It’s easy to get to Cuba. Just get on a plane. There are scheduled flights everyday out of places like New York City and Miami.
Is travel in Cuba expensive?
Yes and no.
If you go with a packaged tour or use the “normal” travel industry, yes. Cuba is no bargain. Budget at least $400 a day (probably more) plus your airfare.
You could have an exponentially better time – better housing, better food, better entertainment – for about $100 a day.
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
Some ideas are so brilliantly simple, straightforward and useful, you wonder why no one ever thought of them before.
Professional cameraman Rob Wagner visits with a different modern jazz master every month and asks them perceptive, insightful questions about their lives, their careers and their art.
Amazingly, some of the artists have never been interviewed this way in their entire careers.
Short clips from some of the 70+ interviews Rob’s done so far are available for free on his site, but they just represent the tip of the iceberg of what he’s done – and continues to do.
Visit and be amazed by this ongoing intelligent love letter to the men and women who make jazz: ArtistsofJazz.com
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
Music credit: The Jazz on the Tube podcast theme song is “Mambo Inferno” performed by The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bobby Sanabria from the CD ¡Que Viva Harlem!
Not every great musician and group has been recorded.
But even for those who have, there’s at least as much great stuff hidden away in record company vaults (or lost) that never made it into a commercially available product.
There’s another “music gap” and that’s the vinyl recordings that never made it to CD, or if they did are hard, if not impossible, to find.
That’s why I still have a turntable and when I get a spare moment hit the bins at my local record store.
Now there’s a free online service you can use to find record stores anywhere on earth.
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
The deeper you dive into Cuban music, the more amazing it reveals itself to be.
Sometimes I have to ask myself is Cuba a country – or an alternate universe?
How can such a small country – with less people than Ohio – generate so much musical accomplishment?
Notice: I don’t day “talent.”
Talent is a dime a dozen. Realization of talent is the thing that matters.
It takes dedication and relentless study – and a higher moral purpose – to turn raw musical talent into accomplishment the way the Cuban people have.
Here’s an example of all the various threads of Cuban music brought together on one stage: reverence for classical music, immersion in Afro-Cuban rhythms, affection for popular genres, and hip-as-hell jazz sensibilities.
Who is this flute playing musical visionary dressed in white?
Meet: Orlando Valle, aka Maraca. Enjoy and Viva Cuba!
How about another one? The small unit works out on “Manteca”
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
The members of the group Los Terry talk about two things:
1. The musical instrument the chekere
2. The training that master musicians in Cuba receive which is unique in the world
Tell me where else on the planet musicians master classical music, local popular music, indigenous music, religious music and jazz.
There’s a reason Cubans have had such a out-sized impact on world music: Their training, discipline and versatility are second to none.
The conversation is a bit slow moving at times and a lot of it is in Spanish, but stick with it. It will give you an unparalleled insight into what goes into making a Cuban musician.
In the conversation:
Eladio Terry, the patriarch of the family, known to many as Don Pancho
Yosvany Terry
Yunior Terry
Some musical reference from the interview:
Yosvany Terry & The Afro Caribbean Quintet
More about Los Terry and Don Pancho (Eladio Terry)
Los Terry are a family of musicians from the Camaguey province of Cuba. Their unique blend of musical styles includes elements of folklore, classic charanga and modern jazz, creating a bridge across generations.
Eladio Terry, the patriarch of the family, known to many as Don Pancho, grew up surrounded by the music of the Afro-Cuban religions and learned the traditional drumming and vocal styles that date back centuries. Eladio followed the path of the apprentice drummer as he learned the prayers, songs and rhythms that accompany the religious ceremonies- watching, listening and playing for hours. Like many Cuban musicians, he also learned to play popular music styles, incorporating his knowledge of African traditions into the secular dance music of the day.
Eladio Terry’s influence in Cuban music began with the legendary charanga group Maravillas de Florida, from the town of Florida in Camaguey. He utilized the chekere with the traditional charanga format of violins, bass timbales, flute, piano, and guïro, adding an instrument widely used in the syncretized African religions that have survived and flourished in Cuba.
The chekere is an instrument made out of a gourd strung with beads that requires a sophisticated physical dexterity to produce rhythms and harmonic timbres. Eladio Terry and his sons handle the chekere like veteran basketball players taunting their opponents as they effortlessly coax rhythms and tones out of these hollow gourds.
In the early 1960s Eladio went to the newly formed Conservatory of Music in Havana. There he met fellow music students from Mali who became legendary figures in contemporary African music when they formed Maravillas du Mali and wrote the theme song for Radio Mali in a Cuban charanga style. Eladio recalls that they had assimilated much of the Cuban rhythms but could not understand the role of the bass. He claims credit for teaching them the subtleties of the tumbao or “swing” of the bass that can’t easily be notated or understood without grasping the fundamental structure of Cuban music.
Traveling with the Maravillas de Florida in the 1970s Eladio visited many African countries as well as Eastern Europe and the Middle East. As director, violinist and arranger he was able to incorporate many of the musical influences of his travels into his music. The recordings of the Maravillas from this period are spiced with African-based rhythms, harmonies and timbres that he introduced, giving the charanga a very Afro-Cuban feel.
Yosvany recalls that when the Maravillas played Son Wambari at outdoor dances people in the audience were seized by trances when they heard the Yoruba chants and the familiar incantations calling out to Elegua.When the Maravillas toured Africa they found that many people understood the meaning of the words to the Yoruba and Congo chants that they sang which are part of religious rituals in Cuba.
Cuba’s nationwide musical education program has had a profound effect on the development of countless talented musicians. Cuba has always had a wealth of musical talent but few of the youth from poor families had the resources to receive the formal training and practice time that would allow them to master forms of music other than those with which they had direct experience. Eladio Terry’s sons, Yosvany, Yoel and Yunior have all passed through intense musical conservatory training as well as paying their dues in popular music groups and have sharpened their skills playing improvisational jazz.
– Source: Excerpted from the excellent resource AfroCubaWeb.com
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
Good news and bad news about the new travel policy for Cuba. (As of November 10, 2017)
I’m going to quote the Washington Post on the changes. As is often the case, you have to read the fine print to know what the real deal is.
Make sure you read the second paragraph carefully.
The most significant change under the new regulations is the elimination of the individual “people-to-people” category of educational travel. As before the Obama opening, most visitors to Cuba will again have to travel in licensed groups.
One remaining exception appears to be the “support for the Cuban people” category, which requires travelers to “engage in a full-time schedule” of unspecified “meaningful interaction with individuals in Cuba” and activities that support civil society.
I don’t like the weasel word “appears” in the phrase “one remaining exception appears to be…”
However, if this is the case, then citizens of the “Land of the Free” can still freely travel to Cuba if they fulfill the following two conditions:
1) They check off “support for the Cuban people” as their reason for traveling
2) They engage in a full-time schedule of “meaningful interaction with individuals in Cuba” and activities that support civil society.
What the heck does that mean?
Your guess is as good any anybody’s. That said, here are some ideas.
First, you can’t go to the beach and loll around all day drinking Cuba Libres. That’s only for Canadians – and the citizens of literally every other country in the world.
You have to do things like attend cultural events, go out for music, spend money in privately owned business like guest houses and restaurants, talk with Cubans about life and art and love, visit museums and learn about Cuban history and culture. In other words, be a respectful student of Cuban life and be a good will ambassador for the United States.
You also must avoid engaging in any transactions with the State Department’s list of evil Cuban companies. Print it out and bring it with you on your trip. You can find the list at State.gov under “List of Restricted Entities and Subentities Associated With Cuba”
It was previously recommended – and I imagine it’s still the case – that you keep a daily diary that documents that you did these kinds of “approved” things while there and retain those records for five years in case a US government agent wants to “zee your papers.”
Is this ideal? No, but it’s more than good enough for us to work with.
Note: Am I a lawyer? No. Am I giving you legal advice? No. I’m a music writer and these are my thoughts. Use them at your own risk.
Should you go to Cuba?
Absolutely.
If you love jazz and all the ingredients that have gone into its making, seeing Cuba is essential.
All your musical life you’ve heard “rumors” and “distant echoes” of Cuba and its music. To experience it full bore with no filter is a life-changing experience.
It sure was for me.
If you can manage it, do it before our beloved government takes away even this thread of a right.
For perspective, back in 1977 Jimmy Carter opened travel to Cuba. Reagan shut it down in 1980 and it stayed shut for 35 years. (Because the US is a free country, don’t you know.)
How to get there? Is it expensive?
It’s easy to get there. Just get on a plane. There are scheduled flights everyday out of places like New York City and Miami.
Is travel in Cuba expensive?
If you go with a packaged tour or use the “normal” travel industry, yes. Cuba is no bargain. Budget at least $400 a day (probably more) plus your airfare.
You could have an exponentially better time – better housing, better food, better entertainment – for about $100 a day.
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
