When Daymé Arocena took the stage on Monday night for her Los Angeles debut, the 22-year-old looked resplendent in a white dress and matching headwrap. The backing band for the Havana singer and ...

In Callejón del Hamel, a street in Cuba lined with art shops and murals, rumba is a way of life. Every Sunday around noon, both locals and tourists gather in the streets to watch, and often partake, ...

The most adventurous production out of Cuba of late is a revisionist take on the venerable rumba. At the MIDEM conference in Cannes last month, producer Cary Diez of the Havana label BIS Music ...

If you love the wonderful beat of merengue music or the sounds of Cuban rumba, you'll be happy to know they're considered worldwide cultural treasures. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and ...

“Ivy League Rumba,” a documentary covering the Latin Jazz and Pop Festival held at Brown last fall, premiered Thursday at the Watson Institute for International Studies. The film explores contemporary ...

Okuté are an ensemble from Havana, Cuba who — to quote their bio — are “putting the spotlight on the sound of 1960s Cuba with a contemporary spirit.” Their self-titled debut album comes out June 4 via ...

Earlier this year, I sang the praises of the debut full-length album by the group ÌFÉ, a dramatic meditation on traditional Afro-Cuban rumba and santeria music. After seeing the band live in ...

The death of Cuban conga master Carlos "Patato" Valdes this past December provides a sad opportunity to dig out one of his best-known recordings — which also happens to be a groundbreaking piece of ...

For more than a century Cuban sugar fueled the global rum industry. The refined cane made its way from the small island nation to bustling trading ports in U.S. cities like Salem, Massachusetts. Now, ...

Photo by: Photo taken on location in Santiago de Cuba, home of last month's inaugural Manana Festival. The event combined Cuban music makers with international electronic artists. All photos shot in ...