Cuban jazz The history of jazz in Cuba was obscured for many years, but it has become clear that its history in Cuba is virtually as long as its history in the US. Much more is now known about
early Cuban jazz bands, but a full assessment is plagued by the lack of recordings. Migrations and visits to and from the US and the mutual exchange of recordings and sheet music kept musicians in the two countries in touch. In the first part of the 20th century, there were close relations between musicians in Cuba and those in
New Orleans. The orchestra leader in the famous
Tropicana Club,
Armando Romeu Jr, was a leading figure in the post–World War II development of Cuban jazz. The phenomenon of
cubop and the jam sessions in Havana and New York organized by
Cachao created genuine fusions that influence musicians today. A key historian of early Cuban jazz is Leonardo Acosta. The Cuban Jazz Band was founded in 1922 by
Jaime Prats in Havana. The personnel included his son
Rodrigo Prats on violin, the great flautist
Alberto Socarrás on flute and
saxophone and Pucho Jiménez on slide trombone. The line-up would probably have included double bass, kit drum,
banjo, cornet at least. Earlier works cited this as the first jazz band in Cuba, but evidently there were earlier groups. In 1924
Moisés Simons (piano) founded a group which played on the roof garden of the Plaza Hotel in Havana, and consisted of piano, violin, two saxes, banjo, double bass, drums and timbales. Its members included Virgilio Diago (violin); Alberto Soccarás (alto saz, flute); José Ramón Betancourt (tenor sax); Pablo O'Farrill (d. bass). In 1928, still at the same venue, Simons hired
Julio Cueva, a famous trumpeter, and
Enrique Santiesteban, a future media star, as vocalist and drummer. These were top instrumentalists, attracted by top fees of $8 a day.
Afro-Cuban jazz Afro-Cuban jazz is the earliest form of Latin jazz and mixes Afro-Cuban clave-based rhythms with jazz harmonies and techniques of improvisation. Afro-Cuban jazz first emerged in the early 1940s, with the Cuban musicians Mario Bauza and Frank Grillo "Machito" in the band Machito and his Afro-Cubans, based in New York City. In 1947 the collaborations of bebop innovator Dizzy Gillespie with Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo brought Afro-Cuban rhythms and instruments, most notably the tumbadora and the bongo, into the East Coast jazz scene. Early combinations of jazz with Cuban music, such as Dizzy's and Pozo's "Manteca" and Charlie Parker's and Machito's "Mangó Mangüé", were commonly referred to as "Cubop", short for Cuban bebop. During its first decades, the Afro-Cuban jazz movement was stronger in the United States than in Cuba itself. In the early 1970s, the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna and later Irakere brought Afro-Cuban jazz into the Cuban music scene, influencing new styles such as songo.
Diversification and popularization Cuban music enters the United States In 1930,
Don Azpiazú had the first million-selling record of Cuban music:
The Peanut Vendor (El Manisero), with
Antonio Machín as the singer. This number had been orchestrated and included in N.Y. theatre by Azpiazú before recording, which no doubt helped with the publicity. The
Lecuona Cuban Boys became the best-known Cuban touring ensemble: they were the ones who first used the
conga drum in their conjunto, and popularized the
conga as a dance.
Xavier Cugat at the
Waldorf Astoria was highly influential. In 1941
Desi Arnaz popularized the
comparsa drum (similar to the conga) in the U.S with his performances of
Babalú. There was a real 'rumba craze' at the time. Later,
Mario Bauza and
Machito set up in New York and
Miguelito Valdés also arrived there.
1940s and '50s In the 1940s,
Chano Pozo formed part of the
bebop revolution in
jazz, playing
conga with
Dizzy Gillespie and
Machito in New York City.
Cuban jazz had started much earlier, in Havana, in the period 1910–1930.
Arsenio Rodríguez, one of Cuba's most famous tres players and conjunto leaders, emphasised the
son African roots by adapting the
guaguancó style, and by adding a
cowbell and
conga to the rhythm section. He also expanded the role of the tres as a solo instrument. In the late 1930s and '40s, the danzonera
Arcaño y sus Maravillas incorporated more syncopation and added a
montuno (as in son), transforming the music played by
charanga orchestras.
The big band era The big band era arrived in Cuba in the 1940s, and became a dominant format that survives. Two great arranger-bandleaders deserve special credit for this,
Armando Romeu Jr. and
Damaso Perez Prado. Armando Romeu Jr. led the
Tropicana Cabaret orchestra for 25 years, starting in 1941. He had experience playing with visiting American jazz groups as well as a mastery of Cuban forms of music. In his hands the Tropicana presented not only Afrocuban and other popular Cuban music, but also
Cuban jazz and American big band compositions. Later he conducted the
Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna. Damaso Perez Prado had a number of hits, and sold more 78s than any other Latin music of the day. He took over the role of pianist/arranger for the Orquesta
Casino de la Playa in 1944, and immediately began introducing new elements into its sound. The orchestra began to sound more Afrocuban, and at the same time Prado took influences from
Stravinsky,
Stan Kenton and elsewhere. By the time he left the orchestra in 1946 he had put together the elements of his big band mambo.: "Above all, we must point out the work of Perez Prado as an arranger, or better yet, composer and arranger, and his clear influence on most other Cuban arrangers from then on." Mambo of the Prado kind was more a descendant of the son and the guaracha than the danzón. In the U.S. the mambo craze lasted from about 1950 to 1956, but its influence on the
bugaloo and
salsa that followed it was considerable.
Violinist
Enrique Jorrín invented the
chachachá in the early 1950s. This was developed from the danzón by increased
syncopation. The chachachá became more popular outside Cuba when the big bands of Perez Prado and
Tito Puente produced arrangements that attracted American and European audiences. Along with "Nuyoricans"
Ray Barretto and
Tito Puente and others, several waves of Cuban immigrants introduced their ideas into US music. Among these was
Celia Cruz, a
guaracha singer. Others were active in Latin jazz, such as percussionist
Patato Valdés of the Cuban-oriented "Tipíca '73", linked to the
Fania All-Stars. Several former members of
Irakere have also become highly successful in the US, among them
Paquito D'Rivera and
Arturo Sandoval.
Tata Güines, a famous conguero, moved to New York City in 1957, playing with jazz players such as
Dizzy Gillespie,
Maynard Ferguson, and
Miles Davis at
Birdland. As a percussionist, he performed with
Josephine Baker and
Frank Sinatra. He returned to Cuba in 1959 after
Fidel Castro came to power in the
Cuban Revolution, which he helped fund with contributions from his earnings as a musician.
Mambo Mambo is a musical genre and dance style that developed originally in Cuba. The word "mambo", similar to other Afroamerican musical denominations as conga, milonga, bomba, tumba, samba, bamba, bamboula, tambo, tango, cumbé, cumbia and candombe, denotes an African origin, particularly from Congo, due to the presence of certain characteristic combinations of sounds, such as mb, ng and nd, which belong to the Niger-Congo linguistic complex. The earliest roots of the Cuban mambo can be traced to the "Danzón de Nuevo Ritmo" (Danzón with a new rhythm) made popular by the orchestra "Arcaño y sus Maravillas" conducted by famous bandleader
Antonio Arcaño. He was the first to denominate a section of the popular Cuban
Danzón as a "mambo." It was Arcaño's cellist,
Orestes López, who created the first danzón called "Mambo" (1938). In this piece, some syncopated motives, taken from the
Son style, were combined with improvised flute passages. Pianist and arranger from Matanzas, Cuba, Dámaso Pérez Prado (1927) established his residence in Havana at the beginning of the 1940s and began to work at night clubs and orchestras, such as Paulina Alvarez's and Casino de La Playa. In 1949 he traveled to Mexico looking for job opportunities and achieved great success with a new style, to which he assigns a name that had been already utilized by Antonio Arcaño, the "Mambo." Perez Prado's style differed from the previous "mambo" concept. The new style possessed a greater influence from the North American jazz band music, and an expanded instrumentation consisting of four or five trumpets, four of five saxophones, double bass, drum set, maracas, cowbell, congas and bongoes. The new "mambo" included a catchy counterpoint between the trumpets and the saxophones, that impulsed the body to move along with the rhythm, stimulated at the end of each musical phrase by a characteristic deep throat sound expression.
Chachachá .
Chachachá is a genre of Cuban music. It has been a popular dance music which developed from the
Danzón-mambo in the early 1950s, and became widely popular throughout the entire world. Chachachávis a Cuban music genre whose creation has been traditionally attributed to Cuban composer and violinist
Enrique Jorrín, which began his career playing for the
charanga band
Orquesta América. According to the testimony of
Enrique Jorrín, he composed some "
Danzones" in which the musician of the orchestra had to sing short refrains, and this style was very successful. In the danzón "Constancia" he introduced some
montunos and the audience was motivated to join in singing the refrains. Jorrín also asked the members of the orchestra to sing in unison so the lyrics may be heard more clearly and achieve a greater impact in the audience. That way of singing also helped to mask the poor singing skills of the orchestra members. Since its inception, chachachá music had a close relationship with the dancer's steps. The well-known name
chachachá came into being with the help of the dancers at the Silver Star Club in Havana. When the dance was coupled to the rhythm of the music, it became evident that the dancer's feet were making a peculiar sound as they grazed the floor on three successive beats. It was like an onomatopoeia that sounded as: chachachá. From this peculiar sound, a music genre was born which motivated people from around the world to dance to its catchy rhythm. According to Olavo ALén: "During the 1950s, Chachachá maintained its popularity thanks to the efforts of many Cuban composers who were familiar with the technique of composing
danzones and who unleashed their creativity on the Chachachá", such as Rosendo Ruiz, Jr. ("Los Marcianos" and "Rico Vacilón"), Félix Reina ("Dime Chinita," "Como Bailan Cha-cha-chá los Mexicanos"),
Richard Egűes ("El Bodeguero" and "La Cantina") and Rafael Lay ("Cero Codazos, Cero Cabezazos"). The chachachá was first presented to the public through the instrumental medium of the
charanga, a typical Cuban dance-band format made up of a flute, strings, piano, bass and percussion. The popularity of the chachachá also revived the popularity of this kind of orchestra.
Filin Filin was a Cuban fashion of the 1940s and 1950s, influenced by popular music in the US. The word is derived from
feeling. It describes a style of post-microphone jazz-influenced romantic song (crooning). Its Cuban roots were in the bolero and the canción. Some Cuban quartets, such as
Cuarteto d'Aida and
Los Zafiros, modelled themselves on U.S. close-harmony groups. Others were singers who had heard
Ella Fitzgerald,
Sarah Vaughan and
Nat King Cole. A house in Havana, where the trovador Tirso Díaz lived, became a meeting-place for singers and musicians interested in filin such as: Luis Yañez,
César Portillo de la Luz, José Antonio Méndez,
Niño Rivera, José Antonio
Ñico Rojas,
Elena Burke,
Froilán,
Aida Diestro and
Frank Emilio Flynn. Here lyricists and singers could meet arrangers, such as
Bebo Valdés, El
Niño Rivera (Andrés Hechavarria),
Peruchín (Pedro Justiz), and get help to develop their work. Filin singers included
César Portillo de la Luz, José Antonio Méndez, who spent a decade in Mexico from 1949 to 1959,
Frank Domínguez, the blind pianist
Frank Emilio Flynn, and the great singers of boleros
Elena Burke and the still-performing
Omara Portuondo, who both came from the Cuarteto d'Aida. The filin movement originally had a place every afternoon on
Radio Mil Diez. Some of its most prominent singers, such as
Pablo Milanés, later took up the banner of the
Nueva Trova.
1960s and '70s Modern Cuban music is known for its relentless mixing of
genres. For example, the 1970s saw
Los Irakere use batá in a
big band setting; this became known as
son-batá or batá-rock. Later artists created the
mozambique, which mixed
conga and
mambo; and
batá-rumba, which mixed rumba and batá drum music. Mixtures including elements of
hip hop,
jazz and
rock and roll are also common, like in Habana Abierta's
rockoson.
Revolutionary Cuba and Cuban exiles The triumph of the
Cuban Revolution in 1959 signalled the emigration of many musicians to
Puerto Rico,
Florida and
New York, and in Cuba artists and their work came under the protection (and control) of the Socialist state, and the monopoly state-owned recording company
EGREM. The Castro government abolished copyright laws in Cuba, closed many of the venues where popular music used to be played (e.g. night clubs), and so indirectly threw many musicians out of work. Many young musicians now studied classical music and not popular music. All musicians employed by the state were given academic courses in music. In Cuba, the
Nueva Trova movement (including
Pablo Milanés) reflected the new leftist ideals. The state took over the lucrative
Tropicana Club, which continued as a popular attraction for foreign tourists until 1968, when it was closed along with many other music venues (and later reopened with the rebirth of tourism). have been omitted from the standard Cuban reference books, and their subsequent musical recordings are never on sale in Cuba.
Salsa Salsa was the fourth innovation based on Cuban music to hit the US, and differed in that it was initially developed in the US, not in Cuba. Because Cuba has so many indigenous types of music there has always been a problem in marketing the 'product' abroad to people who did not understand the differences between rhythms that, to a Cuban, are quite distinct. So, twice in the 20th century, a kind of product label was developed to solve this problem. The first occasion was in the 1930s after "
The Peanut Vendor" became an international success. It was called a 'rumba' even though it really had nothing to do with genuine rumba: the number was obviously a
son pregon. The label 'rumba' was used outside Cuba for years as a catch-all for Cuban popular music. , Havana. October 2002 The second occasion happened during the period 1965–1975 in
New York City, as musicians of Cuban and Puerto-Rican origin combined to produce the great music of the post Cha-cha-cha period. This music acquired the label of 'salsa'. No-one really knows how this happened, but everyone recognised what a benefit it was to have a common label for son,
mambo, guaracha, guajira, guaguancó, etc. Cubans and non Cubans, such as
Tito Puente,
Rubén Blades and many experts of the Cuban music and salsa, have always said "Salsa is just another name for Cuban, music. Tito Puentes once said, now they call it Salsa, later they may call it Stir Fry, but to me it will alway be Cuban Music"; but over time salsa bands worked in other influences. For example, in the late 1960s
Willie Colón developed numbers that made use of Brazilian rhythms. New York radio programmes offered 'salsarengue' as a further combination. A band of the 1940s playing Cuban music uses the same exact instruments as salsa music. Later still 'Salsa romantica' was the label for an especially sugary type of
bolero. Even when,
Benny Moré,
Perez Prado the greatest Sonero that ever existed, was singing boleros with a salsa cadence in the 1940s. It was not until the 1950s that Cuban music became popular for Puerto Rican bands. Plena, Bomba and other styles of music were popular at the time in Puerto Rico. Many famous Puerto Rican musicians went to learn the music styles of Cubans in the 1930s and 1940s, and it was not until the arrival of Castro in 1959 and the Cuban music stopped its exportation to the world, that Puerto Ricans in New York were able to be greatly noticed, but what is known as salsa today was brought to New York in the 1920s and 1930s by
Dizzy Gillespie and
Chano Pozo, this last one was discovered by Dizzy Gillespie as he was one of the greatest percussionists that ever lived. The question of whether or not salsa is anything more than Cuban music has been argued for more than thirty years. Initially, not much difference could be seen. Later it became clear that not only was New York salsa different from popular music in Cuba, but salsa in Venezuela, Colombia and other countries could also be distinguished. It also seems clear that salsa has receded from the great position it achieved in the late 1970s. The reasons for this are also much disputed.
Nueva trova Paralleling
nueva canción in Latin America is the Cuban
nueva trova, which dates from about 1967/68, after the
Cuban Revolution. It differed from the traditional
trova, not because the musicians were younger, but because the content was, in the widest sense, political. Nueva trova is defined by its connection with
Castro's revolution, and by its lyrics, which attempt to escape the banalities of life by concentrating on socialism, injustice, sexism, colonialism, racism and similar issues.
Silvio Rodríguez and
Pablo Milanés became the most important exponents of this style.
Carlos Puebla and
Joseíto Fernández were long-time old trova singers who added their weight to the new regime, but of the two only Puebla wrote special pro-revolution songs. Nueva trova had its heyday in the 1970s, but was already declining before the fall of the Soviet Union. Examples of non-political styles in the nueva trova movement can be found, for example,
Liuba María Hevia whose lyrics are focused on more traditional subjects such as love and solitude, sharing with the rest a highly poetical style. On the other side of the spectrum,
Carlos Varela is famous in Cuba for his open criticism of some aspects of Castro's revolution. The nueva trova, initially so popular, suffered both inside Cuba, perhaps from a growing disenchantment with one-party rule, and externally, from the vivid contrast with the
Buena Vista Social Club film and recordings. Audiences around the world have had their eyes opened to the extraordinary charm and musical quality of the older forms of Cuban music. By contrast, topical themes that seemed so relevant in the 1960s and 1970s now seem dry and passé. Even "
Guantanamera" has been damaged by over-repetition in less skilled hands. All the same, those pieces of high musical and lyrical quality, among which Puebla's "
Hasta siempre, Comandante" stands out, may last as long as Cuba lasts.
1980s to the present Son remains the basis of most popular forms of modern Cuban music. Son is represented by long-standing groups like
Septeto Nacional, which was re-established in 1985,
Orquesta Aragón,
Orquesta Ritmo Oriental and
Orquesta Original de Manzanillo.
Sierra Maestra, is famous for having sparked a revival in traditional son in the 1980s.
Nueva trova still has influence, but the overtly political themes of the 1960s are well out of fashion. Meanwhile,
Irakere fused traditional Cuban music with
jazz, and groups like
NG La Banda,
Orishas and
Son 14 continued to add new elements to son, especially
hip hop and
funk, to form
timba music; this process was aided by the acquisition of imported electronic equipment. There are still many practitioners of traditional
son montuno, such as
Eliades Ochoa, who have recorded and toured widely as a result of interest in the
son montuno after the Buena Vista Social Club success. Europe-based Cuban female singer-songwriter
Addys Mercedes merged her roots of Son and Filin with elements of urban, rock and pop-music, reaching mainstream airplay charts in Germany. In the 1990s, increased interest in
world music coincided with the post-Soviet Union
periodo especial in Cuba, during which the economy began opening up to tourism.
Orquesta Aragón,
Charanga Habanera and
Cándido Fabré y su Banda have been long-time players in the charanga scene, and helped form the popular
timba scene of the late 1990s. The biggest award in modern Cuban music is the
Beny Moré Award.
Timba Cubans have never been content to hear their music described as
salsa, even though it is crystal clear that this
was a label for their music. Since the early 1990s Timba has been used to describe popular dance music in Cuba, rivaled only lately by Reggaetón. Though derived from the same roots as salsa, Timba has its own characteristics, and is intimately tied to the life and culture of Cuba, and especially Havana. As opposed to salsa, whose roots are strictly from
Son and the Cuban
conjunto bands of the 1940s and 1950s, Timba represents a synthesis of many folkloric (
rumba,
guaguancó, batá drumming and the sacred songs of
santería.), and popular sources (even taking inspiration from non Afro Cuban musical genres such as
rock,
jazz and
funk). According to
Vincenzo Perna, author of
Timba: The Sound of the Cuban Crisis, timba needs to be spoken of because of its musical, cultural, social, and political reasons; its sheer popularity in Cuba, its novelty and originality as a musical style, the skill of its practitioners, its relationship with both local traditions and the culture of the black Diaspora, its meanings, and the way its style brings to light the tension points within society. In addition to
timbales, timba drummers make use of the drum-set, further distinguishing the sound from that of mainland salsa. The use of synthesised keyboard is also common. Timba songs tend to sound more innovative, experimental and frequently more virtuosic than salsa pieces; horn parts are usually fast, at times even
bebop influenced, and stretch to the extreme ranges of all instruments. Bass and percussion patterns are similarly unconventional. Improvisation is commonplace.
Revival projects Several projects gained international attention in the 1990s due to their revival of traditional music styles such as the son cubano of the septeto and the conjunto era. Founded in 1976,
Sierra Maestra (band) was one of the first revivalist groups in Cuba. In 1995,
Juan de Marcos González, director and
tres player of Sierra Maestra, was contacted by Nick Gold (head of
World Circuit Records) to record a traditional Cuban album featuring African musicians. In the end, the African musicians could not make it to Havana, so the project became a 100% Cuban affair featuring veteran Cuban musicians such as
Rubén González,
Ibrahim Ferrer,
Compay Segundo and
Omara Portuondo. It spawned two bands, both of which involved American guitarist
Ry Cooder:
Afro-Cuban All Stars and
Buena Vista Social Club. Both bands recorded their debut albums,
A Toda Cuba le Gusta and
Buena Vista Social Club, respectively, in March 1996. The release of the latter in September 1997 was a true watershed event. The album became a worldwide hit, selling millions of copies and turning established musicians into globally renowned figures.
Buena Vista resulted in several follow-up recordings and spawned a
film of the same name, as well as tremendous interest in other Cuban groups. In subsequent years, dozens of singers and
conjuntos made recordings for foreign labels and toured internationally. The conclusion some have drawn is that the wholesale closure of popular music venues (after the revolution), which threw many musicians out of work, and subsequent control by state committees, damaged the development of Cuban popular music. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cuban economy went into decline. Poverty became more widespread and visible in Cuba. In the 1990s, some Cubans started to protest this situation by means of rap and hip-hop. During this period of economic crisis, which the country's poor and black populations especially hard, hip hop became a way for the country's Afro-descended population to embrace their blackness and articulate a demand for racial equality for black people in Cuba. The idea of blackness and black liberation was not always compatible with the goals of the Cuban government, which was still operating under the idea that a raceless society was the correct realization of the Cuban Revolution. When hip-hop emerged, the Cuban government opposed the vulgar image that rappers portrayed, but later accepted that it might be better to have hip-hop under the influence of the Ministry of Culture as an authentic expression of Cuban Culture. Rap music in Cuba is heavily influenced by the country's pre-existing musical traditions, such as salsa and rumba. The Cuban rap and hip-hop scene sought out the involvement of the Ministry of Culture in the production and promotion of their music, which would otherwise have been impossible to accomplish. After the Cuban government provided lukewarm endorsement, the
Cuban Rap Agency provided the Cuban rap scene, in 2002, with groups like Orishas and Los Aldeanos. The government gives rap and hip-hop groups time on mass media outlets in return for hip-hop artists limiting self-expression and presenting the government in a positive way. Rappers who openly speak about race, inequality, or the realities of Black life in Cuba continue to face heavy scrutiny from the government. In a country where official narratives still avoid open discussions about racism, those who dare to rhyme about it become political, whether they intend to or not. Many Cuban MCs have seen their songs banned from radio and television, their concerts canceled, and their online platforms restricted. Some have been harassed, detained, or forced into exile simply for turning the microphone into a mirror that reflects the streets. The Cuban rap scene — once born in Havana’s neighborhoods as a voice for the marginalized — has become a space of resistance and identity. Its artists fuse rhythm and rebellion, turning lyrics into weapons of truth. Yet, despite censorship and constant surveillance, the movement refuses to die; it adapts, evolves underground, and carries the spirit of protest through every beat, every verse, every breath of a generation that refuses silence. The government recognizes that hip-hop is growing in Cuba, and would be difficult to eliminate.
Cubatón Like
Spanish reggaeton from
Panama is a new genre for the Cubans but by 2012 was so massively popular that "the face of Cuban pop music" was considered to be Cuban reggae (
cubatón) singer,
Osmani García "La Voz". The advent of web software helped to distribute music unofficially. Both lyrics and dance movements have been criticised. Reggaeton musicians such as responded by making songs that defended their music. Despite their efforts, the Ministry of Culture has ruled that reggaeton is not to be used in teaching institutions, parties and at discos, and in 2011 restricted its airplay after massive popularity of García's "Chupi Chupi", which referred to oral sex. Other popular cubatón artists include
Eddy K, Los 4, Chocolate MC, El Micha, Elvis Manuel, Chacal y Yakarta, Los desiguales, El Taiger, Jacob Forever, El Yonki, William El Magnifico and
Gente de Zona ("People from the 'Zone").By 2025 it has trasnform to "Repaton".
Rock music in Cuba The musical interaction between Cuba and the US is ancient. Already in the 18th century, during the Spanish rule of Louisiana (1763–1803), the Havanese orchestras and bands offered concerts in New Orleans and in the 19th century the Cuban contradanza was very popular in the US. At the beginning of the 20th century, the first jazz bands were created in Cuba, in the style of the American groups. The "Sagua" Jaz Band was founded in
Sagua la Grande in 1914 by Pedro Stacholy (conductor and pianist). The group played during 14 years at the Teatro Principal de Sagua. The launching of the group
Los LLopis represented the entrance in a new stage for the Cuban music, that of the generation and amplification of the sound by electroacoustic devices; because in the sound composition of this group one can observe a novel element of great importance, the inclusion of an electric guitar. In 1961, other artists emerged such as Dany Puga, called the King of Twist, and bands such as Los Satélites, Los Diablos Melódicos and Los Enfermos del Rock, as well as Los Halcones and Los Huracanes from Marianao. The vocal quartet Los Zafiros was another successful group from the beginning of the sixties. Founded in 1961, it was influenced by the
doo-wop style of
The Platters,
The Diamonds and other American groups, and counted on a repertoire consisting of ballads, calypsos and bossanovas, as well as songs with a slow rock ad bolero rhythms. At that time, the popular group Los Astros, led by the singer and guitarist Raúl Gómez, was threatened by pressures exerted by the Fidel Castro regime over the rock groups, which were considered as a form of "ideological diversionism" and actively opposed in all its manifesations. Its style, strongly influenced by the
British Invasion groups, as
the Beatles and
the Rolling Stones, was labelled as "deviant" and consequently repressed without any hesitation. Since then, the Revolutionary government of Cuba began to implement an absolute control over all aspects of the Cuban society, including, of course, all cultural expressions. Around 1965, the Revolutionary government implemented a strategy to substitute the foreign products that the young people preferred, with others that better matched their official guidelines; and as a result of this strategy, a new radio program called Nocturno was broadcast in 1966, which initial musical theme was "La chica de la valija" (Girl with a suitcase) from the Italian sax player Fausto Papetti. The program presented modern songs, giving priority to the European repertoire in Spanish language of soloists and groups such as
Los Mustang,
Los Bravos, Los Brincos,
Juan y Junior,
Rita Pavone,
Massiel,
Nino Bravo, Leonardo Fabio,
Salvatore Adamo and Raphael, and some Cuban groups as
Los Zafiros and Los Dan. The ban against rock music was lifted in 1966, but rock fans continued to be marginalized by the communist establishment, and watched over with suspicion as "counter-revolutionaries". Actually, rock music began to be heard in Havana during the seventies, in a radio program from Radio Marianao called Buenas Tardes Juventud. That program presented groups such as The Rolling Stones, The Beatles,
Dave Clark Five,
The Animals,
Grand Funk,
Rare Earth,
Led Zeppelin,
Jimi Hendrix,
Elvis Presley,
Neil Sedaka and
Paul Anka. At the beginning of the eighties, that radio station joined Radio Ciudad de La Habana. In 1979, a three-day music festival called
Havana Jam took place at the
Karl Marx Theater, in
Havana, Cuba, where a group of rock artists that included
Billy Joel and
Stephen Stills performed. In the 1980s, a
heavy metal band called Venus was formed by Roberto Armada in Municipio Playa. They achieved much success and created a
headbanger following among the Cuban youth.
Punk rock was introduced in Cuba in the late 1980s and gained a cult-type following among a minority of the youth. During the nineties, rock and roll in Cuba was still an underground phenomenon. In Havana, the "Ciudad de La Habana" radio station presented several programs showing the most recent tendencies on that type of music around the world. Juan Camacho, an old musician and radio host had a morning program called
Disco Ciudad.
El Programa de Ramón was also a successful radio show. Some bands from that period were Gens, Zeus and Los Tarsons. In 2001, the Welsh group
Manic Street Preachers was invited to perform in Cuba, and Fidel Castro attended its concert along with other government authorities. In 2004, Castro gave a speech honoring the birthday of
John Lennon, whose music, as a member of The Beatles and as a soloist, was banned in Cuba for a very long time. A bronze statue of Lennon was placed in a Havanese well-known park, and it achieved notoriety for being a victim of constant vandalism from passersby that frequently stole its bronze spectacles. At the same time that the government was showing a more indulgent attitude toward the foreign rock groups, as part of an international campaign which purpose was to achieve an opening in the commercial transactions and investments of the US and Europe in Cuba, it continued to implement an inflexible repression against any form of internal dissidence. This was the case of the rocker Gorki Águila and his group Porno para Ricardo. In August 2008, Águila was arrested under charges of
dangerousness, a law that allows the authorities to detain people whom they think are likely to commit crimes, even when they have not yet committed them. More recently,
Rick Wakeman,
Sepultura and
Audioslave performed in Havana, and
The Rolling Stones offered a historic concert. A new phenomenon occurred in 2013 when several Cuban underground metal bands begin to emigrate to the United States, creating a parallel scene with the bands Agonizer, Escape, Ancestor, Hipnosis, Suffering Tool and Chlover. == References ==