Rumba, Son, Salsa, and Mambo in Havana, CubaExperience the Sounds of Cuba
October 4th 2011
We don’t know if you have tuned in to Jazz.FM 91 lately (or if you live in the Toronto area, for that matter) but it turns out we aren’t the only ones with musical travel on our minds. On November 3, 2011, the first of our music-centered trips, the “Sounds of Cuba”, embarks to Havana, Cuba.
As cooler days give us a preview to winter, it’s time to plan your next trip to visit one of the world’s hottest music scenes. Sip on a mojito or puff on a freshly-rolled cigar as you go on a musical journey from the streets of Havana, with its hordes of brilliant street musicians, to clubs playing everything from salsa to reggaeton where you’ll be unable to keep your feet from tapping to the rhythm or dancing with the locals.
Our trip is personally tailored and costs less than $600 for gorgeous accommodations, access to the best clubs in Cuba, and it’s filled to the brim with music, music, music. While ours is a bit more intimate and planned as a long weekend, we love that Jazz 91 FM is thinking along the same lines. New trips to New Orleans and Austin are in the works to follow up on our musical series of trips. Let us know if you have any other locations in mind and perhaps it will be next on our list!
Tagged in: Langford Tropical, Cuba Adventures - Tropical, The Sounds of Cuba: Havana Music Adventure
Fun in the Sun Doesn’t Have to End with SummerKeep the heat going with some of Cuba’s hottest music
July 14th 2011
What’s not to love about summer? Warm summer nights spent with friends sitting outside, having a drink. Enjoying the sunshine as you stroll around town. When it’s starting to get cold here in Canada, the weather’s still fantastic in Havana. The average temperatures in November, for example, hover around lows of 21°C and highs of 27°C.
Now take that warm evening out with friends, except your drink is locally produced rum, and you’re sitting outside on a patio listening to incredible son music (a fusion of African rhythms and Spanish style guitar). Your sunshine stroll would have you going past hordes of vintage American cars, observing the bright colors of the painted buildings in Hamel’s Alley, and exploring remnants of a politically tumultuous, now-vibrant country.
It is apparent in the exploding music scene that music is one of the Cuba’s greatest forms of expression. There is live music to be seen everywhere in the city from the exceedingly capable street musicians playing salsa and strumming acoustic guitars, to rappers with verses inspired by the revolution, to popular music bursting through the doors of nightclubs. The music is so incredible, that it inspired filmmakers to make the new documentary Ninety Miles. The movie shows how music can break down political barriers between the United States and Cuba. Langford & Company now has a trip that allows you to explore the best of what Havana has to offer called The Sounds of Cuba: Music Trip to Havana Cuba. To top off the musical theme of the trip, the person in charge of your guide was the local organizer/producer for the Ninety Miles project!
Tagged in: Langford Tropical, Cuba Adventures - Tropical, The Sounds of Cuba: Havana Music Adventure