402 Chapter 18
musicologists Argeliers León and Maria Teresa Linares, who recruited
traditional musicians to provide empirical knowledge (Knauer: 83-4).
It quickly became one of the most important cultural institutions in
Cuba and the island’s official performing representative of Afro-
Cuban sacred and secular dance and music traditions. For rumba/
folkloric groups that are deemed to be grupos subvencionados (subsidized
groups) by their empresa (state-run artistic agency), and whose mem-
bers earn a fixed salary each month in exchange for performing a cer-
tain number of events, these performances are considered to be part
of their monthly quota. In the case of non-subsidized professional
groups such as Los Ibellis—whose members do not have a regular
monthly salary but get paid per gig—there is no payment received for
these events; instead, the publicity and promotion generated by per-
forming at these esteemed cultural institutions is viewed as a form of
compensation (p.c. with Luis Lucas Rodríguez, July 2008).
Both the UNEAC and CFN rumba events charge admission in
accordance with the dual currency system, where Cubans are charged
in moneda nacional and foreigners are charged in divisa (hard currency or
Cuban convertible dollars). However, while the CFN charges a very
nominal fee for Cubans ($5 MN or $0.25 CUC), the UNEAC
entrance fee is quite prohibitive ($40 MN or $1.67 CUC); both charge
foreigners $5 CUC. As noted earlier, the CFN rumba attracts many
locals owing to its low entrance fee and the fact that it takes place on
Saturday afternoon. Despite the relatively high cost of admission at
the UNEAC event, I would estimate the Cuban-foreigner ratio to be
roughly the same for both the UNEAC and CFN rumba events, 70 to
30%. The UNEAC is a very popular peña among Cubans due to the
high quality of rumba groups who perform there and the fact that it
takes place on alternating Wednesdays, meaning Cubans can “save up”
to attend every other week.
- Yvonne Daniel’s book on rumba dance (1995) details the institutionalization and
discursive elevation of the practice by the Castro government in the first decades of the
Revolution.