Rumba Performance and the Politics of Place in the Era of Cultural Tourism 399
More representative of rumba turística, in my opinion, would be the
folkloric shows organized specifically for tourist groups and set up
through Cuban tour operators. While I was conducting research, Los
Ibellis generally performed a few shows for tourist groups each
month at the Casa de África (House of Africa, a small museum that
displays African instruments and art) in Habana Vieja, and Afrocuba
de Matanzas performed several times for private tourist groups in
Matanzas. Also representative of rumba turística would be shows per-
formed in hotels, which, due to the longstanding rules prohibiting or
severely restricting Cubans’ access to tourist hotels, necessarily delimit
the audience to foreign tourists.^3Rumba venues in HavanaWhile Daniel and Van Nispen distinguish different types of rumba
performance based upon their function and the professional status of
the musicians, I believe it is also important to consider the different
venues in which rumba is performed on a regular basis in Havana (i.e.,
not for isolated events like private parties, religious ceremonies, or
shows performed for a particular group of tourists), and the agents
who sponsor them. In Havana, there is a diversity of rumba venues
that is not found in other Cuban cities, mostly because there are many
more groups in the capital than anywhere else. I divide Havana rumba
events/venues into three basic categories that I feel have constituted
the large majority of professional and semi-professional performance
over the past decade: community-initiated events, state-sponsored
rumba events and “for-profit” gigs at cabarets and nightclubs.
Community rumba events.
Community rumba events are generally free and open to the pub-
lic, and none of the groups who perform are paid, regardless of their
professional status. The principal event in this category is the Domingo- Given the changes since Raúl Castro assumed the presidency in early 2008, which
included allowing Cubans to rent rooms in tourist hotels, this situation may have chan-
ged.