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.
Jazz is in conversation with Cuba. Cuban clave rhythm is fundamental to a lot of Latin music. It’s Jelly Roll Morton’s “Spanish Tinge.” Cuban son evolved into timba in Cuba, and Latin jazz and salsa in New York.
Cuban Culture and Artists
Carlos Henriquez Directs the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in a Journey Through Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, Bebop, and Nuyorican Jazz
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER, Columbus Circle, Manhattan 🇺🇸 🇧🇷 🇨🇺 🇵🇷
Miguel Zenón & Dos Alas with Camila Cortina Bello Play Classic Puerto Rican and Cuban Jazz at Jazz Gallery
Music of Rafaél Hernández and Pablo Milanes, bolero and trova 🇵🇷 🇨🇺
JAZZ GALLERY, NoHo, Manhattan
Teatro Fest NYC is a Festival of Hispanic Theatre
IATI THEATER, East Village, Manhattan 🇻🇪
INTAR Theatre, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan 🇨🇺
PREGONES/PRTT, Mott Haven, The Bronx and Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan 🇵🇷
REPERTORIO ESPAÑOL, Kips Bay, Manhattan 🇨🇺
TEATRO CIRCULO, East Village, Manhattan 🇵🇷
TEATRO LATEA, Lower East Side, Manhattan 🇵🇷
TEATRO SEA, Lower East Side, Manhattan 🇵🇷
THALIA SPANISH THEATER, Sunnyside, Queens 🇪🇸
Continue Reading Teatro Fest NYC is a Festival of Hispanic Theatre
Ballet Hispánico at the 92nd Street Y Reimagines Flamenco, plus New York’s and Havana’s Latin Club Scenes
92ND STREET Y, Upper East Side, Manhattan ~ Three Latin dances by world-class choreographers salute the 92nd Street Y’s role in developing modern and contemporary dance in New York City. 🇺🇸 🇨🇴 🇨🇺 🇪🇸
NYC Off-Broadway Week Winter 2024 Offers 2-for-1 Tickets
REPERTORIO ESPAÑOL, Kips Bay, Manhattan ~ “La Breve y Maravillosa Vida de Oscar Wao,” “Eva Luna,” “La Golondrina,” “Radojka” 🇨🇱 🇩🇴 🇵🇷 🇺🇾
NEW YORK CITY CENTER, Midtown, Manhattan ~ “Brooklyn Laundry” 🇦🇷 🇵🇷
Continue Reading NYC Off-Broadway Week Winter 2024 Offers 2-for-1 Tickets
Latin Mondays at Taj, by Talia Castro-Pozo, is One of New York’s Most Popular Salsa Dance Parties
TAJ II, Flatiron District, Manhattan ~ One of New York City’s most popular salsa parties for more than fifteen years. 🇨🇴 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇵🇦 🇵🇪 🇵🇷 🇻🇪
Eleguá ~ Papa Legba ~ Elegbara ~ Eshu is the Orisha of the Crossroads of Destiny
CUBA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, PUERTO RICO, COLOMBIA 🇨🇺
Continue Reading Eleguá ~ Papa Legba ~ Elegbara ~ Eshu is the Orisha of the Crossroads of Destiny
New York 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.
Mi Salsa Kitchen is a popular Cuban diner in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, with live music on weekends.
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.