ABSTRACT
The first of this essay's three sections outlines some of the ways that socialist policy has affected Cuban dance music performance since 1959. I discuss early decisions by revolutionary leaders affecting musical activity, a gradual trend toward the politicization of music making in the mid 1960s, changing forms of socialist pedagogy, and I mention a few representative groups of the 1970s and 1980s. The second section considers the musical and extramusical differences between Latino dance music in New York and Havana, and the controversies that the salsa phenomenon has generated within Cuba. The third describes the rapid changes that the Cuban music industry has experienced since the fall of the Soviet Union. After examining the effects of this political crisis on Cuban society, I focus on the decision of government officials to aggressively license Cuban music internationally and to promote increased tourism as a means of expanding the economy, and the impact of these changes on dance musicians. I also document how composers have discussed the realities of present-day Cuba.
