ABSTRACT
By comparing the conditions of rumba performance in two cities, Havana and Matanzas, this chapter examines the politics of place vis-à-vis the cultural tourism industry in contemporary Cuba. Although this Afro-Cuban music and dance genre has been practiced in both cities since the late nineteenth century, rumba musicians in each place face distinct circumstances in the post-Soviet era, stemming from economic changes introduced in the 1990s to mitigate the crisis of the Special Period. Based on my ethnographic research with rumba groups in Havana and Matanzas from 2004 to 2008, I detail the various categories and contexts of performance in both cities, and discuss the audiences that attend the different events, elucidating how these demographics relate to the politics of place. My main goal is to present a contrasting picture of rumba scenes in Havana and Matanzas and to propose that the particular positions of these two cities within the cultural tourism industry respectively influence their musicians’ livelihoods and access to supplemental income. This chapter ultimately views contemporary rumba performance as a case study through which to highlight the geographically uneven ways in which the Cuban state has invested in its tourism infrastructure.
