary permissions to travel to Cuba was

often vexing and required patience on my part, it has been productive in educating others about

current travel regulations. The next time these administrators work with a student who wishes to

visit Cuba, they will know more and can facilitate the approval procedures more easily.

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Conclusion

Navigating OFAC licenses, Florida statutes, and University red tape was a time-

consuming and frustrating experience. While President Obama simplified travel to Cuba for

academic purposes, it continues to be a challenging prospect for many individuals who must

educate themselves and others on these policies. The four years after the U.S. President called for

a “new beginning” with Cuba have seen many more individuals traversing the Florida Straits

than were able to do so under previous administrations, and it made my visits to Cuba possible.

At the same time, Cuban President Raúl Castro has been announcing and instituting changes to

Cuba’s economic and political systems. The reforms taking place in Cuba were more difficult for

me to discern having not been to the country before. While government officials kept track of

where I was staying and prevented me from taking any photos near state buildings, I ate at a

variety of privately owned paladares that opened only recently and had a plethora of casas

particulares where I could have stayed.

Under Barack Obama and Raúl Castro, the U.S.-Cuban relationship has not undergone

major changes but the small transformations to the U.S. travel ban and the Cuban system are

significant. The interactions that these changes have facilitated potentially have the power to

encourage further changes if they are allowed to continue. While there are still many barriers to

further reforms in the U.S.-Cuban political and economic relationship, the ability for individuals

to travel from the U.S. to Cuba to participate in musical events such as FolkCuba and other

festivals has been an important step. The next chapter will focus specifically on the Havana Jazz

Plaza Festival and what the participation of U.S. musicians in 2012 demonstrates about current

U.S.-Cuban musical relations.

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CHAPTER THREE

THE 2012 HAVANA JAZZ PLAZA FESTIVAL

Introduction: The Importance of Improvisation

On Friday, December 21, 2012 during the colloquium of the 28th Havana Jazz Plaza

Festival, Bobby Carcassés spoke about improvisation. It’s “something we all already do every

day,” he said. “It’s something insects do, the mosquitoes and cockroaches.” His point was that

jazz improvisation is not something that should intimidate young musicians nor should it be

approached cautiously. He invited a few musicians from the small audience to join him in an

improvisatory jam session to prove his point. Likewise, Cuba’s current economic struggles have

forced Cubans to make improvisation a part of their daily lives. Common goods and products

taken for granted on the other side of the Florida Straits are in limited supply. When purchasing

groceries, it is unknown what the store will have in stock and what they will be out of. When the

1950s cars that drive up and down Havana’s streets have trouble, the necessary parts for repairs

can be impossible to find so a driver takes what he can get and modifies it until it works.

Visitors to Cuba also have to be prepared to improvise. While the Cuban government

attempts to meet tourists’ needs in terms of goods and services, the nature of Cuba often means

that plans change. This is true even before arriving on the island, especially when dealing with

U.S. regulations and licenses. When I initially made plans to attend the jazz festival in December

2012, I intended to go on an organized trip for musicians with the company Cuba Tours and

Travel. Their website said the trip was “aimed at making it affordable for American musicians,

music teachers, music producers, publishers and anyone else in the non-commercial music world

to visit Cuba and experience her music.”54 The trip was offered to full-time American

professionals in the field of music because they could qualify for a professional research license.

It was initially scheduled for December 12 through 19 and cost $2390.00 if you shared a room

with another traveler and ran an extra $450 if you wanted a single occupancy room. These fees

were meant to include:

• Cuban visa and U.S. paperwork for professional research general license • VIP check in with round trip chartered air service from Miami to Havana • Seven nights at the four-star Hotel Presidente (or similar) close to the

festival

54 “Havana Jazz Festival 2012,” Cuba Tours and Travel, http://www.cubatoursandtravel.com/havana-jazz-festival-2012 (accessed July 9, 2012).

84

• Breakfast every morning • Jazz festival registration with access to all major concerts and events • Invitations to festival opening night: jam sessions, visits with Cuban

musicians, symposiums etc. • Special party and jam session for American musicians. • Guided day trip to the countryside with lunch • Guided architectural tour of the City of Havana with lunch • Your own special music guide to assist and advise you every morning at

the hotel lobby I filled out an online reservation form and when I inquired about how to mail my deposit in mid-

October, I received a response saying, “That trip has been cancelled because the Havana Jazz

Festival's dates were inexplicably moved up a week by its organizers. Consequently our trip

could not be reorganized because of lack of flexibility on the hotel rooms.”55

The festival dates listed online had been inconsistent even on official Cuban Ministry of

Culture pages, and my attempts to contact anyone associated with the festival in Cuba were dead

ends. Now that I knew the festival dates had been moved and finalized for December 20 to 23, I

had two months to make new plans and the staff at Cuba Tours and Travel still helped me secure

a visa and plane ticket. I flew from Miami to Havana on December 16 on a large plane mostly

filled with Cuban Americans visiting family. The check-in process at the Miami airport was

somewhat confusing as the name of the charter company and carrier differed, and there was a

general sense of chaos in the international terminal as people pushed large carts around while

bundling the goods they were bringing in bright green plastic wrap to prevent workers at the

Cuban airport from going through or taking anything. The flight itself was short and smooth, and

I was surprised to find a bilingual magazine in the seat-back pocket specifically aimed at U.S.-to-

Cuba travelers with general advice and an article about the jazz festival.

Upon arrival I took a cab to the casa particular I had stayed at on my last trip. Unable to

call Cuba from my cellular phone, I had emailed the casa’s proprietor, Carlos, in November to

inquire about a room. Some weeks later I received a response asking me to confirm my dates, but

when I arrived at his door on December 16 his rooms were all booked. It turns out that advance

casa particular reservations are all tentative and subject to change unless you call twenty-four

hours in advance. Thankfully, Carlos brought me inside, and his wife made me some fresh juice

as he called around to other casa particulares in the neighborhood. He then insisted on carrying

55 Adolfo Nodal, e-mail message to author, October 12, 2012.

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my suitcase the three blocks to my home for the duration of the festival, a room in an eighth floor

apartment belonging to a nice older woman named Amparo who spoke no English. I was

exhausted but gratefully accepted the offer to join her neighbors when they offered me some beer

and tostones (fried plantain slices) immediately upon my arrival. Once again the circumstances

surrounding my arrival in Cuba were significantly different from what I had initially planned, but

I was settled in Havana and prepared to take in the jazz festival.

This chapter chronicles the 2012 International Havana Jazz Plaza Festival, which

included a lot of improvisation, musical and otherwise. An understanding of the festival as it

exists today requires an explanation of jazz history in Cuba after the revolution and some of the

country’s major jazz personalities who contributed directly to the development of the festival.

This is followed by a discussion of the 2012 festival’s programming and design, which shows

how it set the stage for three groups from the United States to simultaneously navigate U.S.-

Cuban relations and perform jazz in the context of intercultural dialogue.

Jazz After the Revolution

Jazz was an important element in the U.S.-Cuban musical discourse from the music’s

origins through the 1950s, as discussed in Chapter One. Chucho Valdés, the current director of

the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival recalled these connections to Down Beat in a 2013 interview:

Before Afro-Cuban jazz, before Chano Pozo and Mario Bauzá, there was another phase between Cuban music and American music. Jelly Roll Morton felt like there was a “Latin tinge.” … We have this thing in Cuba called the habanera. It is in the contradanza. In New Orleans, there was another thing called ragtime. When you hear habanera and ragtime, you feel there is something that is very similar. The ragtime and habanera are family. There is a Cuban trumpeter named Manuel Perez, who went to live in New Orleans, and he worked with all of them. He returned to Cuba with musicians from New Orleans, to Santiago, and mixed with Cuban musicians. They formed the first ragtime orchestra. So you can see the relationship goes way back. Then in the ‘40s, Dizzy and Mario Bauzá connected. The story between the two is very beautiful.56

Jazz continued to expand as a bridge between the U.S. and Cuba through the 1950s. The

Oscar-nominated 2010 animated film Chico y Rita tells the fictional story of a Cuban pianist and

a singer who travel from Havana to New York during this time period and encounter numerous

56 Josef Woodard, “Chucho Valdés: Chief Messenger,” Down Beat 80, no. 11 (November 2013): 30.

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real musicians. After Rita is discovered singing in a Havana club, she is brought to the U.S. to

pursue a career as a singer and actress and is followed by her on-again, off-again lover Chico,

who had a connection with Chano Pozo. After another dalliance in New York, Rita leaves for

California and Chico joins Dizzy Gillespie’s band on tour. After a bar raid, Chico is charged with

drug possession and deported back to Cuba in the early days of 1959 just after the revolution.

While he initially tries to continue his musical career, he realizes that will be impossible when he

is informed that his performances have been canceled because “jazz is considered imperialist”

and “the enemy’s music.” If he wants to keep working, he is told he will have to join the Party.

Bebo Valdés, who supplies the music Chico performs in the film and was one of Cuba’s best

pianists, composers, and arrangers in the 1950s, left the country after facing these same

challenges. The new Cuban government created many obstacles for jazz musicians while

sometimes being outright hostile to them, leading many jazz musicians to leave the country in

the early years of the revolution. As Cuban jazz musicians were being oppressed internally, the

embargo and travel ban prevented U.S. jazz musicians and their music from reaching the island

easily, straining the connection that jazz provided between the two countries to near breakage.

There were still many jazz lovers in Cuba, although it became difficult for them to study,

perform, and listen to the music. One problem for jazz musicians was the shortage of records,

which have typically been a young performer’s primary means of jazz education. Musicians were

forced to make deals with foreign acquaintances and sailors who visited Cuba. They could also

find jazz on the U.S. government’s Voice of America radio broadcasts. The Cuban government

tried to jam the signal, but the station’s “Jazz Hour” program hosted by Willis Conover gave

young jazz aficionados in Cuba a taste of what musicians were doing in the United States.

Valdés said, “It was through that program, in 1963, that I first heard the John Coltrane Quartet.

After a gap of three years, I thought it was like science fiction.”57

While the government was not particularly supportive of jazz in the 1960s and

characterized it as imperialist, Cuba’s jazz musicians continued to perform in a number of

venues including Havana’s famous cabarets, which were still open at the time. Leonardo Acosta

also recalled Saturday jam sessions at the ICAIC (Instituto Cubano del Arte y la Industria

Cinematográficos) as the hub of Havana’s jazz scene in the mid-1960s. Performers at those

sessions included numerous musicians who would go on to become big names in Cuba such as

57 Ibid.

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Acosta, Paquito D’Rivera, Chucho Valdés, Bobby Carcassés, and others. Jazz gained minimal

official support in 1967 when the Consejo Nacional de Cultura founded a jazz ensemble called

the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna. The group combined musicians from multiple

generations and exposed young stars like Valdés, D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Juan Pablo Torres,

and drummer Enrique Plá to the national and even international spotlight when some of these

musicians had the opportunity to perform in international festivals like the 1970 Jazz Jamboree

in Poland. However, because the ensemble was at the mercy of administrative and bureaucratic

decisions, it was unable to reach its musical potential and eventually took on the primary role as

a house band for the state recording studio (Acosta 2003, 197-202).

When it finally seemed the government’s cultural institutions were beginning to accept

jazz, the music fell victim to a nationwide “revolutionary offensive” in March 1968. All cabarets

were closed except one reserved for visiting foreign delegations, and all bars, small clubs, and

other aspects of nightlife that supported live music followed suit. According to Acosta, this was

“the most disastrous year for Cuban popular music and in general for the country’s social life,

because of administrative measures whose negative consequences we are suffering thirty years

later” (202). The purpose of the revolutionary offensive was to support the government’s

agricultural efforts by mobilizing workers to contribute to the sugar harvest, but its end result

hurt overall economic activity. Musical life took an especially hard hit because the offensive

coincided with a hardening of socialist policies that saw all small businesses nationalized,

including bars and clubs. Although by the end of the decade those venues were allowed to

reopen, most never did. Cabarets and popular dance music all but disappeared from public social

life by the early 1970s, and approximately forty percent of popular entertainers had nowhere to

perform (Moore 2006, 112).

When most venues for jazz performers were shut down at the end of the sixties, some of

the country’s most talented jazz musicians found themselves turning to more official channels

for their livelihood. As part of the Consejo Nacional de Cultura jazz commission, Armando

Romeu, Paquito D’Rivera, Rafael Somavilla, Horacio Hernández, and Leonardo Acosta among

others were charged with organizing a series of concerts at different locales. Early venues

included a synagogue, the Casa de la Cultura in Vedado, and the Amadeo Roldán Theater in old

Havana (Acosta 2003, 205). The Grupo de Experimentación Sonora formed by Leo Brouwer in

1969 also provided an outlet for a number of Cuba’s jazz musicians. Through musical

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experimentation it provided an opportunity for musicians to engage with what was happening

sonically elsewhere in the world and contributed to the education of numerous young musicians.

Musical experimentation and jazz would become synonymous in the 1970s through

Irakere, founded in 1973 by Chucho Valdés. Son of famous jazz pianist Bebo Valdés, Chucho

started playing the piano at age three. He went to hear his father perform at the Tropicana where

he saw Woody Herman, Glenn Miller, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich, Nat King Cole, Roy Haynes and

other major jazz artists of the day. Chucho recalled these influences:

I loved jazz as a kid. This was a big impression on me. My dad would say, “Now we’re going to hear Nat King Cole, now we’re going to hear Sarah Vaughan. … Learn how to play the blues, learn how to play some of their rhythms.” I had that kind of school at home. I couldn’t have had it any closer. And then he sent me to play classical music, so I had classical music training, and of course the Afro-Cuban music. That’s why, when I write, all these things come out.58

These influences emerged in the musical synthesis of Irakere. All but one of the eight founders

of Irakere had been members of the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna and some were still

members of the orchestra in 1973 and others were stationed outside of Havana in the military,

which created bureaucratic obstacles for Valdés. After some time and effort, however, the group

came together.

Irakere’s music was initially viewed with significant skepticism because of their

unconventional stylistic choices such as combining batá drums and Yoruba chants with their jazz

ensemble. The twelve-man ensemble gained notoriety during the first year both for its

experimental incorporation of Afro-Cuban elements and the virtuosity of the performers. They

played both danceable tunes, their own versions of popular international hits, and more

traditional jazz arrangements. While Irakere performed in European jazz festivals before 1977,

the arrival of the jazz cruise from the U.S. that year provided the connections and exposure that

would bring the group international acclaim. In 1978 they played the Newport Jazz Festival in

the U.S. and the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the latter of which was recorded and

released as their first album outside of Cuba. They again performed with U.S. musicians during

the Havana Jam festival in 1979, toured the U.S. opening for Stephen Stills, and received a

Grammy for best Latin album.

58 Woodard, “Chucho Valdés: Chief Messenger,” 2013: 28.

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Irakere’s growing popularity internationally coincided with the rising profile and

acceptance of jazz in Cuba. International exposure and acclaim also made these musicians aware

of career opportunities they could not access while living in Cuba. Paquito D’Rivera was the first

Irakere musician to leave the country, followed by Arturo Sandoval, who started his own group

before leaving for the U.S. himself. Over time, Irakere’s many iterations and sounds played a key

role in the acceptance and institutionalization of jazz in Cuba.

History of the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival

By 1979, singer and multi-instrumentalist Bobby Carcassés had grown tired of the

limited opportunities for live jazz in Havana so he organized a series of concerts in the theater of

the Casa de la Cultura, and the following year that concert series became the first Jazz Plaza

Festival. Carcassés was born in 1938 in Jamaica where his father served as a Cuban diplomat. He

did not come from a musical family and received little formal training but proved his talents in

music and the visual arts at a young age. Initially a singer, Carcassés later took up piano, bass,

percussion and flugelhorn, and he started playing with the famous variety shows and cabarets at

the Tropicana where he heard some of the best jazz players from the U.S. and Cuba. Following

the revolution, Carcassés argued for the importance of jazz by pointing out its connections to

Cuban music and arguing for its inherently revolutionary nature because it was created by

oppressed African Americans in the United States.59

Carcassés was director of the Casa de la Cultura when they decided to turn the series of

jazz concerts into a festival. Paquito D’Rivera described the festival’s origins: “Many years ago,

against all hope and without any official support whatsoever, Bobby Carcasses and I started the

first Cuban jazz festival. Carcasses is the one to be credited as the man with the idea, and I just

followed his contagious enthusiasm.”60 Carcassés recruited many of his friends, among them jazz

musicians from multiple generations, to organize and perform in the first festival (Acosta 2003,

236). Irakere and the other performers drew a large, enthusiastic audience to the free festival

making it a major success. The number of groups increased year after year and the festival

expanded into additional venues. Older jazz musicians who had been retired since the early years

59 Jordan Levin, “Bobby Carcasses opened door to jazz in Cuba,” Miami Herald, February 24, 2010. 60 Ibid.

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of the revolution brought out their instruments to participate, and the festival’s lineup expanded

beyond jazz to include popular dance bands like Los Van Van.61

Yet as the festival gained prestige and began drawing international talent, Carcassés and

the initial organizing group were removed from their positions of authority. It was decided that

an international festival needed to be organized from a higher office in the revolutionary

government, and control of the festival was taken over by government administrators and

bureaucrats. A number of the original jazz musicians who created the festival were turned into

advisors with no real decision-making power. According to Leonardo Acosta, this caused

numerous problems:

Often the large number of widely dispersed secondary venues, in a city with a terrible system of transportation and a lack of pianos and amplification equipment, hindered the smooth functioning of the festival and its programming. To make things even worse, the interests of the tourism institutions and businesses started to take over. … And a festival to which admission was initially free and in which the musicians didn’t charge anything for their performances was transformed within a few years into a commercial enterprise, with the new “impresarios” forgetting that Havana is neither Montreux nor The Hague. (Acosta 2003, 238)

In an attempt to draw high profile jazz musicians from around the world, government officials

decided that a famous Cuban performer should be the designated figurehead and director of the

festival. Arturo Sandoval was the first performer appointed to this position followed by Gonzalo

Rubalcaba and Chucho Valdés, who has served as festival director since 1996. While this system

can be problematic and only musicians in the government’s favor can hold the position, it has

succeeded in keeping a focus on musicians while lending prestige to the festival as a whole.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival secured participation

from many of the world’s top jazz musicians including those from the United States. Dizzy

Gillespie was the first U.S. artist to appear as a festival headliner when he came to Havana in

1985, which was captured in the documentary film A Night in Havana. Dizzy’s presence at the

festival marked a significant step forward for the event in terms of artistic quality, participation,

and international interest, and when he returned in 1986 he brought bassist Charlie Haden’s

ensemble with him. Haden’s performance with Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba in 1986 led to

invitations for Rubalcaba to perform overseas, and years of collaboration between the two

61 Although not a jazz band, Cuban dance ensembles like Juan Formell’s Los Van Van perform a style that exhibits a clear jazz influence.

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musicians followed.62 Other major performers from the U.S. in the late 1980s and 1990s

included Joe Lovano, Ray Anderson, Don Pullen, Roy Hargrove, and Max Roach, and many

non-musicians from the U.S. were drawn to Cuba for the festival as well. A New York Times

article about the 1997 festival described some of the U.S. citizens at the festival, many of whom

were there illegally:

Danny Sher, from the concert promoter Bill Graham's office in California, was here scouting talent; so were several East Coast agents. The Smithsonian Institution sent five people to study how to improve cultural contacts between the United States and Cuba. … And along with a Latin jazz group from Hartford made up of children, Latin Flavor, came the bassist Andy Gonzales and the percussionist Manny Oquendo, two of New York's most important Latin musicians. Mr. Oquendo left a mark on Cuban music 40 years ago and hadn't been back since. A Santeria priest from Brooklyn was here to play in some ceremonies and take in the festival. Lorraine Gordon, a longtime fan of Cuban culture, was here to cement a deal with Mr. Valdez to play at her club, the Village Vanguard in Manhattan. Barbara Serlin, a music fan who runs a business in the fashion district in Manhattan, said she was here for the festival, the art and the beach, in that order.63 When tourism became a central part of the Cuban economy in the Special Period, the

country’s financial challenges also extended to the jazz festival. With the introduction of the U.S.

dollar into the economy, prices for the festival were set in both foreign and national currencies

causing confusion and frustration for foreigners who lived on the island but now had to pay more

than their Cuban friends to attend. Some years there were festival bars that would only take

foreign currency (Acosta 2003, 238). In the late nineties, the festival went from being an annual

festival to a bi-annual one until the mid-2000s when it became a yearly event again. While there

have been many transformations since the festival’s debut in 1980, it continues to be a major

draw for jazz aficionados around the world, and the number of U.S. participants has been on the

rise since Obama relaxed the travel ban. My trip to the festival in 2012 proved to me that its

artistic quality has continued to remain top notch even as transformations both within Cuba and

in the U.S.-Cuban relationship have had a direct impact on the festival.

62 Larry Rohter, “Jazz and Politics Meet Over the Keyboard,” New York Times, May 9, 1993. 63 Peter Watrous, “International Dissonance Aside, Harmony in Cuba,” New York Times, December 24, 1997.

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Jazz Plaza 2012: Jazz on All Chords

The 28th Jazz Plaza Festival began on Thursday, December 20, and ran through Sunday

the 23rd. It took place one week after the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema,

a film festival popular with Cuban audiences that takes place in Havana each December; people

were still discussing movies they had seen when the jazz festival was getting started. It fell close

to Christmas, and while the New Year is a bigger celebration in Cuba than Christmas, there were

still many restaurants with Christmas trees and shops featuring window displays of snowmen and

Santa Claus. A few festival performances included renditions of classic Christmas songs.

Although it was common to see young Cubans wearing fashionable scarves around their necks,

the weather was comfortable throughout the festival.

The Havana Jazz Plaza Festival took place in the Vedado district of Havana, which is

situated west of Habana Vieja (Old Havana) and the densely populated Habana Centro (Central

Havana). Vedado, in contrast, was developed after independence to have a more suburban layout

with slightly more space between buildings. The neighborhoods have significantly more trees

and grassy areas than the city’s historic areas. Many of the homes and buildings in Vedado were

built between the 1920s and 1950s when U.S. investment was on the rise. In addition to being a

residential district with approximately 175,000 residents, Vedado is also a commercial hub with

numerous hotels, entertainment venues, and a few skyscrapers.

Vedado is set up in an easy-to-navigate grid unlike the older parts of the city, which

combined with construction inspired by art deco buildings in New York and Miami, creates an

area much more reminiscent of a major North American metropolis. Like the rest of Havana,

Vedado is generally very safe and I always felt perfectly comfortable walking around at night by

myself. Because the population is less dense than in Centro Habana there are fewer jiniteros, the

street hustlers looking to make a quick profit from foreigners often by running a scam, pimping,

or just hanging around long enough to get some free drinks or a meal. While some festival

performances still had people approaching foreigners trying to sell bootleg CDs and DVDs, they

were friendly and not too aggressive. The greatest danger anyone faces walking around Vedado

is from the city’s dilapidated infrastructure, which requires pedestrians to be aware of potholes,

open manholes, crumbling balconies, and exposed electrical cables. When I was in Havana for

FolkCuba, I witnessed a bad accident in Vedado. I was walking back from rehearsal and saw

utility workers on the block ahead of me. As I turned to take another road and avoid the

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construction, I heard a loud crack and saw a great number of sparks fall to the street. A fellow

pedestrian and I took a few steps back when one of the previously taut power lines slackened

after snapping and fell, hitting one of the workers who fell to the ground and stopped moving.

The other workers ran to his side and people in the surrounding homes saw what happened and

called an ambulance. In shock, the woman next to me started to cry, and in my own startled state

I was able to ask if she was okay. She nodded and I heard sirens approaching as I started walking

back to my casa particular still disturbed by what I had witnessed. I never found out what

happened to the injured man, but the experience stayed with me and I recalled it walking from

venue to venue during the jazz festival.

The theme of the 28th festival was “El Jazz en Todas las Cuerdas” (Jazz on All Strings),

and it was reflected in the presence of more string performers and ensembles than at many other

jazz festivals, but the theme did not dominate programming. While not an official theme for that

year’s festival, there was a special concert and presentation Friday night for Cuban women in

jazz. Up until a week before the festival, the lineup had not yet been released and most

advertisements for festival tours only mentioned Chucho Valdés. Conner Gorry, an expatriate

New Yorker now living in and writing about Cuba, emailed me the preliminary schedule and

lineup when it was released less than a week ahead of time. Performers at the festival were from

Cuba, the United States, Norway, Mexico, Spain, Uruguay, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, and

Canada.

I picked up my printed program on Wednesday, December 19, at the Hotel Meliá Cohiba.

This twenty-two floor building towers above others in the area and was constructed in 1994 in

partnership with Spain’s Meliá hotel chain. There are now 26 Meliá hotels in Cuba. As one of

the few buildings constructed in the last twenty years along Havana’s famous seawall, the

Malecón, the Meliá Cohiba in Vedado does not feel like other Cuban hotels. It was designed to

appeal to American and European businesspeople and has Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, in-room

Jacuzzis, and an attached shopping center. The hotel served as the tourist hub for the jazz festival

so many visitors stayed there; its bars were performance venues, and it was the only place to

purchase festival passes. I inquired into the availability of festival passes because organized

festival tours included them, and I assumed it would be the most economical way to attend

festival events. The passes were sold at a table outside the hotel gift shop and operated by the

Paradiso cultural tourism organization. When I went to purchase my pass, however, I was

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informed that they would not accept the convertible pesos (CUCs) that I had with me. Passes

could only be purchased for 160 U.S. dollars or 130 Euros. I had not converted all of my money

at that time so I walked back to my room at Amparo’s apartment and returned with U.S.

currency. In return I was given a laminated pass on a lanyard, a festival poster, and a printed

program. Before giving me the program, however, the salesperson had to cross out multiple

performers including Roy Hargrove, Roberta Cambarini, and Xiomara Laugart and corrected the

times for the Teatro Mella performances by writing over the printed times. I later realized that

the festival pass was not at all economical because it was impossible to attend all festival events

when they were happening at the same time, some events were free to get into, and others only

cost five CUC for foreigners (approximately $5 U.S.) and twenty national pesos for Cubans

(approximately $1).

The printed program listed the eight Cuban sponsors of the event with small logos

underneath the schedule. In printed order they included: Ciego Montero, the primary bottled

water and soft-drink distributor in Cuba that is now partly owned and operated by Nestle; the

Casas de Cultural Consejo Nacional (National Council for Houses of Culture), which provides

music education to children and other cultural programming nationwide in neighborhood casas

de cultura; the Consejo Nacional de las Artes Escénicas (National Council of Performing Arts),

which oversees various dance and theatre organizations including some performance venues;

Internacional Cubana de Tabacos S.A. (Cuban International Tobaccos), a joint Cuban-Spanish

cigar venture; Paradiso, the Cuban tourism agency that focuses on cultural tourism; the Fondo

Cubano de Bienes Culturales (The Cuban Fund for Cultural Goods), which promotes the

marketing and production of visual and applied arts; the Instituto Cubano de la Música, the

organization that directly oversees the jazz festival as well as policies governing the performance

and distribution of music in the country; and the Centro Nacional de Música Popular, an

institution within the Instituto Cubano de la Música that promotes and represents professional

musicians on the state roster. The largest sponsor ad, however, was for Chivas Regal Scotch

Whisky and it took up the full back page of the program. Beneath the picture of the bottle, some

text said, “Donde hay amigos hay verdadera riqueza” (Where there are friends there are true

riches). The irony of the festival being sponsored by a scotch as opposed to a rum like Habana

Club was not lost on me or other attendees, as multiple people commented and joked about it. It

does, however, speak to the international nature of the event.

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The festival itself began on Thursday night, but there was a colloquium held at the Casa

del ALBA Cultural that took place Thursday and Friday mornings and afternoons. ALBA refers

to La Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (The Bolivarian Alliance for the

Peoples of Our America) and is a transnational initiative started by Venezuela and Cuba in 2004

for “the defense of Latin American and Caribbean culture and identity of the peoples of the

region.”64 Multiple partner countries have since joined the ALBA initiative, but the only physical

“casas” in the network are in Havana and Caracas. They are meant to be intellectual centers for

hosting lectures and debates, promoting Latin American and Caribbean arts and culture, and

facilitating projects that require the participation of multiple countries. The Casa del ALBA in

Havana is a very nice two-story colonial style building painted yellow, refurbished and opened in

2009. It sits along the Línea, one of the main streets and thoroughfares in Vedado, and is across

and down the street from the Teatro Mella, which was the festival mainstage. ALBA’s outdoor

courtyard hosts musical performances in the afternoons, and there is visual art on display

throughout the building. The exhibition while I was there featured various artistic representations

of the iconic Che Guevara photo taken by Alberto Korda. The colloquium included multiple

sessions in the second floor lecture hall from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM both days. The air

conditioning in the hall kept it so frigid that I had to leave on the first day to change into long

pants and grab a sweatshirt despite the temperature outside being comfortably warm. Presenters

included musicians and musicologists speaking on topics ranging from the relationship between

traditional Cuban genres and jazz to upcoming websites and publications dedicated to Cuban

jazz. The best part of the colloquium, however, was the opportunity to see and hear some

amazing Cuban musicians in a small, intimate venue. These included Bobby Carcassés, violinist

Omar Puente Fiffe, the string duo of Jorge Reyes and William Roblejo, and Pancho Amat who is

one of the best contemporary tres players in Cuba.

The festival’s main performances were scheduled for 9:00 PM at the Teatro Mella and

the Casa de Cultura de Plaza; they were followed by late night performances scheduled for 11:00

PM at the club in the basement of the Teatro Bertolt Brecht and the bar of the Hotel Melia

Cohiba. There were additional venues for concerts in the afternoon and early evening on Friday,

Saturday, and Sunday. These included 6:00 PM performances in the gardens outside the Mella,

7:00 PM concerts in the theatre of the Bertolt Brecht, and on Saturday and Sunday 4:00 PM

64 “Cronología,” http://www.albacultural.org/cronologia (accessed November 24, 2013).

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concerts in the Mella. Despite the schedule and its last minute changes, none of the performances

started on time and many ran late, unintentionally causing performances to overlap. Thankfully,

the venues were not far from each other and it was only a five to ten minute walk to get from the

Mella to any of the others.

Figure 3.1: The front of the Mella Theatre with the Jardines de Mella on the left,

photographed from the other side of Línea. Photograph by author (December 22, 2012).

The Mella Theatre on the Línea between Calles A and B may be regarded as the festival’s

main stage. It is named after Julio Antonio Mella who founded the Cuban Communist party in

the 1920s; it maintains the art deco style from its original construction as a movie theatre in the

1950s. The outside is green with orange accents and sports a light-up marquee. The Mella is a

fitting home for the jazz festival as it hosted the first post-revolutionary interaction between

Cuban and U.S. musicians when the jazz cruise came into Havana in 1977. It is now a site for

numerous festivals and other large-scale performances. The theatre seats almost 1500 people

between its main floor and balcony, but it was not enough for the Thursday night performance of

Chucho Valdés and friends as it attracted many Cubans and foreign visitors. Isaac Peña, one of

the U.S. performers at the festival, said, “I was actually surprised when we went to the Chucho

Valdés concert and I was like, ‘Oh, there's a ton of Americans here.’ I mean it was the first time

that I was hearing American English all over the place.”65 That concert was overbooked,

resulting in some people sitting on the floor in the aisles. None of the other performances in the

Mella were nearly that full, but festival attendees came out en masse to hear Chucho Valdés

65 Isaac Peña, interview with author, January 13, 2013.

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perform. The following night’s Mella concert featured four different ensembles. While the Mella

is a newer building than many others in Havana, its aging infrastructure became apparent when

clumps of dust and sparks from a spotlight fel from above the stage during Joaquín Betancourt’s

student ensemble’s performance of “Silent Night.” When I saw sparks falling from the ceiling, I

noted the lack of fire exits in the building; thankfully they were not needed.

Right next to the Mella Theatre, the attached Jardines del Teatro Mella (Mella Theatre

Gardens) served as an outdoor festival venue. The patio is open each afternoon and sells a small

selection of food and beverages including beer and liquor making it a popular place for people to

congregate on warm days. While it typically does not cost anything to enter the Jardines, the

entrance was blocked with a ticketing table before nightly jazz festival performances. The stage

was centered along the back wall of the patio under a large mural illustrating the staging of a

play by Bertolt Brecht, which can be illuminated by spotlights hanging from trees. With no other

festival performances at 6:00, the Jardines became a popular standing-room only spot each night

for festival-goers to have a few drinks and enjoy a performance before going inside the Mella or

walking to one of the other venues.

Figure 3.2: Sintesis performing in the Jardines del Teatro Mella.

Photograph by author (December 21, 2012).

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The Casa de Cultura de Plaza was another outdoor venue where concerts scheduled for

9:00 PM started late and ran until 1:00 a.m. or later. This Casa de Cultura is in the area of

Vedado known as the plaza district and was the Lyceum and Lawn Tennis Club before the

revolution. In 1980, it served as the original home of the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival and today

continues to be one of its most popular sites. In addition to the outdoor performance space, the

Casa also includes a two-story building with an art gallery and multiple rooms used for art and

music classes. It was typical for people to go to the earlier concert at the Mella and then walk the

five blocks west and one block north to the Casa de Cultura to enjoy music and dance late into

the night. The performances here included a broader selection of music ranging from groups

easily classified as jazz to a variety of Cuban dance bands like NG La Banda and Will Campa.

These performances had a younger, more Cuban crowd than many of the other concerts, likely

because of the style of music, later concerts, and the open gate to the venue allowing people to

enter for free. The fact that it was outdoors also drew additional attendees who simply followed

the amplified music that could be heard from blocks away.

Figure 3.3: The Casa de Cultura de Plaza before the performances on the opening night of

the festival. Photograph by author (December 20, 2012).

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Figure 3.4: The Casa de Cultura Plaza stage during an evening performance.

Photograph by author (December 20, 2012).

The Bertolt Brecht Theatre is eight blocks east of the Mella, in the opposite direction of

the Casa de Cultura. A former synagogue, it now houses a theatre on the main floor with a bar

underneath. The venue was named for the Austrian playwright who was influenced by Marxist

thought and whose works are often upheld as representatives of Socialist Realism on the stage.

The main performance hall in the Bertolt Brecht was the Sala Tito Junco (Tito Junco Room); it

was reminiscent of a black box theater. It was a square, dark space with all black walls and a

primarily white tile floor. When entering from the back, the black wooden stage was on the

opposite end of the room and there was raised seating along the walls to the left and right that

faced one another. In the middle of the room a block of chairs was set up facing the stage. There

was at least twenty feet between the front of the chairs and the stage, which proved useful for

dancing during a couple performances. The Bertolt Brecht is home to Cuban theatrical troupes,

afternoon children’s performances, and stand up comedy at night. Based on the performances I

saw, this stage was the most sparsely attended at the festival.

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Figure 3.5: Outside the Bertolt Brecht after an afternoon children’s play. Photograph by

author (December 22, 2012).

Figure 3.6: Inside the Sala Tito Junco as the Friends University Jazz Band performed.

Photograph by author (December 22, 2012).

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There were two other clubs that functioned as official venues for the festival, one of

which was in the basement of the Bertolt Brecht and the other that was connected to the Melía

Cohiba. With late night shows these two locations drew festival attendees as well as their regular

Cuban clientele. The two bars had festival performances scheduled for 11:00 PM, but the loose,

casual atmosphere meant that both show times and performers were negotiable. Additionally

other hotels such as the Nacional hosted jam sessions even though they were not official festival

venues. The festival also brought increased attention and visitors to the Jazz Café located in the

recently constructed shopping center across form the Melía Cohiba, and it functioned as a good

place to eat lunch during the day and hear live music in the evening.

Despite the multiple venues, I was surprised how small the festival’s footprint in Havana

seemed to be. Festival events were listed daily in the Granma newspaper, and there were a few

televised news stories about some of the performers. Yet even inside of the Meliá Cohiba lobby

there were no signs about the festival other than at the table selling passes when it was set up.

Someone visiting Havana, but not there specifically for the festival, could easily go about his or

her week without realizing there was a festival even happening. I had a number of interactions

with people including Cubans and foreigners who were unaware of the jazz festival until I spoke

to them about it. I went to some of the concerts with a man named Ari from Munich who was on

holiday for the month; he did not realize there was a jazz festival until he stumbled upon a

performance at the Bertolt Brecht and we started talking.

On the other hand, most of the U.S. visitors I spoke to had planned their trip specifically

around the jazz festival. I talked to visitors from the U.S. at various festival performances and the

majority had come with an organized tour from Cuba Explorer Tours, a Canadian company that

has offered a jazz festival tour every year since 2005 and specializes in helping U.S. citizens

navigate travel restrictions. The nine-day tour cost between $1800 and $2100, not including

airfare. There were over ninety people on the tour, which was enough to fill two busses. The

Cuba Explorer Tour had an itinerary with multiple scheduled events similar to a people-to-

people tour, but the U.S. citizens on it were using a variety of general licenses. One couple from

New Jersey came on a family license because the young woman’s grandmother lived in Cuba.

Another group from Michigan on the tour was able to justify using a religious license, and others

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had professional research licenses.66 There were also a number of smaller organized tours and

groups who planned their own trips either legally or illegally.

The Canadians at the festival, however, did not need to jump through such hoops or take

any risks. Canadian saxophonist Jane Bunnett and her partner, flugelhorn player Larry Cramer,

were leading a festival tour organized by a Toronto radio station to celebrate thirty years of

Canadian-Cuban jazz partnerships. The couple has been visiting Cuba regularly since 1982 and

believe that their Cuban connections cost them a contract with a major U.S. record label in 1996.

That same year some of their performances in the United States with Cuban musicians were

threatened by anti-Castro extremists. They ultimately moved to a different label and have since

recorded multiple times in Cuba and helped raise money to bring instruments to Cuban

musicians.67 While this festival marked an important anniversary for Canada’s musical

relationship with Cuba and Bunnett and Cramer’s relationship with the country specifically, the

printed program mistakenly listed Bunnett as being from EU, Estados Unidos.

I spoke with Mr. Cramer after he and his wife performed with the Cuban group Síntesis

in the Jardines del Teatro Mella on Friday night. While we were chatting and he was telling me

about the radio station trip and Cuban jazz in Canada, there was a peanut vendor walking

through the crowd selling paper tubes of peanuts. Cramer stopped the man and bought all his

peanuts much to the pleasure of the vendor. Before walking away, Cramer invited me to a special

jam session on Sunday at the Melía Cohiba and then wandered into the crowd, singing “El

Manisero” (“The Peanut Vendor”) and handing out peanuts to some of his fellow Canadians on

the tour.

I made my way to the Melía Cohiba at about 2:00 on Sunday afternoon. Not knowing

where in the hotel the performance would be, I had to wander around until I eventually heard

music while going up the escalator in the hotel’s shopping center and I followed it into the cigar

bar. The room was jam packed as most of the people from the Toronto radio tour were there.

Cramer and Bunnett were on the small stage at the far end of the room with a group of other

musicians, and Cramer was acting as the host by inviting musicians to the stage and introducing

them. Guests included Bobby Carcassés and Guillermo Rubalcaba, a pianist who played with the

66 Cuba Explorer Tours provides explanations for how U.S. citizens can legally visit Cuba and resources including letter templates to use for religious, educational, and professional research licenses at http://www.legalcubatravel.com. 67 Anthony DePalma, “Cuban Jazz on the March, but With a Canadian Beat,” New York Times, March 5, 1998.

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Buena Vista Social Club. The relaxed and impromptu nature of the jam session made it one of

the more enjoyable performances I witnessed.

Figure 3.7: Bobby Carcassés singing in the cigar bar of the Melía Cohiba accompanied by

Guillermo Rubalcaba on keyboard. Photograph by author (December 23, 2012).

U.S. Musicians at Jazz Plaza 2012

There was a great variety of music performed at this festival, and that extended to the

musicians representing the United States, which had the largest number of performers of any

country in the festival other than Cuba. The U.S. musicians differed in many ways including

their cultural backgrounds, ages and skill levels; they played different types of jazz and some did

not consider themselves to be jazz musicians at all. The six musical acts from the U.S. included

pianist Arturo O’Farrill, a semi-regular fixture at the festival and founder of Lincoln Center’s

Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra; saxophonist Jimmy Sommers, an Illinois native now recording and

performing as a professional musician in Los Angeles; and pianist Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera, a

Cuba native now living in Minnesota who will be discussed more thoroughly in Chapters Five

and Six. The other three groups were the Friends University Jazz Band, the Will Magid Quartet,

and Trio Los Vigilantes. While these groups are not widely recognized performers or big names

in Latin jazz, their experiences are telling representations of what musicians who aspire to

perform in a Cuban festival endure and encounter. A closer analysis of these three groups of

relatively young musicians, the music they perform, and their stories of getting to Cuba illustrate

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how this festival, in particular, has been able to create transnational connections between the

U.S. and Cuba.

Friends University

The U.S. group that played the most traditional jazz was the ensemble from Friends

University, a private Christian college in Wichita, Kansas. Under the leadership of director Lisa

Hittle, nineteen students came to Havana to perform in the Jazz Plaza Festival. Hittle said that

visiting Cuba had been on her bucket list for many years, so in December 2011 she joined an

organized Havana Jazz Festival trip through Toronto-based Authentic Cuba Tours in order to

arrange for Friends University to participate. In 2010, Texas Christian University’s jazz

ensemble played the festival and Hittle had heard about it. TCU’s trip took place just before the

streamlined regulations for educational institutions were announced, requiring the ensemble to

travel on a specific license. Shortly before the group was scheduled to leave, however, the OFAC

questioned the validity of the university’s licensing category, and the trip was nearly canceled. It

was not until several Texas Congressional members got involved that final confirmation was

received ten days before the band’s departure for Havana.68 Despite those challenges, when

Hittle spoke to TCU’s director he told her it was one of the greatest trips his band ever took. “So

that really encouraged me as far as taking the kids,” she said. “And I'd have to say the same

thing. I've been to Europe a couple times, but nothing quite compared with this trip.”69

With the help of the staff at Authentic Cuba Tours, Ms. Hittle was able to meet with a

festival official on her 2011 trip and secured an invitation for the band. Then the university

administration needed to get on board. She said:

At the outset some of the people here at the university that had to okay the trip were a little reluctant, just because they didn't know how safe it would be and that type of thing. Some of the parents of the kids kind of were that way too, but it was good that I could say to them, "Look, I was there last year, I went down there and if there was any question about it not being a safe environment, I wouldn't be taking these kids down there." So I think that was kind of reassuring, and sure enough we just didn't have any problems at all with anything.70

68 Paul Cortese, “TCU Jazz Visits Cuba,” Jazz Times, January 24, 2011, http://jazztimes.com/articles/27077-tcu-jazz-visits-cuba (accessed 25 September 2012). 69 Lisa Hittle, phone interview, September 27, 2013. 70 Ibid.

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Throughout 2012 the band did extra performances and a silent auction as fundraisers. Hittle

talked with the students about Cuban music and history, and even had them watch Jane Bunnett’s

2000 documentary Cuban Odyssey: Spirits of Havana in which the saxophonist and her husband

travel throughout the Cuban capital playing music with old and new friends. After months of

preparation and rehearsals, the band left Kansas on December 17th to spend a night in Wichita’s

sister city of Cancun before flying on to Havana. Hittle again turned to Authentic Cuba Tours to

help organize their trip, which qualified for a general license, and the tour company set up an

additional trip for twenty Wichita residents who were able to obtain or justify licenses on their

own.

On Friday night at the Mella Theatre, the band introduced as “Los Amigos Jazz Band de

Universidad de Kansas” played third, right after Arturo O’Farrill’s ensemble. Before they

started, Hittle addressed the audience and had one of the trumpet players translate into Spanish to

explain that they would be playing the big band music that celebrated their U.S. heritage. Based

on her time at the festival the previous year, the band’s director knew that most of the music at

the festival was either Latin in nature or variations of free and fusion styles. So she decided that

instead of trying to do that, they would do what they did best and pay tribute to American big

band music. They opened with Benny Herman’s 1948 “Sidewalks of Cuba,” the only piece with

any direct Cuban connection, and continued to play selections of big band standards from the

1930s and 1940s for about forty-five minutes. Their selections included pieces by Stan Kenton,

Woody Herman, Duke Ellington, and Cole Porter, and they received a largely positive response

from the audience. It was something of a novelty at the festival, and while Cuban audiences were

at least somewhat familiar with this type of music it was uncommon for it to be performed

anymore on the island.

Cuban percussion professor Luis Gonzalez joined the band on vibraphone for three songs

partway through their set. Hittle had not met Luis before the band arrived, and she first came in

contact with him because the band needed to use a set of vibes in their performances. The band

sent their equipment needs to the jazz festival through the staff at Authentic Cuba Travel and

initially had trouble locating a vibraphone. After Hittle again insisted her band needed the

instrument, she was told there was a man in Havana who would loan them his if he could sit in

with the band so she reluctantly agreed. The band ended up having a great rapport with Luis who

was close to the same age as some of the band members. They spent much of their time in

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Havana with him and visited the Instituto Superior de Arte, where he teaches, to deliver a gift of

music supplies, including reeds and drum sticks, to the institute’s students.

The band’s second performance was scheduled for Saturday night as the opening act in

the 7:00 concert at the Bertolt Brecht, but when I got there at show time some of the band

members were casually standing around smoking cigarettes outside the theater. Everything had

been delayed and they had not even done their soundcheck yet. It was a windy day and some

power lines outside Havana were blown down causing a blackout at the theatre and delaying

setup. Even though the power was restored by the time I arrived, the band was still waiting on

music stands to be dropped off because the Bertolt Brecht did not have any. A bus filled with

stands arrived at 7:30 and the concert was able to start just after 8:00. The Friends University

band played many of the same pieces as their previous concert, but they added “Dance of the

Flowers” from Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite. Before that night’s performance of “Sidewalks of

Cuba” the director asked an older Cuban couple the band had met earlier to dance while they

played. Someone had to come up and translate to them what she asked. While they looked a little

surprised by the request they gladly complied, and the audience found it entertaining. Overall,

the band got a big response, but much of the audience was made up of the tour group from

Wichita that came with the band. In fact, Ari from Munich who I had met just before the concert

mentioned, “It looks like they’re playing for a home crowd.” When they were done the band

quickly took apart their instruments and brought the music stands back to the bus. They did not

stay for the rest of the concert and instead returned to their hotel and got ready to leave Cuba the

next morning.

While their trip only gave them five days in Cuba, the band was able to experience

numerous activities outside the festival. In addition to visiting the Instituto Superior de Arte they

also got to tour Old Havana and the Museo de la Revolucion. They spent time visiting a private

home and learning to dance with the older Cubans who lived there and their friends. That

experience culminated in an informal birthday party for one of the band members. A Wichita

television news crew followed the band and captured much of the trip; the footage eventually

aired in a thirty-minute special on the local series “It’s All Good with Sierra Scott.”71 All of the

students have expressed their desire to return, and while the university was initially reluctant to

71 The full episode of “It’s All Good with Sierra Scott” about the Friends University jazz band’s trip to Cuba can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa2VZik1px8#t=538 (accessed December 5, 2013).

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approve it, this trip has opened the door to future experiences. The Friends University pre-med

program includes an international component, and in summer 2013 added Cuba to their

destination options by bringing twenty-three students for a two-week study. Lisa Hittle did not

make it back to the Havana Jazz Festival in 2013, but she is already planning to help another

band get there in 2014 and hopes to take Friends University back again too.

Will Magid

Unlike most of the students from Friends University, Will Magid has traveled extensively

as a musician. The young genre-bending performer has played his trumpet in countries on

several continents, but the 2012 Jazz Plaza Festival represented the first time he performed in

Cuba. Will grew up in Palo Alto, California and started playing trumpet in elementary school.

His musical interests expanded during his high school years to incorporate additional instruments

and genres, leading him to study ethnomusicology as an undergraduate when he went to UCLA

in 2004. These diverse influences can now be heard in the sound that he creates as a multi-

instrumentalist and producer whose work combines jazz, electronic dance music, and diverse

musical influences from around the globe. His appearance in Cuba came about after Conner

Gorry was visiting her friend in San Francisco, who also happened to be Will’s manager. When

she heard Will’s group and witnessed their energetic rapport with the audience, she decided to

try and get them on the lineup for the next jazz festival and help coordinate their trip. Will gave

her some copies of his CD to present to festival organizers, and a few months before the festival

they received a formal invitation to perform.

While Will often plays as part of a trio, for this event he brought a quartet of bass, guitar,

and drums to back him up on trumpet, sampler, and synthesizer. Their traveling group also

included Will’s parents and girlfriend along with another friend to document the trip; the result

was a total of eight visitors. The group flew together from California to Mexico to Havana, and

Will was confident that if questioned the trip was justifiable under a general license for

professional research as a musician. When they arrived in Havana, Conner was waiting for them

and served as a guide for their five-day residency in the city. Conner described her experience

setting up the trip:

Organizing the presence of the Will Magid Quartet for the 2012 Jazz Festival was as easy as could be given the restraints all U.S. citizens and residents face when arranging travel to Cuba. There was a considerable amount of back and forth with the band members about technological (as you know, Will's project is particularly

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unique - especially in the Cuban context - since it combines electronica/computer tracks and loops with a live band) and legal issues related to their appearance at the festival. But we got it all squared and they hit the ground running. Then there's the Cuban end of things, with which, thankfully I have over a decade of experience. So I wasn't too worried when a few days before the opening of the festival the schedule wasn't finalized, the band didn't have the proper equipment and we had no assurance that Will's rig could be properly accommodated/set up. Jazz Festival organizers were super gracious, as only Cubans can be under so much pressure, and we were pleased with the results, though the guys wanted to play many more (and longer) gigs than they were able within the structure of the Festival.72

The group’s first performance was on Thursday night at the Casa de Cultura and was up

against the oversold Chucho Valdés concert at the Mella, which meant their set was not well

attended. The group played fourth that night on the outdoor stage in front of a screen flashing the

misspelled words “Will Magio y Los 4.” The setup included a MacBook on a pedestal with

various midi controllers in front of Will and his trumpet. The electric guitar was to his left, the

electric bass to his right, and the drummer was behind him. Before they began, the bass player,

Adam Lowdermilk, introduced the group in Spanish and explained that their music was for

dancing and invited the seated audience members to get up and dance when the music moved

them. After a slow and ambient introduction with little sense of rhythm that did not seem to jive

with the claim of dance music, Will cued the group in for an upbeat, groove-based tune. By the

second song, people’s heads were clearly bouncing along with the music and a few people

outside the seating area started to dance. The third song featured vocals by Will and one verse in

Spanish that he read off of a piece of paper, which the audience appreciated and applauded.

Throughout their last two songs the energy continued to build as their music toggled between

jazz, electronic dance music, and psychedelic jam rock. However, it seemed just when the

audience was growing and really starting to get into their music the set was over and Will

thanked the audience in Spanish before leaving the stage.

72 Conner Gorry, e-mail message to author, November 29, 2013.

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Figure 3.8: A flyer advertising Will Magid’s performance posted outside the Casa de la

Cultura. Photograph by author (December 20, 2012).

After their set, the band hung out for the rest of the evening’s performances headlined by

Wil Campa’s flamboyant salsa ensemble whose entrance included a video narrated by a deep

voiced announcer, smoke, lasers, and a choreographed introduction of the band who were all in

matching outfits. By this point there was a lot of dancing in the crowd, which had grown much

larger than it was for the Will Magid Quartet. By 1:00 in the morning when the music ended and

the American band members were going to head back to their casa particular, Adam realized that

his bass was missing. Conner felt somewhat responsible for not explaining that risk and how

thefts spike in Cuba at the end of the year. While standing around trying to decide what to do and

how they would perform again in two days absent a key instrument, Wil Campa and his wife

overheard their story and responded by graciously offering to lend them a bass.73

73 Conner Gorry, “Adventure of the Cuban Virgins: Part I,” Here is Havana, December 29, 2012, http://hereishavana.com/2012/12/29/adventures-of-the-cuban-virgins-part-i/ (accessed November 29, 2013).

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Their performance on Saturday night was in the Bertolt Brecht; it started late because of

the power issues and delays in Friends University’s sound check. The quartet played third, after

Friends University and Jorge Aragón’s trio. Once again, their audience was very small, as the

U.S. contingent from Kansas left when Friends University was done and many of the Cuban

listeners left after Jorge Aragón. The people traveling with Will’s band were there along with a

group of six girls the band members had met earlier on the trip. Beyond that there were about ten

other people in the room including Ari and myself. This time Will introduced the group and just

said “Mi español es paquito y mal” (“My Spanish is very little and bad”), but he thanked

everyone for coming and went into the first song. Again, it was a more ambient introduction than

the rest of their set and included a tambura sample over which they improvised. Then without a

break they segued into the song “Balkan Suite,” which I recognized from their previous set.

People’s heads started moving and getting into the music as band members started taking turns

playing individual solos. Shortly after Will signaled to the sound booth to turn up the guitar

everything went dark. There was another power outage. “Thank you, have a great night!” Will

jokingly yelled to the audience who then encouraged them to keep playing. The guitar player left

the stage while Adam stepped backstage and came back with the upright bass that Friends

University had used. The trumpet and bass player gathered around the drum set as the guitarist

held up a cell phone to give them a little bit of light and they started playing a rendition of “The

St. James Infirmary Blues,” which was originally made famous by Louis Armstrong. Will moved

to the front of the stage for the vocal part and a trumpet solo when the lights came back on, but

they kept playing and the electric guitar player was able to join them again. Throughout their

next three songs, the infectious dance beat brought a dozen dancers to their feet. While it was

common to see people dancing at shows in Cuba this was very different. Instead of couples

dancing, these individuals were generally facing the stage and bouncing with the music similar to

what one sees at rock shows in North America. When they were seemingly done, the band got a

great response and played an arrangement of Fela Kuti’s “Zombi” as an encore. Following the

show, many people from the small but enthusiastic audience went up to talk with Will and have a

picture taken with him.

Will was supposed to perform one other gig on the ElectroBus, a converted bus that

becomes a mobile dance party as it drives through Havana in the early hours of the morning. The

bus, organized by Cuban DJ duo I.A. Electrónica, had only been on the road once before and was

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scheduled to depart at midnight on Friday night featuring Will as a DJ. However, for reasons that

Will and Conner did not entirely understand, the government said the ElectroBus could not go

out that night. According to Will, “It ended up not happening, but it was actually the one

[performance] I was most looking forward to because it was young people that were organizing

it and the Cuban underground cultural scene, and that's kind of where my mind is at least. I want

to be ideally playing with or for other people around my age.” He was disappointed in the

makeup of their audience for the festival performances, as it was fairly small and included a lot

of foreigners rather than Cubans; the ElectroBus would have been different. It also would have

allowed him to share more of what interests him musically. “It was a jazz festival, so I have a ton

of music that's harder … electronic music, even flirting with dubstep and really grimy, funky

electronic dance music that I might only have hinted at in my sets. That was more because of the

context of the jazz festival than the fact that it was in Cuba. I kind of avoid playing jazz festivals

because of how institutionalized the genre's become.”74

On the other hand, Will was still very grateful to those who organized the festival and for

the opportunity to perform. While he wants to return and even received multiple invitations to

perform in Havana again, he hopes to do it in a way that does not cost him as much money out of

pocket and that would give him more opportunities to perform with young Cuban musicians,

which he thinks would be easier to do if he traveled as a solo musician. The Will Magid Quartet

and their four additional travelers were only in Cuba for five days, which for many of them

involved bouts of stomach sickness, but even with all their challenges they say the trip was not

long enough.

Trio Los Vigilantes

Of the U.S. musicians I spoke to at the 2012 Jazz Plaza Festival, the group that was

farthest from jazz and had the most trouble getting to Cuba was Trio Los Vigilantes from Austin,

Texas. Under the direction of Isaac Peña, who sings baritone and plays requinto, Trio Los

Vigilantes performs boleros from the mid-twentieth century and earlier. The bolero is a romantic

and danceable song style typically performed at a slow tempo and accompanied by strings. It was

cultivated in Cuba at the turn of the twentieth century by singer-composers like Sindo Garay

(1867-1968) and Pepe Sánchez (1856-1918). It became popular throughout Latin America by the

74 Will Magid, interview with author, January 10, 2013.

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1920s, and in Mexico bolero groups commonly sang with smooth, three-part harmonies

accompanied by guitar, which became a standard international style (Manuel 2006, 42). Trio Los

Vigilantes, which is made up of Peña, Luis Ángel Ibañez on guitar and baritone vocals, and John

Pointer on cello and tenor vocals, sing in three-part harmony and often perform their

arrangements with a string quartet. The group, which was formed in the late 1990s, is dedicated

to reviving the genre and performing songs from the mid-century golden age of bolero when

Peña’s father had his own trio in southern Texas. According to Luis Ángel, “It is, in fact, what

the name of the trio tries to convey, the idea that we are preserving and taking care of the

tradition.”75 As professional musicians studying the bolero and its history, they were able to

justify their trip as professional research for a general license but chose to fly through Mexico.

The trio had been invited to the jazz festival each year since 2010, but 2012 was the first

year they accepted. Their connection to the festival came from a friend of Pointer who had

worked for a tour company that brought U.S. citizens to Cuba in the late 1990s and early 2000s

and who knew someone on the festival committee. They submitted their music to her and

received their official invitation to the festival in late October. In order to help pay for their trip,

the trio set up an account with PayPal as an online fundraising tool and were able to raise nearly

two thousand dollars. But two weeks before the festival, the account was suspended when PayPal

staff discovered that it was being used to facilitate travel to Cuba. The musicians tried to explain

that their travel was for a legal, licensed purpose and therefore the PayPal account was not in

violation of any embargo-related financial restrictions, but they were unable to access the funds

until after the trip. The trio booked their flight to Havana from Monterey, Mexico, which they

decided was a more affordable option than flying through Miami because they could drive to

Monterey. However, after arriving at the Mexico border the night before their flight they were

told that they could not drive their car into the interior of the country and that the last bus of the

night from the border to Monterey had already left. Their only viable option to still make their

flight the next morning was a $250.00 cab ride, which they took after deciding they had come

too far to turn around.

When they landed in Havana after seventeen hours of travel knowing only the address of

the casa particular where they were staying, they had a brief amount of time to find and hire a

75 Liliana Molina and María Carla Gárciga, “Los Vigilantes and the Bolero, or the Attempt to Rescue a Golden Age,” Cuba Now, http://www.cubanow.net/articles/los-vigilantes-and-bolero-or-attempt-rescue-golden-age (accessed April 13, 2013).

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string quartet to accompany them in their festival performances. While Isaac initially

communicated to their festival contact that they would need a string quartet, he was told to work

that out once they arrived. They first visited one of the art schools expecting university players

but came to find that the students there were high school age so they were referred to a

government office located in the Amadeo Roldán Theatre that organizes orchestral music. After

giving a CD to an administrator, showing her they had written arrangements and were willing to

pay the group, she put them in contact with some musicians from the National Symphony

Orchestra of Cuba who perform as a quartet called Puras Cuerdas (Pure Strings). The quartet

agreed to do two rehearsals and the two festival performances for $200.

The group’s first performance was in the Jardines del Mella at 6:00 on the Saturday of the

festival. Like many of the performances at this venue, there was a good turnout as they attracted

people leaving the concert that had just ended at the Mella as well as those who wandered in

from the street. However, this created other potential problems between the noise of the street

and the fact that the members of Puras Cuerdas were playing in the 4:00 Mella concert with the

National Symphony. Isaac said about that performance:

The soundcheck was my main concern, but they made it work more or less. So that performance in the garden, I feel like we got a better reception because we finished, we got off stage and we were among people and there were a lot of Americans who came up to us and talked to us. And what I didn't like about that performance was we were right there, the street is right there with buses passing by and our music's quiet … you couldn't hear anything, but I felt better about the performance after [it was over].76 Their second performance was Sunday night in the Sala Tito Junco in the Bertolt Brecht.

The dark intimate space seemed fitting for the group’s sound. The trio was the first to perform in

that night’s set followed by Miguelito Nuñez from Cuba, Shanti Lo from Botswana, and Carlos

Averhoff Jr. from Cuba. The audience was somewhat larger and had more Cubans in attendance

than the previous concert at the Brecht, and I noticed older Cubans enjoying the Trio’s

performance by singing along with several boleros. The band expected some of the older

individuals to remember a few songs they played, but overall they were surprised by how much

old music they heard while in Havana. Peña said:

Going there, I realized there are a lot of musicians still playing that older music. I have a feeling that was because we were in tourist areas and Cuban musicians

76 Isaac Peña, interview with author, January 13, 2013.

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know that Americans and Europeans are going to appreciate the older Cuban music rather than the newer music because, I don't know, there's that nostalgia. When tourists visit Cuba they think the old school mambo type stuff or bolero.77

The group, however, did not alter their sets much from what they would typically play in Austin.

They had considered playing their arrangement of Compay Segundo’s “Chan Chan,” popularized

by the Buena Vista Social Club album and recorded in a cover version by Trio Los Vigilantes in

1999. However, when they asked their guide if they should play it and if it would be interesting

for audiences to hear an American group performing it he said no. After a couple of days in Cuba

they realized why. Everywhere they went they heard renditions of “Chan Chan” and “Cuarto de

Tula,” another song from the Buena Vista Social Club, and “Guantanamera.” So the trio left out

what Cuban standards they had in their repertoire and did their usual set of primarily Mexican

boleros, but not the most commonly played standards of the genre.

Closer to the end of their set at the Bertolt Brecht, they performed a song that stuck out

from the rest of their repertoire. With his requinto slung over his back behind him, Isaac counted

off the string quartet who played a short introduction before being joined by the trio singing

“Because” by The Beatles in three-part harmony. The trio did not play their instruments at all

during this song and their voices were only accompanied by the string quartet. The song received

an enthusiastic response from the audience because The Beatles are well known in Cuba despite

much of their music being banned on the island in the 1960s. Like most rock and roll coming

from Europe and America at that time, the Beatles were considered dangerous, lascivious and

against the ideals of the revolution. That started to change, however, when the band members

spoke out against the war in Vietnam. Now there is a park in Vedado where a statue of John

Lennon sits on a bench and an elderly Cuban guard protects the singer’s glasses, putting them on

the statue when passersby want their picture with him. A block away from the park is a basement

club dedicated to The Beatles called the Submarino Amarillo (Yellow Submarine). The members

of Trio Los Vigilantes were unaware of this history but were excited about the response the new

addition to their repertoire received. Before the group was able to finish their set, however, they

were cut off. “We had like one or two more songs left to play and all of a sudden it's like alright

we're done,” Isaac said, “So whoa, okay. I had figured that we had half an hour and that we

77 Ibid.

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would be able to do our set in that half an hour.” But despite their frustration, the band left the

stage so Miguelito Nuñez could set up.

Upon returning to the United States, the group had to recover not only their sleep patterns

but the money they spent. After resolving their PayPal issue they held another event to make

some money back and share their Cuban experiences with fans by exhibiting photos and videos

from the trip and giving a performance. The Austin musicians faced many difficulties getting to

Cuba, frustrations with the festival itself, and the almost obligatory water-borne stomach

sickness that U.S. visitors I spoke to had to deal with. Yet they still hope to come back to Cuba.

While in Havana, the group met with the director of the bolero festival and started making

tentative plans to play there in June 2014. Isaac told me:

We ended up in a lot of debt for this trip, spent a lot more money than we hoped we would and I think we learned how to do it a little more efficiently the next time we go, but we're going to have to take some time to recover financially … So, you know, I don't think we can afford to be going to Cuba a couple times a year. Maybe a year and a half from now [in summer 2014] we'll be ready to go back to Cuba. Who knows, we may try to go back for the jazz festival in December again.78

Defining Jazz at the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival

Jazz as a genre has been difficult to clearly define for as long as the term has been used.

The term has encompassed many different styles and forms over the course of the last century,

but commonly cited defining traits include improvisation and specific types of instrumentation.

Beyond these few qualities, trying to characterize jazz in the context of the 2012 Havana Jazz

Plaza Festival becomes a challenge in itself as the festival brings together traditional jazz with

Latin and experimental jazz as well as uniquely Cuban genres. The varied styles of music

performed at the festival by musicians from Cuba and abroad illustrate the international nature of

the event as well as the international nature of both jazz and many traditional Cuban musics

themselves.

The relationship between early jazz and Cuban music has already been described, but the

emergence of Latin jazz in the 1940s through interactions between musicians like Dizzy

Gillespie, Machito and Chano Pozo is worth a further look because of its heavy presence at the

festival. Cuba’s prominent role in the history of Latin jazz arises for multiple reasons but

primarily because of the long history of U.S.-Cuban musical and economic interaction that

78 Ibid.

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brought exceptionally skilled musicians from Cuba to New York City, the commercial jazz

capital of the world in the twentieth century. The genre labels “Cubop” and “Afro-Cuban jazz”

were most prevalent for the style in the 1940s and 1950s. It was not until the early 1960s when

the U.S. embargo against Cuba started and musicians began incorporating influences from other

countries that “Latin jazz” became prominent (Washburne 2012, 103). Because the style

emerged through intercultural music-making, Christopher Washburne conceives of Latin jazz on

a stylistic continuum of the forces connecting jazz with traditional Caribbean and Latin

American musics. He explains:

The sphere, consisting of Caribbean and Latin American traditional, folk, dance, and popular forms, as well as their associated performance practices, exists on one end of the spectrum and that of jazz forms and performance practices inhabits the other. These generic entities are obviously far from mutually exclusive, both having a closely shared history. Neither is bounded, nor has an essentially pure or authentic past. In fact, there has been a continual intercultural dialogue among practitioners of these styles since the inception of the music traditions we now locate under the auspices of jazz. (Washburne 2012, 91)

Both of these spheres and the Latin jazz that is situated between them were present and

performed at the 2012 Havana Jazz Plaza Festival. Figure 3.9 shows how the festival embodied

the stylistic continuum of Latin jazz.

Figure 3.9: The 2012 Havana Jazz Plaza Festival as Washburne’s Latin Jazz Continuum

Many musicians at the festival aligned with the category of Latin jazz and bridged

traditional Cuban and Latin genres with jazz. Some of the more prominent musicians that did this

at the festival were Arturo O’Farrill, Jane Bunnett, and Chucho Valdés. O’Farrill had a

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performance on the festival’s main stage Friday night and earlier in the week was an honored

guest and performer for a reception at the home of U.S. Interest Section Chief of Mission John

Caulfield.79 In his concert, the pianist played with a fairly traditional small jazz ensemble

including drumset, bass, trumpet, saxophone and a percussionist who played congas and claves.

Much of their music was based on Cuban dance styles and they drew from the Latin tunes Dizzy

Gillespie had popularized.

Jane Bunnett’s performance with experimental Cuban fusion group Sintesis in the

Jardines del Mella and Chucho Valdés’s opening night performance both pushed the fusion of

traditional Afro-Cuban music and jazz much further than O’Farrill’s performance. Bunnett, who

was commemorating thirty years of performing in Cuba has said, “I primarily see myself as a

jazz musician but working within the total aspect of what Cuban music is about. The history is so

rich from the African influence, from the European influence and also just the Cubans' love of

jazz.”80 Sintesis combined jazz and funk with elements of Afro-Cuban rumba and songs for

Santería orishas. They started with a song for Elegua then moved through others including Ogun,

Iye, and Obatala. The lead singer, a black Cuban woman, interacted with the audience through

call-and-response, did some scat-style singing while incorporating the names of orishas, and

danced in place while moving her arms to reference the various orisha dances. Throughout these

different songs, Jane Bunnett played soprano saxophone and sang along. The high-energy

outdoor performance was one of the most engaging musical fusions I witnessed at the festival.

Chucho Valdés performed with his band the Afro-Cuban Messengers (a name referencing

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers) as well as a number of guest musicians during the oversold

opening concert at the Mella on Thursday night. In describing his ensemble, Valdés said:

It’s a formation which is atypical. I have several percussion instruments – drums, congas, and a guy who plays three batá drums who can also sing in the African language. There is the bass and the piano, the only polyphonic instrument. It’s interesting to me to mix polyrhythms, like with the drums, with the jazz drums mixed with the Afro-Cuban drums, and the polyrhythms of the batá. I also use the piano as a percussion instrument. It is a melodic and percussion instrument. There is a whole world of really interesting things going on there.81

79 “USINT Honors Jazz Luminary Arturo O’Farrill,” U.S. Interests Section Havana, December 18, 2012, http://havana.usint.gov/arturo-reception.html (accessed December 9, 2013). 80 DePalma, “Cuban Jazz on the March, but With a Canadian Beat.” 81 Woodard, “Chucho Valdés: Chief Messenger,” 29-30.

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In many ways, Valdés is continuing the musical experimentation and fusions that he started

when he formed Irakere. While Isaac Peña of Trio Los Vigilantes was not overly impressed with

many of the jazz musicians he heard at the festival, Valdés captivated him with how he moved

between styles and drew the audience into compositions. “He has an amazing sense of dynamics

and takes you from straight ahead jazz or Latin jazz and then all of a sudden he's playing an

excerpt from a classical piece, and then from there they go into a pure thing with the guy playing

on the batá,” Peña said. “That to me, that's what jazz should be is taking you on a journey, which

of course means that someone has to take the time to plan that journey and make an arrangement

of it.”82

While musicians like O’Farrill, Bunnett, Valdés and others represented the middle space,

the festival also had the other two ends of the spectrum with jazz in traditional, modern, and

experimental forms as well as various types of traditional Latin and Cuban music. Friends

University played the most standard style of big band jazz that can be found in educational

institutions all over the United States. Many of the other ensembles were set up as small jazz

combos who played modern straight-ahead jazz with a focus on individual instrumental solos.

Most of these groups came from Latin American countries, but the style of jazz they played

would not be considered Latin jazz. The traditional musics included the boleros of Trio Los

Vigilantes, Pancho Amat who played the tres during the coloquio, and Grupo Abdón Alcaráz

from Spain who fused flamenco with contemporary jazz. Throughout Vedado and Havana more

broadly traditional son and rumba could be heard coming from bars, restaurants, and theatres.

Jazz in the context of the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival cannot be defined by any specific

instrumentation, aural quality, or musical element like rhythm or melody. It is instead defined by

improvisational dialogue between musicians that takes place within the intercultural continuum

Washburne described, because the festival itself is situated on that continuum. While traditional

jazz and its precursors can be considered intercultural along with most Caribbean and Latin

American musics, Washburne argues that Latin jazz is intercultural in a different sense. He

states:

The truly intercultural artifact is not explicated by any simple reference to cross generic or cross stylistic origins but by that which retains at its core a certain level of fluidity and ambivalence in the way it is positioned in relation to these various cultural inputs. What is actually happening in this in-between shared space of real,

82 Isaac Peña, phone interview, January 13, 2013.

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lived experience is a dynamic field of forces at play, where cultural difference and commonality is negotiated, battled, allied, and explored. (Washburne 2012, 92)

The Havana Jazz Plaza Festival is a physical and audible manifestation of that shared in-between

space. The musical forces also extend beyond what Washburne described to incorporate Africa

and Europe into the transnational dialogue between jazz, classical, and various old world folk

musics. And the forces at play in the festival were not only cultural but also political, especially

for the U.S. musicians present who had to negotiate legal restrictions and overcome various

challenges to experience Havana and participate in the festival dialogue. While I sat next to Ari

listening to the Will Magid Quartet play the Eastern European-influenced “Balkan Suite” at the

Bertolt Brecht, my new German friend leaned over and said to me, “This is strange to be hearing

the type of music I listen to in Munich, here in Havana, being played by a band from California.”

Conclusion

The experience of having to alter plans and improvise is not unusual for Cuba visitors.

The itinerary for the Cross Cultural Journeys Foundation 2013 Jazz Festival tour included the

caveat, “This itinerary is subject to change to take advantage of the serendipity of the moment

when we are in Cuba...to meet someone special, to engage in an activity that might occur

unexpectedly, or to accommodate circumstances beyond our control.”83 The U.S. performers at

the jazz festival that I spoke to were all forced to alter their plans at one point or another to deal

with the circumstances of getting to and then performing in Cuba. Perhaps because they are used

to improvising musically, they took their challenges in stride when they were either forced to

wait for a situation to resolve itself or to push forward and find a new solution. Even with

everything they had to contend with, they all want to visit Cuba again.

While attending and playing in the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival is an expensive

undertaking for visitors from the U.S. and other countries, it is appealing because it is a

prominent site for intercultural musical dialogue. The music that can be found throughout the

Vedado district of Havana as part of the festival is as diverse as the number of nationalities

present. Through jazz, those nations and cultures are able to speak to one another. While new

musical sounds have emerged from these dialogues, it remains to be seen if they can also point to

new sociopolitical arrangements.

83 Cross Cultural Journeys, “Havana Jazz Festival,” http://crossculturaljourneys.com/cuba_2013_12_18_23_jazz.pdf (accessed November 29, 2013).

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For a number of years after the revolution and before the festival began, jazz was

marginalized and disparaged. A number of devoted jazz musicians and enthusiasts like Carcassés

and Chucho Valdés continued to practice and promote jazz on the island. When asked why he

has been devoted to jazz throughout his life, Carcassés says he stays in Cuba to promote jazz

“because it is so important . . . not just as a music, but as a philosophy, a philosophy of

freedom.”84 While jazz creates an opportunity for musical freedom and exploration, the Cuban

people are still unable to freely express themselves, and U.S. residents are not free to visit Cuba.

Yet events like the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival have allowed some movement and musical

interaction.

84 Levin, “Bobby Carcasses opened door to jazz in Cuba,” 2010.

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CHAPTER FOUR

LICENSING MUSICAL INTERACTION: FOUR CASE STUDIES

The U.S. musicians who performed at the 2012 Havana Jazz Plaza Festival all justified

their travel with general licenses. Of the three groups discussed, only Lisa Hittle was fully aware

of OFAC policies and licensing requirements. She had everything arranged for an academic

general license in advance of leaving for the festival. Will Magid and Trio Los Vigilantes,

however, only had a general idea of Cuban travel policies under Barack Obama. Both groups

flew through Mexico so they did not need paperwork ahead of time to get to Cuba. They

concluded that if questioned upon their return, they would explain how their travel was

warranted as professional research qualifying for a general license. Most U.S. musicians who

wish to perform in Cuba face similar challenges. Without a personal contact to help them

navigate and explain OFAC regulations and bureaucracy, individuals must conduct thorough

research or enlist the help of a paid lawyer or travel specialist. They can also risk traveling

through a third country without an OFAC license and face potential fines or prosecution when

they get back to the U.S.

An analysis of the ways U.S. performers can justify and legally obtain OFAC licenses to

travel to Cuba shows that although Obama’s reforms have expanded travel, the regulations as

they stand still make travel erratic by treating would-be travelers inconsistently and unequally.

Yet the desire to travel is as strong as ever. Four case studies of performers who have traveled on

OFAC licenses since 2009 illustrates how the backgrounds of those who aspire to visit Cuba are

as varied as the musical genres they perform. These varied backgrounds also differentiate

travelers in terms of what licensing options they have. U.S. musicians and non-musicians are

drawn to Cuba for various reasons, and as these exchanges are allowed to continue, it becomes

more apparent that travel restrictions do not reflect the will of the U.S. public and fail to benefit

the people of either country.

The State Department’s Blessing: Juanes and Peace Without Borders

On September 20, 2009, Miami-based Colombian-American rock star Juanes headlined

his Peace Without Borders concert in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución with the blessing of the

State Department and the Cuban Ministry of Culture. Large, three-dimensional murals of

revolutionaries Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos adorned the sides of the government

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buildings lining the plaza. There the unique concert allowed a large crowd to hear a range of

popular Latin music stars that rarely played in Cuba. The Plaza de la Revolución is a massive,

open cement courtyard with the José Marti Memorial tower in the middle, and it regularly served

as the location for political rallies and Fidel Castro’s long, anti-imperialist speeches. On this day,

however, it became home to an event that brought together musicians from across Latin America

as well as the U.S. and Cuba.

Juanes was born Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez in Medellin, Colombia. He initially

earned acclaim singing and playing guitar in the heavy metal band Ekhymosis, but his

songwriting has transformed over time to combine rock with popular Latin styles and Colombian

traditional music. In the late 1990s he relocated to the United States, first in Los Angeles and

later South Florida. He tours extensively around the world and has cultivated a large fan base

throughout Latin America as well as in Europe and the U.S. In 2005, he was named one of the

world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine. In the article about the musician, Quincy

Jones described the Colombian rocker’s abilities to cross boundaries with his music, whether

those boundaries are “cultural, linguistic, political or geographical.”85 Much of his impact comes

from his work as a political activist around the globe; his Fundación Mi Sangre (My Blood

Foundation) is dedicated to multiple causes around the world, primarily fighting against the use

of anti-personnel mines in Colombia.86

Raúl Castro’s government permitted Juanes to organize Peace Without Borders and

provided logistical and technical support for the event. This was the second of the 17-time

Grammy winner’s Peace Without Borders concerts, which “seek to unite common citizens across

borders and advocate for the continued use of non-violent conflict resolution.”87 The first such

concert was held in 2008 on the border between Colombia and Venezuela. At that time, a

diplomatic standoff between Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela and troop buildups along

borders led to increased tension in the region. The concert, which was organized in less than a

week, drew over 200,000 fans from both countries and was seen by millions of viewers

throughout Latin America on television.

85 Quincy Jones, “Juanes,” Time 100, April 18, 2005, http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1972656_1972696_1973338,00.html (accessed October 2, 2013). 86 “Juanes,” Juanes, http://www.juanes.net/content.bio (accessed October 2, 2013). 87 Ibid.

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In planning the second Peace Without Borders concert, Juanes and the event organizers

met with Obama administration officials and spoke directly with then Secretary of State Hillary

Clinton. According to Juanes, "We asked what [the Department of State officials] thought, and

they said, 'Go ahead.' She was very positive. Me, I am Colombian, so I didn't need to ask

permission. But we did need permission for all our staff, and they said sure."88 The Department

of State facilitated the concert by ensuring that the performers and their support staff had all

required licenses and authorizations to travel. The musicians performed without compensation

and even covered the costs of shipping the stage and sound equipment for the massive concert

from Miami.

When it was announced that Juanes intended to perform in Cuba, there was a storm of

controversy in Miami’s Cuban exile community, as some believed that such a performance

would lend credibility to a dictatorial government while ignoring the plight of political

dissidents. Anti-Castro groups publicly destroyed his records, and the performer even faced

death threats requiring police protection outside his home in Key Biscayne. Juanes responded to

the controversy in an interview with the Miami Herald, saying:

This is not about politics. Nobody called us, nobody invited us to Havana. I am not a communist. I am not aligned with the government. I'm not going to Cuba to play for the Cuban regime. Our only message is one of peace, of humanitarianism, of tolerance, a message of interacting with the people … I cannot give answers to all these questions people are asking me. It's not my strength. It's not something I can control … We are musicians, not politicians.89 Amaury Pérez Vidal, a Cuban singer who performed on the concert also responded,

saying, “Neither Juanes nor Cuba are politicizing the show, that will be for peace and

understanding of peoples and to open corridors of communication that have been closed and

tainted. It is important to emphasize that who has politicized this has been the minority and

recalcitrant Cuban exile sector in Miami.”90 Despite the controversy, the concert went on as

planned. Fourteen artists from six countries performed, and it was estimated that just over one

million people attended the concert, making it the largest gathering for an international visitor in

88 William Booth, “Concert for Peace Draws Hundreds of Thousands in Havana,” Washington Post, September 21, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/20/AR2009092000739.html (accessed October 1, 2013). 89 Jordan Levin, “Juanes: Cuba Concert is Not About Politics.” Miami Herald, August 25, 2009. 90 Katia Monteagudo, “Juanes Unwavering on Singing in Havana,” CubaNow, August 24, 2009. http://www.cubanow.net/pages/loader.php?sec=4&t=2&item=7605 (accessed October 15, 2009).

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Cuba since the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1998. One Miami station tagged it as the “Concert of

Discord,” but it was the first Havana concert to be televised live in Miami allowing Cuban

nationals and exiles to watch the event simultaneously.91

After seeing the performance, many in Miami who had previously opposed the concert

changed their opinion and viewed the exchange favorably. Beforehand, only twenty-seven

percent of Cuban Americans were in favor of the event while forty-seven percent opposed it. In a

poll taken afterwards, however, fifty-three percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of it as

opposed to twenty-nine percent who saw it negatively.92 Although Juanes and the other

musicians claimed apolitical intentions and agreed to not make overtly political statements,

political meaning was read into many of their words and lyrics. A female rapper performing with

Cuban artist X Alfonso chanted “Down with the control. Down with those who manipulate you,”

and Spanish pop singer Miguel Bosé said, “We're all here together for the dream of concord, for

the dream of dialogue!”93

During Juanes’s performance he called for peace and unity multiple times, told the youth

of Latin America the future was in their hands, and dedicated one song to anyone who was

unjustly imprisoned. The most powerful moment came near the end of the show when all of the

performers were gathered on stage, and Juanes shouted “¡Cuba libre!” (“Free Cuba!”), and

“¡Una sola familia Cubana!” (“One Cuban family!”). These words avoided any direct political

criticism, and supporters of Cuba’s government were able to claim that “Cuba libre” was a call to

keep Cuba free from imperialism. However, these efforts were still enough to convince some in

Miami that the concert was a positive, worthwhile event. Shortly after the concert, Juanes

described the intense emotions he felt and the concert’s extramusical meanings when he

explained, “There aren't words to talk about something so huge, something that's so

beyond music. This is the power of art, the power of music. We're so happy because the people

are happy, and that's what matters to us.”94

91 Sara Miller Llana, “Will Massive Juanes Concert in Havana Stir Winds of Change?” Christian Science Monitor, September 21, 2009, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2009/0921/p06s04-woam.html (accessed October 15, 2009). 92 Pascal Fletcher, “Cuban exiles change tune on Havana concert – poll,” Reuters. October 1, 2009. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0126464220091001 (accessed October 15, 2009). 93 Lydia Martin and Jordan Levin, “Cubans flock to Havana plaza for Juanes concert,” Miami Herald, September 17, 2009. 94 Ibid.

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On September 22, 2009, just two days after the festival event, Massachusetts

Representative Jim McGovern praised the concert on the floor of the House of Representatives.

He said:

I applaud Juanes and all the participating artists for their courage, their vision and commitment to working together to communicate directly to the Cuban people through the language of music. More than just a rock concert, this massive cultural event in Havana was a moving and emotional testament, even to many of its critics, about the power of the human spirit to reach across barriers during times of tension and opportunities. The ripples and waves created by this concert are just beginning to be felt in Cuba, the United States and throughout the hemisphere. I very much look forward to supporting other Paz Sin Fronteras initiatives in the future.95

However, his Republican colleague, Cuban American Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen from

Miami, said the concert was a triumph for the Castro regime because there was no direct mention

of Cuba’s human rights violations or political prisoners.

Besides Juanes, two other groups have had high-profile trips to Cuba under the auspices

of the Obama administration’s Department of State: funk and disco band Kool and the Gang in

December 2009 and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in October 2010. Kool and the Gang

performed in Havana just three months after the Peace Without Borders concert, but their

performance avoided even brief statements that could be interpreted politically. In an interview,

Robert “Kool” Bell made it clear that they were visiting the island as musicians and not

politicians, adding, “We are all about the music. We travel the world and our message is love,

understanding and unity.”96 Although the band claimed their performance had no political

intentions, it still depended upon government authorization, which they received from the U.S.

State Department and the Cuban Institute of Music. The day after their performance, the band

received the 2009 Honorary Cubadisco Award from the Cuban Minister of Culture in a meeting

at the Cuban Music Institute. The award is granted to musicians who have contributed to human

improvement. Robert Bell was also given a Cuban tres guitar, and the band pledged to return and

perform in Cuba again sometime in the future.97

95 Representative Jim McGovern (MA), “One Million Attend ‘Paz Sin Fronteras’ Concert,” Congressional Record

155:134, September 22, 2009. 96 Associated Press, “Kool and the Gang takes the ‘Celebration’ to Cuba,” MSNBC, December 21, 2009, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34509462/ns/entertainment-music/ (accessed January 23, 2010). 97 Prensa Latina, “Cuba Grants Award to Kool & the Gang,” Radio Cadena Agramonte, December 22, 2009. http://www.cadenagramonte.cubaweb.cu/english/ index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1298&Itemid=14 (accessed January 23, 2010).

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Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra already had a connection with

the State Department through the “Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad” cultural diplomacy

program, which they help facilitate. Yet this was the first time the famous jazz orchestra

performed in Cuba. While in Havana, Marsalis and his fellow musicians participated in

numerous concerts and workshops as part of a five-day residency with the Cuban Institute of

Music. They performed with Chucho Valdés and then invited Valdés to perform with them in

New York the following month.

While these celebrity musicians had their licenses secured by the Obama administration,

less famous individuals and those without political connections face more challenges in traveling

to Cuba. However, even they face various degrees of difficulty depending upon who they are.

Those with family in Cuba have it easier than many because they qualify for a general license,

which allows hundreds of Cuban Americans to fly from Miami to Havana every day.

Visiting Family: Tania León at the Leo Brouwer Festival

Cuban Americans have legally been able to travel to Cuba in some capacity since the

1980s, but with inconsistent and changing guidelines for visiting relatives. Even under the

George W. Bush administration, Cuban Americans were able to travel on a general license when

visiting a “close relative,” but there were restrictions on the duration and frequency of trips to

Cuba for that purpose. In 2009, Obama eased those restrictions, which has facilitated the travel

of all Cuban Americans including musicians such as composer Tania León, allowing them to

avoid much of the red tape endured by other musicians participating in cultural exchanges.

As a composer and conductor residing in the U.S. since the late 1960s, León has

witnessed multiple Presidential administrations and the many slight variations of the U.S.-Cuban

relationship that has accompanied them. Changes in the political relationship between the U.S.

and Cuba have had a direct impact on León’s life by limiting her connections to family and her

home country. Navigating these transforming political circumstances has also led to

transformations in her music and the way it reflects her identity as a Cuban-born woman. This

coincided with changes in the U.S. art music scene. As multiculturalism became valued in

American musical culture, León found herself navigating different labels that people gave her

based on gender, ethnicity, and national origin.

Tania Justina León was born in Havana, Cuba on May 14, 1943. Her family, which came

from mixed French, Spanish, African and Chinese heritage, was not a particularly musical one,

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but her grandmother still enrolled her in piano lessons at age four. Ms. León would go on to

study accounting and music in college, earning degrees in theory, piano performance, and music

education (Spinazolla 2011). For much of her youth, there were many musical connections

between Cuba and its northern neighbor. Cuban popular music and musicians were regularly

being exported to the United States, and composers from the U.S. visited Cuba and drew upon

their experiences in their compositions. Although León was largely non-political, the changing

political situation in Cuba following the 1959 revolution would impact her career opportunities,

and U.S.-Cuban political maneuvering began to factor into her musical life.

León had some success performing in her home country in the 1960s but found her

options limited. She wanted to continue her studies and pursue new musical opportunities

abroad. About growing up in Cuba, she said, “If you live on an island you do a lot of staring at

the horizon! I grew up only eight blocks from the sea, so that was very normal for me, to stare at

the sea, always wondering what was on the other side” (Spinazzola 2011, 269). These feelings of

confinement combined with her desire for new musical experiences led her to leave Cuba. She

described the decision:

My spirit is not an island spirit. You know, I felt trapped not being able to go elsewhere without a boat … So therefore, I just wanted to go abroad and actually extend my studies … And by the time I finished my degree, I said I have to go somewhere and continue this. So the only opportunity for me was a free trip, something called Freedom Flights that began with the Kennedy Administration.98

She knew returning to Cuba would be extremely difficult, and the grandmother who initially set

her on her musical path told her that if she left they would never see each other again. León still

felt she needed to leave in order to continue along that musical path. In 1967, she said goodbye

to her family and boarded a plane to Miami. Although she initially intended to settle in Paris,

circumstances led her from Miami to New York where she has stayed.

Tania León had been making a name for herself in the art music circles of New York City

in the 1970s, but the stress of separation from her family in Cuba was becoming particularly

taxing. She described those challenges:

During the first twelve years of my life in the United States I was filled with anguish over being separated from my family. I was constantly preoccupied with

98 Frank Oteri, “What It Means To Be An American Composer,” NewMusicBox, August 1, 1999, http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/tania-leon-what-it-means-to-be-an-american-composer/ (accessed April 3, 2012).

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the thought of how I was going to reunite with my family. As the older members of my family started to die, I began to feel incredibly insecure and vulnerable, to the point that I started to lose my hair. (Iturralde 2007, 225)

The stresses that were affecting her found some resolution in 1979 when President Carter lifted

the travel ban. This allowed her to return to Cuba and see her family for the first time since she

left the island. During this trip when she listened to rumba with her father and witnessed a

traditional bembé celebration, her father encouraged her to incorporate the music of Cuba into

her own work (Gidal 2011, 53). Upon returning to the U.S., León corresponded with her father to

plan her next trip, but he died in March 1980 before they could see each other again. She

integrated elements of folkloric Cuban music in response to the overwhelming emotions stirred

by returning to Cuba, reuniting with her family, and then losing her father (Iturralde 2007). Tania

León had the opportunity to visit Cuba and see her family again under the Clinton

administration. Once again, however, she did not travel for musical purposes, and her music

would still not be played in Cuba.

León’s incorporation of Cuban influences into her work coincided with a growing

demand for music by female, minority and international composers in the U.S. art music scene.

As a result, there was a dramatic increase in the number of performances featuring her music.

“They want to program Latin Americans and they do the research and my name comes up,” she

says, “They want to program women and my name comes up. They want to program people of

color and my name, you know. They want to program Cubans, there we go” (Gidal 2010, 50).

However, she rejected the attempts to be classified as such:

You know, there was a time when we talked about ‘composers’ – not ‘male composers,’ ‘female composers,’ et cetera. The term composer encompasses everybody, and we do not need to go past that. Look, let’s assume that we’re talking about doctors. Do you discuss women doctors and men doctors? No! My preference is to be called by my name. Forget about the rest – my color, my gender. Our appearance has nothing to do with what’s inside, with our spirit. And please understand that adhering to this philosophy has not been easy for me, because this kind of statement has sometimes offended people who believe that human beings should be above all of that. It is an imposition to tell me that I am something, or that I should call myself something. I’m not imposing myself on anyone. I’m simply who I am. (Spinazolla 2011, 270)

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Like many other American composers who do not fit into the European-descended, white male

mold, León has sought to avoid being compartmentalized. It was partly this concern that caused

her to avoid incorporating Cuban influences into her early compositions.

Although her return to Cuba marked a turning point in her music, León has remained

largely silent on U.S.-Cuban politics and travel policies. She faced many challenges visiting

family, and her ability to do so changed regularly depending on who was in the White House.

Despite her success as a composer in the U.S., her music would not be performed in Cuba. In a

1999 interview, León was asked how older Cubans would react to her as a female composer and

conductor. She replied, “Well, let me tell you something. I have not had the chance to do that in

Cuba. I have never performed in Cuba. Ever. You know, so I have no idea how this would be

taken.” When asked if her music has ever been performed in Cuba by anyone else, she said, “I

have no idea. I cannot tell you. I don’t know.”99

In October 2010, however, Tania León was invited to the Leo Brouwer Festival in Cuba

as a featured composer. Before Obama changed the restrictions on how and when Cuban

Americans could visit family members in Cuba, the OFAC regulations stated:

You may request a specific license to engage in travel-related transactions (1) to visit a member of the your immediate family who is a national of Cuba once in a three-year period or (2) to visit a member of your immediate family who is not a national of Cuba in certain exigent circumstances.100

The changes instituted by the Obama administration in 2009 made it possible to travel on a

general license and removed the restrictions on how often individuals could make the trip. Since

these reforms went into effect, the number and frequency of Cuban Americans flying to Cuba

each day from Miami has dramatically increased. As a result Tania León could fly to Havana

without having to request a license and she would not be limited as to when she would be able to

return.

The festival is named for Cuban guitarist, conductor and composer Leo Brouwer who

began his musical studies in Cuba but also received a grant to study composition at the Juilliard

School of Music in New York. When he returned to Cuba, he held various posts in musical

institutions created after the revolution. Brouwer taught classes, acted as musical advisor for

Radio Habana Cuba, and scored more than sixty films, many of which documented the positive

99 Frank Oteri, “What It Means To Be An American Composer,” 1999. 100 OFAC 2004, 14.

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social changes in Cuba since Batista’s departure (Rodríguez). While working at the Instituto

Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC) in 1969, he helped organize and run the

Grupo de Experimentación Sonora (GES). Its members included singer-songwriters or

trovadores Pablo Milanés and Silvio Rodríguez among others. Brouwer’s guidance helped many

of these performers learn to read music, understand music theory, and work both collectively and

individually. Brouwer later focused more on his own compositions and work as a conductor

(Moore 2006, 154). He has traveled the world extensively and conducted numerous major

orchestras and received many honors in Cuba for his contributions to Cuban culture. While he

had previously organized Cuba’s primary guitar festival, in 2009 Brouwer founded the chamber

music festival that carries his name. The multi-day festival takes place in various venues in Old

Havana every October. Each year the festival has a different theme and features both Cuban and

international performers.

In 2010, the festival included a focus on Cuban female composers, and León was once

more in a program associated with gender and ethnicity when the committee selected two of her

pieces. The first was Alma (Soul), one of León’s favorite recent compositions for flute and piano

from 2007, inspired by a bird’s song and flight.101 The second piece was Arenas d’un Tiempo

(Sands of Time), a 1992 piece for clarinet, cello, and piano inspired by a trip to Brazil. The

composer brought her eighty-five year old mother, León’s last surviving relative from that

generation, to the event. This marked the first time that her mother could hear her daughter’s

music performed.102 León was able to experience that performance with her mother because of

relaxed policies in both countries. While this visit illustrates a new openness on the part of the

Cuban government to welcome back artists who left the island for careers abroad, tensions still

exist. Although the Leo Brouwer Festival and its participants were well covered in the Cuban

media, Tania León was frustrated to find that her name and references to her music were absent

from all coverage.103 The convention of not acknowledging expatriate artists in the media,

101 Career Girls, “Composer/Conductor: ‘Alma – What to Listen For,’” YouTube Video, January 7, 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyRjE0h8Nek (accessed April 18, 2012). 102 CUNY Newswire, “Tania León Returns to Cuba for Composers Music Fest,” The City University of New York, September 30, 2010, http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2010/09/30/tania-leon-returns-to-cuba-for-composers-music-fest/ (accessed April 3, 2012). 103 Personal interaction with author, October 20, 2011. Tania León relayed this information to me in Bloomington, IN during the conference “Cultural Counterpoints: Examining the Musical Interactions between the U.S. and Latin America” held for the 50th anniversary of the Latin American Music Center at Indiana University. This came up in discussion after a paper I presented and a roundtable on Cuban Composers in the U.S. which included León, Ileana Perez-Velazquez, and Orlando Jacinto García.

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however, is also changing. Since the revolutionary government took power, performers who left

the country, whether for political reasons or to pursue a career, have been heavily censored by

the Cuban Institute for Radio and Television. It has been rare for these musicians to even be

mentioned in the media. In September 2013, however, the state-controlled Confederation of

Cuban Workers newspaper, Trabajadores, published the names of all the Cuban artists including

exiles who were nominated for Latin Grammys for the first time.104 As exiled musicians gain

further acceptance in their native country, the ability to travel on a general license will greatly

facilitate the aspirations of Cuban American musicians who desire relationships with their

colleagues who remain in Cuba.

Voices from the Heart, the National Choir of Cuba, and Specific Licenses for Cultural

Exchange

Most musicians wishing to play in Cuba, however, are not able to justify participation in

a concert in a way that qualifies for a general license, forcing them to apply for permission in the

form of a specific license that authorizes public performances. OFAC regulations state:

You may request a specific license authorizing certain travel-related and additional transactions incident to participation in a public performance, clinic, workshop, athletic or other competition, or exhibition in Cuba. The event must be open for attendance and, in relevant situations, participation by the Cuban public. All U.S. profits from the event after costs must be donated to an independent nongovernmental organization in Cuba or a U.S.-based charity with the objective, to the extent possible, of promoting people-to-people contacts or otherwise benefiting the Cuban people.105

Complaints have arisen because despite having received over 3,400 applications in the first few

months after the new policies were announced in 2011, only a handful of licenses were granted

by the end of the year.106 In one example, a group of Irish-American musicians intended to

participate in Havana’s second annual Celtic Festival in April 2011 but were denied their license

104 Juan O. Tamayo, “Cuban newspaper breaks ground by publishing names of exiled Cuban artists nominated for Grammys,” Miami Herald, September 26, 2013, http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/26/3653015/cuban-newspaper-breaks-ground.html (accessed November 11, 2013). 105 OFAC 2011, 30. 106 John McAuliff, “How Long Must We Wait?” The Havana Note, June 22, 2011, http://thehavananote.com/2011/06/how_long_must_we_wait (accessed October 7, 2011).

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just a week before the festival was to begin. The OFAC claimed the trip would go “beyond the

scope of what was authorized” by citing an earlier set of guidelines from 2004.107

One of the recent successful trips made with a specific license for public performances

took place in July 2012 when Voices from the Heart, a New Hampshire women’s choir, visited

Cuba as part of a cultural exchange with the National Choir of Cuba. While in Havana, they sang

in the CorHabana International Choir Festival as the only participating U.S. group. The choir had

previously visited Ireland in 2001 and Croatia in 2007. When they started planning their next

trip, the choir’s director, Joanne Connolly, wanted somewhere closer geographically and she had

heard about other musicians visiting Cuba so she knew it was possible to get there. She said that

Cuba seemed like a place “…that would be compelling, interesting musically, where we might

be able to do some good and enjoy the music as well. We also thought it might be more

reasonable money-wise, which it was not.”108

Getting their Specific License took two years of planning and coordinating with the help

of Michael Eizenberg of the Educational Travel Alliance, a travel service provider licensed by

the OFAC to make travel arrangements in Cuba for licensed individuals and organizations.

Eizenberg had previously organized exchanges between U.S. and Cuban softball leagues and

brought the Cuban dance troupe Danza Contemporanea to Boston in 2011. Eizenberg oversaw

the application process, which involved justifying the trip as a formal cultural exchange and

providing documentation that certified all travelers were active members of the organization,

identified the Cuban institutions they would work with, predicted the number of audience

members for whom they would perform, and described the opportunities for interaction with the

Cuban people. According to Connolly:

Michael really knew what would look good in order to get that because other people have been denied their licenses. … It was just very tough because we kept asking questions and he'd say, “Well, I’m not sure.” We thought it was Michael, but it wasn't. It was Cuba. He really pushed. I think it's kind of his personal mission but I think it did help us get our license that we had. We wrote formal letters inviting the Cuban national choir to the United States because he kept saying, “That's true exchange, that's what we want.”109

107 Madeline O’Connor, “Obama Bans Irish Musicians from Travelling to Cuba,” Cuba Headlines, April 12, 2011, http://www.cubaheadlines.com/2011/04/12/30668/obama_ bans_irish_musicians_from_travelling_to_cuba.html (accessed October 7, 2011). 108 Joanne Connolly, interview by author, December 11, 2012. 109 Ibid.

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In order to make it a true exchange, Connolly traveled to Cuba ahead of the choir in

March 2012 on a trip with Bentley College in Boston organized by Eizenberg. While at a formal

dinner on that short trip, Connolly was introduced to Digna Guerra who directs the National

Choir of Cuba and invited her to the United States. A month later, Guerra was in New

Hampshire where she spent five days visiting possible venues for her choir’s part of the

exchange while teaching Voices from the Heart arrangements of the Cuban songs “El

Bodiguero” and “Guantanamera.”

The group had no guarantee their trip would happen until less than two months before

their departure when the choir members received word that their license application was

approved. Each of the 110 choir members who traveled to Cuba paid between $3,000 and $3,500

to go. The cost included airfare, lodging, and food as well as the costs of hosting the Cuban

groups they performed with. As Connolly described, this cost was not something they originally

expected:

When we went to Croatia all the groups that we sang with kind of hosted us in ways that if we had a reception or party it was paid for by that group, partially. Here, if we had a meal with the Cuban National Choir or something we had to pay for all of them. So it was tricky in a way like how can we benefit the Cubans since we can't give them money directly, either.110 In their six full formal concerts and more than a dozen informal sings, the choir members

had many opportunities to interact with Cuban musicians and audiences. The very first

performance took place on the plane between Miami and Havana on July 1 when they sang the

Cuban national anthem “La Bayamesa” in three-part harmony, bringing tears to the eyes of their

Cuban American flight attendants. They performed in the Hall of Mirrors of the Museo de la

Revolucion with a children’s choir and interacted with elderly Cubans when they sang at a senior

center in Old Havana. On July 3, the choir performed at the home of the U.S. Interests Section’s

Chief of Mission in honor of Independence Day in the United States. They sang both the Cuban

and U.S. National Anthems for a mixed U.S. and Cuban audience.111 They visited Cienfuegos for

two days before returning to Havana. In addition to Connolly’s arrangement of “La Bayamesa,”

110 Ibid. 111 Without formal diplomatic relations, there is no U.S. embassy or diplomat in Cuba. The Chief of Mission at the U.S. Interests Section (USINT) oversees the activities of the USINT, which are similar to other embassies around the world. Numerous individuals including scholar Henry Louis Gates who had previously recorded an episode for his PBS miniseries Black in Latin America about Cuba attended the U.S. Independence Day performance at the Chief of Mission’s home.

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Voices from the Heart regularly performed the songs “Finlandia,” a song calling for peace

between nations, and a song for the orisha Yemaya.

Upon returning to Havana, they performed at the closing ceremony of the tenth annual

CorHabana International Choir Festival, which had taken place from July third through seventh.

Digna Guerra is one of the individuals behind the event each year, and in 2012 it was dedicated

to the choral works of Cuban composers Electo Silva and Leo Brouwer. The festival involved

performances at venues throughout Havana as well as workshops for the participating groups

from Cuba as well as Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, and the United States represented by

Voices from the Heart. The U.S. choir was only in the festival’s closing performance where they

sang with other participating choirs in Old Havana’s Plaza Vieja before enjoying a dinner and

private sing at the Hotel Nacional with the National Chorus of Cuba.

The cultural exchange was completed when Digna Guerra brought Coro de Entrevoces, a

twenty-person group made up of members from the National Chorus, to New England in

November 2012. Coro de Entrevoces began their tour in Portsmouth, which was followed by

performances in Boston and Cape Cod. Michael Eizenberg organized their visit and described

the excitement of the Cuban performers to visit the U.S.: “We don't know what will happen next,

but we will try to do as much as possible while it's possible. … It's a dream for everyone there to

come here. [Coro de Entrevoces] has traveled internationally to everywhere but the U.S. They

want very much to come here.”112

Connolly explained that she would like to return to Cuba one day but without the

complications of travel licenses and coordinating such a large group. While traveling on a

specific license for cultural exchange is possible, it can be an unpredictable and stressful process.

Aspects of a trip often need to be organized and money needs to be spent before the performers

even know whether or not their license will be issued. Voices from the Heart wisely worked with

Michael Eizenberg and the Educational Travel Alliance, but even then there was a significant

amount of uncertainty surrounding their trip and license application.

112 Colleen Preston, “Coro de Entrevoces,” CapeCodOnline.com, October 25, 2012, http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121025/ENTERTAIN/210260304 (accessed October 27, 2012).

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99 Problems: People-to-People Licenses and Jay-Z’s Cuba Travel

Another option for U.S. citizens who want to visit Cuba is through an organized travel

provider with a people-to-people license granted by the OFAC. The people-to-people programs,

which existed under President Clinton and were reauthorized by Obama in 2011, are meant to

encourage interaction between U.S. and Cuban citizens through structured itineraries. Because

festivals take place in Havana and across Cuba frequently, many people-to-people travelers

attend one festival or another as part of their organized trip, and some trips are specifically

designed around festivals such as Havana Jazz Festival tours organized by companies like

Insight Cuba and the Cross Cultural Journey Foundation.

The relevant section in the Cuban Assets Control Regulations states:

Pursuant to section 515.565(b)(2), OFAC may issue a specific license to an organization that sponsors and organizes programs to promote people-to-people contact authorizing the organization and individuals traveling under its auspices to engage in educational exchanges not involving academic study pursuant to a degree program. In general, licenses issued pursuant to this policy will be valid for one year and will contain no limitation on the number of trips that can be taken.113

Organizations interested in applying for one of these people-to-people licenses are required to

identify themselves, “provide a few detailed examples of those activities and explain how those

activities would result in meaningful interaction between the U.S. travelers and individuals in

Cuba.” They must also include a certification stating that each traveler will have a full-time

schedule of educational exchange activities resulting in the previously mentioned “meaningful

interaction.”

An estimated 50,000 people were able to travel from the U.S. to Cuba between the

institution of the new regulations in 2011 and summer 2012 when the one-year people-to-people

licenses started to expire.114 Organizations expected the renewals they had applied for earlier in

the year but they were not issued. Between the first and second year, the license application went

from only six pages long to over 100 pages, and by fall 2012 only a fraction had been approved

by the OFAC. Many tour operators were forced to cancel trips and refund registered participants

when the time for scheduled trips arrived and renewed licenses had not yet been issued. When

tour operators inquired as to their status, the only explanations for delays referred to a backlog of

113 OFAC 2011, 22. 114 Marc Frank, “U.S.-Cuba travel snarled by regulations, politics,” News Daily, September 12, 2012, http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/bre88b1a9-us-cuba-usa-travel/ (accessed October 2, 2012).

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paperwork and staffing issues.115 These issues, however, were not simply the result of

bureaucratic oversights but of political posturing. Adam Szubin was appointed to head the OFAC

in 2006 under the Bush administration by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Before

moving to Treasury, he had worked in the United States Department of Justice under Attorney

Generals John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales.116 The renewal delays also followed a December

15, 2011 speech by Florida Senator Marco Rubio in which he railed against the itineraries of

these trips for including activities like dancing, and he claimed that they amounted to nothing

more than tourism that supplied money to a dictatorial regime that bordered on “indoctrination of

Americans by Castro government officials.”

For months following his speech, Rubio held up the Senate confirmation of Assistant

Secretary of State Roberta Jacobsen until reaching a quid pro quo with the White House

requiring tougher guidelines for these trips. License renewals followed in October. Insight Cuba,

one of the more prominent people-to-people travel providers had to lay off twenty-two people

and cancel 150 trips because of the delay.117 Numerous organizations have again started

organizing trips that can take any U.S. citizen with ease. However, people-to-people trips are

often expensive and typically cost between $2500 and $3000 for a five day trip without airfare.

For instance, the 2013 Havana Jazz Festival tour from the Cross Cultural Journey Foundation

cost $2,995 for five days in a double room not including airfare. The trip was lead by Grammy

Award-winning Latin jazz trumpeter Julius Meléndez who has visited and performed in Cuba

multiple times, so while providing unique opportunities to experience Cuban music that

participants could not have otherwise, the people-to-people trip did not come cheaply.118

For popular musicians Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, however,

money was no object. The two stars traveled to Havana with their family from April 3 to 6, 2013

for their fifth wedding anniversary and what proved to be the most controversial people-to-

people trip to date. Their arrival quickly received significant media attention in both Cuba and

115 Larry Habegger and Laurie Weed, “World watch,” Chicago Tribune, September 2, 2012, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-02/travel/ct-trav-0902-world-watch-20120902_1_passenger-boat-boat-captains-taxi-boats (accessed October 10, 2013). 116 U.S. Department of Treasury, “About – Adam J. Szubin,” December 1, 2010, http://www.treasury.gov/about/organizational-structure/Pages/szubin-e.aspx (accessed October 2, 2012). 117 Christine Armario, “Cuba culture trips back on as licenses are renewed,” Associated Press, October 8, 2012, http://bigstory.ap.org/article/cuba-culture-trips-back-licenses-are-renewed (accessed December 10, 2012); Frank 2012, “U.S.-Cuba travel snarled by regulations, politics.” 118 “Havana Jazz Festival,” Cross Cultural Journeys Foundation, http://crossculturaljourneys.com/cuba_2013_12_18_23_jazz.pdf (accessed October 22, 2013).

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the U.S. as pictures surfaced of Jay-Z walking around the streets of Havana smoking cigars,

which prompted many people to ask how and why the celebrity couple was able to visit the

country. Beyoncé and Jay-Z had previously been guests at the White House and donated to

President Obama’s political campaigns, so some speculated that the President might have had a

hand in getting the Carters a travel license. South Florida Republican Representatives Ileana

Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart penned a letter to the Director of the OFAC describing the

oppressiveness of the Castro regime, the legal restrictions on tourism in Cuba, and stating:

We write to express concern and to request information regarding the highly publicized trip by U.S. musicians Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (Beyoncé) and Shawn Carter (Jay-Z) to Cuba. We would like to respectfully request, within all applicable rules and guidelines, information regarding the type of license that Beyoncé and Jay-Z received, for what purpose, and who approved such travel.119

It was then revealed that the Carters traveled on a people-to-people license belonging to the Sir

John Soane Museum Foundation based in New York.

Even though the couple met with a dance group, a children's theater company, an arts

institute and a singer, giving the trip cultural and educational elements, the Cuban-American

legislators pounced on this as proof that these exchanges are merely a front for tourism and

called for an end to the people-to-people license. Ros Lehtinen released a statement:

If the tourist activities undertaken by Beyoncé and Jay-Z in Cuba are classified as an educational exchange trip, then it is clear that the Obama Administration is not serious about denying the Castro regime an economic lifeline that U.S. tourism will extend to it. That was a wedding anniversary vacation that was not even disguised as a cultural program. As more human rights activists engage in hunger strikes, I don't think they will see any evidence of how this scam endeavor will help them become independent of the regime.120 Florida Senator Marco Rubio also entered the debate saying that Jay-Z needed to “get

informed” about Cuba, and that he should have met with some of the people who were being

oppressed and persecuted there. Jay-Z himself responded in the form of a track released online

entitled “Open Letter” where he criticized politicians and pointed out the hypocrisy of U.S.-

Cuban policy. He rapped:

119 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, “Ros-Lehtinen and Diaz-Balart Ask OFAC About Beyonce and Jay-Z Trip to Cuba,” House.gov, April 5, 2013, http://ros-lehtinen.house.gov/press-release/ros-lehtinen-and-diaz-balart-ask-ofac-about-beyonce-and-jay-z-trip-cuba (Accessed October 22, 2013). 120 Erin McPike, “Treasury says Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s trip was approved,” CNN, April 9, 2013, http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/09/treasury-says-beyonce-and-jay-zs-trip-was-approved/ (accessed October 10, 2013).

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I done turned Havana to Atlanta Guayabera shirts and bandanas … Politicians never did shit for me, except lie to me distort history. Wanna give me jail time and fine Fine, let me commit a real crime. … I'm in Cuba, I love Cubans. This communist talk is so confusing When it's from China, the very mic I'm using.121

Although Jay-Z named Obama in the song, the President only joked about the incident during the

2013 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner when he referenced the rapper’s hit song

“99 Problems” in his remarks saying, “This whole controversy about Jay-Z going to Cuba - it’s

unbelievable. I’ve got 99 problems and now Jay-Z is one.”122

The controversy and ensuing media frenzy was referred to as “Beyoncé-gate” by The

Atlantic, and it ultimately brought much more mainstream media attention to U.S.-Cuban travel

regulations than there had been previously. While the politicians who turned the Carters’ trip into

a controversy sought to weaken people-to-people travel and return to tighter travel restrictions,

the trip seems to have had the opposite effect. The majority of newspaper articles and op-eds on

the topic were in favor of expanding travel and explained how anyone can go on a people-to-

people trip. According to Tom Popper, President of Insight Cuba, “It's had a huge impact.

Everything from our call center to our website to our blog to our Facebook page just lit up.

People were Googling it and curious. The debate got heightened, and also people's awareness of

this kind of tour was heightened.”123 Despite the protests of some South Florida politicians,

people-to-people travel has continued and the number of U.S. citizens who have legally visited

Cuba continues to grow.

121 Jay-Z, “Open Letter,” Soundcloud recording, April 11, 2013, https://soundcloud.com/life-times/jay-z-open-letter-1 (accessed October 23, 2013). 122 The White House, “Remarks by The President at The White House Correspondents' Association Dinner,” Office of the Press Secretary, April 27, 2013, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/04/27/remarks-president-white-house-correspondents-association-dinner (accessed November 11, 2013). 123 William Gibson, “Jay-Z and Beyoncé tour stokes desire to visit Cuba,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel, June 2, 2013, http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-cuba-travel-congressional-push-20130602,0,7448204.story (accessed June 3, 2013); Kia Makarechi, “Jay-Z, Beyonce's Cuba Trip Wasn't Approved By Obama,” Huffington Post, June 19, 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/19/jay-z-beyonce-cuba-trip-obama_n_3467984.html (accessed October 23, 2013); Alexa Van Sickle, “Beyoncegate: The Real Problem With Travel to Cuba,” The Atlantic, April 12, 2013, http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/04/beyoncegate-the-real-problem-with-travel-to-cuba/274925/ (accessed April 17, 2013).

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Conclusion

After President Obama signaled that rules governing Cuba travel would be changing,

individuals and institutions have flooded the OFAC with requests for travel licenses. The office’s

failure to keep up demonstrates that the desire for engagement by U.S. citizens existed before

these policy changes and is still greater than what the government is currently allowing. The

reception of U.S. performers in Cuba and the number of Cuban performers taking advantage of

U.S. cultural exchange visas to perform in this country shows that the aspirations go both ways.

The musicians who have taken advantage of President Obama’s relaxed travel regulations to

perform in Cuba include celebrities, students, amateurs, professionals, popular musicians,

classical composers, choirs, dancers, and individuals of varied ethnic backgrounds.

Clearly the ambition of U.S. musicians and music aficionados to visit Cuba is strong. As

these exchanges are allowed to continue, it becomes apparent that the restrictions, which still

make U.S. to Cuba travel difficult and confusing, do not reflect the will of the U.S. public. While

it is now legally possible for these musicians and other Americans to make such trips, the

regulations and the legal framework they exist in makes travel uncertain and unreliable. The

issuing of licenses has been inconsistent and unpredictable, and the different categories for travel

separates U.S. citizens into multiple groups that are treated unequally under the law.

Over the last decade, anthropologists who study globalization have increasingly stressed

that transnational economic and cultural forces are not universal and do not move throughout the

world equally; these ideas can be applied to the U.S.-Cuban relationship and the currently erratic

movement of individuals between the two countries. The word “flow” is often used to describe

the movement of capital, people, and ideas around the world, but flow suggests harmonious

overtones and implies quasi-natural and smooth movement; there is currently no flow of music

and musicians between the U.S. and Cuba (Rockefeller 2011). The term “friction,” in contrast,

describes heterogeneous, unequal encounters and how they can lead to new arrangements of

culture and power (Tsing 2005). Despite initial appearances as disruptive, what Tsing calls

“zones of awkward engagements” and the friction they create are productive and vital parts of

entering into a fruitful collaboration (2005, xi). Instead of being de-emphasized, ethnographies of

globalization should focus on these zones where the local is intermingled with the global and

actors representing transnational forces have to compromise to create more functional

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international connections (Brichet 2011). Only after collisions, failures, and challenges can

routes for potentially smoother musical flows emerge.

In the case of U.S. to Cuba travel and related musical connections, each legal trip and

performance increases the likelihood of future connections not despite the challenges but

sometimes because of them. The controversy of Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s trip only raised the

awareness of people-to-people travel and brought more media attention to the inconsistencies in

U.S. travel regulations. When Juanes initially announced his “Peace Without Borders” concert in

Havana, he received strong negative feedback from the Cuban exile community, but afterwards

the overall response in South Florida was a positive one, potentially easing the fears other South

Florida musicians may have. Most musicians and fans of Cuban music are forced to navigate

complex regulations and bureaucracy to establish musical connections, but each successful trip

raises the awareness of legal travel possibilities and creates another individual who knows what

licensed travel requires and who can educate others.

Tania León has said, “The artist is always ahead of the social transitions and

transformations in her culture” (Iturralde 2007, 232). While she made this comment referring to

what styles of music are most valued by a culture at any one time, this comment can also be read

in the context of our political culture and, in this case, the U.S.-Cuban relationship. León was

one of the first exile composers to be invited back for a performance in Cuba during the Barack

Obama and Raúl Castro era, but her participation was ignored in the Cuban media. The Cuban

practice of not acknowledging exile musicians has since been relaxed. Before the 2010 Leo

Brouwer Chamber Music Festival, León’s music had not been programmed in Cuba. Since that

time, her music was selected to be featured in an international conference presented by the

Women's Studies Department at the University of Havana in November 2013 entitled “Breaking

the Taboo: Women Musicians in Traditionally Male-Dominated Fields” where guitarist Ana

Maria Rosado presented León’s works for guitar.124 As the U.S. expands opportunities for people

to visit Cuba, the Cuban government has also been slowly transforming politically and

economically. The next chapter will detail events and festivals in the United States that have

brought Cuban musicians across the Florida Straits to perform for American audiences with a

special focus on the first U.S. tour by the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba in the months

before they performed at the 2012 Havana Jazz Festival.

124 News, Tania León, http://www.tanialeon.com/news.html (accessed November 11, 2013).

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CHAPTER FIVE

CUBAN MUSIC FESTIVALS AND TOURS IN THE UNITED STATES

On August 13, 2013, Chucho Valdés appeared live in concert with singer Natalie Cole at

the Hollywood Bowl in California. Valdés has toured the United States multiple times since

2009 and has been the highest profile Cuban musician to do so with regularity. His concert at the

Hollywood Bowl, however, was special because it marked a reunion of sorts. Earlier in the year,

Cole released her first Spanish language album Natalie Cole En Español, which followed in the

tradition of her father Nat King Cole’s Spanish albums recorded in the late 1950s as a

collaboration between U.S. and Cuban musicians. One of Nat King Cole’s primary collaborators

was Chucho’s father, Bebo Valdés. Although concert promoters billed both Cole and Valdés as

headliners, each played separate sets and came together for only one song, a rendition of

“Quizas, Quizas, Quizas” (“Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps”). “After more than 50 years, this

situation came that [Natalie Cole] was going to sing and that I could accompany her on one of

the songs,” Valdés said. “This was unbelievable. I was in heaven.”125

Chucho Valdés and his Afro-Cuban Messengers are part of the growing number of Cuban

musicians that have performed in U.S. tours and festivals since 2009, but there are still many

challenges for Cuban performers wishing to participate in these musical exchanges. Although the

U.S. State Department has begun issuing cultural exchange visas to Cubans, failures to process

them in a timely manner has led to some canceled trips, and promoters must still be careful to

follow all travel regulations and financial restrictions that apply to Cuban artists. The rules

limiting the ability of Cubans to travel abroad were also eased in October 2012, but facilitating

and paying for such travel is still very difficult. Finally once all of these challenges are

overcome, many Cuban musicians are unsure about what to expect from their visit to the U.S.

and how they will be received.

This chapter spotlights Cuban musicians who have performed in the United States, what

their performances say about the desire for further U.S.-Cuban engagement, and the complex

ways that politics inform these performances. An analysis of multiple events that featured Cuban

music highlights how the U.S.-Cuban international relationship is colored and shaped by regional

politics within the United States. The Miami and South Florida region in particular is examined

125 Josef Woodard, “Chucho Valdés: Chief Messenger,” Down Beat 80(11), November 2013, 26.

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because of its importance to U.S. national policy towards Cuba and its centrality to the popular

music industry in Latin America. Regional issues can be further explored through differences

between festivals in Miami, New York City, and Chicago. The chapter concludes with an in-

depth analysis of the first U.S. tour of the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba in fall 2012,

which included twenty-one performances in cities across the Midwest, along the East Coast, and

throughout Florida. These performances and their reception illustrate that although there is a

desire for further U.S.-Cuban exchange and interaction there is still significant resistance, and

despite what musicians say and intend it is impossible for these performances to completely

avoid politics.

Miami, Exile Ideology, and the Latin Music Industry

In December 2010, the Miami City Commission passed a resolution asking Congress to

end cultural exchanges with Cuba, and other city commissions in South Florida followed suit.

The Cuban population that transformed Miami’s demographic, economic, and political makeup

since arriving from Cuba after the 1959 revolution has had a profound impact on U.S. policy and

attitudes towards Cuba. Furthermore, Miami has grown to become the most powerful city in the

Latin popular music industry since the 1980s, which further complicates the relationship between

international relations and music. While the exile experience and Miami’s cultural and

geographic distance from the rest of the country fostered pervasive ideological attitudes that

connected music and politics, the dominance of those attitudes currently shows signs of

transformation.

Following the successful ousting of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista in 1959 by Fidel

Castro and his 26th of July Movement, large numbers of Cubans deemed to be enemies of the

revolution were executed, jailed or punished. Individuals lost land and property and in order to

protect their own lives many fled the island with most exiles settling in the continental United

States and Puerto Rico. Over 270,000 individuals migrated to the U.S. between 1959 and 1964,

and more than half of them settled in Miami Dade County (Chun and Grenier 2004, 2).

Immigration slowed in the 1970s but by the end of that decade South Florida’s Cuban American

population was the wealthiest Hispanic constituency in the United States. Cuban immigrants

made inroads into both the financial and political arenas of South Florida since they arrived,

allowing them to surpass economically many other immigrant groups in the country (Bosin 2004,

77).

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The 1980s brought Cuban power in Miami to new heights through another population

boom and new political allegiances. Cuban voting blocs were established in the U.S. congress

and state legislatures, and organizations like the Cuban American National Foundation, the Latin

Builders Association, and the Latin Chamber of Commerce furthered the economic and political

status of Cuban Americans. Entrepreneurial and business successes combined with Miami’s

geographic location at the tip of Florida allowed South Florida’s Cuban exile community to

function largely in fiscal and social isolation, which encouraged the entrenchment of Cuban

culture in the region while promoting ethnic solidarity and slowing acculturation (Bosin 2004,

77-79).

The Mariel boatlift in 1980 increased Miami’s Cuban population by twenty percent but

was ended by President Carter days before he lost the U.S. Presidential election to Ronald

Reagan because of political and economic instability. In addition to ending the boatlift, Carter’s

Cuba policies included lifting the travel ban and creating a U.S. Interests Section in Havana.

Many in the Cuban American exile community saw Carter’s actions as capitulating to the Castro

government, which pushed the community towards the Republican Party. Strong support for

Republicans who expressed hawkish positions towards Cuba and Castro continued into the

twenty-first century. As of 2004, sixty-nine percent of Cuban immigrants were registered as

Republicans. This support is partly motivated by the belief that Republican politicians have been

tougher on the Castro government than Democrats; Cuban American voters consider a

candidate’s position on Cuba to be an important factor when choosing who to vote for (Chun and

Grenier 2004, 6).

Attempts to encourage regime change in Cuba and publicly express disapproval of the

Castro government became institutionalized through dedicated professional organizations and

legislation. It also impacted Miami’s local music scene and the city’s place of influence in the

Latin music industry. In 1996 Miami-Dade County passed a series of ordinances that have

collectively become known as the “Cuba Affidavit.” These ordinances banned the county from

entering into any contracts with firms doing business directly or indirectly with Cuba and they

effectively blocked or hindered musical performances, film screenings, and art exhibits by artists

from the island (Bosin 2004).

Miami’s central role in the Latin music industry has complicated the relationship between

music and anti-Castro politics in South Florida, and many of these connections can be traced to

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the massive crossover success of the Miami Sound Machine and members Gloria and Emilio

Estefan. Gloria Estefan’s father was the bodyguard of Cuban President Batista’s wife, so the

family fled to the United States shortly after the revolution when Gloria was just sixteen months

old. In 1977 she began recording with the Miami Sound Machine and soon after married the

band’s leader, Emilio Estefan Jr., who came to Miami from Havana as a teenager. The band

played a crucial role in the transformation of Latin popular music and the development of the

Latin Pop genre. The group’s first three albums were in Spanish, and they brought the group a

significant following in Miami and throughout Latin America by combining Cuban dance music

with soft rock and pop. In 1985 the band’s second English album, Primitive Love, gave them

crossover success on the mainstream pop charts, and the formula of mixing mainstream

American pop with elements of Latin dance music and English lyrics has been used by Latino

artists looking to crossover into the U.S. market ever since (Party 2008, 65-7). While Miami’s

Cuban exile community avoided acculturation by remaining somewhat isolated, Miami Sound

Machine went the opposite direction to maximize their popularity and profits. Their success

would fortify Miami’s position as a central hub for the greater Latin American popular music

industry.

Like other corporations involved in the global marketplace, major record labels sought a

Latin American headquarters that offered political and economic stability so they placed their

main offices in Miami. The city is centrally located to offer easy travel between Latin American

capitals and other important markets; it sits between Los Angeles and Madrid and between New

York and Buenos Aires. Music executives have also claimed that Miami is a “neutral” city that

can avoid the national resentments and rivalries associated with other Latin American cities. One

music executive explained, “If you’re based in Argentina, the Mexicans are going to think you’re

an Argentine operation, and vice versa” (Party 2008, 66). According to Richard Arroyo, the first

managing director of MTV Latino, Miami was like “an entertainment Switzerland.”126 Getting a

musician from their home country to Miami and back in order to record an album was usually

simple, as long as they were not coming from Havana.

By the mid-1990s, a boom in Latin American entertainment media not only in music but

also in film and television propelled Miami to the position of third-largest production zone in the

126 Larry Rohter, "Miami, the Hollywood of Latin America," The New York Times, August 18, 1996.

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United States behind Los Angeles and New York.127 The four major record labels, Sony,

Universal, WMG, and EMI, all have a base of operations in Miami, and they consider Latin

America one big market; they invested in artists and genres with international appeal as opposed

to those popular at the local level (Party 2008). In addition to chart-topping hits in English that

allowed Latin artists to crossover into new markets, Miami also offered the potential for an

internationalized career that reached nearly all of the Western hemisphere as well as Europe.128

The Estefans have been at the center of Miami’s rise to musical prominence while also

being outspoken members of the exile community regarding their feelings about Cuba. They

have spoken against attempts at rapprochement with the island while a Castro is still in power,

and opposition to the Castro government has affected musical productions and relationships with

other artists. In 1999 the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences announced the first

Latin Grammy Awards show to celebrate the international Latin music industry. They initially

intended to hold the event in Miami but changed the location just days before the show because

of threats of violence and enforcement of the 1996 Cuba Affidavit, which would prevent Cuban

artists and potentially the people they had worked with from participating. As a result, Miami

lost an estimated forty million dollars in potential revenue. When asked about the conundrum,

Emilio Estefan stated:

It's about music. As an American, it's nice to have the freedom of speech, to welcome everybody to this country. As a Cuban, my heart is sad with what's happening in that country ... [But I cannot] support a dictator, or music that comes from the dictator's house ... if Cuban musicians were going to be a part of [the Latin Grammys], I would not do anything to stop it from happening in Miami, but certainly [am] not going to support it because I don’t support dictators. (Bosin 2004, 96)

The Latin Grammys eventually arrived in South Florida for the 2003 awards show when Juanes

was the big winner of the night.

Six years later, when Juanes announced plans for his Peace Without Borders concert in

Havana, the Estefans and many others in the Miami exile community criticized his plans to

perform in Cuba. He initially asked Gloria and Emilio Estefan to accompany him, but they both

127 Jennifer LeClaire, "Latin America Makes Miami Major Entertainment Player," Christian Science Monitor, August 17, 1998, 3. 128 As a result of the major recording labels and studios in Miami recording music for distribution throughout Latin America, artists had to adopt the Latin Pop sound synonymous with the city. For more information on this homogenization of Spanish language pop music, see: Daniel Party, “The Miamization of Latin-American Pop Music” in Postnational Musical Identities, 2008, 65-80.

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declined and Emilio encouraged him to cancel the performance.129 When such powerful voices in

the Latin music industry criticized the performance it caused other artists to reconsider, and some

acts who initially expressed interest including Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias backed out of

the concert. Before the Juanes concert was held, however, Gloria Estefan lent some support

saying, “I hope he accomplishes what he’s trying to do.”130

In spring 2010, the Puerto Rican rap and reggaeton group Calle 13 announced their

intentions to perform in Havana’s José Martí Anti-Imperialist Plaza, which faces the U.S.

Interests Section. Emilio Estefan spoke out against the concert and released a statement saying,

“Residente [the leader of Calle 13] is a seemingly intelligent man, and I hope he uses it to realize

that he is forming ties with an island in which we have received photographs that prove that they

are mistreating women.”131 Estefan was referring to the Ladies in White, a movement of Cuban

mothers, wives, and children who publicly protest and demand the release of political prisoners,

who had been violently attacked by the Castro government during a demonstration. While the

Calle 13 performance went on without any problems, Gloria Estefan organized a march in Miami

to support the Ladies in White and paid the fees for the security, closing of streets and satellite

time to broadcast the march worldwide.

The Cuban community continues to be prominent in South Florida music and politics, but

Miami’s demographics have been changing since the late 1980s as large numbers of immigrants

from other Latin American countries arrive in the city. Miami now includes significant numbers

of Colombians, Argentines, Haitians, and Brazilians in addition to Cubans. This has led some to

call Miami a post-Cuban city. The scholar George Yúdice wrote:

Latinness or Latinoness is undergoing a transformation in Miami; it is less rooted to a specific or minority identity. Perhaps this is because of all U.S. cities (indeed, all cities in the Americas), Miami is the only one from which a generalized international Latin identity is possible. (Party 2008, 69)

These demographic changes have coincided with the aging of the first generation of Cuban exiles

and the Cuban Revolution’s leaders as younger Cuban Americans and Cubans born after the

129 Alejandra Alvarez, “Gloria Estefan Weighs In On Juanes' Concert In Cuba,” Guanabee, August 28, 2009, http://guanabee.com/gloria-estefan-weighs-in-on-juanes-concert-in-cuba-whi-504406026 (accessed December 1, 2010). 130 Damien Cave, "Concert Plans in Havana Start Furor in Miami," New York Times, September 18, 2009. 131 Mariela Rosario, “Calle 13 Draws Criticism From Emilio Estefan Over Cuba Concert,” Latina, March 25, 2010, http://www.latina.com/entertainment/celebrity/calle-13-draws-criticism-emilio-estefan-over-cuba-concert (accessed December 1, 2010).

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revolution are more interested in visiting Cuba and having a relationship with the island. The fact

that Calle 13 and Juanes were even able to perform in Cuba illustrates changes in U.S.-Cuban

policy and signals the beginning of a change in attitudes in Miami. The response to the Peace

Without Borders concert made it even more apparent when a post-concert survey showed that it

was favorably viewed. The Cuban Study Group, an organization of Cuban American business

leaders that lobbies for U.S.-Cuban engagement, released a statement through Co-Chairman

Carlos Saladrigas declaring, “These results reflect what we have been saying for years, that

Miami is changing. Juanes's bold initiative is an example of the impact and effectiveness of

cultural exchanges.” In the statement posted on the group's web site Saladrigas continued, “It is

time to give openness, reconciliation and dialogue the chance they deserve … These results

should encourage policy-makers to take steps to facilitate more of these exchanges in an effort to

break down the barriers that separate the Cuban people.”132 These changes and the newly evident

diversity of opinions among the Miami community regarding Cuba are further revealed by how

reactions to Cuban performers in Miami have changed since the 1990s.

Cuban Music Festivals and Transformation in Miami

On October 9, 1999 Los Van Van, one of Cuba’s most popular dance bands, visited

Miami for the first time and were met by an aggressive, confrontational press and protests of

over four thousand people. Concertgoers were forced to walk between protestors on each side of

the street who were held back by barriers and police. The scene was captured on film for a

concert documentary that has since become a popular film in Cuba.133 The film depicts them as a

violent mob and reinforces the picture of the Miami exile community that has been promoted by

the Cuban government. Miami salsa fan and concertgoer Jacira Castro shared her experience:

When I got there, there were about 2000 protesters with banners, lined up on both sides of the street. They didn't say anything until the policeman asked for my ticket and then let me through the line of policemen. When I began to walk toward the stairs leading up to the entrance of the Miami Arena, they called me all sorts of names... traidora, dialoguera.

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132 Pascal Fletcher, “Cuban exiles change tune on Havana concert – poll,” Reuters, October 1, 2009, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0126464220091001 (accessed October 15, 2009). 133 During my first trip to Havana, I met a dance instructor who used that DVD to accompany a salsa lesson and stopped to point out the protestors. 134 Jacira Castro, “Los Van Van,” Salsa Power, October 10, 1999, http://www.salsapower.com/concerts/losvanvan.htm (accessed December 20, 2013).

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Some protestors threw cans and bottles at concertgoers and there were multiple injuries and

arrests.

Juan Formell formed Los Van Van in 1969 when the Cuban regime was intent on

institutionalizing the revolution through art and music. At a time when jazz was under attack for

being imperialist, Formell formed a band that incorporated elements of rock and roll into Cuban

dance music and paved the way for the popularity of Cuban timba in the 1980s and 1990s.135

Over time Los Van Van came to be one of Cuba’s most popular bands and as a result are closely

associated with the Cuban regime by the exile community. Before their 1999 concert Miami’s

Cuban-American mayor Joe Carollo called them “the official Communist band of Fidel Castro”

and tried to cancel the performance, which forced the ACLU to intervene.136 The protests were

successful to some degree however, because they discouraged the band from returning to Miami

for the next decade. When they returned in 2010, Formell credited Juanes and the Peace Without

Borders concert for changing his mind about returning to the city. While another protest was

organized, it was small and the number of concert attendees greatly outnumbered the protesters.

During their performance, the group was even joined by two recent exiles who had previously

been major stars in Cuba, Issac Delgado and Manolin “El Medico de la Salsa” (“The Salsa

Doctor”). The success of such a performance would have been unimaginable even a few years

earlier. When asked about political intentions, Juan Formell said, “We came here to do music,

just music. We didn't come to the U.S. to do any kind of politics or ideology. If you ask me a

political question, I'll answer you. I'm not mute, but this is not about sharing an idea or an

ideology. You can think one way. I can think another. But we're talking about music.”137

Juan Formell and Los Van Van were scheduled to play South Florida again less than a

year later when they were billed as the headliners of an April 2011 music festival. The Fuego

Cuban Music Festival was scheduled to take place at the Homestead-Miami International

Speedway, a venue operated by the city of Homestead. Organizers MIA Resorts, Inc. and Fuego

Entertainment billed the event as “The Cuban Woodstock” and the “First Cuban Music Festival

135 Timba music draws from previous Cuban dance genres like son and has a greater focus on Afro-Cuban elements like the rumba clave instead of the son clave. It sometimes uses rhythms and instruments from Santería. It also uses a drumset, which is rare in Cuban music, and draws heavily on international popular musics particularly rap, funk, soul, and rock and roll. For more information, see: Vincenzo Perna, Timba: The Sound of the Cuban Crisis, 2005. 136 Silvana Paternostro, “Juan Formell,” BOMB 70 (Winter 2000), http://bombsite.com/issues/70/articles/2294 (accessed December 20, 2013). 137 Jordan Levin, “Los Van Van Leaves Politics Behind for Miami, Key West concerts,” Miami Herald, January 30, 2010.

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in the United States” with the tagline “Se parte de la historia” (“Be a part of history”). Hugo

Cancio, the President and CEO of Fuego Entertainment, said they chose Homestead over Miami

to avoid directly provoking the Cuban-American community, but controversy erupted when it

was discovered that the festival was going to feature a number of musical acts from Cuba

including Los Van Van and others. Miami-Dade Commissioner Lynda Bell appeared on the

Spanish-language radio station Radio Caracol to do an interview and announced she would do

everything within her power to stop the concert and had already contacted Speedway officials

who promised her it would be canceled. She added, “We understand free speech and will defend

free speech, but not when public facilities and public funds are being utilized.”138

Days later Speedway officials canceled the event citing the risk of controversy and

protests. They claimed they were not told the event would feature Cuban musicians so they sued

MIA Resorts for breach of contract and fraud. They also denied speaking to Bell. MIA

countersued for their damaged reputation and business losses. Documents presented during trial

showed that speedway officials had approved promotional materials advertising a Cuban music

festival. In 2012, a jury ordered Speedway officials to pay $531,371 in damages to MIA and

determined that the venue’s managers defamed the production company by saying they lied

about presenting Cuban acts.139 The event also prompted an investigation by the ACLU into

potential First Amendment violations. John de Leon, president of the Greater Miami chapter of

the ACLU stated, “The First Amendment prohibits the government from shutting down concerts

or events they disagree with. It’s unconscionable that a public official would attempt to thwart

people’s ability to attend a lawful cultural event in this community.”140 Bell, the former mayor of

Homestead, issued a statement denying any part in the cancellation of the festival.

Despite the controversy surrounding the Fuego Cuban Music Festival, later events

featuring artists from Cuba faced very little opposition. The 2012 and 2013 Global Cuba Fest in

Miami Beach brought together numerous Cuban musicians from the island and the exile

community. In 2000, Ever Chavez immigrated to Miami from Cuba where he produced events

for the Teatro El Público and Trianón Theater in Havana. Wanting to hear more contemporary

Cuban music in Miami, he founded a nonprofit called FUNDarte to present Cuban music, and in

138 Christina Veiga, “Bell: I Didn’t Cancel Concert of Musicians From Cuba,” Miami Herald, April 12, 2011. 139 Jordan Levin, “Homestead-Miami Speedway loses court battle over cancelation of Cuban music festival,” Miami

Herald, February 14, 2013. 140 Veiga, “Bell: I Didn’t Cancel Concert of Musicians From Cuba,” 2011.

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2008 he partnered with Miami Light Project for the first Global Cuba Fest.141 The first few years

of the festival featured Cuban artists living in South Florida and elsewhere in North America.

However, by 2012 the event was coming much closer to fulfilling its purpose, which Chavez

claims is uniting the global landscape of contemporary Cuban music from within the island and

the diaspora on a single stage.

The 2012 festival was a one-day event on April 1 in Miami Beach with Cuban musical

theatre in the afternoon for children and families and an evening concert that featured Roberto

Carcassés and his group Interactivo in their first U.S. performance. Interactivo mixes traditional

Cuban rhythms like danzón, bolero and son with jazz and rock; their performance during the

festival also featured other performers from Cuba including singer Melvis Santa, guitarist and

vocalist William Vivanco, and singer Francis del Río. Telmary Diaz, a Cuban rapper and

spoken-word artist currently based in Toronto, also joined them on stage. The 2013 festival was

a multi-day event featuring more artists from Cuba. It kicked off on March 9 with a concert by

Cuban singer Ivette Cepeda and her band Reflexion and was followed by a series of concerts

during the weekend of March 15 to 17 that included the Creole Choir of Cuba who were on a

U.S. tour at the time. The 2013 festival also featured numerous Cuban performers living in

Miami, New York and Spain.

Unlike many previous concerts that stirred controversy and led to protests from the exile

community, the Global Cuba Fest was met with little criticism. According to festival organizer

Ever Chavez it is because they avoid politics, and he claims the event has no political

implications. He said, “We do not work with artists that are involved in that sort of thing, nor

artists who promote any types of ideologies. We are careful to select artists that just represent

their culture and their artistry.”142 In contrast Emilio Izquierdo, an active member of the anti-

Castro exile community who organized protests against Pablo Milanés in 2011, claims these

performances had no resistance because the musicians are unknown in the anti-Castro exile

community. He explained, “The [Cuban] community doesn’t get irritated because no one knows

141 Kristina Puga, “Global Cuba Fest bridges the U.S. and Cuba through music,” NBC Latino, March 16, 2013, http://nbclatino.com/2013/03/16/video-global-cuba-fest-bridges-the-u-s-and-cuba-through-music/ (accessed January 3, 2014). 142 Neil de la Flor, “Ivette Cepeda opens Global Cuba Fest,” Knight Arts, March 7, 2013, http://www.knightarts.org/community/miami/ivette-cepeda-opens-global-cuba-fest (accessed January 3, 2014).

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who they are.”143 Unlike Los Van Van, most of the performers from Cuba at the Global Cuba

Fest are young, rising stars who would not be known or remembered by those who left Cuba

before the twenty-first century.

Standing in contrast to the Global Cuba Fest, which is meant to present contemporary

Cuban music and bring together performers from the island and the diaspora, the annual Cuba

Nostalgia festival is designed to celebrate pre-Castro Cuba and does not feature any artists

currently residing on the island. Cuba Nostalgia started in 1999 and has combined live music,

visual art, and food to allow Miami’s Cuban immigrants that came to the U.S. in the early years

of the revolution to remember the Cuba they left behind. Currently held at the Miami-Dade

County Fair Expo Center, the event includes a thirty by fifty foot map of Havana that covers the

floor of the venue, a replica storefront of the pre-revolutionary department store El Encanta, and

a recreation of the Malecón where individuals can have their pictures taken.144 The festival also

features a full lineup of live music with a focus on pre-revolutionary Cuban genres like danzón,

son, cha cha cha, pregon, bolero, guaracha, and mambo performed by South Florida Cuban

American musicians. Beyond allowing older Cuban Americans to recall their past, Cuba

Nostalgia is meant to educate younger generations and create nostalgia for the pre-Castro period

that never existed in their lifetimes. Albert Laguna, a professor who teaches courses on ethnicity,

race and migration at Yale University, described the 2013 festival:

A proud grandfather uses his cane to point out the street he lived on to his grandchildren while standing on a massive map of 1943 Havana that covers the convention center floor. A grandmother in a wheelchair gushes as she reminisces about the magnificence of El Encanto – a department store in Havana represented at the fair by ex-employees. Nimble octogenarians show off their dance moves while songs of their youth fill the air. Nostalgia, then, is not only for those who lived in Cuba before Castro. It is a kind of Cuban exile patrimony that the fair seeks to pass on to younger generations. On this, the 15th year of the Cuba Nostalgia Fair, we have the opportunity to reflect not only on the past – nostalgia’s obvious reference point – but the future of nostalgia in a Cuban Miami at a cultural and political crossroads.145

143 Alexandra Gratereaux, “No Protests Against Cuban Artists at Miami Global Cuba Festival,” Fox News Latino, March 13, 2013, http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/entertainment/2013/03/13/no-protests-against-cuban-artists-at-miami-global-cuba-festival/ (accessed September 21, 2013). 144 Christina Puig, “Cuba Nostalgia: Festival Takes People Back to Pre-Castro Cuba,” Fox News Latino, May 18, 2012 (accessed January 3, 2014). 145 Alberto Laguna, “Fifteen Years of Cuba Nostalgia,” Miami Herald, May 12, 2013.

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These festivals and concerts and the reactions to them can be read as indications of a

transformation in attitudes towards Cuba among South Florida’s Cuban American community.

These changes are apparent in the 2011 FIU Cuba Poll, a research project first conducted in 1991

through Florida International University’s Cuban Research Institute to measure the views of

Cuban Americans about U.S. policy options toward Cuba. In 1997, seventy-seven percent of

individuals said that travel to Cuba for any purpose other than visiting relatives should not be

allowed; in 2011 fifty-seven percent favored lifting all restrictions on travel and that number rose

to seventy-five percent among those who arrived in South Florida after 1994. For the first time

since the poll began, a majority of people favored ending the embargo and sixty-five percent

favored establishing diplomatic ties with Cuba.146 These changes are reflected in the audiences

for these events. According to Ever Chavez:

We find, through our audience surveys, that [Global Cuba Fest] audiences represent a diverse cross-section of Miami residents as well as tourists, reflecting Miami’s general population. We feel very strongly that to present the art and culture of any ethnic group with a significant presence in a community helps everyone in the community to understand one another a bit better and to build cultural bridges across Miami.147

These musical events express the changes in attitude toward U.S.-Cuba policy in Miami. Actual

policies, however, are slower to change as political and economic power in South Florida is still

largely in the hands of pro-embargo, anti-Castro politicians and community leaders.

Cuban Music Festivals Elsewhere in the U.S.: New York and Chicago

Cuban festivals outside of South Florida have generally avoided controversy simply by

being far from the center of Cuban American political activity. While they have different

purposes from the festivals in South Florida, they have their own challenges as well. Cuban

American musicians and promoters typically play a role in the creation of these festivals, but

they either have a wider target demographic or seek to draw an audience based around a specific

interest. By the nature of their location these festivals are under less political scrutiny than those

in Miami, but participating musicians and festival organizers still seek to avoid associations with

any political stance and make a point to maintain their nonpolitical intentions. Major cities that

146 The results of the 2011 FIU Cuba Poll and previous polls are available from Florida International University’s Cuban Research Institute at http://cri.fiu.edu/research/cuba-poll/. 147 Neil de la Flor, “Ivette Cepeda opens Global Cuba Fest.”

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have large immigrant populations including Cuban Americans are typically the sites for these

festivals with New York and Chicago as two examples.

New York City was the foremost U.S. city to feature Cuban musicians in the first half of

the twentieth century. As a result New York developed a significant Cuban American

population, but with immigration waves predating the revolution anti-Castro attitudes are less

pronounced than in South Florida. Even before the relaxation of travel restrictions under Barack

Obama, New York City was the site for Cuban music festivals. When composer and conductor

Tania León worked with the American Composers Orchestra she helped conceive and run the

Sonidos de Las Américas (Sounds of the Americas) festival series to promote and share music by

Latin American composers who are rarely programmed on concerts in the United States. The

festivals included orchestra and chamber music concerts, symposia, master classes, public

forums and radio broadcasts. Each year the festival was devoted to the music of a different

nation, and the first five festivals featured music from Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Puerto Rico

and Argentina respectively. The sixth festival, which took place from March 2 to 14, 1999 at

Carnegie Hall and other venues around New York City, was devoted to the music of Cuba.

Inviting various Cuban composers and musicians to the U.S. was possible because of the

Clinton-era regulations; it was the first significant interaction between art music composers since

before the revolution. Although it was in New York, the event still garnered attention and stoked

controversy among some Cuban American groups who spoke against its happening. León

explained, “Fortunately, by the time the whole thing finished, the entire community recognized

that this was a very specifically historical event because this hadn’t happened for 40 years.”

“There were people that didn’t see each other in forty years and hadn’t talked to each other for

forty years and for the first time they were in front of each other composer to composer, two

Cuban composers, one that remained and another one that left, who used to be very close, and

they didn’t see each other again until this moment” (Oteri 1999). By bringing together

composers, the Sonidos de las Américas festivals carried on the tradition started by the Pan-

American Association of Composers earlier in the twentieth century. The Cuba themed festival

was the last of the Sonidos de las Américas festivals that León organized for the American

Composers Orchestra. While New York City is home to a Cuban film festival, there would not

be another major music festival featuring Cuban artists still living on the island until more than

ten years later.

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In 2011, New York City was the site of the first major festival built around bringing

Cuban artists to the United States following the return of cultural exchanges under Barack

Obama. The ¡Sí Cuba! Festival lasted from March until June and took place in multiple venues

throughout the city. The idea for the event came about in 2009 when the State Department

started issuing visas to Cuban artists. A number of New York institutions and venues including

the World Music Institute, the Americas Society, Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of

Music (BAM), and others planned independent Cuban events, but promoters came together to

unify and collectively brand these performances, exhibitions, and screenings as a citywide

celebration of Cuban art and music. Karen Brooks Hopkins, president of BAM and a primary

organizer of ¡Sí Cuba! described how she thought of the festival after returning from a trip to

Havana:

When I got back and checked around with the Joyce Theater and the Americas Society, we felt there was so much already in place, it was right to push it out into the city on a grander scale. What we did was provide the glue, bring everyone together, make a larger impact by organizing an umbrella.148

Over 125 Cuban artists came to New York to participate, and many diverse musical genres were

represented along with Cuban dancers, writers, filmmakers, and visual artists. Some of the

better-known musical acts participating in the festival included Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, the

Septeto Nacional, the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, and the Creole Choir of Cuba (Canal 2011).

While the festival was a great success, there were still challenges getting musicians from

Cuba to New York and criticisms of the festival on political grounds. Iraida Iturralda, Vice

President of the Cuban Cultural Center of New York and a presenting partner of the festival,

explained that some artists were unable to get permission to leave the island to participate. She

named hip hop artists in particular as being under-represented in the festival lineup because

many of them are critical of the government and address taboo topics with their lyrics. As a

result, members of Havana’s underground hip hop community were not allowed to leave the

country. Telmary Diaz was the only Cuban rapper at the festival. Considering so many Cuban

artists were in attendance, political controversy was at a minimum, but Cuban musician and

outspoken critic of the Castro government Paquito D’Rivera expressed his disapproval of the

148 Carolina Gonzalez, “Four-month Long ¡Sí Cuba! Festival Puts on a United Front,” New York Daily News, April 13, 2011, http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2011/04/13/ 2011-04-13_cubasi14.html#ixzz1b9OsyKkA (accessed October 17, 2011).

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festival saying, “You cannot leave Cuba if they do not authorize you. Every person that comes

here is sent by the Cuban government and they are from the dictatorship … We should do the

same with thing with Qaddafi and ask him to organize the Libya festival with belly-dancers and

shish kebob. I don’t see the difference.”149 The limited criticism did not deter musicians or

audiences, and there were initially plans to try to repeat the success of ¡Si Cuba! with a follow-up

festival in Los Angeles; it never came to fruition.

¡Sí Cuba! did, however, lead to additional Cuban events in New York City. The Brooklyn

Academy of Music, one of the primary venues and partners for ¡Sí Cuba!, hosted Red Hot +

Cuba on December 1, 2012 and featured twenty-four musicians, most of whom were from

Havana. Andres Levín, who is from Venezuela but frequently collaborates with Cuban

musicians, led the performers. The concert took place on World AIDS Day and benefited the

AIDS awareness organization Red Hot. While the intention of the concert was to raise money for

AIDS relief and awareness, U.S.-Cuban politics reared their head when singer David Torrens

told the audience that borders were humanity’s “most selfish invention” before singing “Ni de

Aquí ni de Allá” (“Neither From Here Nor There”).150 Fall 2012 also saw the Voices from Latin

America Festival presented by Carnegie Hall and featuring Chucho Valdés as a performer and

Festival Artistic Advisor. Like ¡Sí Cuba!, Voices from Latin America took place over a number

of weeks at multiple venues throughout the city featuring Cuban and Cuban American

performers, but its scope was expanded to also include musicians from Mexico, Brazil, and

Venezuela. Valdés described the festival as “a tribute to the whole story of a style of music …

It’s something American, something Cuban. The result is the history of the music and history of

Cuba.”151 These events and the enthusiasm for the Cuban performers appearing in them are

reshaping New York City into a cultural space that is once again driving U.S.-Cuban

engagement.

Chicago’s Festival Cubano differs from the New York festivals in various ways, most

significantly by not featuring artists who live in Cuba, but it still found ways to encourage U.S.-

Cuban engagement. The festival began in 2010 and is held over a weekend each summer in

149 Emily Canal, “Travel restrictions might prevent some artists from attending Si Cuba festival,” Pavement Pieces, March 20, 2011, http://pavementpieces.com/travel-restrictions-might-prevent-some-artists-from-attending-si-cuba-festival/ (accessed January 3, 2014). 150 Jon Pareles, “Mix-and-Match Ensemble Erases Borders With Enthusiasm,” New York Times, December 2, 2012. 151 Carnegie Hall, “Chucho Valdés: Voices of Cuba,” Voices from Latin America, http://www.carnegiehall.org/latinamerica/cuba/ (accessed 10 December 2012).

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Chicago’s Riis Park near one of Chicago’s prominent Hispanic neighborhoods. According to

festival organizers, they did not bring performers directly from Cuba because they chose

musicians based on what their fans suggested and not for any political reasons.152 On March 5,

2012, they asked for suggestions on Facebook, and the most commonly requested artists were

Gloria Estefan and Pitbull, followed by Cuban expatriate Isaac Delgado who ended up

headlining the festival. While there were some requests for Los Van Van, they were greatly

outnumbered by U.S.-based Cuban musicians suggesting an overall lack of awareness of all but

the biggest Cuban-based bands and the disconnect between the U.S. and Cuban music

industries.153

The 2012 Festival Cubano on August 4 and 5 was much smaller than Chicago’s

Lollapalooza music festival, which was taking place downtown that same weekend. Situated on

Chicago’s Northwest side, the entrance to Riis Park was decorated with an inflatable replica of

the “90 Miles to Cuba” marker found in Key West. Inside, the festival grounds had one large

main stage and a row of merchandise tents and food vendors selling a wide variety of Hispanic

dishes. A short walk across the lawn from the main stage there was a cigar and beer garden for

attendees aged twenty-one and up. The festival had a long list of sponsors with Lowe’s,

Univision Radio, Telemundo Chicago, and the neighborhood’s ombudsman Deborah L. Graham

as the primary sponsors. Other sponsors included other local politicians, telecommunications

companies, radio stations and Ninety-Miles Cuban Café, a local restaurant with the tagline

“Taste the Forbidden.” While being called a Cuban festival, the event itself had as many artists

of Puerto Rican descent as it did musicians of Cuban heritage. Because some traditional Puerto

Rican genres were initially imported from Cuba there was no need to justify this at the festival,

which was effectively a pan-Hispanic event with Cuba at the center.

152 Gozamos.tv, “Festival Cubano,” YouTube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZtL2y7kbCE (accessed December 10, 2012). 153 The Festival Cubano has an active social media presence, regularly sharing photos and videos related to Cuban music and culture, local news relevant to Chicago’s Hispanic community and event information. Their Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/thecubanfestival, and the specific post asking for 2012 lineup suggestions can be found at https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=404342192924574&set=a.140156922676437.23975.125212727504190&type=1&stream_ref=10.

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Figure 4.1: The entrance to Riis Park during Festival Cubano.

Photograph by author (August 4, 2012).

Figures 4.2: The main stage during Isaac Delgado’s performance.

Photograph by author (August 5, 2012).

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For a pan-Hispanic event, the festival also maintained a local focus. Sponsors were local

politicians and businesses, and there were numerous Chicago-based musicians that participated.

House, the genre of electronic dance music developed in Chicago in the early 1980s, was heavily

featured with the organization House Rules sponsoring the beer garden. The 2013 Festival

Cubano even included a Friday night performance dedicated to the history of house music.

Another local feature was the presence of the Chicago Cuba Project nonprofit organization,

which had a booth to collect contact information from Chicago’s Cuban population and conduct

oral histories. The founders of the project explained:

We are primarily interested in exploring the ways in which Cubans who have left the island and have relocated to the Chicago area have negotiated that transition, the factors that led to their settlement in the Chicago area, and in reconstructing the rich yet relatively undocumented history of the Chicago Cuban community. We are interested in hearing their stories, as only they can tell them, and in better understanding the unique perspective that Cubans in Chicago, separated as they are by thousands of miles from larger and more broadly studied Cuban-American communities in Miami, New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles, have on the singular relationship between their nation of birth and their nation of residence.154 While this festival encompassed the broader Hispanic community and maintained a local

focus with features specific to Chicago, it was a functioning zone of U.S.-Cuban engagement.

Upon entering the festival, the first booth an attendee encountered promoted travel from Chicago

to Cuba; it attracted a good deal of traffic because many U.S. citizens were unaware of how to

visit Cuba legally. The booth workers distributed small cards to tell people how they could visit

Cuba. The four cards each had a different color and said either “I was born in Cuba,” “I was born

in the U.S. and my parents were born in Cuba,” “I am a U.S. Citizen and am married to a

Cuban,” or “I was born in the U.S. and have no relatives in Cuba” followed by a list of the

documents an individual needed and the services the travel provider could coordinate. The

festival also sponsored the Chicago performances of the Cuban son group Sierra Maestra at

Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music when they were on a U.S. tour in March 2012, so

even though the festival proper did not feature performers directly from Cuba, it still fostered

U.S.-Cuban interaction. Festival organizers have not ruled out including Cuban performers in

future years.

154 Chicago Cuba Project, “About the Project,” http://www.chicagocubaproject.org/ (accessed January 3, 2014).

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Figure 4.3: The Chicago to Cuba travel booth as the first tent inside the festival.

Photgraph by author (August 4, 2012).

The National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba’s First U.S. Tour

One of the most significant Cuban cultural exchanges to take place in recent years was

not within the context of a single festival but was a cross-country tour that brought the National

Symphony Orchestra of Cuba to the United States in October and November 2012. While

stationary festivals each have different relationships to Cuba and elicit different reactions based

on the host city, this cross-country tour brought Cuban musicians face-to-face with U.S.

audiences in a wide variety of communities, many of which did not have significant Cuban

American populations. The reactions to this extended cultural exchange and the positive

reception found in one city after another illustrated the broader desire for further U.S.-Cuban

engagement. Numerous complications still arose as part of organizing something as complex as a

tour, and questions about politics could not be avoided despite the orchestra’s stated intent.

The National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba was formed in Havana in October 1960

when the revolutionary government began establishing new centers of music, film, theatre, and

literary production. It emerged partly from the remnants of the pre-revolutionary Havana

Philharmonic Orchestra, but its budget was doubled and performers were offered substantially

higher salaries (Moore 2006, 82). The orchestra has introduced and promoted Cuban and Latin

American music to international audiences since being founded. Tours have taken the orchestra

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throughout Europe and to Russia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, and Argentina. Yet they were unable

to visit the neighboring country just ninety miles to the north until 2012.155

The first steps towards this tour were taken shortly after President Obama announced the

easing of travel restrictions, which encouraged the Tampa-based Florida Orchestra’s board

members to reach out to the Cuban orchestra and initiate a multi-year exchange. The first phase

took place in September 2011 when a wind quintet from the Florida Orchestra traveled to

Havana to perform with Cuban orchestra members. This marked the first time since 1999 that a

professional American orchestra had sent musicians to Cuba, and only the second time for such

an exchange since the 1959 revolution.156 Then in May 2012, the Cuban orchestra’s conductor,

Enrique Pérez Mesa, came to Tampa. What began as a collaboration and exchange between two

organizations quickly became a larger endeavor as more individuals became involved with the

task of taking the orchestra on a national tour.

Leonid Fleishaker of World Touring Entertainment grew up in Leningrad and as a young

violin student became a fan of Cuban musicians when they came to study in the Soviet Union.

Since immigrating to the United States, Fleishaker has organized tours for numerous groups from

the old Communist Bloc including the Red Star Red Army Chorus, Moscow City Ballet and

Lezginka Dance Company of Daghestan. He remarked, “We decided together that it was really

overdue to bring some talent from Cuba, and politically it became easier to get work visas for

Cuban musicians. The whole relationship between Cuba and the U.S. was a little bit easier.”157

Fleishaker worked with Eric Amada of Arts Management Associates, a touring and production

company that maintained close relationships with many of the venues where the orchestra would

play and who had previously organized international tours for ensembles from China and

elsewhere. The final key player in bringing the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba to the

U.S. was a Cuban pianist now living in Minnesota with a strong personal mission to bring the

U.S. and Cuba closer together through music.

155 NSOC, “National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba,” program notes. 156 The New York Philharmonic tried to visit Cuba on two separate occasions after restrictions were eased in 2009 but plans failed for licensing and financial reasons both times. 157 David Fleshler, “National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba to make South Florida debut in West Palm Beach,” South Florida Classical Review, November 1, 2012, http://southfloridaclassicalreview.com/2012/11/national-symphony-orchestra-of-cuba-to-make-south-florida-debut-in-west-palm-beach/ (accessed January 10, 2014).

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Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera

Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera joined the orchestra as pianist throughout the tour. The Cuba

native and current resident of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, had played with the National

Symphony in 1978 at the age of twelve. Herrera gained a reputation as a piano prodigy in Cuba

when he performed Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 2 in that concert; thirty-four years later he had

the opportunity to introduce that same orchestra to the United States. Herrera originally came

from Artemisa, a town about sixty kilometers southwest of Havana, and received formal musical

training in Havana with keyboard masters including Ruben Gonzalez, Jorge Gomez Labrana and

Frank Fernandez. He was the musical director at Havana’s Tropicana Club before joining the

group Cubanismo as lead pianist and arranger, which allowed him to tour around the world

including in the United States in the late 1990s. Herrera was on an artist-in-residence visa to act

as the music director for the play “Los Rumbaleros” in St. Paul in the fall of 2001 when the

World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked on September 11. Not knowing how the attacks

would impact the geopolitical landscape and immigration policies, Nachito and his wife decided

it was best he stay in the U.S. He was convinced that if he went back to Cuba he would not be

able to return. Because of preferential immigration policies for Cubans, Herrera was able to

remain in the country after his visa expired and obtain a green card. His family joined him over a

year later.

Despite the differences in temperature and culture between Havana and Minnesota, the

Herrera family has made a home in the American Midwest. “I love Minnesota,” Nachito

explained, “I love New York. I love San Francisco. But we embrace Midwestern roots that are

like us – the family getting together on weekends, going to church on Sundays.”158 Herrera is

now a regular fixture at the Dakota Jazz Club in St. Paul and he teaches university students in the

area. He also regularly works with the Minnesota Youth Symphony. After hearing the news

about the potential to bring the National Symhony Orchestra of Cuba to the U.S., Nachito and

Aurora quickly became involved in the effort. Nachito traveled to Cuba in January 2012 to

finalize plans for the tour, choose repertoire, and begin rehearsing.

158 Ruben Rosario, “Symphony tour a thrill for Cuban transplant living in White Bear Lake.”

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Figure 4.4: Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera rehearsing with the National Symphony Orchestra

of Cuba at the Kauffman Center in Kansas City. Photograph by author (October 15, 2012).

When the tour began in Kansas City, Missouri, Herrera was with them from their arrival

through their stops along the East Coast and into the South. Unlike many touring guest artists,

Herrera made a point to travel with the Cuban orchestra musicians on their buses as they crossed

the country and to stay in the same places. He explained:

What I did was tried to be part of the tour traveling with them all the time, actually giving them support if they want to buy something or they want to go somewhere. Obviously they didn't speak English and things like that so I definitely wanted to be with them twenty-four seven because I wanted to be able to capture the whole different opinion of how they feel about this country. They were extremely happy. They all definitely want to come back.159

Herrera also arranged a number of the pieces that he performed with the orchestra and helped

navigate the sometimes complex questions about music and politics.

159 Nachito Herrera, interview with author, December 8, 2013.

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Tour Locations and Repertoire

Like other Cuban performers that have navigated the complex bureaucracies and

changing rules required to perform in the U.S., the touring musicians went out of their way to

avoid any discussion of politics. Despite the apolitical claims of participants from both countries,

however, the tour was an act of musical diplomacy requiring careful programming. Each concert

opened with Gershwin’s Cuban Overture and also included pieces by twentieth-century Cuban

composers and European Romantic composers. An analysis of where the orchestra played and

what musical selections were performed can illustrate how these performances and the

interactions they facilitated served as a call for further U.S.-Cuban engagement by stressing the

history of U.S.-Cuban musical interaction and emphasizing transnational commonalities without

downplaying Cuban nationalism.

The tour began when seventy-seven members of the National Symphony Orchestra of

Cuba including directors and tour managers left Havana on October 15, 2012 to fly to Miami,

and then on to Kansas City. Eric Amada had first contacted Clark Morris, the Executive and

Artistic Director of Kansas City’s Harriman-Jewell Performing Arts Series, about the

opportunity to present the Cuban orchestra almost two years prior to the tour commencing.

Kansas City was chosen to be the site of the opening concert because tour organizers felt that the

audience would be welcoming, and the orchestra would be able to perform in the brand new, 400

million dollar Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Kansas City.160 Upon

arriving, French horn player Dania Perez realized that her instrument’s lead pipe had been

crushed and the bell severely damaged while going through Cuban security. In an act of

goodwill, a brass instrument shop owner in Kansas City fully repaired the horn and returned it

less than five hours later free of charge. The repair job would normally run around four hundred

dollars; the average Cuban worker makes less than three hundred dollars per year.161

Additionally, Kansas City Strings provided all of the cellos and basses for the tour, because

transporting them from Cuba would have been too difficult and costly.

After opening night, the orchestra played concerts in Illinois and Iowa before traveling to

the East Coast. A performance in Toronto was initially scheduled while the orchestra was in the 160 Clark Morris, interview with author, October 16, 2012. 161 Betty Webster, “Cuban musicians get Kansas City assist after musical emergency,” KCTV, October 17, 2012, http://www.kctv5.com/story/19840955/cuban-musicians-get-kansas-city-assist-after (accessed November 24, 2012); Isbel Díaz Torres, “The Mean Salary of Cubans,” Havana Times, August 6, 2013, http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=97506 (accessed December 8, 2013).

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Northeast, but the Department of Homeland Security would not grant performers the multiple-

entry visas that would have been required for a Canadian detour. In the final days of October

while the orchestra was touring the East Coast, they were forced to contend with Hurricane

Sandy. They played at Kean University in Union, New Jersey the day before the storm hit and

were able to perform an afternoon concert in Danville, Virginia the next day. The following

concert in Newport News, however, was canceled as the region was battling wind, flooding, and

the encroachment of freezing weather. The tour culminated in West Palm Beach just days after

the re-election of President Barack Obama.162

While in Florida, the orchestra had a brief residency in the Tampa Bay area. They gave

master classes for students at the University of South Florida, performed a chamber music

concert in the Cuban Club of Tampa’s historic Ybor City along with members of the Florida

Orchestra, and then gave a full performance in St. Petersburg as part of their ongoing cultural

exchange. Tampa has a significant Cuban American population, but many of its members

predated the Cuban Revolution as many immigrants arrived in the early twentieth century. As a

result, anti-Castro politics are much less pronounced in Tampa than in Miami. Tampa politicians

and leaders have in fact been making efforts to expand trade and connections with Cuba. U.S.

Representative Kathy Castor who represents the city, commented about the exchanges with the

Florida Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba:

The Florida Orchestra’s cultural exchange with Cuba is a remarkable new milestone for the Tampa Bay community and travel and trade with the island nation. The new exchange is another meaningful step that follows the easing of travel restrictions and the designation of Tampa International Airport as entry/exit point to Cuba. I am confident Floridians will have more opportunities to visit Cuba and share traditions across borders.163

In contrast, there were no tour performances in Miami. Producers and tour organizers said that

they did not avoid Miami and there was no political reason for not playing there. Fleishaker said,

“To the best of my knowledge there was a kind of itinerary complication, you know, that we

162 I gave a pre-concert talk at the West Palm Beach performances along with Sharon McDaniel, the Regional Arts Programming associate of the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. I discussed the historic nature of the orchestra’s tour in relation to the long history of musical interaction between the U.S. and Cuba. I then summarized the background of Gershwin’s Cuban Overture and the Cuban pieces on the program. Sharon McDaniel provided information on the program’s Mendelssohn pieces. Excerpts from that talk can be heard at http://www.artsradionetwork.com/?p=3236. 163 Representative Kathy Castor, “Rep. Castor's Statement on Florida Orchestra's Trip to Cuba,” Press Release, June 1, 2011.

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couldn’t get the right kind of a venue available on the right kind of a date because it was difficult

to coordinate everything.”164 Aurora Herrera, on the other hand, said that the politics of Miami

did create complications, if not for the tour then for Nachito’s career and cultural exchanges in

general. She told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, “The radio stations in Miami won't play

[Nachito’s] music because of this, and I think that's wrong and stupid. It was never our intention

to turn this tour into a political statement. China has a communist system, yet it doesn't interfere

with trade and cultural exchanges here. Why China and not Cuba? There's no reason for it.”165

While the orchestra moved across the country, the music they performed was intended to

move audiences. Clark Morris described the musical selections as being able to “showcase the

orchestra well and speak to this idea of a little bit of cross-culturalization between Cuba and the

United States.”166 Herrera said that the pieces selected for the tour would act as a “musical

voyage that takes the audience and musicians across space and time.”167 That voyage started in

the Kansas City concert with an unannounced performance of the Star Spangled Banner. Caught

by surprise hearing their own national anthem, audience members took time to get to their feet

and started sitting down at its conclusion. They quickly realized the next piece was also unlisted,

and although unfamiliar to most in the audience, its soldierly melody and rhythm suggested it

was the Cuban national anthem, and they respectfully stood up once again. For the rest of the

tour, each concert opened with the U.S. national anthem and “La Bayamesa,” the Cuban national

anthem, which was composed in 1867 during Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain

(Sublette 2004a, 242).

The first piece listed in the program for each performance of the tour was Gershwin’s

Cuban Overture, which he composed as the result of a vacation he took to Cuba in 1932 when

Latin music marketed as rumba was booming in the United States. He wrote about his trip in a

letter to George Palay:

I spent two hysterical weeks in Havana where no sleep was had, but the quality of fun made up for that … Cuba was most interesting to me, especially for its small dance orchestras, who play [the] most intricate rhythms most naturally. I hope to

164 David Fleshler, “National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba to make South Florida debut in West Palm Beach,” 2012. 165 Ruben Rosario, “Symphony tour a thrill for Cuban transplant living in White Bear Lake,” 2012. 166 Clark Morris, interview with author, October 16, 2012. 167 Julie Schwietert Collazo, “National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba nears end of first U.S. tour,” Fox News Latino, November 12, 2012, http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2012/11/10/national-symphony-orchestra-cuba-nears-end-1st-us-tour/ (accessed December 8, 2012).

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go back every winter, if it is possible, as the warm climate seems to be just the thing my system requires for relaxing purposes. (Pollack 2006, 534)

Gershwin’s experiences and interactions with Cuban musicians inspired his Cuban Overture,

originally entitled Rumba. The piece quotes the song “Echale Salsita,” which was popular in

Cuba during his trip, and incorporates various Cuban rhythms and instruments rare in symphonic

pieces prior to Varese’s Ionisation and Roldán’s Ritmicas, both of which had premiered earlier

that decade. Gershwin specified in his score that the percussion including “Cuban sticks”

(claves), bongo, gourd, and maracas be placed right in front of the conductor’s stand, but the

National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba did not do this on the tour. Gershwin elected to change

the title from Rumba to Cuban Overture after its premiere because he felt the original title misled

listeners into expecting something like a Tin Pan Alley rumba; this was decidedly not a dance

piece, but an orchestral work exhibiting technical complexity and advanced compositional

techniques (Ibid., 535-9).

Gershwin’s most famous piece, Rhapsody in Blue, was also a regular feature on the

orchestra’s tour, and it allowed Herrera to display his virtuosity and flexibility as a pianist.

Herrera described his affection for the piece:

In just 17 minutes, Gershwin is showing his abilities to go from a classical piano player to one of the greatest jazz piano players. In my own vision, when I have the opportunity to play Rhapsody in Blue, I don't think of each of the styles separately. You need to keep getting these classical techniques because Gershwin's left hand is one of the most complicated in the world for piano players. But you don't want to forget that he was an extremely wonderful jazz piano player, and he is transmitting that in Rhapsody in Blue. It is an amazing piece.168

It was the fusion of jazz and the concert hall in this 1924 work that initially brought Gershwin

fame and has since made him one of America’s most iconic composers.

Gershwin’s Rhapsody was part of an earlier U.S.-Cuban musical exchange when Cuban

composer and pianist Ernesto Lecuona premiered it in Havana in 1928 (Pollack 2006, 105).

Music by Lecuona, who has been called “the Gershwin of Cuba,” was heard in all but one of the

concerts on the orchestra’s tour. Lecuona composed “La comparsa” for piano at age seventeen

in 1912, and Afrocuban influences can be clearly heard in the slow piece (Moore 1997, 77).

168 Rick de Yampert, “Cuban pianist, orchestra bring rhapsody to U.S.,” Daytona Beach News Journal, November 2, 2012, http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20121102/ENT/311019974?template=printpicart (accessed December 8, 2012).

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Lecuona left Cuba soon after the revolutionary government accused him of embezzlement and

dissolved the royalty-collecting organization he founded, stating that art should be offered freely

to the people without fees that go to a single composer (Moore 2006, 75). He settled in West

Tampa and opposed the revolution until his death at age 68 in 1963. Despite being an exile and

opposing the Castro government, Lecuona has continued to be revered in Cuba. According to

Herrera, all piano students at Cuban conservatories continue to play his music.169 In addition to

“La Comparsa,” arranged for symphony orchestra in 2004, the tour also included Herrera’s

Tribute to Lecuona.

The National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba also performed compositions by two other

Cuban composers. Guido López-Gavilán, one of Nachito Herrera’s former teachers in Cuba, not

only composed Guaguancó, but he toured with the orchestra as a guest conductor. Guaguancó is

based on the traditional Afrocuban rumba guaguancó, a style typically performed with conga

drums, hand percussion, and vocalists for a sexually charged couples dance. López-Gavilán

recreated this traditional rumba in an orchestral arrangement. The vocal lines are emulated with a

call and response melody that moves throughout the orchestra, and the interlocking rhythms

normally found in the conga drums are played on the string instruments first through pizzicato

playing and then by having the bassists and cellists use their hands to drum on the bodies of their

instruments. Another Cuban piece, Marín’s Danzón “El Médico de Pianos” or “The Piano

Doctor,” was written to thank American piano tuner and repairman Benjamin Treuhaft after he

fixed Marín’s piano during a trip to Cuba in the 1990s. Treuhaft explained that he repaired “old

Soviet-made pianos [that had] been ravaged by tropical climate and termites and by years of

pounding by the dedicated students in [the] country’s famous music schools.” He subsequently

founded the “Send a Piana to Havana” project to donate quality pianos to Cuban students.170

In addition to Gershwin and Cuban composers, performances also featured European

Romantic composers. During the question and answer session after the concert in Kansas City,

someone asked, “I understand why you chose the Gershwin, but why Mendelssohn?” The

orchestra’s director responded that it was a way to show American audiences their range and

grasp of the European masters. After working with the intense rhythms of Cuban composers and

Gershwin, he wanted to find something more mellow and Romantic but still dynamic and

169 John Fleming, “National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba concert features composer with Tampa ties,” Tampa Bay

Times, November 2, 2012. 170 Benjamin Treuhaft, “About Ben,” http://tunerben.com/about-ben/ (accessed December 8, 2012).

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engaging, so he chose Mendelssohn. Other pieces included Herrera once again performing

Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Ilmar Gavilán, currently a doctoral candidate in

violin at Rutgers, performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor under the direction of

his father, composer-conductor Guido López-Gavilán.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 was performed twelve times, making Beethoven the third

most performed composer on the tour. The opening of this symphony contains the most famous

motive in Western music, so this piece supported the orchestra’s desire to display their command

of the Romantic repertoire. Additionally, Beethoven’s music has been called transcendent and

even ethical, so his symphonies have figured in numerous U.S.-Cuban musical interactions.

Following a 2011 tour of Cuba by the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, the Orchestra’s Director of

Development said, “The highlight of the weeklong tour was our performance of Beethoven's

Symphony No. 9 … Presenting this incredibly significant work as a joint concert certainly left a

deep impression of Beethoven's message – that brotherhood and love are universal – in the heart

of Old Havana.”171 If, as music scholars have argued, Beethoven’s music “finds the one spirit in

us all” and “is a presentiment of coming social harmony,” then it is a fitting work in a musical

program that attempts to unite people from two estranged countries (Broyles 2011, 56).

These musical selections combined the familiar with the unfamiliar to successfully

engage regular symphony attendees and attract new ones. Before the Kansas City performance,

Clark Morris of the Harriman-Jewell Series said, “I think it's a very special night. Many of our

audience members are very seasoned concertgoers, but they have so infrequently heard Cuban

musicians, so [this is] a new experience for them.”172 Throughout the tour, the excitement of

seeing a group from Cuba perform in the United States for the first time attracted new and

diverse audiences to concert halls. Jodi Duckett wrote in a review of the orchestra’s October 23

concert in Allentown, Pennsylvania, “The concert at Symphony Hall was well-attended, although

there were seats for more. My sense was that the enthusiastic audience consisted of a number of

people who were new to orchestral concerts – the applause after every movement, although

hardly a serious matter – was a clue.”173 By reaching new audiences and creating personal

171 Diana Tsen, “HRO’s Tour to Cuba,” Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, 2011, http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~hro/cuba (accessed December 8, 2012). 172 Clark Morris, interview with author, October 16, 2012. 173 Jodi Duckett, “National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba makes enthusiastic debut in Allentown,” Lehigh Valley

Music Blog, October 24, 2012, http://blogs.mcall.com/lehighvalleymusic/2012/10/national-symphony-orchestra-of-cuba-makes-enthusiastic-debut-in-allentown.html (accessed January 26, 2013).

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experiences through music, performers have the power to motivate individuals to seek further

U.S.-Cuban engagement, musically and politically even while disengaging from direct political

action.

The Disengagement of Politics in U.S.-Cuban Musical Interactions

Even though Cuban performers distance themselves from any overtly political stance

when visiting the United States, the challenges in arranging these cultural exchanges, including

where performances take place and what reactions they may inspire, expose a range of attitudes

and realities about the U.S.-Cuban relationship. Claims of non-political intentions are helpful in

facilitating these exchanges and a degree of de-politicization is often required. Politics, however,

cannot be avoided despite performers’ intentions; political meaning is read into their

performances, musicians are asked directly about politics, and protestors create distractions.

The National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba experienced this firsthand when their

performances were used by audience members to both show support for and protest the Cuban

government. At the end of the concert in the Bronx, a small contingent of attendees stood up in

support of the Cuban revolution chanting “Cuba, si, bloqueo, no,” and “¡Viva Cuba, viva Fidel!”

While no performances were held in Miami protests could not be completely avoided.174 At the

final performance in West Palm Beach, a group gathered outside the venue to protest the

continued imprisonment of American Alan Gross, who had been in a Cuban prison for three

years at the time of the concert.175 Because of the U.S. government’s policy of disengagement

with Cuba, there had yet been no official negotiations for Gross’s release. So while the protest

was calling for Gross’s release by the Cuban government, it was also a critique of U.S. policy

towards Cuba and the inaction of both the President and Congress in securing Gross’s freedom.

Sharon McDaniel, Regional Arts Programming associate of the Kravis Center for the Performing

Arts in West Palm Beach, told me that the local synagogue that organized the protest notified her

about it in advance. Additionally, to alleviate any potential anger amongst their patrons, the

Kravis Center altered their policies for subscribers allowing individuals to exchange their tickets

to the Cuban orchestra performance for another show not included in the regular subscription

series. Before the performance, McDaniel said that negative reactions to the performance were

considered, “But we also talked to people in the Cuban community here, and they were thrilled

174 Julie Schwietert Collazo, “National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba nears end of first U.S. tour.” 175 Sarah Parnass, “Three Years After Arrest, American Alan Gross Still Jailed in Cuba.”

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with the idea. So, yes, there may be some people who are not happy, because Castro is still in

power. But I think, in general, they’ll be welcomed with open arms.”176

Figure 4.5: Protestors outside the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach during the National

Symphony Orchestra of Cuba’s performance. Photograph by author (November 11, 2012).

Like the tour organizers and performance hall directors, the orchestra hoped to avoid

political distractions during their tour and continued to maintain their non-political intentions.

Yet their musical selections could be understood as a call for further U.S.-Cuban engagement.

Many pieces selected were the results of U.S.-Cuban interactions that stretched from the 1930s to

the 1990s. When asked about politics after the Kansas City concert, Herrera all but confirmed the

goal of encouraging further musical interaction while also reaffirming attempts to keep the tour

apolitical. He said:

I have the Doctor in Music degree. I don’t have a Doctoral in Politics degree or something like that. I like to talk about it sometimes, but I don’t think it is the intention of this tour. … I definitely hope it’s not the last time [to have the orchestra be in the United States], and I will keep working hard to keep promoting the Cuban music in the United States.

Although musicologists such as Christopher Balantine, Philip Bohlman, and Susan

McClary have argued that music is always political, an individual’s claims that their actions are

non-political should be respected as genuine and sincere (Balantine 1984; Bohlman 1993;

McClary 1991). Political anthropologist Matei Candea suggests that instead of immediately

176 David Fleshler, “National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba to make South Florida debut in West Palm Beach.”

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assuming everything is political, we should take into account what is considered political and

non-political by our informants with the same ethnographic sensitivity anthropologists

traditionally accord to their informants during fieldwork (Candea 2011).

Any suspicions of these non-political claims would be understandable and are further

complicated by Castro’s 1961 “Words to Intellectuals” speech, where he stated:

This means that within the Revolution, everything goes; against the Revolution, nothing. Nothing against the Revolution, because the Revolution has its rights also, and the first right of the Revolution is the right to exist, and no one can stand against the right of the Revolution to be and to exist, No one can rightfully claim a right against the Revolution. Since it takes in the interests of the people and signifies the interests of the entire nation. I believe that this is quite clean. What are the rights of revolutionary or non-revolutionary writers and artists? Within the Revolution, everything. Against the Revolution, no rights at all. … We would like to point out certain aspects in which progress has already been made and which should be the occasion for encouragement for all of us. For example, there has been the success achieved with the symphony orchestra, which has been reconstructed and totally reintegrated, and which has attained high levels not only artistically, but also revolutionarily, because 50 members of the symphony orchestra are already militiamen.177

Today, the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba occupies a different position than it did fifty-

two years ago, but U.S. policies towards Cuba have remained largely unchanged. The musicians

who made these non-political claims were not performing in the United States to make a

statement for or against the revolution, because their personal experiences far outweighed any

political contexts. Herrera performing Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 2 with the same orchestra

that launched his career in Cuba and Ilmar Gavilán performing with his father again were

intensely personal experiences. Almost all Cubans have been separated from a friend or family

member by the U.S.-Cuban divide. Through this tour, these performers were able to bridge that

divide if only temporarily. When asked if the tour was meant to coincide with the fiftieth

anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Herrera said:

Our intention is never going to have the orchestra involved in any sort of political situation. What happened fifty years ago? I was not even born then … So I think

177 Fidel Castro, “Speech to intellectuals,” Castro Speech Database, June 30, 1961, http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1961/19610630.html (Accessed February 27, 2013).

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the most important thing for us is let’s move forward, let’s just forget about what happened, and let’s keep doing performances and promote the music of Cuba.

These attempts to forget the past and politics, however, are precisely what many

members of the Miami exile community are fighting against. Ninoska Pérez Castellón, a

prominent anti-Castro talk show host on Miami’s Radio Mambí and founding member of the

Cuban Liberty Council has said:

I don’t see how we can be supportive of something that is just to soften the image of a 53-year-old dictatorship. I don’t care if I’m called extremist. I will be an extremist because I’m not going to forget what is happening in Cuba. I’m not going to forget the women who are beaten in the streets. Women who are sent to prison because they walk peacefully holding a flower and asking for the release of political prisoners. That is the reality of Cuba. It’s not this whole thing about art and culture.178

It is hard for people to move forward while human rights abuses continue to be committed in

Cuba. The musicians themselves are not guilty of preventing free speech, attacking protestors, or

jailing political dissidents, but they are often seen as representatives of a government that does.

Because of Cuba’s political and economic system, musicians are typically affiliated with the

government through the Ministry of Culture. Musical exchanges typically require some

coordination with officials in the revolutionary government, which is seen by many as lending it

legitimacy.

However, opinions continue to change. Andy Gomez, senior fellow at the University of

Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies said:

It’s not that big a deal anymore with the Cuban-American community, as long as they don’t come here and play revolutionary songs, which they’re not going to do. The people-to-people exchanges I think begin to break down some of the barriers that have existed for over 53 years. It’s been silly that unfortunately a minority of Cuban-Americans still oppose the idea of people-to-people exchange. Forget about the government. Don’t talk about Fidel, don’t talk about Raúl. We need to talk about the people.179

Those who want to support the Cuban people but oppose cultural exchanges regard participating

musicians first and foremost as representatives of the Castro government while largely

discounting them as the people deserving of support. When asked how these exchanges impact

the musicians, Nachito Herrera told me:

178 David Fleshler, “National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba to make South Florida debut in West Palm Beach.” 179 Ibid.

173

Right now more than any kind of political situation, I’m being more focused on establishing a bridge in between musicians from my country and musicians from the U.S. because no matter what I always like to defend the idea that music is just what? It's music. And I think musicians from here definitely deserve to play there and of course musicians from my country deserve to play here. Why not play at the orchestra hall in Minneapolis, why not the [Lincoln] Center in New York?180

Conclusion

The uneven and discontinuous nature of musical interactions between the U.S. and Cuba

arises from local and national issues as much as international political tensions. Cuban artists

have experienced strikingly different receptions when performing in Miami compared to

elsewhere. Yet that too is changing. The growing acceptance of musicians from Cuba in Miami

is a sign of larger political changes in the region. The 2012 U.S. elections took place on

November 6 while the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba was on the last leg of its tour in

Florida. That night Barack Obama won nearly half of the Cuban-American vote in Florida,

which was a record high for a Democrat. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate,

took a stance on Cuba that was typical for his party and promised to strengthen travel restrictions

and be tough on Castro. Despite efforts including Spanish radio ads Romney failed to make

significant inroads with the South Florida Hispanic community and received half of the Cuban-

American vote, a historic low for a Republican presidential candidate. November 6, 2012, also

saw the election of Congressman Joe Garcia, a Cuban-American Democrat representing

Florida’s twenty-sixth congressional district who supports Obama’s Cuban travel reforms. In

addition to signaling a changing Florida, his election also marks a change in the Cuban-

American congressional caucus. Garcia has been criticized by fellow Florida Representatives

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for “supporting something that will be helpful to the regime” and by Mario

Diaz-Balart for trying to assist “a state sponsor of terror.”181 South Florida’s political and

demographic changes will in turn encourage more Cuban musicians to visit the region as protests

and scandals like the canceling of the Fuego Cuban Music Festival grow more rare.

Festivals and events based around Cuban music function to bring communities together,

whether that is the diverse Hispanic community of Chicago or the transforming demographics of

South Florida. Yet the politics of programming Cuban artists have also exposed rifts in the

180 Nachito Herrera, interview with author, December 8, 2013. 181 Associated Press, “Democrats Breaking GOP’s Long Lock on Cuban Vote,” The Washington Post, January 3, 2014, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-breaking-gops-long-lock-on-cuban-vote/2014/01/03/d36abbd0-74a9-11e3-bc6b-712d770c3715_story.html (accessed January 13, 2014).

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Cuban-American community. The primary criticism of Cuban musicians from Los Van Van to

the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba is that they are a part of the Castro government.

Going to enjoy their concerts is perceived by some in the Cuban-American exile community as

showing support and acceptance for a totalitarian regime and its actions. Juan Formell of Los

Van Van responded to comments and questions about political intent on their first trip to Miami:

“I am not part of any political party, not at the city or the state or the national level. Like all

musicians who live in Cuba, we are part of the Ministry of Culture, but we don't come here

representing the Ministry of Culture, or the government, or as any kind of ambassadors. We

come here as artists, as musicians, to play.”182

For these musicians, performing in the United States is an end goal in itself. Nachito

Herrera said that ninety-eight percent of the orchestra members who went on the American tour

had never been in the United States before, including seventy-six year old tuba player Remberto

Depestre De La Torre. In his lifetime this musician had seen many different phases of the U.S.-

Cuban relationship, so it was a powerful experience for him to finally visit and see so much of

the country. The musicians were all happy with their experience and wanted another opportunity

to play in the U.S. The personal meaning in these events is much stronger for the participants

than the political context in which they occur. In the case of Tania León who is Cuban but was

limited in her ability to visit Cuba, see her family, and communicate with fellow composers in

her home country, the 1999 Sonidos de las Americas festival was a very personal event. The

personal experiences of these musicians also create new musical experiences for audiences.

As was shown by the success of the ¡Sí Cuba! Festival and the National Symphony

Orchestra of Cuba’s U.S. tour, there is a significant interest in hearing Cuban musicians perform

throughout the United States. For many Americans this interest is driven by curiosity about a

place they are unable to visit and a people they know little about. The number of people in the

audience, the excitement on behalf of the presenters, and the comments and questions during pre-

and post-concert events shows a strong desire for further U.S.-Cuban engagement and musical

interaction. The continued imprisonment of Alan Gross continues to be a major hurdle in future

political engagement while also casting a shadow over musical exchanges. While politicians are

182 Manny Garcia, Jordan Levin and Peter Whoriskey, “The Band Plays On as Protest Fails to Deter Van Van’s Fans,” Miami Herald, October 10, 1999.

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slow to seek interaction or a solution to the Gross situation, music and the arts are one of the few

openings for cross-cultural interaction.

The Florida Orchestra has continued its active role in cultural exchanges with the

National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba since the 2012 tour. Concertmaster Jeffrey Multer visited

Havana to perform with the Cuban orchestra in 2013. He was initially supposed to leave on

February 4 of that year, but licensing issues with the OFAC forced the exchange to be delayed

until May. Administrators in both countries are working to bring the full Florida Orchestra to

Cuba in 2015. Nachito Herrera is also working to bring the full Cuban orchestra back to the

United States for a return tour. Herrera’s continuing role in creating connections between the

U.S. and Cuba will be explored more fully in the next chapter. It remains to be seen what the

political situation will be when the orchestra returns, but a transforming political landscape in the

U.S. is helping to insure the possibility of continued musical exchanges that are helping to break

down some of the barriers that have been in place for over fifty years.

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CHAPTER SIX

PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE, MUSICIAN-TO-MUSICIAN: NEW PERFORMERS

AND TRAVELERS IN CUBA Just over a month after Nachito Herrera finished touring with the National Symphony

Orchestra of Cuba in the United States, he flew to Havana to appear with them once again during

the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival. The concert took place on Saturday afternoon during the festival

in the Teatro Mella, but attendance seemed low as the balcony was practically empty. The

orchestra played some of the same pieces that were part of their tour including Rhapsody in Blue

and some of Nachito’s arrangements that allowed him to improvise and exhibit his skills as a

jazz pianist. The performance diverged from the U.S. tour by putting jazz at the forefront after

the Gershwin piece. A group of musicians that included three trumpet players, a trombonist,

saxophonist, flautist, bassist, drummer, conga player, and bongo player going by the name of the

Havana Jazz Social Club came on stage and played with Nachito. After their first two pieces

were enthusiastically received, a salsa dancing couple in flashy matching outfits joined the

musicians to entertain the audience. It was one of the strongest performances I saw during the

festival, and the enthusiastic response from the crowd and encores that were called for seemed to

confirm that the audience felt the same way.

Nachito played that concert wearing the same “uniform” he wore for the performance in

Kansas City, a red guayabera shirt and a pair of shiny black and red dress shoes. Black and red

are the colors of the orisha Eleguá, who is both a trickster and the guardian of the crossroads. In

a typical toque de santo, the Santería religious celebration that culminates in a practitioner being

possessed by an orisha, Eleguá is always the first to be acknowledged. As the protector of the

crossroads he is able to open the pathway allowing people to interact with the other deities.

Nachito Herrera similarly stands at a crossroads. The festival program listed him as an artist from

the United States, but he was born and grew up in Cuba. As a figure at these crossroads, he has

been able to open up pathways to make U.S.-Cuban interaction possible. While both the Barack

Obama and Raúl Castro administrations have changed policies to make travel between the U.S.

and Cuba for cultural exchanges possible, it is still extremely difficult for a novice musician to

navigate those regulations and make a trip on their own. Typically, musicians depend on

someone like Nachito who is at the crossroads and has connections in both countries to make

musical exchanges possible.

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This chapter looks at some of the individuals who make these interactions possible. It

clarifies how these cultural exchanges largely depend on personal social networks but also create

networks. A case study of the 2013 Cubadisco festival and Nachito Herrera’s role in bringing a

group of Minnesota musicians there to participate illustrates the importance of personal networks

in facilitating these exchanges. The difficulties of U.S. to Cuba travel and the fact that musicians

cannot directly profit from their performances as part of an exchange also raise questions about

what makes people from the U.S. want to visit. The allure of Cuba makes musicians enthusiastic

to perform in the country. Their ability to legally visit Cuba, however, depends on their travel

being “purposeful” and any travel that resembles tourism is derided by the politicians and

members of the exile community that oppose the recent travel reforms. Yet the actual differences

between purposeful travel and tourism are difficult to define. As increased travel and tourism to

Cuba continues to influence the country, a summary of U.S. musicians’ impressions of their

experiences helps to reveal the direct and indirect impact of these musical exchanges.

Social Networks in Facilitating U.S.-Cuban Musical Exchange

The majority of U.S. musicians with whom I spoke that played in Cuba were able to do

so through connections with other individuals. While some of these musicians had an interest in

going to Cuba before, they were unaware of what was allowed under the travel restrictions, how

to actually get to the country, where to stay, and who they needed to talk to in order to book a

performance. Other people did, however, have that information and could facilitate performances

in Cuba. Recording stars like Juanes, Kool and the Gang, Wynton Marsalis, and Jay-Z have

considerable influence and resources to hire someone to solve logistical problems for them. Less

prominent musicians, however, depend on their social networks to access individuals with that

information. Some musicians already had ties to those knowledgeable individuals while others

had to navigate and expand their networks to find them.

In one of the most commonly cited articles pertaining to the study of social networks,

Mark Granovetter’s “The Strength of Weak Ties” (1973), the author asked a sampling of

individuals where they found information about new job opportunities. In most cases, people

gained information from a personal contact, although that contact had a weak tie to the job

seeker. Weak ties refer to indirect relations through intermediaries or individuals that are

connected but have little contact, and in the case of the job seeker, are outside of their direct

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social circle (Knoke and Yang 2008, 5; Prell 2012, 45). The ability of musicians from the U.S. to

perform in international Cuban music festivals underscores the strength of weak ties.

Will Magid was invited to Cuba through Conner Gorry, a weak tie with whom the

musician had no direct connection until meeting through Will’s manager at a concert. While Will

had been interested in visiting Cuba for some time, it was actually Conner who took the initiative

because she wanted to bring more American popular music to the island. Gorry explained that

rock music is something they really miss in Cuba: “I would definitely do it again and since first

coming here in 1993 have dreamed of bringing rock and roll acts from the US to Cuba.”183 Trio

Los Vigilantes made it to the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival because one of the band members was

friends with an individual who previously worked for a tour company that organized trips to

Cuba in the late 1990s. He knew someone on the festival committee to secure their invitation.

Other people, like Lisa Hittle of Friends University and Joanne Connolly of Voices from

the Heart, actively took advantage of what few resources they had in their networks and

exploited those who could make new ones to make a cultural exchange possible. After hearing

that Texas Christian University’s jazz band had played the festival, Hittle used her connections

to track down the director, who had since retired, to ask him questions; she joined a friend who

was going on an Authentic Cuban Tours trip to the island during the festival. Through the tour

organizers, she was put in contact with festival officials and was able to make the exchange

happen. Voices from the Heart’s travel committee decided they would investigate the possibility

of a trip to Cuba and were eventually put in contact with Michael Eizenberg who in turn set up a

meeting between Connolly and Digna Guerra, director of the Cuban national choir. Through

their connection, a formal cultural exchange was arranged and necessary travel licenses were

obtained.

There has been little musicological research thus far on the role of social networks in the

lives and careers of practicing musicians, but Benjamin Brinner’s Playing Across a Divide, about

ethnic musicians in Israel, explains their importance:

Professional musicians are always enmeshed in larger sets of relationships as they join, create, and reshape networks relevant to their musical work. At all stages of their careers they navigate the links that bind them to others with related interests and needs in order, for instance, to find employment and partners for performances. Reputations, musical ideas, fads, and other intangibles flow along the same links, which extend to nonmusicians who act as producers, managers,

183 Conner Gorry, e-mail to author, November 29, 2013.

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critics, listeners, performers in other media, and so on. The network concept can usefully be extended further to include institutions such as schools, events such as festivals, venues such as particular clubs or concert halls, and artifacts such as recordings. (2009, 163)

Brinner explained the importance of these networks in the musical careers of the bands and

musicians he was studying. His larger study explained how these musicians were bridging the

East-West and Israeli-Palestinian divide, but he did not focus on the implications these networks

had in that process beyond their function in his informants’ musical careers.

While not an extensive quantitative social network analysis, the following case study will

explain the importance of individuals like Nachito Herrera and his network in making musical

exchanges possible and in turn the role these exchanges have in expanding and strengthening

these social networks. He functions as a hub in the following network, because he is the central

figure connecting the others within this network, and as a bridge, because he is the one individual

connecting the musicians in Minnesota to the musicians in Cuba. Unlike many actors in social

networks, Herrera actively sought this role in order to pursue his goal of connecting Cuba and

Minnesota more closely through music.

The Nachito Herrera Foundation and Minnesotans at Cubadisco 2013

Nachito and Aurora Herrera wanted to support music education in their adopted home of

Minnesota and encourage musical exchanges with their native country, so over a period of five

years they worked to create the Nachito Herrera Foundation. Officially incorporated in 2012, the

foundation is described as a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering cultural and

educational exchanges between the U.S. and Cuba. Their first opportunity to put the foundation

into action came in 2013. After playing at the jazz festival in December, Nachito returned to

Havana a month later to begin recording an album with the National Symphony Orchestra

featuring a number of the pieces they had performed together on tour and with the Havana Jazz

Social Club. While there he was invited to perform at the Cubadisco Festival in May as a way of

introducing him as one of the new artists on Cuba’s EGREM record label. Seizing the

opportunity, Nachito and Aurora brought eight musicians from Minnesota to Havana to perform

with the orchestra at the festival.

This was another dream come true for Nachito. He described the process and his

excitement:

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Right away my wife and myself started working because it would be wonderful, something for the Foundation to invite students and professional musicians to work there with us. So after the first few months we were doing auditions for different students from the University of Minnesota and then from Hamline University, St. Thomas, St. Olaf and finally we got a group of ten students to go.184

Some of the students Nachito contacted and auditioned for the trip had played with him before as

part of the Minnesota Youth Symphony. Melissa Deal grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota, a

suburb of the Twin Cities, and was a freshman violinist at the University of Minnesota when she

learned about the trip. Melissa had gotten to know Nachito a couple years earlier when he was a

guest soloist with the youth symphony and he later invited her and some other string players to

perform with him at the Dakota Jazz Club. They were told at that time about a program he was

developing to take music students to Cuba where they could learn about the culture through

music. Not thinking much of it at the time, she was told about plans for an actual trip when

Nachito returned from recording in Havana in early 2013.

Nachito and Aurora initially selected ten students to come with them to Cubadisco. Even

with the reforms under the Obama administration, visiting Cuba with the U.S. embargo and

travel ban still in place is not an easy undertaking. To make the trip possible, Nachito and Aurora

partnered with a travel provider that was authorized to organize trips to Cuba and obtain licenses.

After determining who could qualify for a general license and attempting to obtain specific

licenses for the rest of the musicians, only five of the ten students were able to go on the trip.

Joining them were three professional singers from the Twin Cities who, along with Nachito, are

managed by Heartland Concert Artists.

While many of the participating musicians were told about the trip earlier in the year and

had plenty of lead time, licenses were not finalized and the trip was not confirmed until three

weeks before they left. In order to fund the exchange, Nachito organized a benefit concert with

some of the participating musicians two weeks before they left. With such a fast turnaround, the

participating musicians were just trying to keep up. As Melissa Deal explained to me, her parents

did not think the trip would actually happen:

They didn't really believe me at first. They were like okay, yeah sure that's going to happen. Then they came with me to the benefit and fundraiser for it and my mom talked to Nachito and she was like I guess this is happening. And then my

184 Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera, interview with author, December 8, 2013.

181

dad wasn't really happy about it for too long. He thought it was really dangerous, but they ended up talking to Nachito and Aurora about what was going on and they had a really safe setup for us.185

Despite the challenges of finalizing plans at the last minute and some difficulty getting licenses,

the benefit concert made enough money to pay for the trip and the eight musicians flew to

Havana and performed in the festival.

Cubadisco is a combination of an awards show, music festival, and academic symposium

with award presentations and concerts televised live throughout the country. Every year, Cuba’s

best artists come together with international musicians to celebrate the Cuban recording industry.

The festival attracts recording industry and sales representatives from multiple continents, and it

is an opportunity for EGREM, the state record label, to sell Cuba’s artists and recordings to the

world. Each year Cubadisco has a different theme, honorees, and featured musical styles. In

2013, the main theme was young artists and concert music with an added focus on traditional

American genres. The event lasted just over a week from May 17 to May 26. Primary venues

included the Teatro Nacional and the Karl Marx Theatre with a few other sites for small

performances, presentations, and symposia. The opening gala for Cubadisco 2013 took place at

the Teatro Nacional and featured the National Symphony Orchestra along with numerous guest

artists including Herrera and a number of the musicians he had brought with him.

It was unclear whether or not the theme of traditional American musical styles was

already planned or was added to incorporate the professional singers from Minnesota, but it

allowed each of them to perform with the national symphony in their own genre. Norah Long

shared American musical theatre arrangements; Bruce Henry performed gospel; and Maurice

Jacox sang jazz and R&B. Norah Long primarily performs musical theater in the Twin Cities

area along with singing in some concerts and churches. Norah and Nachito had never performed

together before the trip, but they shared many mutual colleagues and met a few times after

Nachito’s invitation to go over ideas for the festival. Long was surprised that she was only

contacted in March for the May festival, when in her experience events of that size typically start

putting acts in place twelve months in advance. They discussed what music to play but did not

make any final decisions until she could speak with the conductor in Havana, forcing her to bring

full orchestral sheet music and scores for five pieces with her on the plane to give to the

185 Melissa Deal, interview with author, September 26, 2013.

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orchestra just days before the performance. Because the charter airline limited her to bringing a

total of forty-two pounds of luggage, she had to sacrifice articles of clothing and other goods to

bring all the music with her.

Long traveled separately from the rest of the Minnesota contingent because she had a gig

in the Twin Cities, which forced her to miss the beginning of the festival. She explained:

I was scheduled to do a couple of concerts but once I got down there as I understand it's fairly typical with a number of Latin American cultures, things were definitely flexible so we just had to go with the flow. I was expecting to do two concerts with the orchestra, one with just the national symphony and one with the combined symphonies. But that first concert, which was supposed to happen on Thursday, once I got down there it became Friday and then on Friday afternoon it became, “Oh we're not going do that one, you just relax. You had a long trip. Enjoy your day and we'll rehearse for Sunday on Saturday.” So that one got canceled at the last minute. To be honest it was never clear exactly why.186

In the performance she sang two songs from her musical theater repertoire including the

“Cockeyed Optimist/Singin' in the Rain/Spoonful of Sugar/Make Someone Happy Medley.” She

had performed a version of the same medley the previous month for a benefit concert in

Minnesota accompanied by a quartet. When she found out she was going to Cuba, she took the

medley to her friend, composer and arranger Robert Elhai, who created a full orchestral

arrangement in one week, which would be premiered at Cubadisco. “I wasn't quite sure whether

the audience would be that interested in it or enjoy it very much but they seemed genuinely

appreciative and they seemed to really enjoy it,” she said. “I just sort of gave myself permission

like Nachito said to be me and to bring my experiences from our musical culture down there with

me.”187

The students joined the orchestra for two concerts that featured major stars like the Buena

Vista Social Club’s Omara Portuondo. Melissa Deal was the only one of the Minnesota students

to perform a solo for the festival when she played Saint-Saens’ “Rondo Capriccioso” in the

Teatro Nacional. She described the experience:

We had no idea how big of a deal this festival was or how big all these people we met were. We would be meeting these people and talking and find out later how famous they were in Cuba. It was so bizarre. It was kind of a shock … [during]

186 Norah Long, interview with author, November 25, 2013. 187 Ibid.

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the concert where I soloed with the orchestra, one of the Vice Presidents was there. So we had no idea it would be this huge.188

Her biggest surprise, however, was how welcoming everyone was. “In an instant we were

like their family,” she said, “I mean this is the national orchestra, and they invited us to

come stay at their homes the next time we returned.”189

Nachito played a number of performances at the festival, but he was also busy recording

with the National Symphony while they were in Cuba so he did not get to spend a significant

amount of time with the musicians from Minnesota while he was there. Aurora, however, spent

time taking the students around Havana to various sites including the Santería museum and other

tourist sites when they were not busy with festival events. There was also a guide hired to drive

the Minnesota musicians around Havana and get them where they needed to be, and they had the

chance to visit the beach one day during some free time. The musicians also found time for

musical endeavors outside the festival such as joining Nachito in a recording session, visiting a

conservatory to play with other students, and attending additional performances and dance clubs.

The musicians enjoyed their experiences in Cuba, including the people they met, and all

said they would like to return whether it was to perform or for another purpose. The connections

they made added new individuals and ties to their social networks that were capable of

facilitating any return trips to Cuba. Their performances and interactions also strengthened

existing ties. Norah Long recalled:

When I left there, Aurora [said], “I want to represent you, you're my artist now and I'd like you to come back down maybe in January or February and do a recording, do a CD with the symphony. There are plans for them to come back up to the U.S. and I've talked to the conductor about having you do those concerts. I want you to do those concerts when they come up along with Nachito to have that continued collaboration.” So we'll see if that happens. I learned when I was down there, don't count chickens before they hatch.190

Additional collaboration has occurred since the festival, as Long and Herrera have performed in

concerts together in the Twin Cities.

188 Melissa Deal, interview with author, September 26, 2013. 189 Ibid. 190 Norah Long, interview with author, November 25, 2013.

184

Herrera has also performed with Deal after returning to Minnesota. In June he

accompanied her in a recital at the University of Minnesota School of Music. They have also

continued to play together at the Dakota Jazz Club. Deal described their relationship and the trip:

I am a classical musician and I haven't had much experience in jazz and that sort of thing until I worked with Nachito. We just had so much fun learning about the kind of music he grew up with and improvising with him. It was really fun. We all were really interested in knowing where he came from and everything, so when he told us about it we were really excited but we had no idea if it would ever actually happen. So when he told us about the trip, I mean it was like a no-brainer. I mean he's like a father to us. I admire him so much as a musicians, and so it was great to spend that whole entire time with the orchestra he played with.191

Furthermore, the exchange has provided additional contacts and ties that benefit Nachito and

increased his prominence, which is not uncommon for someone who is at the intersection of two

networks. During Cubadisco he met another guest artist, violinist Jorge Saade of Ecuador, and

discussed potential collaborations that would extend beyond the U.S. and Cuba. Herrera’s work

with University of Minnesota students has given him additional contacts with the University and

after returning to the Twin Cities he started coordinating with the University’s percussion studio

and some student vocalists to plan a trip to Cubadisco in 2014. The Nachito Herrera

Foundation’s first cultural exchange effectively created the potential for ongoing collaboration

between Herrera and the University.

Figures 5.1 and 5.2 show the expansion and development of this network before and after

the 2013 Cubadisco festival with Herrera as the hub. In this network connecting Minnesota and

Cuba, Herrera is simultaneously a musical actor and an articulator; he is able to “manage

musicians’ connections to networks such as the festival circuit” and he is “positioned at a cut

point in or between networks, with control over which music to broadcast, record, or present on

stage” (Brinner 2009, 175).

191 Melissa Deal, interview with author, September 26, 2013.

185

Figure 5.1: Nachito Herrera’s network comprising the Minnesota musicians and his Cuban

collaborators before Cubadisco 2013.

Figure 5.2: The same network with new and strengthened connections following Cubadisco

2013.

Cubadisco committee

EGREM Recording Studio

Minnesota students

Heartland Concert artists

Norah Long

Melissa Deal

Nachito Herrera

National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba

Cubadisco committee

EGREM Recording Studio

Minnesota students

Heartland Concert artists

Norah Long

Melissa Deal

National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba Nachito

Herrera

Jorge Saade (Ecuador)

University of Minnesota

Cuban Students

186

As the Nachito Herrera Foundation continues to organize cultural exchanges, Herrera’s

importance in this network will increase by adding additional actors and ties. Herrea observed:

The next step my foundation would like to take is to actually invite some students and professional musicians to perform with our orchestras here in Minnesota and we are working on that already. We don't have any specific time and date yet, but October 2014 will be a great opportunity because I already was hired to perform with a 45 piece orchestra at the Ordway Theatre for two nights so we … hope that with all different agencies’ contributions, we are making a big hope to formalize everything and have a real nice cultural exchange in between musicians from my country and musicians from Minnesota. So this is our big hope. Actually the goal is to keep working on these once a year, bringing a group of students and musicians from here to there or from there to here.192

As Brinner concluded in his research, “Networks are rarely static. They expand or contract as

new members join and links are formed or people leave or break off connections. Networks

change not only due to these internal dynamics, but also in relation to their sociocultural

environments” (206). The ability for this network to continue expanding as Herrera hopes is

dependent on not only the sociocultural environment but also the political one. If political

changes once again increase restrictions on travel, the network will contract. On the other hand,

if regulations maintain their current status or are loosened the network should expand very

easily. Eventually Herrera’s central role could diminish as individuals make return visits to Cuba

and become hubs and bridges themselves. Its expansion in that case is guaranteed because of the

strong desire and curiosity individuals have in the U.S. regarding visiting Cuba.

Why Visit Cuba?

The 1991 record Cuba Classics 2: Dancing with the Enemy, which was produced by Ned

Sublette, had these provocative questions prominently written on the packaging:

Are politics our enemy? Are governments our enemy? Can music be our enemy? Can communists have a good time? Can we have a good time? Is a music communist? Can it be capitalist? Do you enjoy it more either way? You need this record. Have a cigar.193

192 Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera, interview with author, December 8, 2013. 193 Cuba Classics 2: Dancing with the Enemy, audio CD, Sire, 1991.

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It concluded in smaller text, “The music in this box has had the people of Cuba dancing for the

last three decades. Now it’s your turn.” These questions and provocative statements reflect the

way many people in the United States think about Cuba. More than fifty years of an embargo and

travel ban have made Cuba a mysterious place in the American popular consciousness, and

rhetoric like that on the Cuba Classics CD and the “Taste the Forbidden” tagline of Chicago’s

Ninety Miles Cuban Café reinforce those images of Cuba. The fact that people from the U.S.

have been unable to go to Cuba for so long has made many individuals even more interested in

visiting.

Music has played an important role in the appeal of Cuba in the popular imagination.

Even before the revolution and embargo, songs like Irving Berlin’s 1920 song “(I’ll See You in)

Cuba” celebrated the island with the opening lines “Not so far from here / There's a very lively

atmosphere / everybody’s going there this year / And there’s a reason.” It then described Cuba’s

party-like, alcohol-fueled ambiance at a time when alcohol was prohibited in the United States.

While Americans freely visited Cuba prior to the revolution, music helped define the nation in

the minds of many Americans who could not visit the island; music’s role became even more

prominent once the travel ban went into effect. In the late 1990s, The Buena Vista Social Club

album and film sparked a significant interest in Cuba that continues to drive curiosity about the

island today.

The musicians from the United States who have played in music festivals in Cuba legally

could not be paid for their performances because of the U.S. embargo. OFAC regulations state

“All U.S. profits from the event after costs must be donated to an independent nongovernmental

organization in Cuba or a U.S.-based charity with the objective, to the extent possible, of

promoting people-to-people contacts or otherwise benefiting the Cuban people.”194 While the

Nachito Herrera Foundation funded travel to Cubadisco for the Minnesota musicians, many

musicians spend a significant amount of money getting to Cuba, which makes these trips a

financial liability for working musicians. An international festival performance looks good on a

musician’s resume, but Cuba’s cultural events rarely make it into the U.S. press so a performance

would be unlikely to increase a musician’s profile. Instead, musicians and other individuals from

the U.S. often want to visit Cuba because they are drawn there for other reasons. When I asked

Isaac Peña of Trio Los Vigilantes why they went to the festival, he explained:

194 OFAC 2011, 30.

188

The festival doesn’t pay ... Obviously people need to want to go there otherwise they’re not going to lure someone there with a “Hey why don’t you come and we’ll pay your expenses” kind of thing. … In a way, Cuba is kind of … taboo. It’s kind of like this forbidden thing that you want to experience it so much more at least for us Americans.195

Whether out of curiosity to go somewhere they have been told they are not supposed to go or a

specifically music-related attraction, musical travel to Cuba often takes on a quality of

pilgrimage.

Pilgrimage

When the original 1977 jazz cruise was being scheduled, Arnold Jay Smith, who was

documenting the trip for Down Beat, spoke to some of the passengers including a NASA

engineer who also played the vibraphone. He wanted to sign up for the voyage when it was first

announced just because of the music, but his wife vetoed it because of financial considerations.

That changed after Havana was added to the itinerary. “Cuba cinched it for us,” he said.

“Imagine all of these great sounds and being among the first Americans allowed back into Cuba!

We couldn’t resist.”196 This couple was drawn to Cuba not only for the music, but also because it

was forbidden for so long. Whether in 1977 or 2012, when traveling from the U.S. to Cuba after

a period when legal trips were impossible, individuals are not only traveling to discover a place

they know little about but also to act as emissaries for their country. Travel also becomes a

means to express goodwill towards the Cuban people and the desire for a healthy relationship

between nations.

Pilgrimage has traditionally been understood in the Christian world as a journey to a holy

place as an act of spiritual devotion in order to obtain some spiritual benefit. The definition has

been expanded to include modern, secular travel to a site with the potential to affect the pilgrim

in a personally meaningful or moral way. Determining what qualifies as a pilgrimage, however,

is difficult because motivations vary and are internally defined. The aspirations for increased

U.S.-Cuban musical interaction manifest as pilgrimages when individuals travel to the island to

pay homage to great artists and music, reflect upon the complicated and often unpleasant

histories of the U.S. and Cuba, and seek an internal transformation through musical experience.

Pilgrimage can also be implicit as in the case described by Titon (1999) when a group of singers

195 Isaac Peña, interview with author, January 13, 2013. 196 Arnold Jay Smith, “Voyage of the Jammed,” 1977: 17.

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was humbled and grateful for being invited to sing in the nation's capital, and they reciprocated

by becoming tourists and paying homage to the historic sites the trip made available to them.

Victor and Edith Turner describe how a pilgrim voluntarily undergoes a transformational

process and occupies a liminal position outside of normal social classifications. Many of the

liminal attributes characteristic of pilgrimage and coming of age rituals also apply to the secular

pilgrimage of U.S. musicians to Cuba. As the Turners explain, these attributes include:

Release from mundane structure; homogenization of status; … communitas; ordeal; reflection on the meaning of basic … cultural values; movement itself, a symbol of communitas, which changes with time, as against stasis, which represents structure; individuality posed against the institutionalized milieu; and so forth. (Turner and Turner 1978, 34).

Victor and Edith Turner also refer to pilgrimage centers as far away places that are often

hazardous or difficult to get to. Cuba is not far from the United States in terms of world

geography, but it is difficult to visit and outside the norm of places that individuals from the U.S.

regularly visit. The minimal internet access and difficulties in communication with the U.S. also

contribute to Cuba’s status as a far away place.

The Turners’ concept of communitas, which is a phenomenon of bonding and community

that combines qualities of lowliness, sacredness, homogeneity, and comradeship, is central to

understanding U.S. to Cuba travel as pilgrimage (Turner and Turner 1978, 250). Many of the

individuals who visit Cuba as a type of pilgrimage experience this phenomenon both with their

fellow travelers and the Cubans that they meet. For example, when the Friends University

students visited a senior home and danced with the people living there, some of the residents

learned that it was the birthday of one of the students, Kelly. Andre Reyes, a pianist with the

band, described what happened next for the TV documentary about their trip:

They ended up giving him that gift, they didn’t even know who he was and they gave him a birthday present. He was outside crying and I was outside crying. Just to be that close to people in that small two-hour span and to realize that you actually care about these people, love these people. That day really changed me probably the most out of all the days we were there.197

197 “Cuba: Music Brings Us Together,” It’s All Good with Sierra Scott, August 25, 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa2VZik1px8#t=538 (accessed December 5, 2013).

190

This transformational phenomenon can occur as a result of the three types of secular pilgrimage

named by Gitilitz and Davidson (2002): pilgrimages intended to secure identity; political

pilgrimages; and popular pilgrimages like those to shrines of celebrities.

A pilgrimage of the type that secures or confirms one’s identity can take different forms

when one travels to Cuba. A trip for this purpose is particularly appealing to young Cuban

Americans who have never been to the country their parents or grandparents came from. At the

2012 Havana Jazz Plaza Festival, I met a couple from New Jersey that was on the Cuba Explorer

Tours trip. The young woman was born in the United States but her mother emigrated from Cuba

and her grandmother still lived there. She and her partner were able to use a license for visiting

family but they went with the organized tour to simplify arrangements and to attend the festival.

Because this was their first time in Cuba they were extending their trip after the organized tour

was over to visit Trinidad and other small towns outside of Havana, and to spend more time with

her grandmother. When discussing my research with friends of mine who are Cuban American

and from Miami, they have expressed desires to make a similar pilgrimage. “I would love to go,”

one friend told me, “but [my grandfather] would kill me if he ever found out I did.”

Chi Saito, the Japanese musician who participated in the FolkCuba percussion workshop

with me in 2011, went to Cuba on a pilgrimage to secure his identity as a musician and cure a

personal affliction, which is a commonly desired pilgrimage outcome (Turner and Turner 1978,

12-13). He was living in Los Angeles and working as a musician when the earthquake of March

11, 2011, hit Japan. He was disturbed by the events and seeing the aftermath unfold in the media,

and he needed to get away for his own mental and emotional wellbeing. He had some disposable

income at the time and was interested in studying either gypsy or Cuban music, but was unsure

where to go to study gypsy music. He found out about FolkCuba when he started investigating

the trip. While flying through Cancun he met a number of other Japanese individuals who

recommended a casa particular that specifically catered to Japanese visitors; he ended up staying

there. His experiences in Cuba helped him feel reaffirmed and renewed as a musician. While he

owned a pair of congas for ten years prior to visiting Cuba, hand percussion was simply a hobby.

He had no knowledge or technical skills to back it up. After visiting Cuba he has continued to

study the music, added congas into his live performances, and brought interlocking rhythms

191

found in Afro-Cuban music into his guitar playing because his time in Cuba transformed his

conception of rhythm.198

Some individuals may be drawn to Cuba for the purpose of political pilgrimage. Those

with leftist ideologies may travel for such a purpose; Pete Seeger’s 1971 trip to Cuba where he

sought to spend time harvesting sugar cane to support the revolution would fall into this

category. Most U.S. to Cuba travelers today, however, visit Cuba more out of a sense of political

reconciliation between nations than out of support for the Castro government. Many of the

musicians I spoke with visited the Muséo de la Revolución while in Cuba. Visiting the museum

was not a way of supporting the revolution but instead allowed people from the United States to

reflect upon the history and the schism between these two nations.

Popular pilgrimage may draw people to Cuban music festivals as well as other musically

significant locations such as the childhood homes of musicians, historic venues, and regions

where musical genres originated. Festivals present a time for fans of Cuban music and various

other genres to show their support and to connect with the music in a way that cannot be done

from the United States. The Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon has been so profound that

many people want to visit the actual club and bar while in Havana. Jiniteros are aware of this and

will approach tourists offering to take them to the Buena Vista Social Club in an attempt to get

some free drinks or food out of them. The Buena Vista Social Club as a location, however, no

longer exists. I was still brought to two different bars by different individuals who each told me

we were in the real Buena Vista Social Club.

Of course not all people from the U.S. who visit Cuba and take in a musical performance

are on a pilgrimage. Many want to visit Cuba as tourists, but the categories are not mutually

exclusive. Victor and Edith Turner claimed “a tourist is half a pilgrim, if a pilgrim is half a

tourist” (1978, 20). And Davidson and Gtilitz argue that while secular pilgrimage and tourism

appear similar, “the visitor knows when the experience passes from the realm of tourism to that

of pilgrimage” (2002, 582). Tourism is not an acceptable and licensable category of U.S. to Cuba

travel but as its commonalities with pilgrimage show, it is a broader and more complex form of

travel than its common usage implies.

198 Chi Saito and Brenda K. Spevak-Saito, interview with author, October 6, 2013.

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Tourism and Purposeful Travel

When Florida Senator Marco Rubio denounced the Obama administration’s people-to-

people exchanges in his floor speech on December 15, 2011, he said:

When I look at this stuff, you know what I want to say? Come on, man. This is about promoting democracy and freedom in Cuba? This is not about promoting democracy and freedom in Cuba. This is nothing more than tourism. This is tourism for Americans that at best are curious about Cuba and at worst sympathize with the Cuban regime. … This is an embarrassment. These people are getting licenses to conduct this outrageous tourism, which quite frankly borders on indoctrination of Americans by Castro government officials.199

One of Senator Rubio’s primary criticisms of these licensed trips was that as tourism they had

done nothing to support their eventual goal, which the Obama administration said was “a Cuba

that respects the basic rights of all its citizens.”200 The goal of a Cuba with more political

freedoms, the administration stated, could be encouraged through purposeful travel intended to

“increase people-to-people contact; support civil society in Cuba; enhance the free flow of

information to, from, and among the Cuban people; and help promote their independence from

Cuban authorities.”201

Tourism, however, is not purposeless and should not be discounted. Valene Smith

clarifies, “a tourist is a temporarily leisured person who voluntarily visits a place away from

home for the purpose of experiencing a change” (1989, 1). Tourism depends on a combination of

leisure time, discretionary income, and positive local sanctions or social norms. The one category

that arguably did not necessarily apply to the U.S. musicians I spoke with was defining their trip

as leisure time because they were there to perform, but this too is problematic because their

festival performances were but one part of their trip to Cuba. The people-to-people trips try to

avoid being characterized as tourism by having full itineraries of educational and cultural

activities for travelers to keep them from spending time on a beach. Educational and cultural

tourism is still tourism and it is certainly purposeful.

Most categories of purposeful travel contain elements of tourism. While I had a clear

purpose of studying music and conducting research on my trips to Cuba, I still felt like a tourist

199 Senator Marco Rubio (FL), “Rubio Slams Abuses of Administration’s People-to-People Cuba Program,” Senate Floor Remarks, December 11, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmCdQAGNK-E (accessed January 20, 2014). 200 White House, “Reaching Out to the Cuban People,” Office of the Press Secretary, January 14, 2011, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/14/reaching-out-cuban-people (accessed 17 October, 2013). 201 Ibid.

193

much of the time. According to the Cuban government, I was a tourist and entered the country

with the same tourist card that almost all U.S. to Cuba travelers are issued. Customs officials

looked at my official university letter explaining my purpose for being in the country, but

determined the tourist card I was given by the travel service provider was acceptable because my

stay in Cuba was less than thirty days. Cuban immigration officials do not stamp U.S. passports

and instead stamp the tourist card that the traveler is expected to keep on them at all times. I

visited tourist attractions like museums, went on tours, and was regularly taking pictures. On the

street there were few if any discernable differences between Havana’s many tourists and I.

The problem that critics of eased travel restrictions have with these touristic activities is

that they are enjoyable leisure activities that do not reflect the hardships that the Cuban people

live with. Beyond that, Rubio said, “This is a source of hard currency, of millions of dollars in

the hands of the Castro government that they use to oppress the Cuban people and to jail and

hold hostage an American citizen who today is being held hostage in Cuba, Alan Gross.”202 The

fear is that U.S. citizens will start traveling to Cuba to stay at state owned beach resorts without

ever seeing how the majority of Cubans live while spending money in support of a dictatorial

government. Despite its critics in the United States, tourism is having a transformative effect on

Cuban society with both positive and negative repercussions.

Tourists, Citizens, and Two Cubas

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cuban economy became dependent on

tourism. The balance between a socialist state and appealing to visitors from a globalized, post-

Cold War world has presented challenges and contradictions. A society that claims to be

egalitarian turned into one with clear stratifications involving multiple currencies, amenities

available only to visitors, and policies that exposed an underlying racism. Sanchez and Adams

argue, “While tourism has helped Cuba weather a severe economic storm, the unpleasant face of

tourism may be undermining the support that the Cuban people have had for socialist ideology”

(2010, 420). The Cuban government was skeptical and reluctant to encourage tourism during the

Soviet era likely for this reason; history has shown that governments most in need of tourism for

economic reasons are often subverted by it politically. The Cuban government tried to minimize

this threat by limiting contact between tourists and locals but that only created a different set of

202 Senator Marco Rubio (FL), “Rubio Slams Abuses of Administration’s People-to-People Cuba Program,” 2011.

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problems. For much of the 1990s and 2000s, Cubans were not legally allowed to stay in tourist

hotels even if they could afford it, but the strict divisions between foreigners and visitors have

begun to erode.

Cuba has announced that it will be phasing out the convertible peso or CUC over the next

few years and return to a single currency. In addition to undesirable impacts on the Cuban

economy, multiple currencies create frustrations for tourists; visitors from the United States who

are cut off from their banks and use of credit cards are often uneasy when dealing with money.

Isaac Peña described his group’s challenges regarding this issue:

My credit card doesn't work here. That's the other thing that was stressful among the group was one of the people had all the cash, had a bunch of Euros like 3000 Euros. So we were like well instead of using dollars why don't we use your Euros because you'll have to change them into dollars then into pesos, so basically he banked the trip and now we owe him as a group. We owe him but either way we had a finite amount of cash so it was stressful [spending it] so quickly. And of course anytime we went out with the Cubans we had to pay for them, I mean because we would go to restaurants and they can't afford it.203

The inconsistencies of this system create additional frustrations when some tourism

establishments only accept U.S. dollars or Euros for certain goods or services. The stratification

of currencies underlies the other social differences.

Cuba’s fixed route taxis are typically state-owned American vehicles from the 1950s that

drive on certain streets from one end of town and back again. When flagged down by individuals

on the street the passenger gets in and shares the old car’s bench seat with other riders and lets

the driver know when they want to get out. These taxis are primarily used by Cuban citizens and

often cost only twenty Cuban pesos per ride (less than one dollar). Until recently they were not

supposed to pick up foreigners who were expected to take convertible peso taxis. Now while

foreigners are not encouraged to take them, it is not forbidden; it remains a confusing system for

outsiders to navigate. Many of my experiences with the fixed route taxis were riding around

Havana in 2011 with a Cuban friend named Leo who instructed me not to talk in the cab because

my broken Spanish would give me away as a foreigner and they might charge me more. I saw

Leo again in December 2012. He had saved enough money to lease a car that he was licensed to

operate as a taxi driver for tourists and could regularly be found stationed outside the Hotel

Presidente.

203 Isaac Peña, interview with author, January 13, 2013.

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As a black Cuban, Leo’s ability to enter the tourist industry was more difficult than his

white Cuban counterparts. Racism has a long history in Cuba that can be traced to the slave

trade. The revolution gained much of its support from Afro-Cubans who were officially

marginalized under Batista and previous leaders.204 Although Fidel Castro declared that all

Cubans were equal and ended legal discrimination, racism has continued into the present. Racial

preference in tourism-related hiring has inhibited many dark-skinned Cubans from taking more

visible and prestigious positions in the hotel industry. These practices have exacerbated the

nation’s inequality and racism. Foreign journalists and scholars have since pointed out how

tourism has “increased ethnic divisions in Cuba. Rather than helping build and integrate the

nation and strengthening the state, tourism has helped in part to do the opposite in Cuba –

yielding more social division and tension” (Sanchez and Adams 2010, 425-6). Attention to this

issue has prompted more people to acknowledge that racism is still a problem in Cuba and has

helped improve the status of black Cubans, but the problem remains. Norah Long encountered

what she interpreted as a racially biased encounter when the black tour guide hired by Aurora

Herrera was stopped and questioned by a white policewoman.

Bruce and I and our guide were walking. Our guide was black and we were … stopped by a policewoman, some government official, who was very not smiley and asked him lots and lots of questions. We sort of hung back and stayed quiet and our guide nodded, smiled, and talked and showed his Cubadisco badge explaining that we were there for the festival and talked and talked. [She took his papers] and made notes in pen and then handed them back to him. And apparently the same thing happened to him just a few days later when he was there with the students in that same area. I got the impression they didn't seem to have any problem with us they didn't look at us or talk to us at all. So I'm not sure if the issue was that [she thought] he was basically trying to hustle us as Americans or get something from us. Because the impression I got from someone I talked to when I was down there was basically that they want to keep their tourists safe and they want to make sure the country has the appearance of being a very nice place for us to be.205

While the official’s reason for questioning the guide are unknown, it is common practice for

officers in Centro Habana and Habana Vieja to discourage the stereotypically black male

jiniteros from bothering foreign visitors.

204 For a thorough analysis of racial politics in pre-Revolutionary Cuba and the status of black musicians during the Afrocubanismo movement, see Robin Moore’s Nationalizing Blackness (1997). 205 Norah Long, interview with author, November 25, 2013.

196

Another problem that has coincided with the rise of tourism has been the increasing

number of jiniteras and the sex trade on the island. Before the revolution, prostitution was

viewed as the result of U.S. capitalism and hegemony, and it was assumed that the equality of

socialism would eradicate sex work. The economic crisis of the 1990s and influx of tourism have

led to the revitalization of the sex trade in recent years, however. A common joke among Cubans

is that sex is one thing the government is not able to ration. As a male foreigner traveling alone,

offers were hard to avoid. The primarily male ensembles from the U.S. at the 2012 jazz festival

encountered this as well. Isaac Peña recalled one incident:

One club I went to, well, I was taken to by a Norwegian friend, and we had to pay fifteen dollars to get in and it was, it really felt like ninety percent of the women in there were prostitutes and as soon as we walked in they were just all over us, all over me ... I now know what it's like to be a beautiful woman in a club here in the United States. It was strange to have these gorgeous women just throwing themselves at you in a way that really was a turnoff because I never felt so shallow and I wasn't interested in any of that stuff.206

The government has actively tried to curb this practice as Sanchez and Adams explain: “the

continuing existence of commoditized sexual services in socialist Cuba is an embarrassment for

the government and militates against the solidifying socialist ideology and attaining national

goals” (2010, 428). Yet for many of the men and women involved, the sex trade is seen as one of

their few opportunities to get hard currency, make extra money and get ahead.

Despite the challenges it presents, the Cuban economy will continue to depend on

tourism for the foreseeable future. Marinas and golf courses, which were famously mocked by

Fidel Castro in the early years of the revolution, are under construction along with resorts and

other tourism sites. While many of these actions seem to contradict the socialist ideals espoused

by the Cuban government, officials have also hoped to inspire external political sympathies

through tourism, but any results have been minimal. Despite its importance to the economy,

international tourism in Cuba slowed in 2013 compared to the previous years and the difference

has largely been made up by increased tourism within Cuba by Cubans themselves. Between

January and July 2013, 339,470 Cubans stayed in hard-currency hotels, making them the third-

largest contingent behind Canadian and U.S. visitors.207 Tourism and the influx of foreign, hard

206 Isaac Peña, interview with author, January 13, 2013. 207 “Tourism Continues to Slide,” Cuba Standard, November 30, 2013, http://www.cubastandard.com/2013/11/30/tourism-continues-slide-2/ (accessed December 6, 2013).

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currency have allowed the revolutionary Cuban government to survive but simultaneously forced

the Cuban state to transform.

Impressions and Impact

Although tourists from Canada and Europe have impacted the Cuban economy since the

early 1990s, the prominent presence of U.S. citizens has been much more recent. According to

U.S. regulations, these visits cannot be recreational tourism and must adhere to the categories

and restrictions set by the OFAC. The musical interactions that took place from 2009 to 2013

were made possible and justified by the Obama administration in the context of reaching out to

the Cuban people. U.S. politicians critical of expanded travel to Cuba, however, have questioned

whether or not these trips have value and any social or political significance. President Obama

himself addressed this topic when asked about the Juanes performance shortly before it was

scheduled to take place by saying, “My understanding is that he's a terrific musician. He puts on

a very good concert. I certainly don't think it hurts U.S.-Cuban relations, these kinds of cultural

exchanges. I wouldn't overstate the degree that it helps.”208 In terms of immediate impacts, the

President is correct; no single concert will unilaterally bring about democratic reforms to Cuba,

free prisoners, or reset a half-century of antagonistic international relations. Instead, the

significance of increased U.S.-Cuban musical interaction is less direct and obvious.

The direct impact of these musical interactions is far more personal; by affecting an

individual within the context of a larger social network, singular impressions and feelings

emanate outward. Instead of transforming the governance of either country, the greatest long-

term potential for these exchanges may be in impacting ordinary citizens’ opinions about U.S.-

Cuban relations. As personal experiences transform one’s feelings about the topic, they create a

context for future relevant actions.

Beyond a shared desire to return to the country, all of the U.S. musicians who visited

Cuba with whom I spoke had some common impressions and experiences. One was the

bewilderment of performing in events where details ranging from when it would start to what

would be played and who would be participating were negotiable. Norah Long described her

experience with this at Cubadisco:

208 “Obama welcomes controversial Havana concert,” AFP, September 20, 2009, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jjTxZZPfrNOIVuIDu99nwmCXgfCA (accessed December 10, 2012).

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For the concert what I would have expected for the size of the hall, the import of the event I expected one of those tight senses of organization: one of those kind of stay in your dressing room, we'll call you down ten minutes prior or five minutes prior to when you go on, we don't want people hanging out in the wings mentality. But for this concert they wanted us all down in the wings before the concert even started and I sat in the wings sort of having to whisper or not talk for probably, going on for perhaps a full hour before I performed with everyone sort of wandering on the wings and looking on stage from the side, dancing along to some of the music, chatting with each other. Some audience members even came backstage through the side stage door after I had sung and people were thanking me and congratulating me and I thought, where did this person come from? … [When] Nachito played, he's an improv artist for what he does, and a couple of other players who I got the distinct impression were not scheduled to be playing along with him were sort of pushed along from the sidelines and just started jamming with him and stuff. That might happen here at the Dakota Jazz Club, but for a televised event with an audience of two to three thousand people [in the hall] it's just not typical in the states. So that was a very interesting dynamic to watch. Just the flexibility, the go with the flow, if it happens it happens kind of vibe that was present throughout the trip.209

Melissa Deal had a similar reaction when the Minnesota students at Cubadisco were invited to

join Nachito Herrera and the National Symphony Orchestra for a recording. She explained:

We were actually able to play on the recording they were making; it was just a short musical theater piece or something like that. So we showed up and the whole orchestra was waiting in the recording studio. We ended up waiting for about three hours just in the lobby for the studio, and nobody seemed to notice. Nobody seemed to care. Me and the other students were just like what's going on and we were just asking, but everyone's having a drink so whatever. Then the part we recorded was five minutes and everyone leaves. It was so bizarre, and we just sat there. I mean we got used to it.210

Like the other musicians, Will Magid took delays like their late start and power outage in stride.

He also learned that a trip to perform in Cuba needs extra time, something that he is going to take

into consideration when he returns. He reflected, “I think going there for a much longer time is a

good thing because in some ways, five days in Cuba is only like two days in the U.S. in terms of

the amount of things you can get done. Things are canceled, the power is going out, and the

sense of time is a little different. So I guess I want to go for a much longer period of time.”211

209 Norah Long, interview with author, November 25, 2013. 210 Melissa Deal, interview with author, September 26, 2013. 211 Will Magid, interview with author, January 10, 2013.

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The quality of musicianship and dedication to music from musicians and Cuban society

at large awed many of the visitors. The other most commonly shared reaction between U.S.

visitors was how welcome and safe they felt, which reflected my own experiences. Everyone

made some sort of a connection with other people in Cuba that made their experiences there

more meaningful and valuable. Those who stayed at casas particulares often reported developing

a bond with the owner by sharing stories and music. Many had musical experiences with new

acquaintances outside of their scheduled festival performances including going to a dance club or

having brief informal music lessons and jam sessions. People also felt comfortable walking

around the city alone and in small groups. While jiniteros would often be annoying and could

make some walks unpleasant, no one reported feeling threatened at any time.

One of Norah Long’s biggest surprises was how easy it was getting back into the country.

She expected some sort of questioning for coming back from Cuba but was simply welcomed

home. “I have experienced tougher questions traveling from L.A. to Minnesota than I did coming

back from Cuba,” she said.212 Musicians and groups who flew directly from the U.S. to Cuba

were pleasantly surprised in general with how easy it was once any licensing issues were worked

out, and the musicians who traveled through Mexico said that next time they hope to fly direct.

Upon their return to the United States, the musicians dealt with many of the same reactions from

friends and colleagues. The first was surprise that it was even possible for them to go to Cuba

and perform followed by curiosity and questions about what it was like and how they got there.

None of the musicians that I interviewed were from South Florida where they would be more

likely to encounter some negative reactions.

In describing their positive experiences, they increase the likelihood of future exchanges.

Alternatively, negative experiences can be a hindrance to future interaction. Joanne Connolly and

Digna Guerra experienced the lingering impact of a negative experience when they were trying

to organize concerts for Coro de Entrevoces in the United States. According to Joanne Connolly:

I contacted the music department of the University of New Hampshire but the head of the department said “We can't host them. It's too political.” They wouldn't host them or just let us use their facilities for a concert. I talked to the head of the department and it was because he remembered playing in a symphony or something with some Cuban group in New York City that had been really protested.

212 Norah Long, interview with author, November 25, 2013.

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His negative experience performing in a concert with Cuban musicians in the late 1970s stayed

with him and prevented a potential musical interaction more than three decades later.

The musicians returning from Cuba after recent exchanges, however, shared their stories

and have already seen them start to encourage more interaction. After Lisa Hittle got back from

traveling with her Friends University students, another college jazz band director who wanted to

do the same thing contacted her. Hittle plans to share her knowledge and experiences to help

educators all over the country take their students to Cuba, which she described:

Kansas City Community College [is] a two-year community college but has quite a good jazz program and the director and I are friends. He had seen my Facebook posts and stuff like that and contacted me and said, “I think I'd like to do that” and I said, “Go for it.” And there's an organization, [the] Jazz Educator's Network, and they have a yearly conference that moves around. Last year it was in Atlanta and this year it's in Dallas, and I sent in a proposal to do a clinic session on how to take your college band to the Havana Jazz Festival. Unfortunately it did not get accepted, so I don't get to do it but I was disappointed because they're really dying for U.S. bands to come down there but they don't have the means to communicate that to us very well. … People here don't know that they can even do that, let alone what the experience would be like and so I thought this would be a great chance for me to talk to college band directors from all over the nation and say “Hey, you can do this. We did it. It was great. Go do it. It's cheaper than taking the band to Europe.”213

She intends to submit a similar proposal for the next conference and hopes to make the

information available in other ways as well. In doing so, Hittle herself is becoming a bridge and

hub in her own expanding social network. Musical interaction encourages further musical

interaction.

These musical exchanges have other impacts as well; they benefit Cuban musicians and

have been successful in their stated goal of reaching out to the Cuban people. Beyond the direct

influx of hard currency that profits the Cuban government and compensates casa particular

owners, taxi drivers, and musicians playing for tips, there have been other material benefits. The

Friends University jazz band donating musical supplies to the conservatory is not unusual and

greatly assists students who have trouble getting reeds, strings and other musical resources in

Cuba. Beyond material goods, Nachito Herrera argued that these exchanges are mutually

advantageous for both U.S. and Cuban musicians because it reinforces the important musical

connections, similarities and influences in Cuban and American styles. An important

213 Lisa Hittle, interview with author, September 27, 2013.

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contribution that these exchanges have, he explains, is that they “keep enriching the

acknowledgment of both of our countries’ musical styles.”214

The most profound story I heard about how these exchanges positively impact Cuban

artists came from Norah Long. While she was in Havana for Cubadisco, she spent some time

with the recording engineer for Nachito’s album during the extended downtimes and breaks in

the recording process. She was surprised with how straightforward he was in talking about

politics and openly saying that his country needs a new government. Yet the pervasive sense of

malaise in Cuba prevents anyone from doing anything about it, and he pointed to the lack of

incentives for anyone to try and achieve anything in his country. So she asked him, “These

musicians I’m performing with here are phenomenal and incredibly high quality. What motivates

them to do a good job?” And he told her, “Things like this. This interaction right here, and

getting feedback from other people who are good at what they do, telling me I'm doing a good

job. That inspires me. That motivates me to do my job as well as I can.”215

Conclusion

In 2012, Nachito Herrera received an American Heritage Award from the American

Immigration Council, one of three musicians to receive the prize that year. The award is given to

individual immigrants for their outstanding accomplishments and positive contributions to the

United States. The last Latin musician to receive the honor was Carlos Santana. While the award

was for his contributions as a musician and educator in the U.S., perhaps his greatest impact has

been in creating and facilitating connections that extend beyond the United States to Cuba. Most

U.S. musicians who have visited Cuba in recent years to perform have depended on

knowledgeable and connected individuals in their extended personal networks to make the

exchanges possible. Herrera has been active in fostering these exchanges and using his

connections to make them happen, which strengthens his own network while creating new

connections for participating musicians.

New connections and positive experiences result in future musical interactions and other

types of engagement. This has been true each time travel restrictions have been eased allowing

connections to be made. The 1977 jazz cruise gave the members of Irakere their first interaction

with U.S. jazz musicians and led to performances at festivals in the United States and elsewhere.

214 Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera, interview with author, December 8, 2013. 215 Norah Long, interview with author, November 25, 2013.

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The jazz cruise also led to the 1979 Havana Jam festival. More recently Los Van Van was

inspired to return to Miami after hearing Juanes perform in Havana. Likewise many of the

musicians who visited Cuba for the Havana Jazz Festival in 2012 or Cubadisco in 2013 are

already helping to facilitate trips to Cuba for other people they know or planning return trips

themselves. These connections are being made at a rapid pace and musicians are quick to take

advantage of an opportunity to perform in Cuba because the desire to visit the island is already

there.

Musicians and others have wanted to visit Cuba for many reasons, and most want to see

Havana’s major sites including museums, historical landmarks and even beaches on their first

trip to the country. Their travel may be purposeful but it also includes elements of tourism, which

is why these trips are criticized from anti-Castro hardliners in the United States. While many

Cuban American politicians use examples of Americans enjoying themselves on these trips or

going to events organized by the Cuban government as justifications to curtail travel, they have a

partial, simplistic and paternalistic understanding of cultural exchanges and their participants.

The majority of U.S. to Cuba travelers are not simple victims of the Castro government’s

propaganda. People want to visit Cuba because they are curious to learn more about the country

and its people. Most U.S. visitors are well aware of the pervasive propaganda in Cuba and know

to view it with a critical eye.

As evidence that people-to-people travel is merely tourism, Senator Rubio cited dancing

as a form of entertainment and evidence that such tours were not working towards their goal of

connecting with the Cuban people. Musical activity like dancing, however, can provide some of

the most profound connections between peoples. Thomas Turino has described the profound

potential of musical activity while relating it to Turner’s concept of communitas:

One of the main things I seek through musical performance is a particular feeling of being deeply bound to the people I am playing with. This sense is created when my partners and I feel the rhythm in precisely the same way, are totally in sync, and can fashion the sounds we are making so that they interlock seamlessly together. The musical sound provides direct, immediate, and constant feedback on how we are doing; when a performance is good, I get a deep sense of oneness with the people I am playing with. I think that what happens during a good performance is that the multiple differences among us are forgotten and we are fully focused on an activity that emphasizes our sameness – of time sense, of musical sensibility, of common goals – as well as our direct interaction. Within the bounded and concentrated frame of musical performance that sameness is all

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that matters, and for those moments when the performance is focused and in sync, that deep identification is felt as total. (Turino 2008, 18)

I experienced those feelings when participating in FolkCuba while sitting in a room with three

other students and an instructor repeating the same batá rhythms for hours on end until we were

all able to make transitions from one rhythm to the next together using only our instruments to

communicate the changes. Melissa Deal described similar experiences of playing chamber music

with Cuban students. They couldn’t speak the same language very well, but they all played the

same music and were able to connect.

These exchanges benefit Cuban musicians and individuals simply by creating

connections and providing individuals with shared experiences. Life on an island country with

limited opportunities to travel abroad creates an intense desire for connections with the outside as

Tania León previously described. When U.S. musicians visit Cuba it creates connections with the

outside and also increases the potential for Cuban performers to complete the exchange and visit

the United States. Additionally these exchanges have material and financial benefits for Cuban

people and musicians.

As music creates more transnational connections it expands personal networks and

strengthens ties within those networks. In a way the expansion of these social networks through

musical experience mimics biological processes, but instead of being driven by innate survival

instincts it is the passion of individuals that fuels its growth. Musical interaction has the potential

to have a significant social and political impact but it depends on the involvement of individuals

in large numbers. That becomes more likely each time a new individual becomes invested in a

healthy and productive U.S.-Cuban relationship through these experiences. As Cuban musician

Carlos Varela said on a 2009 visit to the United States while playing for legislators in

Washington, “Music is not going to move governments, but it might move people. And people

can move governments.”216

216

Ginger Thompson, “Trying to Sway America’s Cuba Policy with Song,” New York Times, December 28, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/world/americas/29cuba.html?_r=2 (accessed February 5, 2010).

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CONCLUSION When the musicians who I interviewed were asked if they thought music played a role in

international relations they all responded affirmatively. Many of them even treated it as a

ridiculous question because to them the answer was so obvious. Melissa Deal told me:

Even without being able to speak the common language it was so helpful to have a common interest in music. It gave us something to talk about [because] words are similar. When you get down to it, no matter what your politics are and no matter what your living situation is, everyone plays music the same way and everyone loves music.217

While musicians participating in musical exchanges have stressed that their performances were

not political, they also believed that their performances and interactions could help make the

relationship between the U.S. and Cuba more positive. Lisa Hittle concurred with that

assessment: “I absolutely think that all the cultural exchanges we do between the U.S. and Cuba

help foster better relations. Because music is so important to the Cuban people, I think that's a

big way that we can foster relations.”218 She also acknowledged that music connected Cuba and

its northern neighbor for decades, which makes it an ideal medium to encourage a robust

international relationship in the present.

The musical exchanges discussed in this dissertation are the contemporary manifestation

of a once thriving musical discourse, and they demonstrate the aspirations to see that dialogue

resume in full. Musical interaction was common in many genres and musical styles during the

first half of the twentieth century. Individual composers and institutions actively sought to forge

relationships between musicians in the two countries. Cuban music was prominent in popular

songs and dances through the 1950s, and jazz musicians regularly traveled between Havana and

New York while pioneering Latin jazz. After the revolution, however, the musical relationship

between the two countries was severed. The embargo and travel ban were established in the early

1960s and have persisted with few exceptions for over fifty years. When U.S. policy towards

Cuba changed to allow a limited amount of travel and engagement, musicians were often some

of the first people to test new policies and start creating new transnational connections.

The reforms under U.S. President Barack Obama represent only the most recent easing of

restrictions towards Cuba. Both Presidents Carter and Clinton allowed increased travel between

217 Melissa Deal, interview with author, September 26, 2013. 218 Lisa Hittle, interview with author, September 27, 2013.

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the two countries, which directly helped facilitate musical exchanges. Like the current

exchanges, the festivals and tours in the late 1970s and late 1990s and early 2000s created

transnational connections that had the potential to impact the U.S.-Cuban relationship and

policies more broadly. Ned Sublette described this situation after a few years of the Clinton era

reforms:

By 2001, you could feel the difference in Havana. A significant number of Cuban musicians had by then been to the United States and jammed with their American counterparts, and American musicians visiting Cuba were honored guests. Meanwhile, in New York, the influence of the Cubans was audible in the city’s music. Collaborations thrived despite arcane legal prohibitions. Friendships grew. People fell in love and got married, finding themselves with family in both countries. Artists were pioneering the work of tying the two societies together under conditions of mutual respect. It gave them a vision of what it might be like if the world were normal. (Sublette 2004c, 77)

However, the chance for musical exchanges to make any broader socioeconomic impact was cut

short when the George W. Bush administration stopped issuing visas to Cuban artists and ended

licenses for purposeful travel and people-to-people travel to Cuba. Very quickly the networks

that were created by a few years of cultural exchange were severed and forced to contract. Some

Cubans had to decide whether they would return to Cuba or remain permanently in the United

States while legal travel options for American musicians disappeared. Whether or not the current

policies and the musical exchanges they have allowed are merely another temporary reprieve in

the history of U.S.-Cuban relations or truly represent the “new beginning” with Cuba that

President Obama called for in 2009 remains to be seen.

Under Barack Obama and Raúl Castro, the changes in the U.S.-Cuban relationship have

been minimal, but the easing of the travel ban and reforms to the Cuban system are significant.

There are only a few licensable categories that allow for musical exchange, but the interactions

that these licensed trips have facilitated are encouraging further changes in international relations

as they continue. There is a strong desire on the part of musicians to take part in these exchanges,

and the friction that arises from attempts to travel between the U.S. and Cuba to participate is

productive. Each legal trip and performance increases the likelihood of future connections

because challenges are discovered and resolved to create routes for potentially smoother musical

flows. While controversies and failed exchanges are problematic, they bring attention to the

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inconsistencies in U.S. policies towards Cuba and make people aware of legal opportunities to

visit Cuba.

Numerous musicians from the United States have faced challenges to perform in the

Havana Jazz Plaza Festival since legal travel has again been made possible. The Friends

University Jazz Ensemble, Will Magid Quartet, and Trio Los Vigilantes faced numerous hurdles

getting to Cuba, and then had to deal with additional complications once they were in the

country; yet they all declared their trips to have been valuable and worth repeating. During the

festival, nations and cultures were able to speak to one another through jazz, and the sounds that

emerged can be heard as a call for new sociopolitical arrangements.

The turbulent U.S.-Cuban relationship and discontinuity of interactions are the result of

local and regional issues in the United States as much as international political tensions. The

negative reaction many Cuban artists have received in Miami is correlated with the strong

opposition to cultural exchange by South Florida politicians. But demographics and political

formations in the region have been changing along with reactions to Cuban musicians. These

Cuban performers carefully distance themselves from any overtly political stance, but political

questions and readings cannot be avoided no matter where they are in the country. Throughout

the U.S. there is an interest and curiosity among the public that drives a desire to hear Cuban

performers and illustrates the aspiration for further U.S.-Cuban engagement and musical

interaction.

Curiosity is one of many reasons people from the U.S. cite for visiting Cuba. For some a

trip to Cuba is akin to a pilgrimage while for others it is for leisure and entertainment. Most

musicians, however, depend on well-connected and knowledgeable individuals in their personal

networks to facilitate their international performances. Individuals like Nachito Herrera have

functioned as bridges between personal networks in Cuba and the U.S., and by fostering musical

exchanges these individuals are creating new connections and networks that enable further

interaction. These exchanges benefit the musicians from both countries in various ways, and the

social networks they create increase the likelihood of larger sociopolitical change.

Yet the future of U.S.-Cuban musical exchanges is uncertain. A number of politicians

want to roll back all of the recent travel reforms for personal and political reasons, and Cuba

policy is a very low priority for most other policy makers. While U.S. policy towards Cuba has

been primarily shaped by electoral considerations related to Florida and the clout of the Miami

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exile community, recent movement towards increased commerce and travel has come from

elsewhere in the country. Politicians from Midwestern states including Nachito Herrera’s current

home of Minnesota have taken trips to Cuba to encourage agricultural trade and even introduced

legislation to end the travel ban, which has yet to gain any momentum. Musicians try to avoid

politics when participating in musical exchanges, but they depend on politicians who will

promote policies allowing travel to continue.

While musical interaction continues to bring the U.S. and Cuba closer together, this story

is incomplete. My research experiences have led me to encourage others to participate in a U.S.-

Cuban exchange if possible; the opportunity to enjoy Cuba’s music and interact with its people is

something I want more individuals to experience. Musical exchanges have exposed both the

possibilities and limitations of current regulations, and interest in traveling between the U.S. and

Cuba is only increasing. As the future of these policies continues to be debated, music is helping

to negotiate differences and find commonalities while creating connections between individuals

on both sides of the Florida Straits. The resulting networks can be understood as a reflection of

U.S. and Cuban aspirations for diplomatic and transnational ties and our common desire for a

better future.

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APPENDIX A

OFAC CUBA TRAVEL LICENSE GUIDELINES

Revised April 19, 2011

COMPREHENSIVE GUIDELINES FOR LICENSE APPLICATIONS

TO ENGAGE IN TRAVEL-RELATED TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING CUBA

OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

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Introduction The Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 515 (the “Regulations”), administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), prohibit persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States from engaging in transactions in which Cuba or a Cuban national has any interest whatsoever, direct or indirect, including transactions related to travel.219

These Comprehensive Guidelines for License Applications to Engage in Travel-Related

Transactions Involving Cuba (the “Application Guidelines”) are intended to promote the transparency, timeliness, and consistency of OFAC licensing determinations. The Application Guidelines are also intended to assist persons who wish to engage in travel-related transactions involving Cuba in making their own determinations as to whether their travel is authorized by a general license (i.e., where no application is needed) or to assess whether their activities might fall within one of the categories for which a specific license may be granted (i.e., where an application is required). The Application Guidelines are intended to establish reliable, defined parameters for the application process to ensure that qualifying travel-related transactions are authorized while reducing the potential for illegal tourist activities.

The Application Guidelines contain a brief overview of the activities for which travel-related transactions either (1) are authorized pursuant to a general license, or (2) may be authorized pursuant to a specific license. The Application Guidelines then address in separate sections each of the activities and set forth the criteria that must be adequately addressed by each applicant applying for a specific license. Examples and other information are also included under most sections, as well as the address to which applications should be sent.

The Application Guidelines should not be relied upon as a substitute for the

Regulations. It is the responsibility of individuals wishing to engage in travel-related

transactions involving Cuba to demonstrate or document that their proposed activities

in Cuba are authorized by a general license or, with respect to qualification for specific

licenses, that they meet the application criteria set forth in the Application Guidelines.

OFAC may request additional information beyond that provided for in these

Application Guidelines to determine whether an applicant qualifies for a license.

Meeting all of the relevant specific licensing criteria in a given section does not

guarantee that a specific license will be issued, as foreign policy considerations and

additional factors may be considered by OFAC in making its licensing determinations. Applications that fail to identify an applicable licensable activity or fail to adequately address the application criteria relevant to that activity, generally will be denied. In some cases, OFAC may request supplemental information before making a determination. Authorization to

219 Section 910 of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, Pub. L.106-387(“TSRA”), provides that OFAC may only license travel-related transactions involving activities “expressly authorized in. . . paragraphs (1) through (12) of section 515.560 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, or in any section referred to in any of such paragraphs (1) through (12) (as such sections were in effect on June 1, 2000).” Any activity falling outside of these twelve categories is defined in this section of TSRA as “tourist activities” and may not be authorized by either a general or specific license. This statutory restriction was incorporated into the Regulations in section 515.560(b).

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engage in travel- related transactions involving Cuba is not transferable, and specific licenses are not granted as a matter of right. Authorization extended to any individual does not extend under either a general or specific license to individuals who do not qualify in their own right under applicable criteria. Failure to properly use and, where applicable, oversee use of a specific license may result in suspension or revocation of the license and, in certain circumstances, referral to OFAC’s Enforcement Division for possible penalty action.

Travel-related transactions involving Cuba that are not authorized under a general or specific license contained in or issued pursuant to the Regulations are prohibited and subject to enforcement and penalty provisions set forth in Subpart D of the Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 501, and OFAC’s Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines published in Appendix A to Part 501.

These Application Guidelines supersede and replace any licensing application guidelines previously issued by OFAC concerning travel to Cuba. The Application Guidelines may be amended or modified from time to time as circumstances warrant. Refer to the current version of the Application Guidelines on OFAC’s website at http://www.treasury.gov/resource- center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cuba_tr_app.pdf. The effective date of the Application Guidelines appears on the bottom right-hand corner of each page.

General Licenses

The Regulations currently contain eight general licenses authorizing travel-related transactions involving Cuba. General licenses constitute blanket authorization for those transactions set forth in the relevant regulation. No further permission from OFAC is required to engage in transactions covered by a general license. Individuals wishing to engage in the following activities involving Cuba should first review the general license contained in the Regulations to determine whether their travel-related transactions are covered by a general license:

1) visiting “close relatives” who are nationals of Cuba or visiting “close relatives”

who are U.S. Government employees assigned to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba (See Section I below);

2) official business travel by officials of the U.S. Government, foreign

governments, or intergovernmental organizations of which the United States is a member (See Section II below);

3) journalistic activities by persons regularly employed as journalists by a news

reporting organization or by persons regularly employed as supporting broadcast or technical personnel (See Section III below);

4) professional research conducted by full-time professionals in their

professional areas, attendance at certain professional meetings or conferences organized by international professional organizations, or participation in

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certain telecommunications-related professional meetings (See Section IV below);

5) educational activities by faculty, staff, and students of accredited U.S.

graduate and undergraduate degree-granting academic institutions (See Section V below);

6) religious activities under the auspices of a religious organization located in the United

States (See Section VI below);

7) the commercial marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing in Cuba of telecommunications-related items that have been authorized for commercial export or re-export by employees of, or an entity duly appointed to represent, a telecommunications services provider (See Section XII below);

8) the commercial marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing

in Cuba of agricultural commodities, medicine, or medical devices by employees of a producer or distributor or an entity duly appointed to represent a producer or distributor (See Section XII below).

Specific licenses are not issued for transactions that are authorized pursuant to the provisions of a general license. See 31 C.F.R. § 501.801(a). Those individuals who determine that their activities are authorized by a general license must be able to document that their travel qualifies under that general license and must keep records that are required to be furnished to OFAC or other law enforcement officials (e.g., U.S. Customs and Border Protection) upon demand for a period of five years after the travel transactions take place. See 31 C.F.R. §§ 501.601, 501.602.

Specific Licenses

OFAC will consider the issuance of specific licenses on a case-by-case basis to permit travel-related transactions where the proposed activity is not covered by a general license but is addressed by one of the statements of licensing policy listed in section 515.560(a) and set forth in related sections of the Regulations. A specific license applicant must wait for OFAC to issue the license prior to engaging in travel-related transactions.

Individuals wishing to engage in the following travel-related transactions involving Cuba should first review the specific license policies to determine whether their activities may qualify for a specific license:

1) visiting a close relative who is neither a national of Cuba nor a U.S. Government

employee assigned to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba (See Section I below);

2) journalistic activities for a free-lance journalistic project (See Section III below);

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3) professional research and professional meetings that do not qualify for the general license

(See Section IV below);

4) academic educational activities not authorized by the general license for accredited U.S. graduate or undergraduate degree-granting academic institutions (See Section V below);

5) educational exchanges not involving academic study pursuant to a degree program

and that take place under the auspices of an organization that promotes people-to-people contact (See Section V below);

6) academic seminars, conferences, and workshops related to Cuba or global issues

involving Cuba and sponsored or co-sponsored by the traveler’s accredited U.S. graduate or undergraduate academic institution (See Section V below);

7) religious activities not authorized by the general license for religious organizations

located in the United States (See Section VI below); 8) athletic competitions by amateur or semi-professional athletes or teams selected by

the relevant U.S. federation (See Section VII below);

9) participation in a public performance, clinic, workshop, other athletic or non-athletic competition, or exhibition in Cuba (See Section VII below);

10) activities intended to provide support for the Cuban people (See Section VIII);

11) humanitarian projects in or related to Cuba designed to directly benefit the Cuban

people (See Section IX below);

12) activities by private foundations or research or educational institutes that have an established interest in international relations to collect information related to Cuba for noncommercial purposes (See Section X below);

13) activities related to the exportation, importation, or transmission of

information or informational materials (See Section XI below);

14) the marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing in Cuba of exports that appear consistent with the export or re-export licensing policy of the Department of Commerce and that are not authorized by a general license (See Section XII below); and

15) the marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing of medicine,

medical supplies, or certain telecommunications equipment by a U.S.-owned or -controlled firm in a third country to Cuba (See Section XII below).

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How to Apply for a Specific License A written application in letter format with relevant supporting documentation must be made to OFAC to obtain a specific license. Alternatively, an applicant may use OFAC’s automated online process to complete an application form, which must be printed, signed and mailed to OFAC. To use the online form process, go to https://cubatravel.ofac.treas.gov/. We recommend that you submit an application to OFAC no later than 45 days prior to the proposed date of departure.

For individuals who wish to apply by submitting an application in letter format, the contents of a letter application should be structured in a manner that adequately addresses all the applicable criteria for that category. To facilitate review, applications may be typed in an outline format with a header citing the category of travel and addressing each application criterion and other relevant information. In most circumstances, the receipt of an application will automatically generate an acknowledgment letter, assigning a case number that should be referenced in all subsequent oral and written communication with OFAC concerning the application. You may also use your case number to obtain the status of your application by contacting our automated voice response system at (202) 622-2480.

Persons specifically licensed must keep records that are required to be furnished to OFAC or other law enforcement officials (e.g., U.S. Customs and Border Protection) upon demand for a period of five years after the travel transactions take place. See 31 C.F.R. §§ 501.601 and 501.602.

Persons seeking to offer services as a Travel Service Provider, Carrier Service Provider, and/or Remittance Forwarder (each, a “Service Provider”) should be guided by the Travel, Carrier, and Remittance Forwarding Service Provider Circular issued by OFAC, as amended or superseded, which is available on OFAC’s web site. Application to become a Service Provider should be made only to the following address: Office of Foreign Assets Control, P.O. Box 229008, Miami, FL 33222-9008. If you have any questions about the Service Provider Program, including the application process, please call (786) 845-2828.

Requests to Extend or Renew Specific Licenses

When applying to extend or renew a license, please be sure to reference the license number in your application. You must also include an explanation why an extension or renewal is necessary and a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the original license. Please append to the submission a complete copy of the license, including related license amendments, if any.

Arranging Authorized Travel to Cuba

Authorized travelers may make their travel arrangements through an OFAC-authorized Travel Service Provider (“TSP”) and may board direct charter flights departing from any U.S. international airport approved by the Department of Homeland Security for such flights. To obtain a current list of TSPs, you may consult our website at

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http://www.treasury.gov/resource- center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cuba_tsp.pdf or dial our fax-on-demand service at (202) 622-0077 and request document number 1207. The TSP will require you to provide a copy of your specific license or to certify that you qualify under a general license. Authorized travelers wishing to make their own travel arrangements without the use of a TSP must handle those arrangements directly with travel service providers that are located outside the United States and that are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

Authorized Exportation of Merchandise for Personal Use

Authorized travelers to Cuba may only take with them items authorized for export from the United States to Cuba under the Export Administration Regulations, 15 C.F.R. Parts 730-774 (the “EAR”), administered by the Department of Commerce. The EAR currently provide general authorization to carry to Cuba certain personal effects and accompanied baggage. For questions related to the licensing requirements for the exportation of goods to Cuba, please contact the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security at (202) 482-4811.

Prohibited Importation of Merchandise with the Exception of Cuban-Origin Information

and Informational Materials Pursuant to sections 515.204 and 515.560(c)(3) of the Regulations, authorized travelers are prohibited from importing into the United States any merchandise purchased or otherwise acquired in Cuba, including but not limited to cigars and alcohol, whether as accompanied baggage or otherwise. The importation of Cuban-origin information and informational materials, as defined in section 515.332 of the Regulations (for example, publications, films, posters, phonograph records, photographs, tapes, compact discs, and artworks classified under Chapter subheadings 9701, 9702, or 9703 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States) is exempt from the prohibition.

Authorized Travel-Related Transactions Persons authorized to engage in Cuba travel-related transactions are allowed to engage in all transportation-related transactions ordinarily incident to travel to and from (but not within) Cuba without any expenditure limitations. Transactions considered to be incident to travel and thus authorized under general or specific licenses are set forth in section 515.560(c) of the Regulations. Authorized travelers also may engage in all transactions ordinarily incident to travel anywhere within Cuba, such as hotel accommodations, meals, local transportation, and goods personally used by the traveler in Cuba, provided that the total for such expenses does not exceed the State Department per diem rate allowance for Havana, Cuba, in place during the period that the travel takes place, unless the authorized activities require increased expenditures. Please consult the Department of State’s Office of Allowances Website at (http://aoprals.state.gov) for the current rate. See 31 C.F.R. § 515.560(c).) The Regulations also authorize most licensed travelers to engage in additional transactions that are directly incident to carrying out the activities for which their travel-related transactions are authorized.

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United States Interests Section Persons authorized to travel to Cuba may also visit the U.S. Interests Section in Havana (“USINT”) while in Cuba for additional information that may be helpful in conducting their activities. USINT offers U.S. visitors information about the Cuban government, Cuban culture and society, and U.S. foreign policy. USINT also offers various services to U.S. visitors, including general briefings, contact information for Cuban officials, and a full range of consular services such as passport replacement and emergency assistance. USINT encourages all travelers to visit its website at http://havana.usint.gov/ and to contact USINT directly prior to your trip to Cuba at Ask-USINT@state.gov. USINT is located on Calzada between L & M Streets, Vedado, Havana, tel. 537-833-3551.

Should you have any questions regarding the Application Guidelines or the Regulations, you may contact OFAC’s Licensing Division at (202) 622-2480.

I. FAMILY VISITS – 31 C.F.R. § 515.561 General license to visit a close relative who is a national of Cuba or a close relative who

is a U.S. Government employee assigned to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba

— 31 C.F.R. § 515.561(a):

Section 515.561(a) sets forth general licenses authorizing a person (the “family visitor”) to visit a close relative who is a national of Cuba or who is a U.S. Government employee assigned to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba. A “close relative” is defined as any individual related to a person (in this context, the family visitor) by blood, marriage, or adoption who is no more than three generations removed from that person or from a common ancestor with that person. See 31 C.F.R. § 515.339. In addition, the section authorizes any person who shares a common dwelling as a family with a family visitor to accompany the family visitor on such a visit. A family visitor may engage in transactions ordinarily incident to travel and additional transactions directly incident to visiting a close relative.

Individuals who qualify for these general licenses should review section 515.561 and section 515.560(c) of the Regulations. General licenses constitute blanket authorization for those transactions set forth in the relevant regulation. For persons satisfying all criteria and conditions in a general license, no further permission from OFAC is required to engage in transactions authorized by that general license. Each person engaging in transactions, including travel-related transactions, under a general license must be able to document how he or she qualifies under the general license.

Application criteria for specific licenses to visit a close relative who is neither a national

of Cuba nor a U.S. Government employee assigned to the U.S. Interests Section in

Havana, Cuba —31 C.F.R. § 515.561(b):

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If you wish to engage in travel-related transactions and additional transactions that are directly incident to visiting a close relative who is neither a national of Cuba nor a U.S. Government employee assigned to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, you must apply for a specific license pursuant to section 515.561(b) in the form of a letter to OFAC providing the following information or by using OFAC’s online application form (see page 7):

1. Identify yourself. Furnish your name, address, and daytime phone number.

2. Identify the type of travel. State your request for a specific license under section 515.561(b) of the Regulations to engage in travel-related transactions and additional transactions directly incident to visiting a close relative who is neither a national of Cuba nor a U.S. Government employee assigned to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.

3. Identify the person in Cuba whom you wish to visit. Please provide the name of and state your relationship to the person you wish to visit in Cuba ( e.g., uncle), and confirm that the individual in Cuba is not a Cuban national.

4. Specify the OFAC authorization, if any, on which the person you wish to visit is relying. State which specific or general license, if any, authorizes the person you seek to visit to engage in transactions in Cuba. 5. Provide a point of contact for the licensed entity, if any. If the person you seek to visit is authorized either by a general license or by a specific license issued to an entity (e.g., a religious organization or an educational institution), provide the name and phone number of a contact person at the licensed organization. This person must be aware of the details of the situation affecting the person you seek to visit.

6. Identify the situation in Cuba that gives rise to your application. Describe what has happened and why your presence in Cuba is necessary.

Note regarding visits to close relatives: For the purpose of this section, the term national of

Cuba means any subject or citizen of Cuba as well as any permanent resident of Cuba, except an individual who is in Cuba pursuant to an OFAC license. An individual who is merely traveling in Cuba is not a “national of Cuba.”

II. OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT TRAVEL – 31 C.F.R. § 515.562 General license for officials of the United States Government, any foreign government, or

any intergovernmental organization of which the United States is a member and who are

traveling on the official business of their government or international organization — 31

C.F.R. § 515.562: Section 515.562(a) sets forth a general license authorizing travel-related transactions and additional transactions as are directly incident to activities in their official capacities by persons who are officials of the United States Government, any foreign government, or any

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intergovernmental organization of which the United States is a member and who are traveling on the official business of their government or international organization.

Individuals who qualify for the general license should review section 515.562 and section 515.560(c) of the Regulations. General licenses constitute blanket authorization for those transactions set forth in the relevant regulation. For persons satisfying all criteria and conditions in a general license, no further permission from OFAC is required to engage in transactions authorized by that general license. Each person engaging in transactions, including travel-related transactions, under a general license must be able to document how he or she qualifies under the general license.

III. JOURNALISTIC ACTIVITIES – 31 C.F.R. § 515.563 General license for journalistic activities by persons regularly employed as

journalists or as supporting broadcast or technical personnel — 31 C.F.R. §

515.563(a): Section 515.563(a) sets forth a general license authorizing certain travel-related and additional transactions that are directly incident to journalistic activities in Cuba by persons regularly employed as journalists by a news reporting organization or by persons regularly employed as supporting broadcast or technical personnel. Individuals who qualify for this license should review section 515.563(a) and section 515.560(c) of the Regulations. General licenses constitute blanket authorization for those transactions set forth in the relevant regulation. For persons satisfying all criteria and conditions in a general license, no further permission from OFAC is required to engage in transactions authorized by that general license. Each person engaging in transactions, including travel- related transactions, under a general license must be able to document how he or she qualifies under the general license. Examples:

Licensed: Example 1: A local television station wishes to send regularly employed reporters and supporting broadcast personnel to Cuba to cover a news story. The reporters’ and support personnel’s journalistic activities in Cuba qualify for the general license.

Example 2: An organization that disseminates news images wishes to send two of its regularly employed photojournalists to Cuba to take pictures of a news event that the organization will post for sale on its website. Such activities in Cuba by the photojournalists qualify for the general license.

Application criteria for specific licenses for engaging in certain transactions directly

incident to journalistic activities in Cuba for a free-lance journalistic project – 31 C.F.R.

§ 515.563(b):

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If you wish to engage in travel-related transactions and additional transactions that are directly incident to journalistic activities in Cuba for a free-lance journalistic project, you must apply for a specific license pursuant to section 515.563(b) in the form of a letter to OFAC or by using OFAC’s online application form (see page 7) providing the following information:

1. Identify yourself. Furnish your name, address, and daytime phone number.

2. Identify the type of travel. State your request for a specific license under section 515.563(b) of the Regulations to engage in travel-related transactions to, from, and within Cuba that are directly incident to journalistic activities in Cuba for a free-lance journalistic project.

3. Describe the duration of the proposed travel. Set forth the proposed dates and duration of the trip. If multiple trips are proposed, indicate the proposed dates and duration of each trip and provide a justification as to why multiple trips are necessary. 4. State the subject matter and describe the research. State the proposed journalistic project’s subject matter and provide a detailed description of the proposed journalistic activities in Cuba that would be the basis for the free-lance journalistic project.

5. Identify the proposed news media organization. Identify the news media organization(s) to which you intend to submit the product of your free-lance journalistic project.

6. Document your qualifications. Provide a copy of your resume or similar document showing your record of journalism in the news media within the past three years. Free-lance journalists who cannot demonstrate a record of journalism in the news media within the past three years normally will not qualify for a license. Periodic journalism projects based solely on personal travel experience normally will not qualify as demonstration of a record of journalism.

7. Provide a detailed itinerary. Set forth a detailed itinerary demonstrating that the proposed journalistic activities constitute a full-work schedule that could not be accomplished in a shorter period of time.

8. Extensions & renewals. When applying for an extension or renewal of a license, please be sure to reference the license number in your application and include the following:

(a) an explanation why an extension or renewal is necessary;

(b) a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the

license and any license amendments. The report should include a detailed description of each activity and the dates of travel of each trip; and

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(c) a complete copy of the license and any license amendments.

9. Sign your letter. Your signature is your certification that the statements in your application are true and accurate.

Note: Specific licenses may be issued pursuant to this section authorizing transactions for multiple trips to Cuba over an extended period of time by applicants demonstrating a significant record of journalism.

For questions related to the licensing requirements for the exportation of equipment and other goods from the United States to Cuba, please contact the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security at (202) 482-4811.

Examples:

Potentially licensable under current policy

Example 1: A free-lance writer wishes to travel to Cuba to write a series of articles on Cuban music. The writer has a significant record of publication during the past three years and will have his articles published in a newspaper.

Example 2: A free-lance photo-journalist with a significant record of publication of her photographs over the past three years as a sports photographer wishes to travel to Cuba to photograph specific sporting events. The photographs will be used in a photo essay in a magazine.

Normally not licensable under current policy

Example 1: An avid traveler whose personal travelogues are published periodically in a local newspaper wishes to get a first-hand impression of Cuba and write about the experience. The application contains a description of activities that include visiting popular locations, video recording local cultural scenes, and taking contemporaneous notes regarding personal impressions of the sights and scenes. Past journalistic projects based solely on personal travel experience normally will not qualify as demonstration of a record of journalism and therefore a license would not be granted.

Example 2: A professional photographer wishes to take photographs for the purpose of publishing a pictorial book about Cuba. Her itinerary consists of travel to obtain first impressions and find interesting faces and scenery. This is not a journalistic project and therefore a license would not be granted.

Note: Full-time professionals conducting research of an academic nature in their professional areas who intend to, for example, publish an article in a professional journal, should consult section 515.564 of the Regulations. (See also Application Guidelines at page 16.)

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IV. PROFESSIONAL RESEARCH & PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS – 31 C.F.R. §

515.564 General license for certain professional research and attendance at certain

meetings or conferences - 31 C.F.R. § 515.564(a): Section 515.564(a) sets forth general licenses authorizing certain travel-related and additional transactions that are directly incident to full-time professionals conducting professional research in Cuba, attending certain international professional organization meetings or conferences in Cuba, and attending certain professional meetings related to the provision of telecommunications services.

Research requires a full work schedule of noncommercial, academic research that has a substantial likelihood of public dissemination and is in the traveler’s professional area.

International professional organization meetings or conferences must be organized by an international professional organization, institution, or association headquartered outside the United States (unless licensed by OFAC) that regularly sponsors meetings or conferences in other countries. A professional organization headquartered in the United States cannot organize or hold a meeting or conference in Cuba without a specific license issued by OFAC. In addition, the meetings or conferences may not be for the purpose of promoting tourism in Cuba or other commercial activities involving Cuba that are normally not licensable under current U.S. policy and may not be intended primarily for the purpose of fostering production of any biotechnological products.

Professional telecommunications-related meetings must be for the commercial marketing of, sales negotiation for, or performance under contracts for the provision of telecommunications services, or the establishment of facilities to provide telecommunications services, that are authorized by paragraphs (b), (c), or (d)(1) of section 515.542.

Please review section 515.564(a) of the Regulations and section 515.560(c) of the Regulations. For meetings related to the provision of telecommunications-related services, please review sections 515.533(f) and 515.564(a)(3) of the Regulations.

General licenses constitute blanket authorization for those transactions set forth in the relevant regulation. For persons satisfying all criteria and conditions in a general license, no further permission from OFAC is required to engage in transactions authorized by that general license. Each person engaging in transactions, including travel-related transactions, under a general license must be able to document how he or she qualifies under the general license.

Examples:

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Licensed

Example 1: An international professional association of jurists headquartered in England organizes an annual training conference. This year the conference will be held in Cuba. The prior venues for this conference have included locations in Spain, China, and Mexico. The general license is applicable to individuals who are full-time professionals.

Example 2: A university professor with a specialty in plant disease wishes to conduct a full-time schedule of non-commercial research in Cuba because his background research indicates that Cuba may have a plant strain that is resistant to disease. He plans to disseminate his findings in scholarly articles. Example 3: Employees of a telecommunications services provider that is a person subject to U.S. jurisdiction wish to travel to Cuba to negotiate a roaming services agreement with a Cuban telecommunications services provider or to establish facilities linking the United States and Cuba.

Not licensed

Example 1: A company located in Brazil organizes professional conferences to be held in various countries and has organized a conference to be held in Cuba. Although the conference is endorsed by many international professional organizations and associations, the general license for conference attendance does not apply because the organizer of the conference is not an international professional organization, institution, or association.

Example 2: A Cuban organization has organized an international conference that is endorsed by several professional organizations in third countries. This conference does not qualify under the general license because it is not organized by an international professional organization, institution, or association that holds conferences in various international locations.

Example 3: Employees of a telecommunications services provider that is a person subject to U.S. jurisdiction wish to travel to Cuba to negotiate a contract to establish facilities to provide telecommunication services linking third countries and Cuba.

Application criteria for specific licenses for other professional research, meetings, or

conferences – 31 C.F.R. § 515.564(b):

If you wish to conduct professional research or attend professional meetings or conferences in Cuba that do not qualify for the general license in section 515.564(a), you must apply for a specific license pursuant to section 515.564(b) in the form of a letter to OFAC or by using OFAC’s online application form (see page 7) providing the following information:

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1. Identify yourself. Furnish your name, address, and daytime phone number.

2. Identify your organization. If you are applying on behalf of an organization, describe the organization and its goals/objectives. If available, provide a copy of a brochure or other literature describing typical activities it undertakes.

3. Identify the type of travel. State your request for a specific license under section 515.564(b) of the Regulations to engage in transactions directly incident to professional research or attendance at a professional meeting or conference or for the organization of a professional meeting or conference in Cuba that does not qualify for the general license under section 515.564(a).

4. Describe duration of the proposed travel. Set forth the proposed dates and duration of trip. If multiple trips are proposed, indicate dates and duration of each trip and justification as to why multiple trips are necessary. Multiple trips to Cuba over an extended period of time may be requested and authorized for applicants demonstrating a significant record of research. 5. Describe the proposed research or meeting/conference.

(a) Research: Provide a detailed description of the research you propose to conduct in Cuba. A detailed description of the research should include (1) a statement of the thesis, (2) a description of the research plan or methodology, (3) a description of the quantity and the nature of the resources you will be using, e.g., archives, interviews, etc., and (4) how you plan to utilize or disseminate the product of your research.

(b) Meeting/Conference: Describe the meeting or conference and the subject matter involved. Name the entity organizing the meeting or conference, if any, and indicate where it is headquartered. Furnish a copy of the meeting/conference program and/or agenda. Clearly articulate why your attendance at the particular meeting/conference is necessary. Specific licenses will not be issued pursuant to section 515.564(b) simply because a professional does not qualify under the general license in section 515.564(a).

6. Document your qualifications. Provide evidence of your professional qualifications, including, at a minimum, a copy of your resume or curriculum vitae. Discuss how your professional background or area of expertise is related to the subject matter you wish to research or the meeting or conference you wish to attend. In addition, please describe past research you have conducted that is of a similar nature to the type you wish to conduct in Cuba.

7. Extensions & renewals. When applying for an extension or renewal of a license, be sure to reference the license number in your application and also include the following:

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(a) an explanation why an extension or renewal is necessary;

(b) a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the license and any amendments. The report should include a detailed description of each activity, the dates of travel of each trip, and the number of individuals that traveled on each trip; and

(c) a complete copy of the license and any license amendments.

8. Sign your letter. Your signature is your certification that the statements in your application are true and accurate.

Note: For questions related to the licensing requirements for the exportation of goods from the United States to Cuba, please contact the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security at (202) 482-4811.

Examples: Examples are set forth in section 515.564 of the Regulations. Additional examples are provided below.

Potentially licensable under current policy

Example 1: An estate attorney is handling a probate case in the United States in which a Cuban national is named as an heir. The attorney needs to gather information relevant to a conclusive determination regarding the Cuban national’s entitlement that can only be ascertained by conducting research in Cuba. Licensing policy in such instances favors facilitating the resolution of legal proceedings. Example 2: A professional writer or film maker with expertise in a certain subject wishes to travel to Cuba to engage in research necessary to produce a documentary book or film on that subject that will be published or otherwise distributed. (Please note that the making of a film absent the conduct of specific research would not qualify for a license under this section.) The making of a documentary film is a legitimate basis for issuing a license only if it is a vehicle for the presentation of the research.

Example 3: An expert in orthopedic medicine seeks to travel to Cuba to attend an orthopedic conference organized solely by a Cuban entity and not by any international organization. The conference concludes with a two-day tour of medical clinics where certain procedures used only in Cuba will be observed first-hand.

Normally not licensable under current policy

Example 1: A railroad hobbyist desires to research aging locomotives in Cuba. The Regulations provide that licenses are not granted for travel in pursuit of a hobby or research for personal satisfaction only.

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Example 2: A group of architects wants to arrange a sight-seeing trip to view the architecture of Old Havana. This does not constitute research and would not qualify for a license since it constitutes travel for personal satisfaction only.

Example 3: Oil company engineers want to research Cuba’s offshore oil reserves. Current policy does not support issuing licenses authorizing travel transactions related to research of a commercial nature with commercial ramifications designed to position a company’s entry into the Cuban market.

V. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES - 31 C.F.R. § 515.565 General license for certain educational activities of accredited U.S. graduate or

undergraduate academic institutions – 31 C.F.R. § 515.565(a): Section 515.565(a) sets forth a general license authorizing accredited U.S. graduate and undergraduate degree-granting academic institutions, including faculty, staff, and students of such institutions, to engage in travel-related transactions and such additional transactions that are directly incident to:

(a)(1) Participation in a structured educational program in Cuba as part of a course offered for credit by the sponsoring U.S. academic institution;

(a)(2) Noncommercial academic research in Cuba specifically related to Cuba and for the purpose of obtaining a graduate degree;

(a)(3) Participation in a formal course of study at a Cuban academic institution, provided the formal course of study in Cuba will be accepted for credit toward the student’s graduate or undergraduate degree;

(a)(4) Teaching at a Cuban academic institution by an individual regularly employed in a teaching capacity at the sponsoring U.S. academic institution, provided the teaching activities are related to an academic program at the Cuban institution and provided the duration of the teaching will be no shorter than 10 weeks;

(a)(5) Sponsorship, including the payment of a stipend or salary, of a Cuban scholar to teach or engage in other scholarly activity at the sponsoring U.S. academic institution; or

(a)(6) The organization of, and preparation for, activities described in (a)(1)-(5) above by members of the faculty and staff of the sponsoring U.S. academic institution.

General licenses constitute blanket authorization for those transactions set forth in the relevant regulation. For persons satisfying all criteria and conditions in a general license, no further permission from OFAC is required to engage in transactions authorized by that general license.

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Each person engaging in transactions, including travel-related transactions, under a general license must be able to document how he or she qualifies under the general license.

Note: It is a requirement of the general license that travelers to Cuba authorized pursuant to this provision carry letters on official letterhead signed by a designated representative of the sponsoring academic institution (defined as a person designated by the relevant dean or the academic vice- president, provost, or president of the institution as the official responsible for overseeing the institution’s Cuba travel program). Please refer to the relevant subsection within section 515.565(a) for more specific information concerning the necessary contents of such letters. In addition, U.S. academic institutions and individual travelers must retain records related to the transactions authorized pursuant to this provision. See 31 C.F.R. §§ 501.601 and 501.602.

The general license authorizes all members of the faculty and staff (including but not limited to adjunct faculty and part-time staff) of the sponsoring U.S. academic institution to participate in the activities set forth in the general license. A student currently enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate degree program at any accredited U.S. academic institution is authorized pursuant to the general license to participate in the academic activities in Cuba set forth in the general license through any sponsoring U.S. academic institution, not only through the institution at which the student is pursuing a degree.

Full-time professionals who wish to engage in travel-related transactions to conduct professional research or attend professional meetings in Cuba are not authorized by this general license and must qualify under the general license contained in section 515.564(a) or obtain a specific license under section 515.564(b).

Application criteria for specific licenses for individuals to engage in certain educational

activities that are not authorized by the educational activities general license – 31 C.F.R. § 515.565(b)(1):

Pursuant to section 515.565(b)(1), OFAC may issue a specific license authorizing an individual to engage in travel-related transactions and other transactions directly incident to educational activities of the following types:

(a) noncommercial academic research in Cuba;

(b) participation in a formal course of study at a Cuban academic institution; or

(c) teaching at a Cuban academic institution.

If you wish to engage in educational activities in Cuba of the types described above and that are not authorized by the general license in Section 515.565(a) (e.g., because you do not plan to travel under the auspices of an accredited U.S. graduate or undergraduate degree-granting institution), you must provide the following information in a letter to OFAC or use OFAC’s online application form (see page 7):

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1. Identify yourself. Furnish the name, address, and daytime phone number of each applicant seeking to engage in travel-related transactions under the license.

2. Identify the type of travel. State your request for a specific license under § 515.565(b)(1) of the Regulations. Specify in which of the following types of educational activities you plan to engage:

(a) noncommercial academic research in Cuba;

(b) participation in a formal course of study at a Cuban academic institution; or

(c) teaching at a Cuban academic institution.

3. Describe the educational activities. Provide a detailed description of the proposed educational activities in Cuba, including a description of the activities and the proposed dates and duration of the trip. 4. Provide supporting information. Please provide any other supporting information, such as a letter from an appropriate representative of your academic institution. 5. Extensions & Renewals. When applying for an extension or a renewal of a license, be sure to reference the license number in your application and include the following:

(a) an explanation why an extension or renewal is necessary;

(b) a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the license and any amendments. The report should include a detailed description of each activity and the dates of travel of each trip; and

(c) a complete copy of the license and any license amendments.

6. Sign your letter. Your signature is your certification that the statements in your application are true and accurate.

Examples:

Potentially licensable under current policy

Example 1: An individual regularly employed in a teaching capacity at a U.S. academic institution seeks to travel to Cuba to teach at a Cuban academic institution for nine weeks.

Example 2: A graduate student enrolled at an unaccredited U.S. academic institution and working toward her doctoral dissertation on the Cuban economy seeks to travel to Cuba to engage in research for her dissertation.

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Normally not licensable under current policy

Example: A doctor wishes to study a medical procedure at a clinic in Cuba for credit toward a continuing education requirement. The educational activity licenses under this provision do not authorize courses of study that are not offered through Cuban academic institutions, and current policy does not support licensing activities undertaken to fulfill continuing educational requirements to maintain one’s professional credentials.

Application criteria for specific licenses for certain educational exchanges not

involving academic study pursuant to a degree program – 31 C.F.R. §

515.565(b)(2): Pursuant to section 515.565(b)(2), OFAC may issue a specific license to an organization that sponsors and organizes programs to promote people-to-people contact authorizing the organization and individuals traveling under its auspices to engage in educational exchanges not involving academic study pursuant to a degree program. In general, licenses issued pursuant to this policy will be valid for one year and will contain no limitation on the number of trips that can be taken.

If your organization wishes to apply for a license pursuant to section 515.565(b)(2), it must provide the following information in a letter to OFAC or use OFAC’s online application form (see page 7):

1. Identify your organization. Provide the name and address of your organization and include the name and phone number of the organization’s contact responsible for the application and for ensuring compliance with the terms of the license once issued. 2. Identify the type of travel. State that your organization requests a specific license pursuant to section 515.565(b)(2) of the Regulations to engage in educational exchanges.

3. Provide information about your organization. Provide information that illustrates how your organization sponsors and organizes educational exchanges not involving academic study pursuant to a degree program and for the purpose of promoting people-to-people contact.

4. Provide and describe examples of activities. Provide a list of the types of activities to be engaged in by individuals traveling under your program(s). Also provide a few detailed examples of those activities and explain how those activities would result in meaningful interaction between the U.S. travelers and individuals in Cuba.

5. Provide a certification. Provide a certification that:

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(a) each traveler will have a full-time schedule of educational exchange activities that will result in meaningful interaction between the travelers and individuals in Cuba; and

(b) the predominant portion of the activities to be engaged in by individuals traveling under your program(s) will not be with individuals or entities acting for or on behalf of a prohibited official of the Government of Cuba, as defined in 31 C.F.R. § 515.337, or a prohibited member of the Cuban Communist Party, as defined in 31 C.F.R. § 515.338.

6. Extensions & Renewals. When applying for an extension or a renewal of a license, be sure to reference the license number in your application and include the following:

(a) an explanation why an extension or renewal is necessary;

(b) a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the license and any amendments. The report should include a detailed description of each activity, the dates of travel of each trip and the number of individuals that traveled on each trip; and

(c) a complete copy of the license and any license amendments.

7. Sign your letter. Your signature is your certification that the statements in your application are true and accurate.

Potentially licensable under current policy

Example: An organization wishes to sponsor and organize trips for individuals to learn side-by-side with Cuban individuals in areas such as environmental protection or the arts.

Normally not licensable under current policy

Example 1: An organization wishes to sponsor and organize trips to Cuba in which travelers engage in individually-selected and/or self-directed activities. Authorized trips are expected to be led by the licensed organization and to have a full-time schedule of activities in which the travelers will participate. Example 2: An organization wishes to sponsor and organize trips to Cuba in which travelers only attend large lectures or otherwise engage in a schedule of activities that do not involve interaction with Cuban individuals.

Application criteria for specific licenses for academic seminars, conferences, and

workshops related to Cuba or global issues involving Cuba – 31 C.F.R. §

515.565(b)(3):

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Pursuant to section 515.565(b)(3), OFAC may issue a specific license to an accredited U.S. graduate or undergraduate degree-granting academic institution that wishes to sponsor or co-sponsor academic seminars, conferences, or workshops related to Cuba or global issues involving Cuba and attendance at such events by faculty, staff, and students of the licensed institution.

If your academic institution wishes to apply for a license pursuant to section 515.565(b)(3), it must provide the following information in a letter to OFAC or use OFAC’s online application form (see page 7):

1. Identify your organization. Provide the name and address of the academic institution seeking a specific license under this section, and include the name and phone number of the institutional contact responsible for the application and for ensuring compliance with the terms of the license once issued.

2. Identify the type of travel. State that your academic institution requests a specific license pursuant to section 515.565(b)(3) of the Regulations.

3. Describe the proposed academic seminar, conference, or workshop. Describe the proposed academic seminar, conference, or workshop and the subject matter involved. Explain your involvement in the sponsorship of the event. Please indicate the anticipated size of the audience that may attend or participate and state who the participants will be. Identify the instructors or moderators guiding or leading the event. State whether there will be opportunity for interaction between the U.S. and Cuban participants.

4. State the number of travelers. State the number of people you expect to engage in the travel-related transactions.

5. Provide a certification of employment or enrollment. Certify that any individual who uses your institution’s license will be a member of the faculty or staff or a student of the licensed institution.

6. Describe the duration of the proposed travel. Set forth the proposed dates and duration of the trip.

7. Identify the point of contact and venue in Cuba. Identify the contact person and/or organization in Cuba with whom you are coordinating and identify the venue where the event will be held.

8. Extensions & Renewals. When applying for an extension or a renewal of a license, be sure to reference your current license number in your application and include the following:

(a) an explanation why an extension or renewal is necessary;

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(b) a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the license and any amendments. The report should include a detailed description of each activity, the dates of travel of each trip and the number of individuals that traveled on each trip; and

(c) a complete copy of the license and any license amendments.

9. Sign your letter. Your signature is your certification that the statements in your application are true and accurate.

Examples:

Potentially licensable under current policy

Example: An accredited U.S. college wishes to co-sponsor and organize a seminar in Cuba for its students and faculty on the history of jazz in Cuba.

Normally not licensable under current policy

Example: A commercial enterprise wishes to sponsor an annual conference for its employees in Cuba. This section only applies to U.S. academic institutions wishing to sponsor academic seminars, conferences and workshops related to Cuba or global issues involving Cuba.

VI. RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES - 31 C.F.R. §

515.566

General license for religious organizations located in the United States — 31 C.F.R. §

515.566(a): Section 515.566(a) sets forth a general license authorizing religious organizations located in the United States, including members and staff of such organizations, to engage in certain travel-related and additional transactions that are directly incident to religious activities in Cuba under the auspices of the organization. Travel-related transactions pursuant to this general license must be for the purpose of engaging, while in Cuba, in a full-time program of religious activities. Activities that are consistent with U.S. foreign policy include, but are not limited to, attendance at religious services as well as activities that contribute to the development of a Cuban counterpart’s religious or institutional development such as ministerial training, education, or licensing; religious school development; youth outreach; training in or the conducting of marriage seminars; construction of places of worship or other facilities for full-time use by a Cuban counterpart; production and distribution of religious materials; assistance in holding religious services; religious preaching or teaching; and training or assistance in church administration.

Note: It is a requirement of the general license that travelers to Cuba authorized pursuant to this provision carry letters on official letterhead, signed by a representative of the sponsoring U.S. religious organization designated as the official responsible for overseeing the

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organization’s Cuba travel program. Please refer to section 515.566(a) for more specific information concerning the necessary contents of such letters. U.S. religious organizations and individual travelers must also retain records related to the travel transactions authorized pursuant to this provision. See 31 C.F.R. §§ 501.601 and 501.602.

General licenses constitute blanket authorization for those transactions set forth in the relevant regulation. For persons satisfying all criteria and conditions in a general license, no further permission from OFAC is required to engage in transactions authorized by that general license. Each person engaging in transactions, including travel-related transactions, under a general license must be able to document how he or she qualifies under the general license.

For the authorization of remittances to religious organizations in Cuba in support of religious activities see 31 C.F.R. § 515.570(c).

Examples:

Licensed

Example 1: A religious organization wishes to organize a trip to Cuba for its members for the purpose of assisting in restoring a church building and attending services there.

Example 2: A religious organization wishes to send its members to Cuba to teach in its Cuban counterpart’s religious school and to transfer funds to its Cuban counterpart. The transfer of funds to a counterpart religious organization in Cuba to support its religious activities is separately authorized pursuant to the general license set forth in section 515.570(c).

Example 3: Members of a U.S. ministry wish to attend worship services and ecclesiastical ceremonies in Cuba, meet with congregations to encourage support and growth in the church, and provide consultation and assistance for future church construction.

Not Licensed

Example 1: A U.S. religiously-affiliated college wishes to send a class to Cuba to as part of a course offered at that college. The college’s proposed travel does not fall within the scope of this general license but it may be authorized under the general license at section 515.565(a) of the Regulations.

Example 2: An organization that specializes in organizing “heritage tours” for persons of a particular denomination wishes to take interested practitioners of that faith on a trip to Cuba to visit historical sites and museums as well as existing communities of that denomination in Cuba. The proposed travel does not fall within the scope of the general license inasmuch as the organization putting together and leading the tour is not a religious organization.

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Example 3: A group that seeks to promote interfaith understanding wishes to take an interdenominational group to Cuba to participate in religious activities ranging from Catholic mass to Santeria. The proposed travel does not fall within the scope of the general license inasmuch as the group organizing and leading the tour is not a religious organization.

Example 4: A medical fellowship wishes to send a group of health care professionals to Cuba to provide medical services to members of a Cuban congregation. The proposed travel does not fall within the scope of the general license inasmuch as the general license authorizes only religious activities and does not authorize the provision of medical services. Other travel licensing policies may separately cover this type of activity.

Application criteria for specific licenses for religious activities by individuals or

organizations that do not qualify under the general license – 31 C.F.R. § 515.566(b): Pursuant to section 515.566(b), specific licenses may be issued on a case-by-case basis authorizing certain travel-related and additional transactions that are directly incident to religious activities not authorized by the general license set forth in section 515.566(a). You must provide the following information in a letter to OFAC or use OFAC’s online application form (see page 7):

1. Identify all proposed travelers (if no organization is involved). Furnish the name(s), address(es), and daytime phone number(s) of each person seeking to engage in travel-related transactions in Cuba under the license.

2. Identify your organization (organizations only). If you are applying on behalf of an organization that does not qualify under the criteria set forth in section 515.566(a), you must:

(a) provide the name of your organization;

(b) describe your organization (i.e., the type of organization and its goals/objectives. If available, provide a copy of its mission statement, brochure, or other literature describing typical activities it undertakes.);

(c) describe prior overseas and/or domestic religious activities engaged in by your organization; and

(d) provide the name of the Cuban counterpart religious organization, if any, with which your organization will work in Cuba.

3. Identify the type of travel. State your request for a specific license under section 515.566(b) of the Regulations to engage in travel-related transactions and other transactions that are directly incident to religious activities in Cuba.

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4. List and provide examples of activities (organizations only). Provide a list of the types of activities to be engaged in by your organization. Also provide a few specific, detailed examples of those activities.

5. Describe the proposed activities and the duration of the proposed travel (individual applicants only). Describe in detail all activities to be engaged in by the individuals identified in your answer to paragraph 1 above. Describe prior experiences or involvement, if any, of those individuals in similar activities. Set forth the proposed dates and duration of the trip. Explain why that amount of time is needed. If multiple trips are proposed, indicate the dates and duration of each trip and explain why multiple trips are necessary.

6. Provide a certification of a full-time schedule. Certify by written statement that the proposed religious activities will constitute a “full-time program of religious activities in Cuba.”

7. Extensions & renewals. When applying for an extension or renewal of a license, be sure to reference the license number in your application and include the following:

(a) an explanation of why an extension or renewal is necessary;

(b) a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the license and any amendments. The report should include a detailed description of each activity, the dates of travel of each trip and the number of individuals that traveled on each trip; and

(c) a complete copy of the license and any license amendments.

8. Sign your letter. Your signature is your certification that the statements in your application are true and accurate.

Note: If you are an individual who is a member or staff of a religious organization, you may wish to check with the appropriate official of the organization as to whether it will permit individuals to travel under its auspices pursuant to the general license set forth in section 515.566(a) of the Regulations. This would avoid the need to apply for your own specific license.

For the authorization of certain remittances to religious organizations in Cuba in support of religious activities, see 31 C.F.R. § 515.570(c).

Examples: Potentially licensable under current policy

Example: An evangelist seeks to travel to Cuba to give a sermon to a congregation of a certain denomination in Cuba. The travel is limited to the time necessary to

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constitute a full-time program to participate in the service and participate in meetings with the congregation.

Normally not licensable under current policy

Example 1: A couple living on their sailboat seeks to travel to Cuba and live on their boat for an undefined period of time in order to hand out bibles and preach the gospel to whomever will listen. Absent a record of similar prior experience and a full-time program of religious activities over a specified period of time, this activity does not qualify for a specific license.

Example 2: An individual seeks to travel to Cuba to participate in services one day a week over a period of several weeks. This does not qualify as a full-time program of religious activities.

VII. PUBLIC PERFORMANCES, CLINICS, WORKSHOPS, ATHLETIC AND

OTHER COMPETITIONS, AND EXHIBITIONS – 31 C.F.R. § 515.567

You may request a specific license authorizing certain travel-related and additional transactions incident to participation in a public performance, clinic, workshop, athletic or other competition, or exhibition in Cuba. The event must be open for attendance and, in relevant situations, participation by the Cuban public. All U.S. profits from the event after costs must be donated to an independent nongovernmental organization in Cuba or a U.S.-based charity with the objective, to the extent possible, of promoting people-to-people contacts or otherwise benefiting the Cuban people. Such donation is not required for certain amateur or semi-professional athletic competitions held under the auspices of the relevant international sports federation.

Application criteria for specific licenses for public performances, clinics,

workshops, other athletic and other competitions, or exhibitions under 31 C.F.R. §

515.567: You must provide the following information in a letter to OFAC or use OFAC’s online application form (see page 7):

1. Identify yourself. Furnish your name, address, and daytime phone number.

2. Identify your organization. If you are applying on behalf of an organization, tell us about the organization: describe the type of organization (e.g., an athletic team, an orchestra, or a ballet troop) and its goals/objectives. If available, provide a copy of its mission statement, brochure, or other literature describing typical activities it undertakes.

3. Identify the type of travel. State your request for a specific license under section 515.567 of the Regulations to engage in travel-related and other transactions that are

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directly incident to a public performance, clinic, workshop, athletic or other competition, or exhibition.

4. Describe the event. Describe the event and state whether it will be open for attendance and, in relevant situations, participation by the Cuban public. Please include an itinerary for your travel. Also, indicate the anticipated size of the Cuban audience that may attend or participate and state who the Cuban audience or Cuban participants will be. State whether there will be opportunity for interaction between the U.S. and Cuban participants. In the case of an amateur or semi-professional international sports federation competition, provide supporting documentation from the international sports federation that demonstrates it is holding the event in Cuba and indicate whether the U.S. participants in the athletic competition are selected by the United States federation for the relevant sport.

5. Certification for clinics and workshops. Certify that you will organize and run, at least in part, the clinic or workshop.

6. Describe disposition of profits. If the event is not an amateur or semi-professional international sports federation competition, state whether there will be an admission fee for the attendees and, if so, the amount. Identify the independent nongovernmental organization in Cuba or the U.S.-based charity to which all U.S. profits from the event after costs are to be donated. Describe the extent to which such donation will benefit the Cuban people.

7. Describe the participants. State the number of people who would need to engage in travel- related transactions and the nature of the travelers’ roles in the event. Identify each traveler generically by title or role. If you are an individual applicant not traveling as a part of an organization, provide information about your background and how it relates to your participation in the event in Cuba.

8. Provide a certification of active participation. Certify that all persons traveling under the authority of the license will be active participants in the event scheduled to take place in Cuba.

9. Describe the duration of the proposed travel. Set forth the proposed dates and duration of the trip.

10. Identify the point of contact and venue in Cuba. Identify the contact person and/or organization in Cuba with whom/which you will be working and identify the venue where the event will be held.

11. Extensions & renewals. When applying for an extension or renewal of a license, be sure to reference the license number in your application and include the following:

(a) an explanation why an extension or renewal is necessary;

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(b) a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the license and any amendments. The report should include a detailed description of each activity, the dates of travel of each trip and the number of individuals that traveled on each trip; and

(c) a complete copy of the license and any license amendments.

12. Sign your letter. Your signature is your certification that the statements in your application are true and accurate.

Note: Individuals who will not be fully engaged as active participants in the event, or, in the case of public performances, in an ancillary event that enhances the public benefit and the cultural exchange of the public performance, will not be licensed and are not eligible to travel under the authority of a license issued pursuant to this section. For example, non-participating patrons who may have lent financial support to an authorized group by paying its travel expenses would not be eligible to travel with that group. Similarly, U.S. individuals may not be licensed under this section to attend events in which they are not actively participating and are simply members of the audience. Also, note that any clinics or workshops in Cuba must be organized and run, at least in part, by the licensee.

For questions related to the licensing requirements for the exportation of commodities and humanitarian goods from the United States to Cuba, please contact the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security at (202) 482-4811.

Examples:

Potentially licensable under current policy

Example 1: A musical artist wishes to travel to Cuba to participate in a series of public performances with Cuban artists whose venues will be open to the Cuban public and whose profits after costs will be donated to an independent non-governmental organization in Cuba.

Example 2: Representatives of a U.S. film production company wish to travel to Cuba for the purpose of holding an exhibition of U.S. movies and will provide perspectives and insight on the making of the movies. Travelers who directly participated in the making of the movies to be exhibited may be licensed. Note: A specific license is not required to export/import films absent travel, and specific licenses may be granted for travel to export/import films. See the discussion of section 515.545 in these Application Guidelines.

Example 3: A community-associated baseball team wishes to travel to Cuba to compete against a comparable Cuban team in a baseball game that will be open to the Cuban public and where any costs after profits from the game will be donated to an independent non-governmental organization in Cuba.

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Example 4: A legal services organization wishes to send a group of legal professionals to Cuba to conduct a series of clinics for Cuban law students on intellectual property issues.

Normally not licensable under current policy

Example 1: An orchestra wishes to travel to Cuba to perform under circumstances that would otherwise qualify, except that the orchestra is planning to take not only the musicians themselves but family members and persons who had donated a certain sum to the orchestra over the past year and who are seeking to be licensed under this section solely to attend the performance. Licenses issued under this section do not extend to persons who wish to travel solely to attend a performance.

Example 2: A consultant to the entertainment industry has been invited to Cuba to participate in a film festival. Her participation will consist of attending the events that will be held during the festival, which includes showings of films and discussions of the films shown with the actual filmmakers and others, both industry experts and laypersons, who also attend the festival. The consultant would also collaborate with Cuban filmmakers on techniques with respect to a film they are working on. These attendance and consultation activities are not what is meant by “participation” in public performances, clinics, workshops, competitions, and exhibitions under section 515.567(b) of the Regulations.

Example 3: An organization that provides services to arrange travel by individuals to foreign countries to participate in athletic competitions wishes to organize a series of baseball games between U.S. and Cuban baseball teams. This activity will not be licensed inasmuch as licenses under this section authorize individuals who will be active participants in the athletic competition(s), not organizations that arrange their travel. However, an individual team may submit a request to travel to Cuba for the purpose of engaging in one-on-one athletic competitions with a Cuban team. Additionally, authorization may be available under section 515.572 for an organization wishing to provide travel services related to Cuba.

VIII. SUPPORT FOR THE CUBAN PEOPLE – 31 C.F.R. § 515.574 You may request a specific license authorizing certain travel-related and other transactions that are intended to provide support for the Cuban people including but not limited to: (1) activities of recognized human rights organizations; (2) activities of independent organizations designed to promote a rapid, peaceful transition to democracy; and (3) activities of individuals and nongovernmental organizations that promote independent activity intended to strengthen civil society in Cuba.

Application criteria for a specific license to engage in activities providing support for the

Cuban people under § 515.574:

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You must provide the following information in a letter to OFAC or use OFAC’s online application form (see page 7):

1. Identify yourself. Furnish your name, address, and daytime phone number.

2. Identify your organization. If you are applying on behalf of an organization, tell us about the organization: describe the type of organization (e.g., a human rights organization that monitors the status of political dissidents) and its goals/objectives. If available, provide a copy of its mission statement, brochure, or other literature describing typical activities it undertakes. Describe any prior, relevant experiences the organization has had with regard to activities similar to those proposed in the application.

3. Identify the type of travel. State that a specific license is being requested pursuant to section 515.574 of the Regulations to engage in activities intended to provide support for the Cuban people.

4. Describe the project. Provide a detailed description of the activities to be undertaken and how they will be carried out and monitored. State in what manner the activities support human rights, will promote a rapid, peaceful transition to democracy or independent activity intended to strengthen civil society, or otherwise will provide support for the Cuban people.

5. Describe the numbers of persons involved. State the number of persons who would need to engage in travel-related transactions to carry out the activities and the role of each person involved.

6. Provide a certification of a full-time schedule. Certify that the proposed activities will constitute a full-time schedule that could not be completed in a shorter period of time. State the projected time frame for completion of the activities.

7. Describe funds or financial benefit to Cuba. Provide an explanation in the application that no significant accumulation of funds or financial benefit will accrue to the Government of Cuba.

8. Extensions & renewals. When applying for an extension or renewal of a license, be sure to reference the license number in your application and include the following:

(a) an explanation why an extension or renewal is necessary;

(b) a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the license and any amendments. The report should include a detailed description of each activity, the dates of travel of each trip, and the number of individuals that traveled on each trip; and

(c) a complete copy of the license and any license amendments.

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9. Sign your letter. Your signature is your certification that the statements in your application are true and accurate.

Note: Authorization to engage in funds transfers incident to licensed activities must be specifically requested and independently authorized under section 515.570(g)(1) of the Regulations. (See Appendix 1.)

For questions related to the licensing requirements for the exportation of commodities and humanitarian goods from the United States to Cuba, please contact the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security at (202) 482-4811.

IX. HUMANITARIAN PROJECTS – 31 C.F.R. § 515.575 You may request a specific license authorizing certain travel-related and additional transactions that are directly incident to certain humanitarian projects in or related to Cuba designed to directly benefit the Cuban people, including but not limited to medical and health-related projects; construction projects intended to benefit legitimately independent civil society groups; environmental projects; projects involving formal or non-formal educational training, within Cuba or off-island, on topics including civil education, journalism, advocacy and organizing, adult literacy, and vocational skills; community-based grass roots projects; projects suitable to the development of small-scale private enterprise; projects that are related to agricultural and rural development that promote independent activity; and projects to meet basic human needs.

Application criteria for a specific license to engage in activities incident to a

humanitarian project under § 515.575: You must provide the following information in a letter to OFAC or use OFAC’s online application form (see page 7):

1. Identify yourself. Furnish your name, address, and daytime phone number.

2. Identify your organization. If you are applying on behalf of an organization, tell us about the organization: describe the type of organization (e.g., a non-governmental organization that does charity work, etc.) and its goals/objectives. If available, provide a copy of its mission statement, brochure, or other literature describing typical activities it undertakes. Describe any prior, relevant experiences the organization has had in foreign countries with projects similar to those proposed in the application.

3. Identify the type of travel. State that your request is for a specific license pursuant to section 515.575 of the Regulations to engage in a humanitarian project in or related to Cuba. 4. Describe the project. Provide the following information with respect to the

project:

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(a) State the nature of the non-commercial humanitarian project: for example, a medical, health-related, or water conservation project.

(b) Provide a concrete, detailed proposal of the project and how it will be carried out and monitored. This proposal should be drafted in a manner similar to how an organization would draft a grant proposal. Describe all financial transactions and any materials and supplies required to complete the project and sources thereof, including an accounting of all the materials and supplies needed for the project.

(c) If funds other than travel-related expenses would need to be spent in Cuba to carry out the project, provide a budget for the expenditures pursuant to § 515.570(g)(1) (See Appendix 1).

(d) State in what manner the project will directly benefit the Cuban people. (e) State the projected time frame for completion of the project.

5. Describe the number and relevant credentials of the persons involved. State the number of persons who would need to engage in travel-related transactions to carry out the project and the qualifications and role of each person in the project. If specific travelers have not been identified at the time of application, they may be identified generically if the qualifications are self-evident (e.g., an application for a medical project might state that three doctors and two nurses will participate).

6. Provide a certification of a full-time schedule. Certify by written statement that the proposed activities will constitute a “full-time schedule for all the participants that could not be completed in a shorter period of time.”

7. Identify a point of contact in Cuba. If possible, identify any Cuban individuals and/or non- governmental organization(s) that will participate in carrying out the project. Give the name and address of the Cuban individuals, non-governmental organization(s), and individual points of contact associated with such organizations.

8. Identify any Government of Cuba contacts. Identify any Cuban governmental entity or government-affiliated entity you must contact for permits or other approvals to do the project and describe the nature of the contacts and any involvement of the Cuban entity in the project.

9. Extensions & renewals. When applying for an extension or renewal of a license, be sure to reference the license number in your application and include the following:

(a) an explanation why an extension or renewal is necessary;

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(b) a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the license and any amendments. The report should include a detailed description of each activity, the dates of travel of each trip, and the number of individuals that traveled on each trip; and

(c) a complete copy of the license and any license amendments.

10. Sign your letter. Your signature is your certification that the statements in your application are true and accurate.

Note: If the proposed humanitarian project solely involves the accompanied delivery of donated goods, please refer to the licensing criteria set forth regarding sections 515.533 and 515.559 in these Application Guidelines. For questions related to the licensing requirements for the exportation of commodities and humanitarian goods from the United States to Cuba, please contact the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security at (202) 482-4811.

Examples:

Potentially licensable under current policy

Example 1: A U.S. environmental organization seeks to help preserve the habitat of an endangered species in Cuba in part through an educational campaign designed to improve understanding of environmental issues. Example 2: A U.S. group of medical professionals that specializes in the treatment of HIV/AIDS wishes to support a community in Cuba by providing the latest techniques and literature in HIV/AIDS education and prevention directly to the Cuban people.

Example 3: A farmers’ cooperative wishes to educate and train independent farmers in Cuba regarding organic sustainable agricultural practices.

Normally not licensable under current policy

Example 1: A consulting firm seeks to provide services to the Cuban government with respect to the promotion of eco-tourism as a means of preserving undeveloped areas of the country. Travel-related transactions with respect to such services, and the provision of the services themselves, would not be licensed.

Example 2: A U.S. humanitarian organization wants a license to travel to Cuba to provide humanitarian aid and will solicit participation by any interested persons under such a license. The travelers would not be affiliated with the organization except for the purpose of travel to Cuba under the license and the travelers will purchase the humanitarian aid that will be donated.

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Example 3: A volunteer organization seeks a license to assist with a school construction project in Cuba. Since most schools in Cuba are government run, this project normally would not be licensed.

Example 4: A group of doctors wish to provide medical training to Cuban healthcare professionals. Travel-related transactions in connection with providing medical training of professionals would not be licensed under this licensing policy.

X. ACTIVITIES OF PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS OR RESEARCH OR EDUCATIONAL

INSTITUTES – 31 C.F.R. § 515.576

You may request a specific license authorizing certain travel-related and additional transactions directly incident to activities by private foundations or research or educational institutes that have an established interest in international relations to collection information related to Cuba for noncommercial purposes.

Application criteria for a specific license under § 515.576:

You must provide the following information in a letter to OFAC or use OFAC’s online application form (see page 7):

1. Identify your organization. Provide the name and address of your organization and include the name and phone number of the organization’s contact responsible for the application. Please indicate whether your organization is a private foundation, an educational institute, or a research institute. Provide information that illustrates how your organization qualifies as a private foundation, research institute, or educational institute.

2. Describe your organization’s established interest in international relations. Provide a description, including supporting documentation, of your organization’s established interest in international relations. You may include a mission statement, charter, by-laws, or other literature describing typical activities of the organization.

3. Identify the type of travel. State that your organization requests a specific license pursuant to section 515.576 of the Regulations to collect information related to Cuba for noncommercial purposes.

4. Describe the project. Describe the specific international relations project your organization is working on that necessitates the collection of information in Cuba, the methods that will be used for collecting that information, how your organization will record that information, and whether and how the information collected will be publicly disseminated. Certify by written statement that the information collected related to Cuba will be used for non-commercial purposes.

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If your organization seeks authorization to engage in travel-related transactions for multiple trips to Cuba for the same project, explain why multiple trips are necessary. State the projected time frame for completion of the project.

5. Certification of full-time schedule. Certify that the proposed information collection activities will constitute a full-time schedule for all the participants that could not be completed in a shorter period of time.

6. Extensions & renewals. When applying for extensions or renewals of licenses, be sure to reference the license number in your application. You must also include the following:

(a) an explanation why an extension or renewal is necessary;

(b) a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the license and any amendments. The report should include a detailed description of each activity, the dates of travel of each trip, and the number of individuals that traveled on each trip; and

(c) a complete copy of the license and any license amendments.

7. Signature. Your signature is your certification that the statements in your application are true and accurate.

Examples:

Potentially licensable under current policy

Example 1: A private research foundation with a ten-year history of producing essays on international relations issues wishes to send a team made up of its full-time employees to Cuba to collect information for a current study of the relationship that countries in the Western Hemisphere have with European countries. This project is for noncommercial purposes.

Example 2: The same research foundation described in the first example wishes to hire temporarily and send to Cuba a college professor, who is not an employee of the foundation, to collect information for the same project.

Normally not licensable under current policy

Example: A museum of fine arts wishes to send its board of directors to Cuba to collect information relevant to an upcoming display of artworks of Cuban artists at the museum. The fact that the museum has displayed works of international artists on numerous occasions in its history does not demonstrate that the museum has an established interest in international relations. Authorization may be available, however, under section 515.545, regarding the importation of informational materials.

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XI. EXPORTATION, IMPORTATION, OR TRANSMISSION OF

INFORMATION OR INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS –

31 C.F.R. § 515.545

You may request a specific license authorizing certain travel-related transactions for purposes related to the exportation, importation, or transmission of information or informational materials. For purposes of the Regulations, and as defined in section 515.332, the term information and informational materials means publications, films, posters, phonograph records, photographs, microfilms, microfiche, tapes, compact disks, CD ROMs, artworks, news wire feeds, and other information and informational articles. To be considered informational materials, artworks must be classified under Chapter subheadings 9701, 9702, or 9703 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.

Application criteria for a specific license under § 515.545:

You must provide the following information in a letter to OFAC or use OFAC’s online application form (see page 7):

1. Identify yourself. Furnish your name, address, and daytime phone number.

2. Identify your organization. If you are applying on behalf of an organization, tell us about the organization: describe the organization (e.g., a book distributor, an art gallery, etc.) and its goals/objectives. If available, provide a copy of its mission statement, brochure, or other literature describing typical activities it undertakes.

3. Identify the type of travel. State your request for a specific license to engage in travel- related transactions for purposes related to the exportation/importation of information or informational materials under section 515.545(b) of the Regulations.

4. Identify the information or informational materials. Provide a description of the item(s) you seek to export and/or import. The items must fall within the scope of “information and informational materials” as defined in section 515.332. State the specific purpose of travel, e.g., to identify and purchase Cuban books and arrange for their importation into the United States for resale by bookstores.

5. Qualifications. If the specific license is being sought by an individual, provide a copy of the individual’s resume or other documentation to demonstrate his or her professional background relevant to the informational materials of the type that you seek to export/import.

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6. Provide details of the travel. Provide the proposed number of trips per year, the duration of each trip, and an explanation justifying the duration and number of trips. Include a description of the activities.

7. Certification of full-time schedule. Certify that the proposed activities will constitute a full- time schedule that could not be completed in a shorter period of time.

8. Extensions & renewals. When applying for extensions or renewals of licenses, be sure to reference the license number in your application. You must also include the following:

(a) an explanation why an extension or renewal is necessary;

(b) a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the license and any amendments. The report should include a detailed description of each activity, the dates of travel of each trip and the number of individuals that traveled on each trip; and

(c) a complete copy of the license and any license amendments.

9. Sign your letter. Your signature is your certification that the statements in your application are true and accurate.

Note: Please review sections 515.206, 515.332, and 515.545 of the Regulations regarding transactions involving information or informational materials.

Examples:

Potentially licensable under current policy

Example 1: A U.S. book distributor wishes to engage in travel-related transactions in Cuba to purchase Cuban books intended for importation into the United States and resale through bookstores.

Example 2: A U.S. art gallery wishes to purchase Cuban artworks for importation into the United States and display at the art gallery and seeks to travel to Cuba for purposes of selecting appropriate artwork for importation into the United States.

Example 3: A U.S. music company wishes to travel to Cuba to import archived Cuban music to re-issue the music on compact discs for sale in record stores internationally.

Normally not licensable under current policy

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Example 1: A U.S. author seeks to co-author a book with a Cuban author regarding a subject of interest to both and for which both are qualified. Licenses issued under this section pertain solely to exporting or importing pre-existing informational material and do not authorize the creation of new informational material. Authors interested in researching and writing a book about Cuba should review the discussion of 515.564 (Professional Research and Professional Meetings) in these Application Guidelines.

Example 2: A private art collector seeks to travel to Cuba in the hopes of acquiring Cuban artworks for his personal collection. Travel-related transactions are not authorized for purposes of acquiring informational materials to augment personal collections.

Example 3: A photographer wishes to travel to Cuba to take photographs for publication as greeting cards and coffee table books. Licenses issued under this section pertain solely to exporting or importing pre-existing informational material and do not cover the creation of new informational materials.

XII. LICENSED EXPORTATIONS– 31 C.F.R. §§ 515.533 and 515.559 1. Exportations from the United States and reexportations of 100% U.S.-origin items

from a third country – 31 C.F.R. § 515.533 Section 515.533 sets forth two general licenses authorizing certain travel-related and additional transactions that are directly incident to the commercial marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing in Cuba of agricultural commodities, medicine, or medical devices that appear consistent with the export or re-export licensing policy of the Department of Commerce (515.533(e)), or of telecommunications items that have been authorized for commercial export or re-export to Cuba by the Department of Commerce (515.533(f)). Further information on each general license is provided in subsections below.

Each of these general licenses requires that a written report be submitted at least 14 days in advance of each departure to Cuba identifying both the traveler and the producer or distributor or the telecommunications services provider that is a person subject to U.S. jurisdiction, as applicable, and describing the purpose and scope of such travel. In addition, a written report must be submitted within 14 days of return from Cuba describing the business activities conducted, the persons with whom the traveler met in the course of such activities, and the expenses incurred. Reports must be captioned “Section 515.533(e) Report” or “Section 515.533(f) Report,” as applicable, and faxed to 202-622-1657 or mailed to the Office of Foreign Assets Control, Attn: Licensing Division, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Annex-2nd

Floor, Washington, DC 20220. If more than one traveler is traveling on the same trip for or on behalf of the same producer or distributor, or the telecommunications services provider that is a person subject to U.S. jurisdiction, as applicable, one combined pre-trip and one combined post-trip report may be filed covering all such travelers.

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General licenses constitute blanket authorization for those transactions set forth in the relevant regulation. For persons satisfying all criteria and conditions in a general license, no further permission from OFAC is required to engage in transactions authorized by that general license. Each person engaging in transactions, including travel-related transactions, under a general license must be able to document how he or she qualifies under the general license.

General license for travel-related transactions incident to sales of agricultural

commodities, medicine, or medical devices — 31 C.F.R. § 515.533(e): Section 515.533(e) sets forth a general license authorizing certain travel-related and additional transactions that are directly incident to the commercial marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing in Cuba of agricultural commodities, medicine, or medical devices that appear consistent with the export or re-export licensing policy of the Department of Commerce, provided that the traveler is regularly employed by a producer or distributor of the agricultural commodities, medicine, or medical devices or by an entity duly appointed to represent such a producer or distributor and that the traveler’s schedule of activities does not include free time, travel, or recreation in excess of that consistent with a full work schedule. The traveler must also submit to OFAC the written reports described above.

Examples: Licensed

Example 1: Employees of a medical supply company wish to attend a Cuba-sponsored trade fair on medical equipment and medicine to market to Cuban entities medical devices that appear consistent with the export or re-export licensing policy of the Commerce Department. The employees submit reports at least 14 days in advance of departure to and after return from Cuba.

Example 2: A consulting company duly appointed by a U.S. agricultural commodities producer wishes to negotiate the sale to Cuba of agricultural products that appear consistent with the export or re-export licensing policy of the Commerce Department. The consulting company submits reports at least 14 days in advance of departure to and after return from Cuba.

Example 3: A medical company wishes to send an employee to Cuba to repair an X-ray machine that was sold to a Cuban purchaser for a health clinic and exported under a license issued by the Department of Commerce. The company reports at least 14 days prior to departure that their repair specialist will be traveling to service this equipment and reports within 14 days after the person has returned from Cuba.

Not licensed

Example: The U.S. office of a third-country medical supply company wishes to send its U.S. representatives to Cuba to market and sell to Cuba medical devices that will be wholly manufactured in and exported from that third country. The proposed travel does not fall within the scope of the general license because the medical devices are not

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U.S.-origin and therefore do not fall within the licensing jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

General license for travel-related transactions incident to sales of telecommunications-

related items: Section 515.533(f) sets forth a general license authorizing certain travel-related and additional transactions that are directly incident to the commercial marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing in Cuba of telecommunications-related items that have been authorized for commercial export or re-export to Cuba by the Department of Commerce, provided that the traveler is regularly employed by a telecommunications services provider that is a person subject to U.S. jurisdiction or by an entity duly appointed to represent such a provider and that the traveler’s schedule of activities does not include free time, travel, or recreation in excess of that consistent with a full work schedule. The traveler must also submit to OFAC the written reports described above.

Examples: Licensed

Example 1: Employees of a telecommunications services provider that is a person subject to U.S. jurisdiction wish to attend a Cuba-sponsored trade fair on telecommunications to negotiate the sale of telecommunications items that have been authorized for commercial export or re-export to Cuba by the Department of Commerce. The employees submit reports at least 14 days in advance of departure to and after return from Cuba.

Example 2: An employee of a telecommunications services provider that is a person subject to U.S. jurisdiction wishes to accompany the delivery of telecommunications-related items to Cuba that have been authorized for commercial export or re-export to Cuba by the Department of Commerce. The employee submits reports at least 14 days in advance of departure to and after return from Cuba.

Example 3: A consulting company that has been duly appointed to represent a telecommunications services provider that is a person subject to U.S. jurisdiction wishes to meet with Cuban officials to discuss the sale of telecommunications-related items that have been authorized for commercial export or re-export to Cuba by the Department of Commerce. The consulting company submits reports at least 14 days in advance of departure to and after return from Cuba.

Not licensed

Example: Employees of a U.S. telecommunications services provider wish to travel to Cuba in order to negotiate the sale of foreign telecommunications equipment to Cuba. This would not qualify under the general license because the equipment has not been authorized for commercial export or re-export to Cuba by the Department of Commerce. The foreign subsidiary of a U.S. company may be licensed to sell non-U.S.

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origin telecommunications equipment to Cuba when it it is determined to be necessary for U.S.-Cuba telecommunications. See 515.559(a)(3). Travel by persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction to negotiate the sale of such equipment would require a specific license.

Application criteria for a specific license under § 515.533(g):

If you wish to engage in travel-related transactions and additional transactions that are directly incident to the marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing in Cuba of exports that appear consistent with the export or re-export licensing policy of the Department of Commerce and are not authorized by the general licenses in paragraph (e) and (f) of this section, you must apply for a specific license pursuant to section 515.533(g) in the form of a letter to OFAC providing the following information or by using OFAC’s online application form (see page 7):

1. Identify yourself. Furnish your name, address, and daytime phone number.

2. Identify your organization. If you are applying on behalf of an organization, tell us about the organization: describe the type of organization (e.g., charitable organization, state department of agriculture, specific trade council, seaport authority, cargo shipping company) and its goals/objectives. If available, provide a copy of its mission statement, brochure, or other literature describing typical activities it undertakes.

3. Identify the type of travel. State your request for a specific license under § 515.533(g) of the Regulations to engage in travel-related transactions in Cuba for the purpose of marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing of exports that appear consistent with the licensing policy of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

4. Identify the exportations involved.

(a) Humanitarian donations: The following must be provided in the application:

(1) a copy of the Department of Commerce export license, or in the alternative, other Department of Commerce authorization listing the donated goods or information that demonstrates that the proposed items are eligible for exportation to Cuba pursuant to a Department of Commerce License Exception; (2) the name and address of the Cuban consignee(s) or donee(s); and (3) a description of the plan of delivery of the items in Cuba that correlates to the consignees identified in the Department of Commerce license. Travel-related transactions will only be authorized for purposes of delivering the goods to consignees pre-approved and identified in the license issued by the Department of Commerce. Licenses will not be issued under this section in connection with carrying or transporting small quantities of items such as those that are eligible to be shipped in gift parcels. Furthermore, licenses will generally authorize five days of travel in Cuba for deliveries to Havana including arrival and departure, but additional days of travel for deliveries to areas outside of Havana, Cuba, may be authorized where appropriate.

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(b) Commercial exportations: (1) provide a description of the goods that are or may be exported to Cuba and the purpose of travel in regard to such exports, e.g., marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing, including a description of the activities; and (2) provide either a copy of the validated license issued by the Department of Commerce or a statement that the exportation from the United States has been or will be done consistent with the applicable Department of Commerce export regulations.

5. Identify the persons traveling. Provide a statement of the proposed number of persons who would travel under the authority of this license, their affiliation with the applicant, and the justification of their need to engage in Cuba travel-related transactions.

6. Certification of full-time schedule. Certify that the proposed transactions will constitute a full-time schedule for all the participants that could not be completed in a shorter period of time.

7. Extensions & renewals. When applying for extensions or renewals of licenses, be sure to reference the license number in your application. You must also include the following:

(a) an explanation why an extension or renewal is necessary;

(b) a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the license and any amendments. The report should include a detailed description of each activity, the dates of travel of each trip, and the number of individuals that traveled on each trip; and

(c) a complete copy of the license and any license amendments.

8. Sign your letter. Your signature is your certification that the statements in your application are true and accurate.

For questions related to the licensing requirements for the exportation of commodities and humanitarian goods from the United States to Cuba, please contact the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security at (202) 482-4811.

Examples:

Potentially licensable under current policy

Example 1: A U.S. charitable organization has obtained authorization from the U.S. Department of Commerce to deliver medicine and clothing to a Cuban non-governmental organization and furnishes a copy of the license and information on the organization’s

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plan for delivery of the goods to the consignees designated in the Commerce Department’s license.

Example 2: A U.S. specific trade council (e.g., a trade council that focuses on a specific agricultural commodity or medical product) wishes to travel to Cuba to discuss with Cuban officials the marketing and sale of grains in Cuba eligible for exportation under Department of Commerce rules. Please note that, to the extent that the specific trade council has been duly appointed by each represented producer and the travelers are regularly employed by the duly appointed council, the proposed travel may fall within the scope of the general license provision set forth in section 515.553(e).

Example 3: A seaport authority wishes to travel to Cuba on its own behalf for a brief visit to discuss the marketing and sale of products that would be exported through that particular seaport to Cuba. Under current licensing policy, travel to Cuba by a seaport authority may be licensed once every consecutive 12-month period.

Example 4: A state’s department of agriculture that does not meet the criteria for the general license wishes to send a delegation to Cuba consisting of state employees to market the state’s agricultural products.

Example 5: A U.S. shipping company that provides cargo shipping services wishes to send its full-time employees to Cuba to discuss the delivery of its transportation services in order to enter into contracts with U.S. exporters who want their goods shipped to Cuba.

Normally not licensable under current policy

Example 1: City officials wish to travel to Cuba to establish a sister city relationship with government officials of a Cuban city or province. Travel to Cuba for this purpose is not within the scope of current licensing policy.

Example 2: Employees of a general trade council wish to travel to Cuba to identify and negotiate the sale of agricultural products. The general trade council has not been duly appointed by any specific companies. However, should the general trade council be duly appointed by a specific company to represent them in connection with the sale of agricultural products in Cuba, its employees’ travel would fall within the scope of the general license provision. A specific license will not be granted when the traveler does not fall within the scope of the general license because he or she has not been duly appointed by a specific company.

2. Exportations of goods by U.S.-owned or -controlled foreign firms – 31 C.F.R. § 515.559

You may request a specific license authorizing certain travel-related and other transactions that are directly incident to marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, and servicing of

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exports that are consistent with the licensing policy under section 515.559. Section 515.559 provides for the licensing of exports to Cuba by U.S.-owned or controlled firms in third countries under certain limited circumstances, including exports of medicines and medical supplies or of telecommunications equipment determined to be necessary for efficient and adequate telecommunications services between the United States and Cuba.

Application criteria for a specific license under § 515.559:

You must provide the following information in a letter to OFAC or use OFAC’s online application form (see page 7):

1. Identify yourself. Furnish your name, address, and daytime phone number.

2. Identify your organization. If you are applying on behalf of an organization, tell us about the organization: describe the type of organization (e.g., producer or seller of medicine, medical supplies, or telecommunications equipment) and its goals/objectives. If available, provide a copy of its mission statement, brochure, or other literature describing typical activities it undertakes.

3. Identify the type of travel. State your request for a specific license under section 515.559 of the Regulations to engage in travel-related transactions to, from, and within Cuba for the purpose of marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing of exports from an overseas entity.

4. Identify the authorized exports. Provide a description of the goods being exported or reexported to Cuba and the purpose for travel in regard to such exports.

5. Identify persons traveling and activities. Provide a statement of the proposed number of persons who would travel under the authority of this license, their affiliation to the applicant, and the justification of their need to travel in relation to the goods being exported.

6. Certification of full-time schedule. Certify that the proposed activities will constitute a full- time schedule for all the participants that could not be completed in a shorter period of time.

7. Extensions & renewals. When applying for extensions or renewals of licenses, be sure to reference the license number in your application. You must also include the following:

(a) an explanation why an extension or renewal is necessary;

(b) a detailed report setting forth a record of all activities undertaken pursuant to the license and any amendments. The report should include a detailed

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description of each activity, the dates of travel of each trip, and the number of individuals that traveled on each trip; and

(c) a complete copy of the license and any license amendments.

8. Sign your letter. Your signature is your certification that the statements in your application are true and accurate.

Note: Licenses issued under this section do not relieve the exporter from complying with other applicable laws or regulations governing the export of these items (e.g., rules administered by other U.S. Government departments and agencies, as listed in Supplement No. 3 to part 730 of the Export Administration Regulations).

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APPENDIX B

THE FLORIDA TRAVEL ACT

CHAPTER 2006-54

Senate Bill No. 2434 An act relating to travel to terrorist states; amending s. 1011.81, F.S.; prohibiting the use of funds

from the Community College Program Fund, or funds made available to community colleges from outside the fund, to implement, organize, direct, coordinate, or administer activities related to or involving travel to a terrorist state; defining “terrorist state”; amending s. 1011.90, F.S.; prohibiting the use of state or nonstate funds made available to state universities to implement, organize, direct, coordinate, or administer activities related to or involving travel to a terrorist state; defining “terrorist state”; amending s. 112.061, F.S.; providing that travel expenses of public officers or employees for the purpose of implementing, organizing, directing, coordinating, or administering activities related to, or involving, travel to a terrorist state shall not be allowed under any circumstances; defining “terrorist state”; prohibiting a private college or university in this state from using state funds for activities relating to, or involving, a terrorist state; providing an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

Section 1. Section 1011.81, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 1011.81 Community College Program Fund.— (1) There is established a Community College Program Fund. This fund shall comprise all

appropriations made by the Legislature for the support of the current operating program and shall be apportioned and distributed to the community college districts of the state on the basis of procedures established by law and rules of the State Board of Education. The annual apportionment for each community college district shall be distributed monthly in payments as nearly equal as possible.

(2) None of the funds made available in the Community College Program Fund, or funds made

available to community colleges outside the Community College Program Fund, may be used to implement, organize, direct, coordinate, or administer, or to support the implementation, organization, direction, coordination, or administration of, activities related to, or involving, travel to a terrorist state. For purposes of this section, “terrorist state” is defined as any state, country, or nation designated by the United States Department of State as a state sponsor of terrorism.

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Section 2. Subsection (6) is added to section 1011.90, Florida Statutes, to read: 1011.90 State university funding.— (6) None of the state or nonstate funds made available to state universities may be used to

implement, organize, direct, coordinate, or administer, or to support the implementation, organization, direction, coordination, or administration of, activities related to or involving travel to a terrorist state. For purposes of this section, “terrorist state” is defined as any state, country, or nation designated by the United States Department of State as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Section 3. Paragraphs (e), (f), and (g) of subsection (3) of section 112.061, Florida Statutes,

are redesignated as paragraphs (f), (g), and (h), respectively, and a new paragraph (e) is added to that subsection to read:

112.061 Per diem and travel expenses of public officers, employees, and authorized

persons.— (3) AUTHORITY TO INCUR TRAVEL EXPENSES.— (e) Travel expenses of public officers or employees for the purpose of implementing,

organizing, directing, coordinating, or administering, or sup- porting the implementation, organization, direction, coordination, or administration of, activities related to or involving travel to a terrorist state shall not be allowed under any circumstances. For purposes of this section, “terrorist state” is defined as any state, country, or nation designated by the United States Department of State as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Section 4. No state funds made available to a private college or university in this state may be

used to implement, organize, direct, coordinate, or administer, or to support the implementation, organization, direction, coordination, or administration of, activities related to, or involving, travel to a terrorist state. For purposes of this section, “terrorist state” is defined as any state, country, or nation designated by the United States Department of State as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006. Approved by the Governor May 30, 2006. Filed in Office Secretary of State May 30, 2006.

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.

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APPENDIX C

VEDADO MAP

Key

A Casa de Cultura de Plaza (2012 Havana Jazz Plaza Festival venue)

B Melia Cohiba Hotel and Bar (2012 Havana Jazz Plaza Festival venue)

C Teatro Mella and Jardines de Mella (2012 Havana Jazz Plaza Festival venue)

D Teatro Bertolt Brecht (2012 Havana Jazz Plaza Festival venue)

E Conjunto Foklórico Nacional (location of July 2011 FolkCuba International Laboratories)

F Casa Amparo (casa particular where I stayed for the 2012 Havana Jazz Plaza Festival)

G Casa Carlos y Neyda (casa particular where I stayed for the 2011 FolkCuba International Laboratories)

H Hotel Presidente

I U.S. Interests Section

J Hotel Nacional

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APPENDIX D

U.S.-CUBAN POLITICAL AND MUSICAL TIMELINE

Table D.1: Political and Musical Timeline

Political Events Musical Events Spanish-American War ends; Spain

renounces claims to Cuba; U.S. military assumes control of the island.

1898

1900 W.C. Handy visits Cuba. Platt Amendment passed. 1901 Cuba becomes officially independent while

the Platt Amendment keeps the nation under U.S. control.

1902

1920s Afrocubanismo movement begins; Afro-Cuban son gains national popularity;

North American jazz bands become prominent in Havana.

1928 Pan American Association of Composers (PAAC) founded;

Moisés Simons writes the son “El Manisero” (“The Peanut Vendor”).

1929 Henry Cowell assumes leadership of PAAC. Great Depression in the U.S. 1930s Afrocubanismo movement continues. 1930 Herbert Marks publishes “The Peanut

Vendor” in the U.S., popularizing Tin Pan Alley “rumba” dance songs.

U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt announces Good Neighbor policy.

1933 PAAC gives five concerts in New York and seven in Havana.

Platt Amendment repealed. 1938 World War II 1940s Numerous Cuban jazz musicians move to

New York; Emergence of Latin jazz.

President Roosevelt creates Office of Inter-American Affairs.

1940 Formation of Machito and the Afro-Cubans.

1941 Aaron Copland visits Cuba. 1947 Chano Pozo joins Dizzy Gillespie’s band. 1949 Pérez Prado’s “Mambo #5” becomes a

major hit in Cuba.

1950s Jazz used as a cornerstone of U.S. musical diplomacy around the world;

U.S. companies dominate Cuban radio, television and recording industries;

Big band mambo and “mambo craze” in the U.S.

General Fulgencio Batista stages successful

military coup. 1952

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Table D.1 – Continued

Political Events Musical Events Fidel Castro stages a failed attack on the

Moncada military barracks (July 26). 1953

Fidel Castro’s forces defeat Batista’s military and Batista flees to the Dominican Republic (Jan. 1).

1959

Castro’s government consolidates power and institutes revolutionary reforms.

1960s Jazz, rock and other “imperialist” musical genres are generally prohibited in Cuba.

All U.S. business/commercial property in Cuba is nationalized;

U.S. imposes an economic embargo on Cuba prohibiting all exports except foodstuffs, medicines, and medical supplies.

1960

Castro defines the Cuban Revolution as being socialist;

1,300 U.S.-supported Cuban exiles undertake a failed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.

1961

Cuba is suspended from the Organization of American States;

Congress passes a join resolution granting the president the right to intervene militarily in Cuba if U.S. interests are threatened;

The Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct. 18-29)

1962

The Kennedy administration tightens the embargo and makes most travel to Cuba illegal for U.S. citizen;

President John F. Kennedy is assassinated (Nov. 22)

1963

President Johnson signs the Cuban Adjustment Act allowing Cubans who have reached the U.S. to reside in the country legally.

1966 Pete Seeger’s recording of “Guantanamera” becomes an international hit.

1967 Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna jazz ensemble founded;

Tania León leaves Cuba. 1968 “Revolutionary offensive” closes cabarets,

bars, and other live music venues in Cuba.

1969 Juan Formell forms Los Van Van. Cuba sends troops to support revolutions in

Africa 1970s Trova gains prominence in Cuba;

Timba emerges. 1971 Pete Seeger visits Cuba. 1973 Chucho Valdés forms Irakere.

Carter lifts Cuba travel ban; U.S. and Cuba agree to open “interests

sections.”

1977 Jazz cruise docks in Cuba (May).

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Table D.1 – Continued

Political Events Musical Events 1978 Irakere plays Newport and Montreux Jazz

Festivals; Orquesta Aragón tours U.S.

1979 Havana Jam Festival (March 2-4); Silvio Rodriguez tours U.S.

Cuban exile community coalesces around Republican party and increases political clout.

1980s

Mariel Boat Lift brings 125,000 refugees to the U.S. over a period of five months.

1980 Bobby Carcassés organizes first Havana Jazz Plaza festival;

Paquito D’Rivera defects from Cuba. Reagan administration reinstates travel ban 1982 Reagan institutes Proclamation 5377, which

keeps most Cubans from visiting the U.S. 1985 Dizzy Gillespie performs at the Havana Jazz

Plaza Festival; Miami Sound Machine releases Primitive

Love album, launching Latin Pop genre. 1986 Dizzy Gillespie returns to the Havana Jazz

Plaza Festival along with Charlie Haden.

1988 Cuba’s Tropicana dance troupe visits New York and Los Angeles

Special Period in Cuba 1990s Music takes on new role in Cuban tourism industry

1990 Dizzy Gillespie’s final performance at Havana Jazz Plaza Festival;

Arturo Sandoval defects from Cuba. Collapse of Soviet Union ends aid for Cuba. 1991 Congress passes Cuban Democracy Act to

tighten embargo and travel ban. 1992 Los Muñequitos de Matanzas perform in

first U.S. tour. New boatlift brings over 30,000 Cubans to

the U.S.; Clinton limits Cuban immigration and

institutes “wet foot-dry foot” policy

1994

Cuban government shoots down Brothers to the Rescue plane;

Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, also known as the Helms-Burton Act, is passed to strengthen and codify the embargo.

1996 Chucho Valdés begins tenure as Havana Jazz Plaza Festival director.

1997 Buena Vista Social Club album released to international acclaim.

Clinton allows direct flights between Havana and Miami and allows Cuban Americans to send money to relatives in Cuba;

Cuban Five arrested in Miami.

1998

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Table D.1 – Continued

Political Events Musical Events Clinton exempts artists from Proclamation

5377 and increases opportunities for U.S. citizens to visit Cuba.

1999 Protests are held outside of Los Van Van’s first performance in Miami;

Tania León organizes Cuban Sonidos de las Américas festival in New York City;

Threats force first Latin Grammy Awards to relocate from Miami.

U.S. War on Terror; George W. Bush recalibrates policies towards

Cuba to be adversarial.

2000s

Elián Gonazlez returned to his father in Cuba six months after being found in Florida Straits

2000

Terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. (Sept. 11);

Nachito Herrera establishes permanent residency in Minnesota.

2001

2003 Latin Grammy Awards held in Miami for the first time.

George W. Bush stops issuing licenses for purposeful travel and reapplies Proclamation 5377 to artists.

2004

2005 Rock band Audioslave is granted permission to perform a concert in Havana.

Fidel Castro falls ill and his brother Raúl provisionally assumes power.

The Florida Travel Act becomes law.

2006

Raúl Castro officially takes over the Cuban presidency.

2008

Barack Obama announces “a new beginning” with Cuba, eases travel restrictions on Cuban Americans, begins issuing cultural exchange visas to Cubans;

Alan Gross arrested in Cuba.

2009 Silvio Rodriguez denied visa to perform at Pete Seeger’s birthday;

Juanes organizes Peace Without Borders concert in Havana;

Kool and the Gang perform in Havana. Raúl Castro announces various reforms to

Cuba’s economy. 2010s

2010 Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs in Havana;

First annual Chicago Festival Cubano; Tania León is a featured composer at the

Leo Brouwer Festival. Barack Obama announces increased

opportunities for purposeful travel to Cuba and reinstatement of people-to-people tours.

2011 ¡Sí Cuba! Festival in New York City; Florida Orchestra initiates multi-year

exchange with National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba (NSOC);

Fuego Cuban Music Festival canceled in South Florida.

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Table D.1 – Continued

Political Events Musical Events Raúl Castro announces reforms in laws

allowing Cubans to more freely travel abroad.

2012 Voices from the Heart tours Cuba; NSOC first U.S. tour (Oct. 16 – Nov. 11); Coro de Entrevoces tours New England; 28th Annual International Jazz Plaza

Festival, Havana (Dec. 20-23). 2013 Jay-Z and Beyoncé visit Havana;

Nachito Herrera brings Minnesota musicians to Cubadisco;

Performer Roberto Carcassés punished for statements on live Cuban TV;

Chucho Valdes performs with Natalie Cole at Hollywood Bowl (Aug. 14)

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APPENDIX E

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF CUBA 2012 TOUR

ITINERARY AND PROGRAMMING

Table E.1: 2012 NSOC Tour Itinerary and Programming

Date Location Composer Piece 16-Oct Kansas City, MO

Gershwin Cuban Overture Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue Lecuona La Comparsa

Kauffman Center For the Performing Arts

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 17-Oct Urbana, IL

Gershwin Cuban Overture Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue López-Gavilán Guaguancó

Krannert Center, University of Illinois

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 18-Oct Ames, IA

Gershwin Cuban Overture Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue Lecuona La Comparsa

Iowa State Center

Schubert Symphony No. 5 21-Oct Rockville, MD

Gershwin Cuban Overture Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 Lecuona La Comparsa

Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center

Beethoven Symphony No. 5 22-Oct Buffalo, NY

Gershwin Cuban Overture Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue Beethoven Symphony No. 5

University at Buffalo Center for the Arts

Lecuona La Comparsa 23-Oct Allentown, PA

Gershwin Cuban Overture Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 Lecuona La Comparsa

Allentown Symphony Hall

Beethoven Symphony No. 5 24-Oct Worcester, MA

Gershwin Cuban Overture Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue Lecuona La Comparsa

Music Worcester - Mechanics Hall

Beethoven Symphony No. 5 26-Oct Schenectady, NY

Gershwin Cuban Overture Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue Lecuona La Comparsa

Proctor's Theatre

Beethoven Symphony No. 5

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Table E.1 – Continued

Date Location Composer Piece 27-Oct Bronx, NY

Gershwin Cuban Overture Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue Lecuona La Comparsa

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts

Beethoven Symphony No. 5 28-Oct Union, NJ

Gershwin Cuban Overture Gerswhin Rhapsody in Blue Lecuona La Comparsa

Kean University

Beethoven Symphony No. 5 29-Oct Danville, VA

Gershwin Cuban Overture Beethoven Symphony No. 5

George Washington High School

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 30-Oct Newport News, VA*

Gershwin Cuban Overture Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue Lecuona La Comparsa

Ferguson Center For The Arts *Cancelled due to Hurricane

Sandy

Beethoven Symphony No. 5 1-Nov Opelika, AL

Gershwin Cuban Overture Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 Lecuona La Comparsa Herrera Tribute to Lecuona

The Arts Association of East Alabama

Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue 2-Nov Aiken, SC

Gershwin Cuban Overture Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 Lecuona La Comparsa

Etheredge Center

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 3-Nov Daytona Beach, FL

Gershwin Cuban Overture Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue Lecuona La Comparsa

Peabody Auditorium

Beethoven Symphony No. 5 4-Nov St. Augustine, FL

Gershwin Cuban Overture Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue Lecuona La Comparsa

St. Augustine Amphitheatre

Beethoven Symphony No. 5 5-Nov Naples, FL

Gershwin Cuban Overture Lecuona La Comparsa López-Gavilán Guaguancó

Philharmonic Center for the Arts

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4

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Table E.1 – Continued

Date Location Composer Piece 6-Nov Ybor City, Tampa, FL

Lecuona La Comparsa Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No. 6 Peters A La Samba

Cuban Club Chamber music concert with

members of the Florida

Orchestra Bach Double Concerto for Two Violins

7-Nov St. Petersburg, FL Gershwin Cuban Overture Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 Marin El Medico de Pianos Herrera Tribute to Lecuona López-Gavilán Guaguancó

The Mahaffey Theatre In conjunction with the

Florida Orchestra

Beethoven Symphony No. 5 8-Nov Fort Pierce, FL

Gershwin Cuban Overture Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 Lecuona La Comparsa

Sunrise Theatre

Beethoven Symphony No. 5 10-Nov West Palm Beach, FL

Gershwin Cuban Overture Herrera Tribute to Lecuona López-Gavilán Guaguancó Marín Danzón “El Médico de Pianos”

Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4

11-Nov West Palm Beach, FL

Gershwin Cuban Overture

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64

Lecuona La Comparsa

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4

Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

López-Gavilán Guaguancó

Pieces Performed in order of frequency*

21 - Gershwin – Cuban Overture (1932) 18 – Lecuona – “La Comparsa” (1912) 12 – Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 (1808) 11 – Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue (1924) 10 – Mendelssohn – Symphony No. 4 (1833) 5 – López-Gavilán – Guaguancó (1985) 3 – Herrera – Tribute to Lecuona (2004) 2 – Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 2 (1901) 2 – Marín – Danzón “El Médico de Pianos” (1995) 1 – Schubert – Symphony No. 5 (1819) 1 – Mendelssohn – Violin Concerto in E minor (1844)

*Does not include national anthems, encores, or the Ybor City chamber music concert.

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APPENDIX F

SELECT INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS

Author’s Interview with Will Magid (January 10, 2013)

TS: I wanted to ask how you got invited.

WM: Sure. Everything started with a friend of my manager, someone he grew up with happens

to be pretty much... She's an American living in Cuba. She wrote a few of the guides.

TS: So this is Conner, right?

WM: Yeah. I forgot she introduced us. So, honestly it's not too interesting of a story but basically

she heard us play and liked us and I gave her a handful of copies of our CD and she passed it

around, and I guess the board that decides which groups want to play. They liked us and sent us

an invitation.

TS: So there was a formal invitation and all that stuff?

WM: They sent a formal letter. It was like a government thing like anything. Someone on some

chair, you probably know more about their arts organizations.

TS: I'm curious about your perspective on the organization of the festival.

WM: Yeah... it was, in some ways it was very professional. They had a staff there, legitimate

sound system, good rooms, good stage set ups and everything. It was kind of a surprise to me

that everything was so spread out as far as the festival and that they would, to be completely

honest, that they would book unknown acts in Cuba sort of all in the same room. I hoped they'd

have a headliner, a well-known Cuba headliner for every space and then have other acts to fill it

in. I never made it to the other places

TS: Yeah, you guys were up against Chucho Valdés weren't you? Some other shows there

were not very well attended...

WM: The whole thing was promoted really poorly. As you probably know from planning your

trip, there was no lineup announcement. I don't think they had an official lineup announcement

online or anything. So as far as engaging the international community for an international music

festival, they're definitely taking... well everyone has a long way to go let's put it that way. It's

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partly because they don't have a lot of money, and internet is not really a part of the culture in

Cuba so it's not on the top of their priority lists. I don't know if you were there for our set at the

Bertolt Brecht, or whatever, where the power went out in the middle of our set.

TS: I thought that was great the way you responded to that.

WM: Yeah, that was cool. That stuff can happen anywhere. It was kind of interesting, but there's

a strange culture in Cuba that I think is actually really cool and that's kind of like that attitude.

The show goes on. Everyone in Cuba, the musicians are such high caliber. And I also thought it

was really cool when we were trying to get other shows booked and it was a little hard. One

thing I think was really cool is, a lot of musicians have weekly gigs in venues around town so in

a sense to get a gig at night would be to take away a night of work from someone who already

has that on their calendar.

TS: Did you get any other gigs outside the festival?

WM: I was going to, the thing I was most excited was this thing called the electrobus and it was

going to be a DJ set with a couple Cuban DJs on this converted bus, and it's a thing they do

pretty regularly and it was like... You might know about this. I guess there was some

controversial hip hop group that had performed in Havana like sometime when we were there

and basically because of a few different stresses in government like Hugo Chavez in the hospital

all this, the government decided to pull the current for this bus that we were going to play on. So

it ended up not happening but it was actually the one I was most looking forward to because it

was so out of... it was young people that were organizing it and Cuban underground culture

scene, and you know, that's kind of where my mind is at least. I want to be ideally playing with

or for other people around my age or like leading to the next thing.

TS: Right, the stuff young people are getting into that young people are doing themselves

and not a top down type thing

WM: Exactly, and that's really what I wanted to be at. That's the type of performance I want to

do the next time I go more so, I might end up going more just as a solo trumpet player and not

with like a band just so I can go quicker and play with people, not have to book a night and just

sit in with people.

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TS: You had a decent sized group who went with you guys.

WM: Yeah, it was a quartet and three other people. It was a blast, I mean it was a core. We were

actually rolling with an eight piece group. My parents ended up coming, my girlfriend came, and

another friend came.

TS: Did everyone fly through Cancun?

WM: Yes

TS: Did you look into flying from the US and going through all those official channels?

WM: Only to the point that like it looked like it was going to be more expensive from California

or near impossible. I got a referral to a pretty good carrier and I just moved with it, it seemed like

a good way to go. I looked into and it seemed like it was going to be even more money.

<Recording cuts out>

WM: It was interesting too. The legality is always, kind of convoluted. Like the difference

between the law and law enforcement, you know, and I really got the feeling that American

customs officials just don't want to know. We kind of went through our understanding of a

general license, which you know, yeah... We were staying at, what do you call it, particular.

Yeah a casa particular. We had an eight-person group, we were divided into three places and a

few of us had a three-bedroom apartment we were staying in. We used that as a home base. It

was cool. Very affordable and got to make espresso and the family's always cooking a little

snack.

TS: Had anyone in your group been to Cuba before?

WM: My mom actually had, and my dad who was there, but none of the performers. My dad was

there in the seventies you know when it was still a Soviet state and my mom lived there about a

year and a half ago.

TS: How'd she go there?

WM: She went through a group called Pastors for Peace, which is <unintelligible> In general, it

was such a beautiful experience being there in addition to the hassle, you need a general in

comparison to other places I've traveled with like comparable per capita GDPs I mean it was just

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night and day difference in terms of quality of life. It was just night and day compared to my

travel in West Africa. Is there something it's like less than $50 a month the average salary in

Cuba?

TS: I think they're saying average now is kind of... the people who work in the tourist

industry have way more access to money than even some doctors and stuff.

WM: But it was just really, really powerful to be in an area where that measurement isn't really,

um... that measurement doesn't really say much. Like it's not really an indicator of so many basic

quality of life indications like health and even just like health and lifestyle, people with roofs

over their heads like with some amount of food, with fruits and vegetables on their table.

TS: Would you say that's one of the bigger things that surprised you going there?

WM: Yeah, I mean it wasn't quite a surprise because I've read about that and talked to people

who had been there and know a little bit about kind of the principles of the revolution and how

that was manifested, but um, but the thing that surprised me the most honestly was the lack of,

relative lack of pollution. You know, it's not like perfect it's not like Singapore or something but

I was pretty surprised how generally clean. I mean way cleaner than San Francisco, that's for

sure.

TS: For how densely populated in Havana it is, that's true.

WM: What I think was really amazing was not like the facts of the government, like I knew their

policies and what type of public utilities and services that they provide but it was like the people

that really amazed me, just made me sort of. They were kind of everyone was very put together,

to me.

TS: And very outgoing in general, which surprised me.

WM: Very outgoing. My Spanish is very poor but everyone communicated and was very

outgoing. I had quite a few invitations to go back if there's ever any money but it's hard to travel

there because you're losing money every time you go basically.

TS: That's one thing I was wondering about the festival, if they paid you anything.

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WM: No, they didn't. Um, and from what I understand nor did they pay any of the other

international artists. I think some of the local musicians get some money somehow from that, I

actually don't know that for a fact. But I think the way to do it again, which I want to do, this is

the way that Friends University from Kansas who performed that night did was through

fundraising, grants, things like that. Like if I can do it through the auspices of a nonprofit with

like really the focus being a cultural exchange, I think it'll be can justify it by having some

expenses paid for, just basic expenses.

TS: When would you, are you already thinking of going back again?

WM: I don't know. Right when I was leaving I was pretty committed to coming back in July but

then I was back in Babylon and making plans or whatever it's kind of harder. It's harder to do

that when there are other markets that I really want to start playing in like Europe and the East

Coast where I could potentially actually make money. So it's hard. I mean, being a musician is

not easy to begin with and it's always this general rule is for myself it's always kind of like go

out, you're not in it to make money you're in it for the cultural reasons and social reasons and just

the pleasure of the music, but I'm <unintelligible> base salary.

TS: I never thought about that much before but in a sense Cuba being kind of cut off from

the rest of the global music industry really makes it not a place to build your career.

WM: It's so interesting because it is really cut off from the music industry in media, practical

ways like there aren't that many Americans, there aren't that many international musicians going

to Cuba but at the same time like for the size of that island, and this is I think this is true with

other aspects of the culture and society, but its musical imprint like far surpasses its population.

When I was in Mali in March, the music school there is largely led by Cuban musicians who

moved there at some point and teach. And it's like a couple generations of musicians in Mali and

you hear Cuban influences literally all over the world, especially in Africa.

TS: Yeah, for being such a small island how global that music is. When people say "Latin

music" you're almost always talking about something originally based in Cuban traditions.

WM: Yeah! And as far as a lot of times what you're calling a Latin rhythm is really a Yoruba

rhythm or another West African rhythm and that's interesting in and of itself. It's extremely

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fascinating to me, and one of the reasons I became interested in Cuban music and not just the

African retention in Cuba from the lineage and the diaspora but also the conversation back to

Africa and hearing these Cuban influences kind of having a conversation back and forth between

these two cultures. That to me is like really awesome.

TS: Yeah, and they even called it rumba as this really popular African music.

WM: Right, exactly. The rumba like there's this genre in West Africa.

TS: So do you have any other big trips planned at this point, internationally?

WM: Um, right now not exactly. I'm definitely looking to get to Europe next year but probably

France, Spain, but you know that's nothing official.

TS: Did you choose any music specifically to play there being in Cuba, like to play?

WM: No, not really. I'm always like I'm always trying to do as good of a job as I can to just like

express where I'm at in life. And yes it was a jazz festival, so like I have a ton of music that's

more harder being electronic music even flirting with dubstep. Really grimey, funky electronic

dance music that I might only have hinted to in my sets. That was more because of the context of

the jazz festival than the fact that it was in Cuba.

TS: I was sitting with this German guy that I met the day of your performance and I think

it was after the power came back on and stuff and you were. I don't remember if you went

back to playing the first song that you got cut off on but it was something with kind of like

an Eastern European almost Balkan influence going in it, and this guy said “This is so

strange to me. I'm hearing this type of music that I like to listen to in Germany while I'm in

Havana being played by a group from California.”

WM: Yeah! That honestly was very strange to me as well, the fact that the crowd was largely

foreigners. I don't remember even, but that was just <unintelligible> I'd like to work with them

more while I'm there and I don't think it's super easy to do this. When you're a foreigner you kind

of want to work through the bureaucracy and try to do things properly and I want to be playing

for people who are, like downstairs or over in one of the clubs. I'm way less interested in

working with the large bureaucracy of the Cuban government to do Cuban Government curated

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shows. That's fine, but that doesn't interest me anywhere really. I'm not really into that. I kind of

avoid playing jazz festivals because of how institutionalized the genre's become and that's just

my personal feeling on music in general. When people are so closed minded that they don't want

to hear something new, the class thing or whatnot but yeah that was kind of annoying. The whole

fact that I had to pay for being in the other concerts was bizarre.

TS: I got one of those festival passes and I don't think it was worth it. I just don't think it

was advertised even to Cubans much at all. Like it was in the newspaper some once it

started but there wasn't a push to get Cubans to go to it.

WM: Yeah, that's kind of... I was only there for five whole days so it was nice at least having an

institution that would at least that was backed by the government that would actually happen like

that other party bus I was really excited about that got canceled. I think going there for a much

longer time is a good thing because in some ways, five days in Cuba is only like two days in the

US or something in terms of the amount of things you can get done. Things are canceled, the

power is going out, the sense of time is a little different. So I guess I want to go for a much

longer period of time

TS: Did you get a chance to play with any Cuban musicians at all while you were there?

WM: Not really. Yeah, I wish I was. I got interviewed over there and they wanted me to talk

about interaction with all these Cuban musicians, I guess, but it's... If I were to go again, it

wouldn't necessarily be to the jazz fest. I was worried about it getting published and me getting

flagged going back to California. I have a lot of gratitude to them and I'm happy to help the

festival any way I can.

Author’s Interview with Lisa Hittle (September 27, 2013)

TS: I saw you in Havana when I was there, but I didn't even know who would be playing

before I got there.

LH: Yeah, they don't do a very good job with that. They're so last minute that they don't like to

put out very much in advance in terms of what groups are going to be there in case groups cancel

out or whatever and then you don't get down there expecting to see certain people and they're not

there.

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TS: What was the process for you guys getting there, like when did the whole thing start?

LH: Well, Cuba just going to Cuba had kind of been on my bucket list of things to do, and so I

had seen some emails come across my desk a couple years ago about the Havana Jazz Festival.

So I, two years, you know the year before you saw us, I signed on to go with a friend of mine

here from Wichita to just go as a tourist, basically, to just kind of go down there and see what it

would be like and try to maybe meet some people from the jazz festival, and as it turned out we

traveled with the Authentic Cuba Travel company that's a company out of Toronto that's run by

two Cuban people. And they’re, because they're Cubans, they're very hooked in down there and

so when they knew that that's why I was going, they really hooked me up and let me arrange for

me to meet you know the head of the jazz festival and some things like that and encouraged me

to take a press kit down with me, which I did. So that's how we basically kind of hooked up and

got an invitation to then take the band back the next year.

TS: Who was the head that you met with?

LH: I should've pulled that file out. I'll tell you what, if at the end of this conversation if you will

email I will pull that file because I can't tell you off the top of my head that I do have it written

down.

TS: So you kind of had the plan to go, when did you start figuring out how you'd get the

group over there like the licensing and all that type of stuff?

LH: Well in some ways it kind of started when I was down there the first time because I just

started asking a lot of questions about how that would work and what our performance venues

would be and how many times we would perform. They even had me go look while we were

there the first time at a hotel that we would probably stay at, that the students could stay at which

indeed we did. So it just kind of started when I was down there the first time and it just kind of

kept going after I got back.

TS: And it probably wasn't too difficult as an education thing.

LH: Right, all we really had to do for the students and myself was of course, passports, and then

we had to have the President of our university write a letter, which a copy went with each student

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stating that they were going for educational purposes and a part of a class they were enrolled in

and really that was all it took for the students to get licensure. We did take a group of about 20

people from Wichita that were adults, like a companion tour, and so their process you know was

a little bit different because each one of them individually had to kind of apply for their licensure

to go down, but it all... the travel company is so good at helping people understand how to do

that and work through that process that I don't think for anybody it felt like it was a real huge

burden to have to do that.

TS: What travel company was it you went with the group then?

LH: The same one, Authentic... yeah, we worked with it's a, I'm not sure if they're a husband and

wife, but it's a lady and a man Luis who I never actually dealt with. But the lady her name is

Yané, and I still have never met her but we have talked countless times just over the phone and

through e-mails. She has been just really, really wonderful at helping with both of those trips.

And I actually had tentatively planned to go back this year and take a band from Kansas City

Community College, but they have elected to wait until next December and try to go. So I think

probably, we will be doing that a year from this December.

TS: I was hoping I could go again this coming December, but it isn’t cheap.

LH: I was kind of disappointed I wasn't going to go [this year] but then on the other hand you're

right. It takes some time and it takes some money, and I've been the last two years so I thought,

well it's okay to take a year off and go back next year. I'd like to get, where I teach we have a

really great faculty jazz sextet and guys that teach here, and I would really love to take that group

down but it would probably take applying for some kind of a grant to get the funding to do that.

So I don't know, I have to kind of keep exploring those options a little bit. I did find, and you

might be interested in this, two years before we went, or maybe three, I found out that the college

jazz ensemble for TCU, Texas Christian University, had been and done that same kind of trip.

And the year after they went, that year their director retired but I was able to kind of locate him

and I called him several times in our process to just say “Hey, how did this work?” and “How

was that?” And he had said, he was down there [at TCU] like thirty some years and he said, you

know I've taken my band all over the world but that was one of the greatest trips that we ever

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took. So that really encouraged me as far as taking kids, and I'd have to say the same thing. I've

been to Europe a couple times, but nothing quite kind of compared with that trip.

TS: Has the Friends University band traveled overseas before?

LH: Yeah, in 2008 we went to Northern Italy and Southern France. We played at the Umbria

jazz festival and some of those festivals in that region. Then in 2010 we went back and Wichita

has a sister city in Orleone, France which is outside of Paris, I don't know, an hour and a half,

and they have a jazz festival so we went over and played that jazz festival and spent some time in

Paris.

TS: Okay, how was the trip funded on the students’ part? Did you guys do some

fundraising?

LH: Yeah, a lot. It was a real joint effort. The university kicked in some money because we have

like an endowment for fine arts travel so we got some money from the university. Each of the

students had to contribute individually a certain amount, then we did lots of fundraising through

extra performances, we did a silent auction, we just... they solicited even just contributions. And

then we still didn't have enough money to really cover the trip but the university agreed to cover

it and then in February, we have a huge jazz festival here so it was our 20th anniversary, we had

the Count Basie Orchestra come in, and I was able to get that underwritten which then meant that

we made quite a bit of money off of that so I paid off the trip with ticket sales from that. So it

was quite a conbobulation of different things that funded that.

TS: I guess community support was really good then if you had fundraisers and things like

that ahead of time, and I saw that documentary it seems like there was at least positive

buzz. Could you speak to that at all?

LH: Wichita is kind of a funny place. It's real hard, I think, to get the feel like you're really

letting the entire city know that you're doing anything, you know? But we tried to really get the

word out and get a lot of community support, and I still think the majority of Wichita probably

didn't know that we were doing that trip. But the support that we did have was great, and that

documentary that you saw just actually aired a couple weeks ago. Uh, that gal that did it has a

local TV show and she went down and took a cameraperson on their own dime and just went

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with us and did that documentary, which I thought was really cool. Actually now, almost nine

months after the fact, now a lot more people do know because they've seen that documentary.

TS: Did you get any negative reactions from anybody?

LH: You know, at the outset some of the people here at the university that had to okay the trip

were a little reluctant, just because they didn't know how safe it would be and that type of thing,

and some of the parents of the kids kind of were that way but you know. It was good that I could

say to them, "Look I was there last year, I went down there and if there was any question about it

not being a safe environment, I wouldn't be taking these kids down there." So I think that was

kind of reassuring, and sure enough we just didn't have any problems at all with anything.

TS: That seems to be pretty common. There's such an information blackout almost that no

one knows…

LH: Yeah, and it's just that stereotype that I think is still a hangover from fifty years ago from the

Cold War. Nobody goes down there so nobody understands what the culture and the climate is

like and there's just a lot of misconceptions I think about even the government and the Cuban

people and their relationship with Americans and that. So one of the big things that we touted

was that there are misconceptions and we were ambassadors for not only Wichita but the United

States to go down and just further relations.

TS: How did you select the pieces you played? I remember you said something kind of

about this in one of the performances.

LH: Well, I knew that essentially from being down there last year, that pretty much ninety

percent of the music that I heard on the festival was either Latin in nature or what surprised me

was that all the local Cuban guys that we heard were very into sort of, very progressive, modern

jazz. And so, that's not, neither one of those is necessarily our strength so I thought rather than

try to go down there and play what everybody else is playing and probably not be able to do it at

the level that everybody else is, we're just gonna go do what we do. So we really tried to do kind

of a tribute to the American big band music. We did a Stan Kenton piece and we did a Woody

Herman piece, and that's kind of what we tried to do was just pay tribute to the American big

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band guys. As far as I could tell, it went over very well because it was kind of a novelty. The

Cubans definitely knew that music, but nobody's playing it down there anymore.

TS: Right, and there weren't many big band type setups at all in the festival so you were

kind of unique in that.

LH: Yeah, there was a Cuban big band of young people that played the same night that we

played like I think there were kind of two groups in front of us and they were really good. But it

was that definitely that thing, everything they played was very Latin flavored and pretty modern

flavored so I kind of felt like it was a little bit of a risk for us to go down there and do that, but in

thinking about it I thought, “No, we'll just go do what we do.” And then I think all the kids felt

really good about that in the end.

TS: How did you set up the performance with the, you played with one of the, he was an

instructor at the conservatory?

LH: Yeah, Luis. Let's see what was his last name... What happened was when I, what was really

good was, we could send kind of our equipment needs through Authentic Cuba Travel and then

they communicated with the jazz festival people on that. And so I have a vibes player in the

band, and when I said we really need a set of vibes it came back that they couldn't find one and

the jazz festival couldn't locate a set and so I kind of pushed it and said look, we've got a kid in

the band that that's all she does is play vibes and we really need that. So they went to the school

where Luis teaches and found him and then they emailed me and said, "There's a guy down here"

and they didn't tell me that he taught at the school. Well I guess they kind of did, but I imagined

this old guy. They said there's this guy with a set of vibes and he'll loan them to you but he'd

want to sit in the band. And I thought, oh great... but you know they kind of had us over a barrel.

Then when we got down there we met Luis who was about the age of some of my kids in the

band, and he was a delightful guy, just wonderful and a great player and he ended up hanging out

with our kids pretty much the whole trip. And they loved him and he loved getting to hang out

with them. So that ended up just being a really great deal getting to meet him. We went out to the

school where he teaches and we took a bunch of supplies down for their students, you know we

took a lot of like reeds and percussion sticks and valve oil and stuff that we could just kind of get

277

in suitcases so we took a couple boxes of supplies out to them too. I think it ended up being a

really mutually beneficial deal for us.

TS: Did you trade contact information with him then or anything? Would you consider

doing anything in the future?

LH: Oh yeah, absolutely. I absolutely would, in fact he emailed me oh every once in a while just

to see what's going on and update me on what he's doing and he wasn't even thirty yet. He had

just graduated from that school and then got hired on to teach there. Just yeah, really great guy,

and I would think that any U.S. band that went down he would be more than happy to hook up

with them and do stuff and probably know other people that would as well. So that was a real

unexpected benefit for us I think to get to do that.

TS: Did you do anything with the students educating them about Cuba beforehand? Or do

you know how much they knew about the political situation or just the music and culture?

LH: I did. One of the things that we did early on was, there's this Canadian saxophone player

named Jane Bunnett, do you know who she is?

TS: Yeah, I think I saw her.

LH: Yeah, she was down there. Well she had been down there gazillions of times and a number

of years ago she had put together this documentary called The Spirit of Havana, and it's about

her and her husband going down there and meeting all the Cuban people and playing music with

them and everything, and it really gives you a feel for what it's like to be down there. So we

watched that and then I did kind of a series of talks with them on the history so they would at

least have some background on that, because you know these kids are in their twenties and as we

were preparing for that trip last fall it was the fiftieth anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. So

you know it was kind of good because there was some of that in the news and we could talk

about that and then, there are a few Cuban-born people or children of Cuban-born people in our

community that I also had come in and talk to them a little bit. So I think, as I said in that

documentary, there's some of that that you just can't even prepare them for and it's kind of more

the emotional part of how they feel when they go down there. But you know as far as trying to

give them some kind of background so they weren't just ignorant about what they were going

278

into, I mean I tried to kind of do that and just balance it with somewhat letting them experience

some things without any preparation too.

TS: You guys got to do some sort of outside the festival non-musical stuff while you were

there too, right?

LH: Yeah, actually I thought we did a lot. We did a walking tour of Old Havana, we did, we

toured the Revolution Museum, which was just a block from our hotel. We went to the Cuban

museum of Fine Arts, which was really cool. We went out to the school that day which most

tourist people don't even get on those grounds, so that was kind of a cool deal for us. Let's see,

what else did we do? One night just on our own, we went to a jazz club and that was fun. And I

felt like they got a pretty good sampling, you know we didn't get outside of Havana and the first

year that I went we did, we went to Cienfuegos and Trinidad. So with the students it was all just

in Havana. They spent part of the day at the marketplace and just kind of different things, so I

feel like they really got to absorb the culture a lot. You know sometimes we were really close to

the seawall and sometimes at night I'd just gather them all up and we'd just go sit on the seawall

and hang out with all the Cuban people and drink some rum and smoke some cigars and that was

probably immersing them in the culture in a way that the tour company couldn't have.

TS: That's such a common experience. That's the hang out place. How many days were you

there again?

LH: We did an interesting thing. We also are sister cities with Cancun, Mexico, so we flew into

Mexico and played a concert there in Cancun at their city hall and then flew to Cuba the next

day. So we were in Cuba five days, four nights. And then we were in Cancun a night on the way

down and then again on the way back. So it was a six night, seven-day trip, but we were just in

Cuba the five days.

TS: Okay, and the festival's going on pretty much that whole time then.

LH: Right, yeah.

TS: You kind of I guess we kind of touched on this right when we started talking, but what

were your impressions of the festival organization and set up overall?

279

LH: Well, you know, I think that they try extremely hard to make that festival happen and run

smoothly and get the artists everything that they ask for and need. I know we had assigned to us

a young girl, I'm sure she did it on a volunteer basis, but she was kind of our liaison and was kind

of just with us the whole time trying to make sure we had everything we needed. So I felt really

good about that. We didn't have any equipment issues, I mean they solved the things with the

vibes with Luis. The one thing that we kind of struggled with was music stands because like you

said, you don't see hardly any big bands. We had to have music stands, and they really scrambled

with that and I think they borrowed a set from one of the schools but as we changed venues, I

know one day we were supposed to, in the second venue we played, we were supposed to have

like a sound check but the music stands didn't arrive until really late and then there was a

blackout, which I hear is pretty common down there. So I think they just faced some

insurmountable odds in terms of some of that stuff, but I just think they work their tails off in

trying to ensure that everything runs smoothly. I just I love that festival, I think the camaraderie

and the spirit of it is something that I haven't experienced at a lot of the other festivals both in the

United States and Europe that I've been to.

TS: Do you think music can play any role in international relations in the case of the U.S.

and Cuba?

LH: Well I think it has for decades. I mean in the 40s and 50s we had American musicians going

down there all the time and playing, and then you know post-Cold War it kind of took a different

turn because the interaction was Cuban musicians that defected and came to the United States,

with Paquito and some of those guys, but I absolutely think that all the cultural exchanges that

we can do between the U.S. and Cuba help foster better relations. Because music is just so, so

important to the Cuban people, I think that that's a big way that we can foster relations.

TS: It seems like it's something that gets a little bit easier to do than anything else even

sometimes even than sports or academics, because it's sort of seen as an unthreatening,

comfortable type of thing that musicians can do this before anyone else can.

LH: And I did learn that when we were out at the school, that they have an exchange program

with several U.S. schools and I know that there are students from Berklee that go down there and

study and vice-versa, and maybe some other places. And that's something that I would be really

280

interested in trying to foster here would be some kind of exchange too. I know there's a lot of red

tape that goes with that and I haven't jumped into those waters yet. But I think the more of that

type of educational, musical exchange that we can do the better as well.

TS: That covers most of the questions that I had. Is there any other interesting or crazy

story that we didn't touch on?

LH: Um, not really. I know that when you talk to my kids now that had that experience, the thing

that they will, the first thing that comes up in conversation with them is just the impact that the

Cuban people made on them. Because they were so friendly and so welcoming and so

desperately wanted to have relationships with them when they found out they were Americans

and just made them feel like they were family. And, I haven't had that experience when I've

taken kids other places necessarily.

TS: Do they talk about wanting to go back, the students?

LH: Absolutely. Yeah, and as a matter of fact, we are. At this university we have a pre-med

program that now has an international component to it where the students that are in that

program have to do a study abroad, and we're taking a group of I think 23 med students down

this summer for like a two week study, and um so you know I think any of my kids that went

would go again at the drop of a hat if they had the opportunity to.

TS: Thank you so much for chatting with me here. I'll send you a follow-up email and

stuff.... I'll keep my eye out and see if next year you make it there with, which college were

you?

L: It's a band, called the Kansas City Community College, they're a two year community college

but quite a good jazz program and he had, the director and I are friends and he had seen my

Facebook posts and stuff like that and contacted me and said “I think I'd like to do that.” And I

said, “Go for it.” And I actually there's an organization, which is JEN, which is Jazz Educator's

Network, and they have a yearly conference that moves around. Last year it was in Atlanta and

this year it's in Dallas, and I sent in a proposal to do a clinic session on how to take your college

band to the Havana Jazz Festival. Unfortunately it did not get accepted, so I don't get to do it but

281

I was disappointed because they're really dying for U.S. bands to come down there but they don't

have the means to communicate that to us very well.

TS: Yeah, we kind of have to be proactive.

LH: Yeah, and people here don't know that they can even do that, let alone what the experience

would be like and so I thought this would be a great chance for me to talk to college band

directors from all over the nation and say "Hey, you can do this, we did it, it was great, go do it,

it's cheaper than taking the band to Europe." So I was really hoping that clinic proposal would

get accepted but it didn't.

TS: You should give it another shot because that's...

LH: Maybe I will next year.

282

APPENDIX G

HUMAN SUBJECTS COMMITTEE APPROVAL AND DEPARTMENTAL

LETTERS

Office of the Vice President for Research

Human Subjects Committee

Tallahassee, Florida 32306-2742

(850) 644-8673 · FAX (850) 644-4392

APPROVAL MEMORANDUM

Date:

To:

Address:

Dept.:

From: Thomas L. Jacobson, Chair

Re: Use of Human Subjects in Research

The application that you submitted to this office in regard to the use of human subjects in the proposal

referenced above have been reviewed by the Secretary, the Chair, and two members of the Human Subjects

Committee. Your project is determined to be and has been approved

by an expedited review process.

The Human Subjects Committee has not evaluated your proposal for scientific merit, except to weigh the risk to

the human participants and the aspects of the proposal related to potential risk and benefit. This approval does

not replace any departmental or other approvals, which may be required.

If you submitted a proposed consent form with your application, the approved stamped consent form is attached

to this approval notice. Only the stamped version of the consent form may be used in recruiting research

subjects.

If the project has not been completed by you must request a renewal of approval for continuation of

the project. As a courtesy, a renewal notice will be sent to you prior to your expiration date; however, it is your

responsibility as the Principal Investigator to timely request renewal of your approval from the Committee.

You are advised that any change in protocol for this project must be reviewed and approved by the Committee

prior to implementation of the proposed change in the protocol. A protocol change/amendment form is required

to be submitted for approval by the Committee. In addition, federal regulations require that the Principal

Investigator promptly report, in writing any unanticipated problems or adverse events involving risks to

research subjects or others.

By copy of this memorandum, the chairman of your department and/or your major professor is reminded that

he/she is responsible for being informed concerning research projects involving human subjects in the

department, and should review protocols as often as needed to insure that the project is being conducted in

compliance with our institution and with DHHS regulations.

This institution has an Assurance on file with the Office for Human Research Protection. The Assurance

Number is IRB00000446.

Cc:

HSC No.

Timothy Storhoff <tps07d@fsu.edu>

2010 East Park Ave. #3 Tallahassee, FL 32301

MUSIC SCHOOL

Beyond the Blockade: The Implications of U.S.-Cuban Foreign Policy in International Cuban Music Festivals

Expedited per 45 CFR § 46.110(7)

07/25/2013

2012.5172

05/26/2013

Frank Gunderson <fgunderson@fsu.edu>, Advisor

283

Office of the Vice President For Research

Human Subjects Committee

P. O. Box 3062742

Tallahassee, Florida 32306-2742

(850) 644-8673 · FAX (850) 644-4392

RE-APPROVAL MEMORANDUM

Date:

To:

Address:

Dept.:

From: Thomas L. Jacobson, Chair

Re: Re-approval of Use of Human subjects in Research:

Your request to continue the research project listed above involving human subjects has been approved

by the Human Subjects Committee. If your project has not been completed by , you are

must request renewed approval by the Committee.

If you submitted a proposed consent form with your renewal request, the approved stamped consent

form is attached to this re-approval notice. Only the stamped version of the consent form may be used

in recruiting of research subjects. You are reminded that any change in protocol for this project must

be reviewed and approved by the Committee prior to implementation of the proposed change in the

protocol. A protocol change/amendment form is required to be submitted for approval by the

Committee. In addition, federal regulations require that the Principal Investigator promptly report in

writing, any unanticipated problems or adverse events involving risks to research subjects or others.

By copy of this memorandum, the Chairman of your department and/or your major professor are

reminded of their responsibility for being informed concerning research projects involving human

subjects in their department. They are advised to review the protocols as often as necessary to insure

that the project is being conducted in compliance with our institution and with DHHS regulations.

Cc:

HSC No.

06/11/2013

Timothy Storhoff <tps07d@fsu.edu>

2010 East Park Ave. #3 Tallahassee, FL 32301

MUSIC SCHOOL

Beyond the Blockade: The Implications of U.S.-Cuban Foreign Policy in International Cuban Music Festivals

06/10/2014

2013.10673

284

FSU Human Subjects Committee approved on 7/26/2012. Void after 7/25/2013. HSC #

2012.5172

INFORMED CONSENT FORM

Blockade: Implications of U.S.-

This research is being conducted by Tim Storhoff, a PhD candidate in musicology at Florida

State University. I understand that this research project is to better understand the effect that the

modern relationship between the United States and Cuba has on musical life in Cuba and the

United States, particularly in the context of international music festivals. I understand that if I

agree to participate in this project I will be asked questions about these topics.

The total time commitment will be from one to two hours for a single interview. I understand my

participation is totally voluntary and I may stop participation at any time. There are no specific

benefits to participation in this project. Any risks arising from participation such as legal or

career repercussions resulting from U.S.-Cuban travel will be mitigated and minimized by

keeping names off interview recordings, using pseudonyms and keeping all research materials

I understand that my conversations with Tim Storhoff will be documented with an audio

and/or video recorder and later transcribed. I understand that these recordings will be

used for research purposes only. I understand that any music or performance recorded

will not be used for commercial purposes.

I understand that I may contact Tim Storhoff (tps07d@my.fsu.edu; 701-306-7736) for

answers to questions about this research or my above mentioned rights.

I understand that if I desire, I will remain completely anonymous in the final written product

resulting from this interview. I understand that all information will remain confidential, to the

extent allowed by law.

I understand that if I have any further questions, I may contact the advising professor for this

project, Frank Gunderson (fgunderson@fsu.edu; 850-644-6106). If you have any questions or

concerns regarding this study and would like to talk to someone other than the researcher, you

may also contact the FSU IRB at 2010 Levy Street, Research Building B, Suite 276, Tallahassee,

FL 32306-2742, or 850-644-8633, or by email at humansubjects@magnet.fsu.edu.

I have read and understand this consent form and wish to participate in this project.

_____ You may use my name.

_____ Please use a pseudonym.

_____ I wish to remain anonymous.

_____________________________________ _________________ (Signature) (Date)

285

FSU Human Subjects Committee approved on 7/26/2012. Void after 7/25/2013. HSC # 2012.5172

CONSENTIMIENTO INFORMADO Acepto voluntariamente participar en el proyecto de investigación Más allá del bloqueo: Consecuencias

de la relación de EE.UU.-Cuba en los Festivales Internacionales de Música de Cuba

Esta investigación está siendo realizada por Tim Storhoff, un estudiante graduado de la musicología a la

Universidad Estatal de Florida. Entiendo que esta investigación esta para una mejor comprensión de la

relación entre Estados Unidos y Cuba y música en estos paises, específicamente en festivales

internacionales de música. Yo entiendo que si puedo participar en este proyecto que voy a hacer

preguntas acerca de estos temas.

El tiempo total para una entrevista será de una a dos horas. Entiendo que mi participación es totalmente

voluntaria y puedo dejar de participar en cualquier momento. No hay beneficios específicos para

participar en este proyecto. os riesgos derivados de la participación tales como las repercusiones legales

que resultan de Estados Unidos-Cuba de viaje se minimizará al mantener los nombres de las

grabaciones, utilizando seudónimos y mantener los materiales de investigación privada. Los datos

recogidos se mantendrá indefinidamente en la posesión segura de Tim Storhoff.

Entiendo que mis conversaciones con Tim Storhoff serán grabadas y posteriormente transcritas.

Entiendo que estas grabaciones será utilizada únicamente con fines de investigación. Grabaciones

musicales no se usa para fines comerciales.

Me puede contactar a Tim Storhoff (tps07d@my.fsu.edu; 701-306-7736) para

respuestas a las preguntas sobre esta investigación o mis derechos antes mencionados.

Yo entiendo que si yo deseo, voy a ser totalmente anónimo en el producto final escrito resultante de esta

entrevista. Entiendo que toda la información se mantendrá confidencial, en la medida permitida por la

ley.

Yo entiendo que si tengo algunas preguntas, me pueden contactar a la profesora asesora de este

proyecto, Frank Gunderson (fgunderson@fsu.edu; 850-644-6106). Si usted tiene alguna pregunta o

inquietud con respecto a este investigacion y me gustaría hablar con alguien que no sea el investigador,

también puede comunicarse con FSU IRB a 2010 Levy Street, Research Building B, Suite 276,

Tallahassee, FL 32306-2742, o 850-644-8633, o por correo electrónico

humansubjects@magnet.fsu.edu.

H e leído y entendido este formulario de consentimiento y decide participar en esta investigación. _____ Usted puede usar mi nombre real.

_____ Por favor , use un seudónimo.

_____ !"#$%&'()*(#+"),(-".")#"-#"/#(-0-1,('0.#

_______________________________________________ _______________________ (Firma) (Fecha)

286

THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC

ｄｯｵｧ ｬ｡ ｾｳ＠ Seaton

Wnrrrn D. A llen ｐｮ ｾ ｦ･ｾｳｯｲ＠ of Music

Coordinator. M 11sic Histt ,ryl M 11sicology

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

9 May 2011

It is our pleasure to commend Timothy Storhoff to the kindly courtesy of directors and administrators of

research facilities, institutions of learning, and all government officials .

The Florida State University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

Our College of Music is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM); indeed, we

are recognized as one of the premiere institutions for music in higher education.

Mr. Storhoff is presently a student here in the doctoral program in Musicology. He is working in the field

of ethnomusicology, and his area of research for his dissertation is the music of Cuba. He hopes to visit

Cuba during the summer of 2011 to participate in the International Folklore Laboratories presented by

FolkCuba and the Conjunto Folk16rico Nacional de Cuba. He will receive academic credit for this work as

Directed Individual Study (MUS 6907).

Mr. Storhoff has the enthusiastic support of the University, and his current research plan is endorsed by

our Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Director of Graduate Studies, Dr. Seth Beckman. On

behalf of The Florida State University, we request all possible cooperation and support in providing him

. the opportunity to travel freely to and within Cuba, allowing him access to individual consultants, and

making available to him any research materials and facilities that will assist in his scholarly endeavors.

Thank you very much for your kind assistance to Mr. Storhoff.

l22 Notth Copelancil Avenue, The Florida ｓｴｾｴ･＠ University, P.O. Box 3061180, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1180

850.644.3424 • Fax 8S0.644.2q33 • http://www.rnusic.fsu.edu -... '·

•••• ﾷｾＺ＾ＬＭＢ ＠ • • ..,....

287

October 23, 2012

To Whom it May Concern,

It is our pleasure to recommend Timothy Storhoff to the kindly courtesy of directors and

administrators of research facilities, institutions of learning, and all government officials.

The Florida State University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

(SACS). Our College of Music is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music

(NASM); indeed, we are recognized as one of the premiere institutions for music in higher

education.

Mr. Storhoff is presently a student here in the doctoral program in Musicology. He is working in

the field of ethnomusicology, and his area of research for his dissertation is the music of

Cuba. He hopes to visit Cuba during December 2012 to attend the Havana Jazz Festival as part

of his non-commercial academic research specifically related to Cuba and for the purpose of

obtaining a graduate degree.

Mr. Storhoff has the enthusiastic support of the University, and his current research plan is

endorsed by our Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Director of Graduate

Studies, Dr. Seth Beckman. On behalf of The Florida State University, we request all possible

cooperation and support in providing him the opportunity to travel freely to and within

Cuba, allowing him access to individual consultants, and making available to him any research

materials and facilities that will assist in his scholarly endeavors.

Thank you very much for your kind assistance to Mr. Storhoff. If there are any questions about

his work, please feel free to contact me at the address below.

Sincerely,

Dr. Frank Gunderson

Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology

College of Music

Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL, 32309

PH: (850) 894-0181

E-mail: fgunders@mailer.fsu.edu

!

288

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Timothy P. Storhoff is an ethnomusicologist and arts administrator currently living in

Tallahassee, Florida. Originally from Fargo, North Dakota, he holds a Bachelor of Music degree

in bassoon performance and a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from the University of Iowa.

He received a Master of Music in ethnomusicology from the Florida State University in 2009

followed by a Ph.D. in 2014. While at FSU, Tim taught classes in world music cultures, modern

popular music, and American roots music. At the Florida Department of State, Division of

Cultural Affairs, he works as a grants program manager and the Division’s public information

specialist. He has presented his research at numerous national and international conferences.