Cuba is NOT England!

Cuba inherits the bureaucracy of Spanish colonialism and the lackadaisical style of the Caribbean and Africa. You must also remember you are in a country which is both third world and very poor by world standards. America's (internationally illegal and unacceptable) attitude towards it does not help, although it is a great excuse for the administration to not deal with matters as well. The lack of advertised information is political correctness gone mad, in that is generally considered unacceptable to advertise in Cuba. We are not trying to embarrass Cuba, or Cubans by saying this, we are trying to point out to Europeans that things just don't always work out as expected and you need to account for that in your planning. You will find that, given their income is maybe 1/30 th of yours per person they do remarkably well in presenting themselves, both personally and practically. The phrase " die for the clothes you dress in" has new meanings in Cuba. You will notice anyone in a club dresses really well. public events are generally well organised and even smaller bands play with an expertise you don't see as widely in Europe.

The reason for us doing this set of pages is to try and help those (particularly UK based) people who appreciate Cuban music and dance, to get access to it. Many events in Cuba seem only to be finalised the day before. The exception to this is the big bands, who's music the state recognise is a big tourist foreign currency earner. Even the hotels do not know until they get the information off the radio or from a newspaper release on Thursdays. We often found that inaccurate and misleading, but worth a look. Hotel staff will try to be helpful (Most Cuban's genuinely are) but just do not have access to information as we do in London for example. Most Cuban's do things by word of mouth so ask and ask again (and don't believe all you are told!!).

Events in Havana are often not finalised until shortly before the date. So, our list is usually updated on Friday for the next weekend to try and account for this but please try and check with the venue, where you can, before setting out.

Bands often play for a "season" so they may well be on for several weeks at a time. This means that if we show it one week there is a reasonable chance they will be there next week as well, so do not despair if your holiday does not fit in with Los Van Van's appearances, you may still get to see them.

Note also that it is usually much cheaper to see a group in an afternoon performance, for example $15 evening and $5 afternoon is a typical price. This is to allow Cuban's access to the bands at a more reasonable price. For that reason you may find a larger number of ordinary Cubans who like music and dance there in the afternoon. We think they charge too much to see a band as these are similar prices to London and not justified by the costs in Cuba itself. Still, if you like Cuban music, where better to spend your money than on their bands! There is no doubt that Cuba as a whole needs the money.

We prefer the old Casa de Musica rather than the central Havana new space. It has more atmosphere and better sound quality. The new venue has great site lines but the hard reflective concrete surfaces of the old cinema space it was converted from need some serious acoustic treatment to get a good sound. At the moment the sound quality in that space spoils the venue. Go as close to the stage front as you can if you want to minimise this. (and sound engineers in Cuba: sort it out, I know you agree with me!!)

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Muchas veces se programan las presentaciones en La Habana a muy corto plazo. Por lo tanto generalmente publicamos los eventos el viernes para el fin de semana siguiente. Les aconsejamos llamar al club / hotel de antemano.
A veces una orquesta que toca en un club un sábado, por ejemplo, volverá a tocar en el mismo sitio el siguiente sábado.
En algunos clubes, es más barato ver a una orquesta temprano por la tarde, para dar a los cubanos acceso a precios más módicos. Por ejemplo, a las 11 de la noche: US$15, a las 4 de la tarde US$5.