music and revolution cultural change in socialist cuba apr 2006

[...]... without running water for extended periods, and suffered from a lack of medicine and countless other deprivations.The period naturally gave rise to growing unrest and a marked increase in police vigilance Simply put, socialist Cuba was in the midst of a grave crisis My interest in the post-1959 period derives from firsthand exposure to all this, beginning in 1991 While interviewing musicians and working with... Africa and Europe They are related musical systems with common roots in colonialism, slavery, and cultural adaptation Each has in uenced the other time and again for at least a century and a half, so their identities have become closely entwined From the few books available on Latin American popular music, I could tell that prerevolutionary Cuba had been surprisingly in uential Older recordings in record... directly and indirectly, in fundamental political changes throughout the world and has given rise to educational systems that produce artists of world-class status, in Cuba and elsewhere This introduction considers the prominent role that leaders in state socialist countries typically ascribe to culture It includes a summary of the practical issues facing them as they attempt to inspire music making in a... conceives of the arts as a point of negotiation between individuals, with their unique backgrounds, interests, and opinions, and official organizations It uses music, dance, and other expression as a means of exploring interrelated phenomena: the initiatives 10 / Introduction and goals of a national cultural apparatus developed by revolutionary leaders since 1959 and the ways in which such policies have... clubs and cabarets Chapter 2 evaluates political changes initiated during the years immediately following 1959 and their impact on music making Decisions to nationalize private businesses and standardize performer salaries, increasingly tense relations with the United States, and other factors affected performers significantly Chapter 3 discusses the gradual creation of new cultural institutions and policies... Introduction the origins of socialist thought Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels began their in uential writings in the context of mid-nineteenth-century industrialization in Europe and its labor practices Viewing photos such as those in Eric Hobsbawm’s The Age of Empire (1987), one sees firsthand the inhuman living conditions of the urban poor at that time Mass production techniques, while slowly raising... and of high quality By the same token, performers complained of limitations on their careers and of complications with the government bureaucracy I began to read about cultural development in other socialist countries and to try to understand Cuba in that context All of the above has resulted in a study that uses the performing arts as a means of examining larger processes of revolutionary change Cuba s... Santandreu, and María Elena Vinueza I owe a tremendous debt to them—especially Leo Acosta and to countless other musicians, visual artists, historians, authors, friends, expatriates, and revolutionaries who have contributed to this study introduction Music and the Arts in Socialist Cuba Our highest aspiration has been the promotion of relationships between artistic and intellectual movements and the... right-wing figures such as Brazil’s Getúlio Vargas A number of Cuban insurgents in the 1950s were themselves staunchly antiCommunist Nevertheless, Marxist literature has had strong in uence in the country since at least the early twentieth century It has circulated in the form of writings by Marx himself, by Cuban intellectuals at home and abroad (Juan Marinello, Paul Lafargue), and by socialist- inspired... books on the Cuban Revolution include scarcely a reference to music, and yet music and the arts have been central to the revolutionary experiment from the outset Both Odilio Urfé (1982:165) and Fidel Castro himself (1961:12) make this point.Within months of taking power, leaders began passing legislation designed to establish new centers of music, film, theater, and literary production In December 1960, . Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging -in- Publication Data Moore, Robin, 1964–. Music and revolution : cultural change in socialist Cuba / Robin D. Moore. p. cm. — (Music. Watts Hymn Singing in the Music of Black Americans, by William T. Dargan 9. Music and Revolution: Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba, by Robin D. Moore 10. From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz,. Jazz, by Raul A. Fernandez Music and Revolution Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba robin d. moore University of California Press Berkeley Los Angeles London Center for Black Music Research Columbia