Rumba Performance and the Politics of Place in the Era of Cultural Tourism 407
these events is influenced by where they are held, i.e., the neighbor-
hoods and their corresponding racial and class demographics, as well
as the economic resources of a given audience member. Lisa Knauer
briefly discusses the racialized geography of Havana neighborhoods,
noting that the Revolution has had only partial success in eliminating
residential segregation. She asserts that while formerly white neigh-
borhoods like Vedado and Miramar have become racially mixed, there
has not been a “’whitening’ of black, lower-class neighborhoods like
Jesús María [in the municipality of Habana Vieja]” (Knauer: 30). His-
toric rumba neighborhoods within Havana are located in the previ-
ously mentioned municipalities of Habana Vieja and Centro Habana,
as well as Guanabacoa, San Miguel del Padrón, Cerro, and Marianao.
Nonetheless, there are no regular, organized rumba events in the
majority of these neighborhoods—whose rumbas tend to be consti-
tuted by spontaneous street rumbas or rumbas played at private par-
ties—and all of the venues mentioned above take place in the
centralized neighborhoods of Vedado or Centro Habana.
The local audience at the free Callejón event is very representative
of the Centro Habana neighborhood in which it is located, Cayo
Hueso, which boasts a high proportion of poor Afro-Cuban residents.
However, the local audience is not exclusively from Cayo Hueso—
many local musicians and some spectators also “commute” into Cen-
tro Habana from other municipalities on Sundays to attend the
rumba. The rumba events that take place in cabarets in Centro
Habana attract audiences hailing from different parts of Havana and
people often travel into the center of the city to attend them. The
rumba events in the more middle-class Vedado neighborhood,
whether state-sponsored or cabaret gigs, also tend to have diverse
local audiences since it is a central neighborhood that is relatively easy
to reach from Centro Habana or Habana Vieja. In short, local audi-
ences and musicians come from different municipalities in order to
attend the rumba events that take place in centralized locations in
Havana. Nonetheless, finding transportation to the center of the city
is never easy, particularly on Sundays, and the people traveling to Cen-