The group

Cars

Photographer Havana

Havana

Cardinal Ortega

High Mass in Cuba

Sunday in Cuba is time for Mass and we went to the oldest Cathedral in Havana. We were delighted and privileged to participate in High Mass with his holiness, the Cardinal of Cuba,Jaime Ortega, no less. No idea how we lucked out but it was divine. The choral music was heavenly, no pun intended. We did not understand the sermon, but it was like every other Mass ceremony, so we were not lost. At the end of the Mass I shook hands with the Cardinal and he asked me where I was from, I told him we were from the US and he just beamed. Really nice guy.

Mass with the Cardinal

Mass Havana

THE Buena Vista Social Club

Buena Vista Social Club

Probably the highlight of my trip to Cuba was experiencing the music of the Buena Vista Social Club. They are a group of older musicians from Havana that were forgotten during the Castro Regime and brought back to prominence by an American guitarist, Ry Cooder. He came to Cuba and recorded the group of musicians in about 14 days. They have performed at Carnegie Hall, and all over the world, reviving traditional Cuban music. Their album was recorded in 1997 and received a Grammy Award.  BVSC was a group of prominent musicians in the 40′s and 50′s that formed a Club in Havana. The room was throbbing, everyone was dancing the salsa. You could not possibly stay seated. The music was fabulous.