Cuban Night Life (Havana)

By Thor Anderson - Havana City Guide Correspondent

Café Cantante - National Theater, Vedado
This disco is located in the basement of the National Theatre on the Plaza of the Revolution. It presents live music some nights, though not usually top groups. Cover is $5 on DJ nights and $10 when there is a live band. This is a good dance venue, frequented by foreign and Cuban audiences. The recorded music features Salsa Cubana with occasional international pop and disco numbers. The club no longer features an open bar, but drinks are reasonable. Not great is the hooker scene here. The Cuban girls (and guys) look great, dressed in hot outfits that would be at home at the Conga Room in LA. But unless you are there with your spouse or a date, expect to be propositioned. The club no longer let's the girls in without an escort. So they line up outside the upstairs entrance and wait their turn to slip in with male patrons entering the club. They pay their own cover charge.

Casa De La Musica - Miramar
My favorite club, this place operates in a beautiful old performing hall next to a park in what was, and still is, one of the best residential areas in Havana. The club presents a live matinee from 6:00 to 9:00 and night time show from 10:00 to 1:00 every day of the week, even in the slow summer season. The matinee cover is $5 and the night cover is usually $15. During the day, one of the best music stores in Cuba is open to the left of the entry hall. The night show features Cuba’s best and most famous bands such as those I listed above. The matinees present lesser known but great bands just the same. The dance hall features a smooth tile floor with four-seat movable tables everywhere except for a large dance space in front of the raised stage. Two bars serve beer and mixed drinks at world market prices. Overpriced Cuban sandwiches can be ordered from table service waiters. Security is excellent. I like the matinee because the crowd is about two thirds Cuban due to the lower cover. The proportion is about two thirds foreign at night. Arrive early for both matinee and night shows to get a good table, or get a table at all. The best feature of this club is the bands. Powered by the excellent sound system, the groups, usually with at least thirteen players including drum set, just blow from the first number to last without pause. The energy keeps building. Cubans in the crowd sing the coros of favorite tunes along with the band, giving it up whenever the singer calls “manos arriba” during the breakdowns. This club almost never disappoints.

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Casa De La Musica - Havana
This is Havana’s newest major salsa venue, modeled on the older one in Miramar. There is a raised stage and large dance floor of hard tile. Unlike the other Casa, seating is segregated from the dance floor on a higher level towards the back of the club, including one section with theater seating for a better view of the stage. A long curving bar serves the seating area. As of September, 2002, there was no matinee at this Casa. The night time acts begin at about 11:00 with some kind of floor show, followed by the main act at about midnight or slightly later. Like the Miramar venue, this club features Cuba’s top salsa bands, presented with state of the art sound. Cover is $15 for most events. The crowd is mostly foreign, but I saw many locals here too.

Copa Room - Hotel Riviera, Vedado
This club is located in the Riviera Hotel on the Malecón. It is a good venue to see and hear Salsa Cubana, but the wood dance floor is quite small. Dancing is best done to the variety of Cuban and international pop music that plays before the live act starts. The room is set up theater style with tables on the main floor and on three more levels rising behind. Moving around the room becomes difficult when it fills. Drinks are expensive here. I got caught cash short here one night when I ordered a bottle of rum without knowing it would cost me $50. Cover charges are higher too, between $15 and $25. Access to the venue is through the hotel so security is tight.

La Cecilia - Playa
This is one of my favorite restaurants in Havana, with an outdoor music venue attached. The live performances are irregular depending on the weather and the season, so check to see if something is playing before going to hear music here. The outdoor theater is large and formed in an amphitheater with rising levels for seating back up to a bar area. A platform offers a dance area in front of the stage. This becomes very crowded when a top act plays. I have seen Paulito here twice and both times, the crowd presses up to stage front leaving little room to show your dance moves. But Timba groups like Paulito inspire this kind of powerful audience response, like a great rock concert. Other times, I have seen less well known groups here, fronted by a floor show often including very impressive salsa dance demonstrations. Audiences here are about 90 percent foreign. Cover charge varies with the event, but rarely exceeds $20.

Macumba - Havana West
This club is recommended only when it presents live music. Many of the top Timba and Salsa groups play here, but call first to verify schedules. The pretty venue is a series of large, canopied outdoor dancing and stage areas, each with its own bar, in a tropical ambience with lush gardens everywhere. There is also a large pool and a number of upscale (for Cuba ) shops for fashion, jewelry, and gifts. Unfortunately, the night I was there, no live music was playing. Instead, a karaoke show was the main event in which a cheesy MC would invite individuals from the audience to sing along with the latest Latin American pop hits with lyrics projected on to a large screen in front of the dance floor. The singers, who appeared to be Latin American and Spanish tourists, were awful and it made the $15 cover charge all the more painful. This club is also quite far from the Havana population center and therefore Cubans form a relatively small proportion of the crowd, even for live performances. Expect cover charges of at least $15 on live music nights.