Cuban Culture in New York City is important because Cuba is one of the keys to Caribbean culture and Latin culture across the Americas.
The oldest drums in Cuba were made by the first Africans in 1513. They are in La Marina, Matanzas.
The culture is incredibly diverse with ballet, baseball, bolero, carnival, cha-cha-cha, changüi, danzón, Latin jazz, mambo, pachanga, rumba, salsa, son Cubano, songo, timba, trova, and lots, lots more.
Cuban rumba is the root of a lot of Latin music and Latin dance.
Cuban clave rhythm is fundamental to a lot of Latin music. It’s Jelly Roll Morton’s “Spanish Tinge.” Jazz is in conversation with Cuba.
Cuban son evolved into timba in Cuba, and Latin jazz and salsa in New York.
Cuban Culture
Christie’s New York’s May Art Auctions Include the Rosa de la Cruz Collection, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Julie Mehretu
CHRISTIE’S Rockefeller Center, Midtown, Manhattan 🇺🇸 🇧🇷 🇨🇺 🇪🇹 🇫🇷 🇭🇹 🇮🇹 🇲🇽 🇵🇷
International Workers Day or Labor Day is a National Holiday in Much of the Latin World
MAY 1 🇦🇷 🇧🇴 🇧🇷 🇨🇱 🇨🇴 🇨🇷 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇪🇨 🇸🇻 🇵🇭 🇫🇷 🇬🇹 🇭🇹 🇭🇳 🇮🇹 🇲🇽 🇵🇦 🇵🇾 🇵🇪 🇵🇹 🇷🇴 🇪🇸 🇺🇾 🇻🇪
Bryant Park Dance Party 2024 Free Dance Lessons and Live Music for Dancing Salsa, R&B, Hustle, Bachata, Swing, and Motown
BRYANT PARK, Midtown, Manhattan 🇺🇸 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇵🇷
African Diaspora International Film Festival 2024 Caribbean Film Series Screens at Teachers College, Columbia University
TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, Morningside Heights, Manhattan 🇧🇸 🇧🇧 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇭🇹 🇯🇲 🇲🇶 🇵🇷 🇸🇷 🇹🇹
David Virelles Nosotros Ensemble with Dafnis Prieto, Curated by Tania León, Explores the Influence of Afro-Cuban Rhythms on American Music at Carnegie Hall
CARNEGIE HALL, Midtown, Manhattan 🇨🇺 🇨🇺 🇨🇺 🇭🇹
Havana Film Festival New York 2024 Screens Latin Films You Won’t See Anywhere Else
HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY, Hempstead, Long Island
QUAD CINEMA, Greenwich Village
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Continue Reading Havana Film Festival New York 2024 Screens Latin Films You Won’t See Anywhere Else
OKAN Sings Joyful Afro-Cuban Alternative at Lincoln Center
DAVID RUBENSTEIN ATRIUM at Lincoln Center, Manhattan 🇨🇺
Continue Reading OKAN Sings Joyful Afro-Cuban Alternative at Lincoln Center
ReelAbilities Film Festival New York is a Festival of Disability, Love, and Sharing the Joy of Life
MARLENE MEYERSON JCC MANHATTAN, Upper West Side, and venues all over town. 🇨🇺 🇮🇹 🇺🇸
Cuban News
Cuban New York City
The heart of Cuban New York City is Union City in Hudson County, New Jersey.
NY Cuban Art
Carmen Herrera was a legendary Cuban abstract artist who lived in New York.
Cuban Artists Fund cubanartistsfund.org
NY Cuban Cultural Centers
Cuban Cultural Center New York
NY Cuban Dance
Ballet Hispánico, America’s leading Latin dance company, is led by Cuban American choreographer Eduardo Vilaro. 🇨🇺
Dance Theater of Harlem has some great Cuban dancers.
The Joyce Theater, New York’s busiest dance theater, has long developed contemporary dance in Cuba. Malpaso Dance Company is a Joyce Affiliate company.
Mi Salsa Kitchen is a popular Cuban diner in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, with live music on weekends. Guests push the tables aside and dance.
New York City Center, one of New York’s leading dance theaters, has long developed contemporary dance in Cuba.
Latin Mondays at Taj is a salsa dance party that has a regular crew of Cubans who can really dance.
World Ballet Day usually goes behind the scenes with some Cuban dance companies.
NY Cuban Fashion
Evan Elkowitz is a New York fashionista who is very involved with fashion in Cuba. @stylebyevan
Narciso Rodriguez is a famous Cuban fashion designer. You can find his clothes in department stores.
NY Cuban Festivals
- Carnival Cubano Parade
- Cuban Parade in Union City, New Jersey
NY Cuban Film
The African Diaspora International Film Festival has a Cuban co-founder.
The Havana Film Festival New York is the sister festival of Cuba’s Havana Film Festival.
NY Cuban Food
Mi Salsa Kitchen is a popular Cuban diner in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
NY Cuban Music
Axel Tosca is a Cuban jazz pianist who plays timba.
Celia Cruz, “The Queen of Salsa,” did more to popularize Latin music around the world, than anyone else.
Dayramir Gonzalez is a Cuban jazz pianist.
Graciella was a great Latin jazz singer in her brother’s band Machito and His Afro-Cubans.
Machito and His Afro-Cubans, with Music Director Mario Bauzá, created Latin jazz by playing jazz in clave.
Melvis Santa is a Grammy-nominated Afro-Cuban jazz singer, pianist, batá drummer, educator, and actress; originally from Havana. 🇨🇺
Paquito D’Rivera, the classical and jazz legend, lives in New York and plays around a lot.
Pedrito Martinez is the world’s first-call rumba percussionist.
Pepito Gomez is a Cuban son and salsa singer.
Roman Díaz is one of New York City’s leading rumba percussionists.
Xiomara Laugart, is a famous Latin jazz and trova singer.
NY Cuban Restaurants
- Havana Central
- Guantanamo
- Mi Salsa Kitchen
- Victor’s Cafe
NY Cuban Theatre
“Buena Vista Social Club™” is a Saheem Ali musical about the retired musicians whose recording made the whole world want to dance again. It’s produced by the Atlantic Theater Company.
“On Your Feet!” the musical, is the Gloria Estefan and Emilio Estefan story.
Repertorio Español, one of New York City’s most successful Off-Broadway theaters, was founded by Cubans.
Cuba
Cuba is the sacred heart of Latin culture in the Americas. As the main port of the Spanish transatlantic trade, Havana was the center of colonial Spanish power. Whatever happened in Havana, spread across the Spanish-speaking world, including back to Spain. That is still true.
In modern times, American gangsters and big business took over, so Cuba expelled the Americans which earned it great respect across Latin America. This preserved Cuban culture.
Cuban rumba is a taproot of what we now call Latin music. Son Cubano evolved into Latin jazz and salsa in New York, and timba in Cuba. Cubop (Latin Jazz) developed in 1940s New York City along with Bebop (Modern Jazz).
Latin American dancers dream of training with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba because it can launch international careers. The Joyce Theater and New York City Center have a legacy of developing contemporary dance in Cuba.
Before the Revolution, Cuba was the most advanced society in Latin America. Havana was one of the most advanced world capitals.
Dance in Cuba
Latin American dancers dream of training with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba because the dance quality is so high, it can launch international careers. @balletnacionaldecubaoficial
Jennyselt Galata is a leader in Cuba’s spiritual and dance communities. She is one of the guardians of Yoruba and Palo culture. @jennygalata
Raíces Profundas (Deep Roots) is sort of the Royal Ballet of Cuba, but in folkloric and popular traditions from rumba to salsa. Their studio is an abandoned power plant. @raicesprofundascuba
Music in Cuba and the Diaspora
Gloria Estefan and Emilio Estefan crossed over into English with Miami Sound Machine (“Conga”) in 1979. They crossed back with “Mi Tierra” in 1993. “On Your Feet!” the musical, is their inspiring story. No matter what happens, you have to get back on your feet!
Los Van Van, founded by bassist Juan Formell in 1969, led the development of songo and timba in Cuba by adding rock and roll rhythms to the mix.
Omar Sosa is an international Cuban jazz pianist who plays fusions with other artists around the world. His collaboration with Senegalese kora master Seckou Keita is wonderfully spiritual.
Festivals in Cuba
Most Americans know Yoruba traditions through Cuban Yoruba which absorbed the Dahomey and Kongo traditions that also rooted in the Americas. We are all mixed together.
Lucumí, the beautiful African Diaspora Yoruba religion, is the root of many Latin music and dance traditions.
Babalú-Ayé, the Cuban Yoruba orisha of sickness and healing, is celebrated on December 17.
Changó, the Cuban Yoruba orisha of music, drumming, dancing, and justice, is celebrated on December 4.
Our Lady of Charity (La Caridad de Cobre), the patron saint of Cuba, is celebrated on September 8.
The Virgin of Regla (La Virgen de Regla), patron saint of the Afro-Cuban Havana neighborhood of Regla, is celebrated on September 7.