After the popular victory of 1959, and for a short period of time, the artistic and musical sector of the country continued functioning the same way. The excitement for a new life that the triumph of the Revolution meant, and the interest of the people from the world of culture, represented a contribution to the development of artistic activities. In 1961, the National Art Instructors Schools (ENIA) were created – their seat was established at what it is today the Comodoro Hotel – and youngsters from all over the country enrolled at the center. Coming even from the remotest places, youngsters came to learn different artistic disciplines, which were taught by music professionals who collaborated with the idea.

Professional guitarists became guitar teachers and taught how to play the instrument. Piano lessons were also taught, as well as sol-fa and music theory. Members of vocal quartets taught choral practice, with the intension to train instructors that could later on teach more students, though a large number of them preferred to become professional artists rather than teachers. Still, the schools continued to form instructors who performed a great work, especially at the Community Art Centers, a facility located in each village, neighborhood or area that became an important cultural site for different disciplines. These centers contributed to the growing of a solid amateur movement, and many of their members later on became outstanding professionals.

The Comodoro continued afterwards as a dance school, and in the nearby houses abandoned by their wealthy owners, music classes and choir practice were then taught. At the time, sung and spoken choirs started to be created at schools and workplaces, including the Giant Choir of the Confederation of Cuba-Revolutionary Workers (CTC-R). The aim of these choirs was to improve social relations and make students and workers approach the world of culture.

In 1962, a well-organized teaching system started to function, while a wonderful dream, embodied in an avant-garde architecture, was coming true: the creation, in the former grounds of the Havana Biltmore Yacht and Country Club, of the prestigious National School of Arts, by prominent architect Ricardo Porro (Camagüey, 1925-2014), together with Italian colleagues Roberto Gottardi and Vittorio Garatti.

From 1961 to 1965, the impressive School of Dance and Visual Arts was built, where students from all over the country specialized in ballet and dance, music, drama and visual arts. This school would become later on, in 1976, the Higher Institute of Art, a university center that has formed talents in various disciplines. With highly qualified teachers, the Institute has been a source of national pride, although it initially stressed the mastery of the classical music technique and proscribed the Cuban popular music – not as a way of rejection by the elite but as a way to focus learning on the elaborate music the classical repertoire included. Anyway, this restriction has represented a blemish on the school record, though fortunately, the need to apply the technique to our most popular expressions was later on understood. Other disciplines were added to the school’s curriculum: circus, in 1977, and shows, in 1993. Today, there are other departments: the Cuban tres and other traditional string instruments; popular and folk percussion, and others. But popular singing and piano, as a specific artistic expression, have not been included in the academic studies yet.

The choirs of the Cuban Radio Institute (ICR), later on named Cuban Radio and Television Institute (ICRT), and which used the experiences of Cuca Rivero and Paquito Rodino, were also formalized. The National Polyphonic Choir was also created, headed by Serafin Pro, and the two major choirs of the Santiago de Cuba province were formalized: Orfeón Santiago, headed by maestro Electo Silva, and Coro Madrigalista – whose temporary director, Miguel García, brother of outstanding singer Luis García, later on became responsible for the Department of Music.

It is important to mention that the Cuban choral movement has gained a broad international prestige today. Among these choirs, the following are included: the National Choir, under the direction of Professor Digna Guerra; Ex Audi, directed by María Felicia Pérez; Schola Cantorum Coralina, with Alina Orraca, who has developed a comprehensive choir school, including children; Vocal Leo, with Corina Campos; Vocal Luna, with Silvia Verrier; Sine Domine, with Leonor Suárez. These two latter are men’s choirs with excellent countertenor.

The Department of Music that we mentioned above was created in favor of a better organization of the musical work. It was located in an old house, at F y 9, Vedado. By the ends of the 1960s, Julio Bidopia was its director, and Tony Henríquez the deputy director. The Department of Music was attached to the National Council of Culture (CNC), which in 1989 became the Cuban Institute of Music. This department was responsible for the organization of several shows, special upgrading courses for singers, quartets, duets, etc. It was likewise responsible for the famous Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, the preparation of foreign tours, the organization of events on protest songs, and other activities.

The Department of Music also looked after those artists who were not suitable for giving major concerts, and created companies to group them, with a marked entertainment nature. These companies would become the self-budgeted centers whose activity is today conducted at the National and Provincial Music Centers, and in companies with a more commercial nature.

At that time, the eagerness to organize the country and strengthen the work of the trade unions, in addition to a higher importance of the professional cultural activity and the formation of a strong Amateur Movement, resulted in a separation of tasks between the trade unions and the hiring institutions. As a result, the arts-related trade unions were joined in a single organization – the National Trade Union of Arts and Entertainment Workers (SINTAE) – and the National Hiring Office was created.

Those changes were part of the reforms the country was undergoing, such as the elimination of racial discrimination; the nationalization of clubs, such as the Playa de Marianao club, to open the doors to the people; the ruling out of the Buena Vista Social Club, registered as a "color society" in 1932 and whose existence was irrational as racial discrimination was being eliminated from the new life and was condemned to obscurity. To that modest but famous social club at the time, Orestes López dedicated the danzon Club Social de Buena Vista – when he played with Arcaño y sus Maravillas – and Lilí Martinez dedicated the guaguancó Buena Vista en guaguancó, sung by the Arsenio Rodríguez group.

After Ray Cooder, Bim Benders and Juan de Marcos adopted the name for an audio visual project, the most famous artistic project of the Cuban music emerged in the 1990s, managed by the British company World Music: "Buena Vista Social Club”.

At that time, the National Hiring Office, led by Gilberto Aldanás – founder of the Institute of Sports (INDER) and singer of Los Faxas and Los Modernistas groups – only had 7 employees. Still, it scheduled the night shows, together with the then INIT, in all the cabarets of the country, and looked after the hiring of artists by the Board of Coordination, Implementation and Inspection (JUCEI).

It was precisely Aldanás who told me what happened when he was requested to get a permanent location for Maestro Ignacio Villa, "Bola de Nieve". They visited several places in Havana and Bola chose "El Moseñor ". When Aldanás told him that he considered the place small for his immense artistic stature, Bola said he preferred a small and intimate place. The only thing he asked was the piano to be in good state, and also to write at the entrance sunshade, in small letters, "Chez Bola", and to have a white rose every night to give it to someone from the audience.

Although the mafia’s casino businesses were over, the shows at the cabarets were kept as a cultural tradition that still exists today – and which should be increased, to the extent that it is affordable and with more practical solutions than its former splendor. Anyhow, the Cuban cabaret shows, born in Tropicana; Sanz Souci; Montmartre; the Copa Room, at the Riviera Hotel; the Parisien Cabaret, at the National Hotel; the Caribe, at the Habana Libre Hotel; Venecia, in Santa Clara; Caribe, in Camaguey; El Balcón del Caribe, in Santiago de Cuba, and those at the hotels located in the Cuban isles, are beautiful artistic shows and real examples of the artistic and commercial value of our country.

Sources consulted by the author:

Interviews to Gilberto Aldanás; Germán Piniella; María Felicia Pérez; Corina Campos.

Translation: Yanely Interian (Cubarte)