Neustadt Critical Review

This article discusses the perennial problem in which musicians alter their practices or enter the industry to fit the tastes of outsiders. Neustadt presents La Chanraga Habanera, a group that presented an album the same time the Buena Vista Social Club was put together, to illustrate how contemporary Cubans perceive themselves and Cuba. There were many different points raised in the article, but the most interesting to me was the way in which Americans and the rest of the first world responded to the Buena Vista Social Club and the movie made about them.

The article briefly mentions the embargo and the fact that Cuba remains one of very few communist nations in the world. I think a larger discussion on U.S.-Cuba relations would have supported this article a lot. The back and forth between the nostalgia-based tastes of the outside and the more "authentic" tastes on the island is really a consequence of the U.S.'s staggering purchasing power and regional hegemony.

The nostalgia is very strong, but there is an ideological component here too. The fairytale elements of the BVSC movie are satisfying in that they gives first-world audiences affirmation that they are living in an economic system that rewards musicians like the BVSC and that communism is backwards and traps societies in static states.

I had a difficult time deciphering what exactly Neustadt was trying to achieve beyond offering a view on Cuban identity. I feel that La Charanga Habanera was an interesting group to compare BVSC to, but ultimately it felt auxiliary and forced.

To what extent does politics affect the perception and creation of music?