It would have been nice to enjoy this Caribbean sunset to the sound of Cuban jazz, rather than “Back in the USSR”. the band at a rooftop bar overlooking the Caribbean, who played covers of old-school Western rock songs), the musicians were wonderful. The quality of the musicianship was outstanding – even when the genre wasn’t really what I wanted to hear (e.g.

And Chan Chan was the only song that they all had in common – we heard a wide variety of other songs from a multitude of genres, from rock to salsa to rumba to jazz. They each had their own version, of course, and different instrumentation, ranging from the standard guitar + mini guitar + drums to full seven piece bands with a stand up bass and a trumpet. Music was everywhere – you couldn’t step into a cafe, bar, museum, rest stop or onto a beach without there being at least one live band.Īnd almost every single one – literally, every band we saw except for maybe four – played Chan Chan. The music was one of the things I was most looking forward to before we flew to Cuba, and I was not disappointed. This is just as well, because we heard it an average of twice a day on our two week trip.

This is the song “Chan Chan”, from the Buena Vista Social Club album.