June 11-12, 2011

vistaThe unquenchable thirst for all things Cuban

Buena

June 11-12 2011

June 11-12, 2011

LONG-DISTANCE LOVE AFFAIRThe dance and music of a small Caribbean islandhave infiltrated the world, writes Jane Cornwell,as yet more Cuban artists arrive here to tour

‘THERE’S MORE TO MY COUNTRY THAN CIGARS ANDRUM, VINTAGE CARS AND BIG-BOTTOMED WOMEN. MYGENERATION HAS MORE FLAVOURS THAN THAT’GEORGES CESPEDES

THE Western tourists at the Casade la Trova in Santiago de Cubacan’t believe their luck. Onstage,just metres from where they aresitting around tables strewn with

bottles of cola and Havana Club rum, a black-clad guitarist in a cowboy hat is singing ChanChan, the song made famous by the BuenaVista Social Club. That this happens to be thesame singer who sang on the Buena Vistas’bestselling Grammy-winning 1997 album is,for most, fantasy made real.

‘‘The feelings I have for you/ I cannotdeny,’’ 65-year-old Eliades Ochoa croons inSpanish, singing the words written by hiscompadre Compay Segundo, and strummingthe song’s trademark four chords. Inspiredby its irresistible romanticism a few couplestake to the dance floor; a middle-agedblonde woman in a Che Guevara T-shirtstands and sings along loudly. Someonestrikes up a Cohiba cigar from a box probablybought in Havana, the sprawling capital onthe other side of this 1250km-long Caribbeanisland and the first stop for most Cuba tours.

The traditional Cuban son of Ochoa andhis band — think a combination of Spanishsong and guitar and African rhythms andpercussion — wafts over the colonial balconyand on to the streets, to where similarlytight-knit outfits are performing in squares,tourist hotels and other music houses. In theCasa de La Musica, a timba band is whippingWestern salseros into a sweat. An Afro-Cuban rumba session is going on in the Casadel Caribe. The programmed beats of reg-gaeton rule at the outdoor La Claquetta,where young Cubans in lycra and baseballgarb gyrate in pairs.

Cuba’s rhythms are as diverse as itsmelting pot population, most of whom tracetheir ancestry to African slaves or Spanishsettlers, and all of whom love to dance.Professional dancers are groomed in state-backed ballet schools and folkloric compan-ies. Talented musicians pour out of con-servatories. Cuba may shudder under its ownpost-revolutionary weight, its buildings maybe crumbling and derelict and its peoplestruggling, but its artistic spirit is undimini-shed.

With a tropical climate and fabulousbeaches it’s no wonder, really, why touristshave been descending on Cuba since ChanChan went stratospheric. Courses in per-cussion, drumming and Spanish are thriving.A worldwide boom in salsa has seen hordestaking lessons from loose-limbed localswho’ve been salsa-ing since they could walk.Marketed as a place of cigars and rum,vintage cars and big-bottomed women, lastyear this lovely, beleaguered country wel-comed 2.5 million international visitors.Many of these were Australian.

Getting to Cuba isn’t easy from Australia.While there are direct flights to the countryfrom Britain, Europe, Canada and Mexico,anybody wanting to fly there from theAntipodes has to do so via one of these hubsas well (as must anybody in the US). But forthose put off by the journey and expense, forAustralia’s widespread community of Cubanexpats — for anyone, basically, with aninterest in music and dance — there’s a

solution. Since our love affair with Cuba wasjump-started by the timeless sounds of theBuena Vista Social Club more than a decadeago, Cuba has been coming to us.

‘‘Australian audiences connect immedi-ately with Cuban music,’’ says Juan deMarcos Gonzalez, the bandleader, composerand arranger often described as Cubanmusic’s most important contemporary fig-ure. ‘‘They seem to understand its authen-ticity despite the cultural differences.

‘‘It’s the same everywhere,’’ he adds.‘‘I’ve seen people in eastern Europe andcertain parts of Africa, people who’ve neverheard the music before, feel compelled to getup and follow the rhythm in their own way.’’

It was Gonzalez, a conservatory-trainedmusician (and doctor of engineering) whohad the idea for an all-star band of forgotten

Cuban masters and, after teaming up withLondon-based record company World Circuitand American guitarist Ry Cooder, wentlooking for them.

A Toda Cuba Le Gusta (Everyone in CubaLoves It), the 1997 album by Gonzalez’s13-piece Afro-Cuban Allstars, paved the wayfor the twilight stardom of artists such assinger Ibrahim Ferrer and pianist RubenGonzalez, both of whom released albumsunder the Buena Vista banner.

Gonzalez remained a Buena Vista fixturefor six years, touring, directing and produc-ing between playing with Sierra Maestra, theGrammy-winning son group he co-foundedin 1978 to keep this Cuban folk music alive.The Mexico-based Gonzalez is performingagain with the Afro-Cuban Allstars, whoplayed WOMAdelaide in March (on a billwith the Creole Choir of Cuba, who alsotoured), then entertained Brisbane with theirmix of styles: bolero and guajira, rumba,danzon and cha-cha-cha.

Last year’s Australian tour by Los VanVan, the sprawling 20-piece orchestra cummusic academy known as the Rolling Stonesof Cuba, saw audiences out in force.Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club — featur-ing lesser-known original members — gracedthe Byron Bay Blues Festival. WOMAdelaideaudiences cheered Eliades Ochoa (at thehelm of World Circuit supergroup AfroCub-ism). Buena Vista diva Omara Portuondo,jazz pianist Roberto Fonseca and Latin jazzgodfather Chucho Valdes have all been here.

The boldly titled Ballet Revolucion, anambitious extravaganza with Australian pro-ducers and an all-Cuban cast, premieres in

Perth next month, then tours nationally. TheBar at Buena Vista, a savvy take on theoriginal concept that features 93-year-oldsonero Reynaldo Creagh and Brisbane-basedCuban dancer Eric Turro, is touring Australiafor the third time and is halfway through aseven-city schedule. (The hit show LadySalsa, which toured Australia twice, ran forthree months at the Gold Coast Casino in2009.)

Gonzalez isn’t impressed with the BVSChybrids: ‘‘The real Buena Vista Social Clubended with the deaths of the originalfeatured artists,’’ the genial but outspokenauteur insists. ‘‘It was great that it re-introduced Cuban music to the world andbrought it to the attention of a wideraudience. But it also became a middle-classfashion and a lucrative business for world

music promoters, who made the sort ofmoney they’d never make from touring theirusual bands.’’

The fad for all things Cuban arguablyreached its peak in July 2000, when 40,000people turned out to see the original BuenaVista Social Club perform in London’s HydePark. ‘‘The bubble has probably burst forCuban music in the UK and Europe,’’ saysAndy Wood, director of UK-based Latinevents promoters Como No.

‘‘Cuban dance has become hugely popu-lar,’’ Wood says. ‘‘The Ballet Nacionalhadn’t been to the UK for 20 years when itreturned in 2006 and it’s now a regularvisitor. Danza Contemporanea de Cuba iscoming back next year. Constructed danceprojects like Havana Rakatan’’ — a crowdpleaser that tells the history of Cuban musicand dance and is in Sydney this month —‘‘do very well. It’s partly down to cycles ofpromotion, and the fact Cuba is one of thegreat cultural centres of the world.’’

Havana was America’s playground in thefirst half of the 20th century. Cuban musicsoundtracked Hollywood films. Cuban starssuch as Beny More and Celia Cruz played theNew York Palladium and interpreted theAmerican songbook. Musicians includingChano Pozo collaborated with Americanjazzmen such as Dizzy Gillespie. The BuenaVista Social Club — the Havana membersclub after which the band was named —buzzed with musical life.

The 1959 revolution closed down venuesand cut off contact; today’s musicians, whilewell educated, are largely denied access todecent instruments, wages and places to

play. Visit the Disneyfied Old Havana or thebeach resort of Varadero and you’ll findtalented ensembles playing for a pittance inlobbies of hotels they’re forbidden entry into.Even the Buena Vista crew play Varaderoonce a month or so when they’re at home. IfCuban artists want to play abroad, if theywant to keep cashing in on the BVSC brand,who can blame them?

‘‘Not that [Cuban] musicians are properlypaid, especially in America,’’ Gonzalez says.‘‘The Obama administration has relaxed theprevious administration’s draconian restric-tions in regards to the cultural exchange butlittle else. More than 40 ensembles have beengigging across America from the end of 2009until now, and they only get a per diem.America doesn’t want to be seen to support‘Castro’s dictatorship’.’’ Similarly, someEuropean promoters have been known totake advantage of Cuba’s plethora of first-class musicians, only too aware many willaccept paltry fees just for the chance to play.What, then, of promoters in Australia?

‘‘The Afro-Cuban Allstars are paid inter-national rates wherever we play,’’ Gonzalezsays. ‘‘But then everyone in our line-upeither owns another passport or currentlylives outside the island.’’

That Cuba has managed to withstand theUS blockade for 52 years is, of course,remarkable. But while Western visitorsmarvel at the population’s resilience(‘‘Things are getting better step by step andat the end Cuba will recover,’’ Gonzalezreckons), Cubans get on with living theirlives. For many that involves making art thatexists beyond the tourist gaze.

‘‘There’s more to my country than cigarsand rum, vintage cars and big-bottomedwomen,’’ says Georges Cespedes, 31, aformer Danza Contemporanea dancer whochoreographed Mambo 3XX1, an electro hip-hop take on the music of Perez Prado, for thecompany’s Brisbane Festival visit last year.‘‘My generation has more colours andflavours than that. We like to make peoplethink. Otherwise what’s the point?’’

His friend Carlos Acosta, with whomCespedes co-choreographed two contempor-ary dance pieces performed at the LondonColiseum last July, agrees.

‘‘There’s an artistic revolution waiting tohappen in Cuba,’’ says the Royal Balletprincipal, 38, who started his career withBallet Nacional de Cuba, another BrisbaneFestival headliner last year.

‘‘There are so many different kinds ofdances because of the mestizo [mix] ofpeople and because the revolution made artsand sports open to everyone.

‘‘Dancers in Cuba know ballet, martialarts, capoiera, Afro-Cuban rhythms . . . Whenyou put this all into a Caribbean setting itbecomes something very special. There is alot of collaborating going on, which issomething that interests me,’’ adds Acosta,who is in talks for an Australian season in2013. (He was a guest artist with theAustralian Ballet in 2008.) Artists have tokeep moving forward, wherever they happento be.’’

While Australian reviews for the col-laborative Danza Contemporanea were

04 COVER STORY

June 11-12, 2011

Eliades Ochoa, on guitar, performing at the Casa de la Trova, is one of Cuba’s many musical drawcards for tourists

glowing, those for the Ballet Nacional’sversion of Don Quixote, choreographed bycompany founder Alicia Alonso in 1988,were less so. The preserved-in-aspic qualityof the Buena Vista Social Club isn’t quite asattractive when presented in classical ballet.

‘‘When the Ballet Nacional first returnedto the UK everyone was like, ‘Wow, isn’t itgreat?’ ’’ Wood says. ‘‘The second timeround [last year] reviewers judged the workat an international level. They pointed outthat, actually, the sets were clunky and thecostumes dowdy, that the dancers areworking in a way that nobody else is anymore. So while Cuba’s isolation has in manyways been good for its creativity’’ — maledancers command the same respect asfootball stars, and dance with the samesinewy flair — ‘‘it is also holding it back.’’

The Cuban music that tours the world isprobably less representative than its dance.‘‘Only the established bands get to tour,’’Gonzalez says. ‘‘But there are a lot of newgenres evolving. Street poets and rappers aremixing spoken word with Afro-Cuban jazz.Reggaeton is merging with timba [a moremusically complex version of salsa].’’ Touristhaunts resound with Buena Vista-style music— ironically, the BVSC phenomenon by-passed Cuba — and straight-up salsa: ‘‘A lotof this other scene is underground.’’

So what Cuban acts are Australiansmissing out on, then? Perhaps Los Aldeanos,the incendiary cult rap duo that manages toget away with singing lines such as ‘‘Peoplewould rather die for the American dream/than live through this Cuban nightmare’’?

A pause. ‘‘A Cuban opera,’’ Gonzalezsays. ‘‘A Cuban opera based on the history ofmy generation with all its frustrations andsuccesses, and featuring a symphonic orch-estra. Cuban symphonic music is wonderfulbut almost unknown worldwide. I’m work-ing on it.’’

Gonzalez, Acosta and Cespedes are in theprivileged position of being able to come andgo from their birthplace and have forgedinternational reputations as a result. Forothers it isn’t so easy; five members of theBallet Nacional de Cuba defected in Canadaafter the company performed there in March.(‘‘I worry about them [defectors],’’ 89-year-old Alicia Alonso told me last year. ‘‘They arelike kites with their strings cut.’’)

For the dancers and musicians who leaveCuba for Miami, say, or London or Sydney,usually by marrying a Westerner (there areex-members of Lady Salsa and HavanaRakatan dotted across the world, includingin Australia), the options are limited. Manyend up dancing in nightclubs, playing in localbands or teaching salsa.

Not that the demand isn’t there. Cubansalsa classes in Australia proliferate every-where from Cairns to Canberra, Marrickvilleto Mooroolbark. There are Latin festivals inAdelaide, Melbourne, Byron Bay. Bands suchas Sonora Galaxia from Sydney, HavanaConnection in Melbourne and the Canberra-based Mi Tierra are employing Cuban dancerhythms.

There are Cuba-themed bars and restaur-ants. The Rochford Winery in Victoria’sYarra Valley hosts an annual Cuban jazz

festival. A combination of these factors hasseen Australian producer Mark Brady andAustralian choreographer Aaron Cash teamup with Cuban choreographer RoclanGonzalez — the man behind, as it were, LadySalsa — for Ballet Revolucion. Auditions inHavana earlier this year cherrypicked a16-strong cast from hundreds of talenteddancers, most of whom were previouslymembers of respected companies includingDanza Contemporanea de Cuba and BalletNacional de Cuba.

A sort of Cuban-flavoured version of Rockthe Ballet, the unashamedly commercialBallet Revolucion promises to showcaseCuba’s classical and contemporary danceforms, and to get its audience dancing andswaying along. Musical numbers played byan eight-piece live band include Hips Don’tLie by Shakira, Livin’ La Vida Loca by RickyMartin and, naturally, Chan Chan.

The Buena Vista Social Club has a lot toanswer for. Back in Santiago de Cuba, gigover, Ochoa sticks around to sign autographsand have his photo taken with smilingtourists. ‘‘We love Cuba,’’ they tell him. ‘‘Welove Cuban music.’’

As if on cue, an ensemble on the streetoutside strikes up the familiar four chords ofthe song that has become the Buena Vistacalling card. ‘‘The feelings I have for you/ Icannot deny,’’ the singer sings, as the tourgroup rushes to the balcony.

Ochoa sighs, nods. ‘‘Si,’’ he says, eyestwinkling. ‘‘Everybody loves Cuban music.’’

Havana Rakatan, Sydney until June 19.Ballet Revolucion opens in Perth on July 1,then tours to Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourneand Brisbane.The Bar at Buena Vista, Tweed Heads,June 17; Brisbane, June 18; Perth, June 21.

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