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Fun facts about Ten Cuban musicians to listen to before your trip to Cuba)

Cuba has always been an island with a rich musical output. Music plays a big role in Cuban culture, and the country has produced countless talented musicians. Whilst a list of Cuban musicians worth listening to could go on for miles and miles, I have limited it to ten to provide a starting point that (in my subjective opinion) give a flavour of different Cuban music.

Jeremy John

Fun facts about Ten Cuban musicians to listen to before your trip to Cuba

Buena Vista Social Club - What are these songs about?

Jeremy John

Buena Vista Social Club - What are these songs about?

In the mid-1990s the US musician Ry Cooder and his colleagues took high-tech recording equipment to Cuba, assembled some old-time Cuban musicians and re-recorded local songs with a twist. The result, the Buena Vista Social Club album, sold over a million copies worldwide upon its release, and was also accompanied by a critically acclaimed film.

Ten fun fatcs about great salsa bars and clubs in Havana

Jeremy John

Ten fun fatcs about great salsa bars and clubs in Havana

Listening to live salsa music, watching the dancing or joining in yourself, is a mesmerising experience. Salsa has a deep-rooted history in Cuba. Although the term "salsa" has been in everyday usage since the 1960s, historians are generally agreed that music that has salsa rhythms can be traced back to at least the 1920s in Eastern Cuba, when various music forms, especially Cuban Son and Afro-Cuban rumba, started combining their musical elements together.