Cultural Celebration Sways to a Cuban Beat

There was swinging salsa music, sizzling tamales and a throng of people dancing to a Latin beat.

But Sunday’s festival in Echo Park was more than just a celebration of Latino culture--it was a party with a distinctly Cuban flavor, highlighting a heritage that many said is overlooked amid other Latino influences in Southern California.

With hands clapping and hips swaying in the Cuban-style dance casino rueda, thousands descended upon the park for the third annual Los Angeles Cuban Cultural Festival, a daylong celebration of Cuban music, art and food.

Young and old grabbed hands and twirled to the beat. Some visitors puffed Cuban-style cigars; others browsed among the booths featuring Cuban authors and poets. Neighbors danced on the porches of nearby houses as the music carried to them. Organizers estimated that more than 20,000 people were at the festival.

Originally designed as a daylong outdoor event, the celebration has exploded into a two-month affair with 18 events.

Many said the festival is flourishing because of a resurging interest in Cuban culture among younger generations who long to celebrate a heritage distinct from the broad Latino influence in Southern California.

“When you live in L.A., there’s that generic term ‘Latino’ that usually refers to Mexican culture,” said Maria Gil, 32, who emigrated from Cuba when she was 2. “If you’re Cuban, you kind of feel left out. This is a festival where you get to listen to Cuban music and meet a lot of Cubans from around L.A. You get to feel at home.”

The festival helps remind Cuban Americans of their rich heritage, organizers said.

“For some, being Cuban is only about [Fidel] Castro,” said Aurelio de la Vega, director of culture for Patronato Jose Marti, which co-sponsored the event with the city’s Cultural Affairs Department. “But politics are, after all, not very permanent things. There is literature and poetry and music. Those are the things that always remain.”

The day kicked off with performances by young Cuban dance groups, including the L.A. Salsa Kids, about 20 Los Angeles-area teenagers who executed the intricate moves of the salsa dance casino rueda with professional grace. The crowd roared its approval of the young dancers.

The year-old troupe is made up of local youths who practice salsa and other Latin American dance forms. In August, the group will compete in an international salsa competition in Puerto Rico.

“It’s kind of a new California dance craze,” said dancer Manuel Miranda, 17. “A lot more people are dancing salsa. At proms now they even play salsa--everybody’s doing it.”

“It’s cool because it’s in our background,” said Carlos Fagundo, 14. “It’s Cuban, so it kind of runs in our blood.”

Parents of the young dancers said they are thrilled that their children take interest in their roots.

“I’m very proud,” said Yolanda Moreno, who has two daughters in L.A. Salsa Kids. “They’re third-generation Cuban and Latino. Usually, your roots go away when you’ve been here that long, but they keep it up. They really keep it up.”

Cuban American leaders said that keeping young people engaged with their heritage is vital to preserving the Cuban identity.

“Although this looks like just music and rumba, this is our folklore and culture out here,” said author Carmen Paz, gesturing to the dancing crowd . “We have to keep alive our culture and our feeling for our land.”

Many said that an organized cultural scene has been lacking in L.A.’s Cuban American community, which leaders estimate as anywhere from 75,000 to 100,000 people, including many who fled Cuba in the 1950s.

“My personal feeling is that the Cuban community has been so fixated on the politics and economic growth that they haven’t put a lot of energy into cultural development,” said Adolfo Nodal, general manager of the city’s Cultural Affairs Department. “This festival is, in a sense, starting something new in Los Angeles.”

On Sunday, Rudy Gonzalez and Tony Welch shook their shoulders with broad grins and moved in rhythm amid the press of the crowd.

“This is excellent!” said Gonzalez, sweat dripping down his face. “It’s not every day that people from Latin America can unite like this.”

“This music opens our souls,” said Welch, a professional salsa dancer. “By coming here, people learn the real meaning of salsa. Salsa is about the feel, the heart, how your spirit just lets it happen. It’s not the glitz that’s important--it’s the people.”

On the other side of the plaza, cigar smoke floated over the crowd. Mursuli Cigars, a Temple City-based business run by a Cuban American family, was doing brisk business.

“Business is good,” smiled Bill Solana, general manager. “This is part of our culture . . . . It’s second nature to smoke cigars. We’ve been at every festival--being out here is like being at home.”

The Echo Park community has been home to many first-generation Cuban immigrants who have since spread throughout the region. The close-knit neighborhood is seen as the spiritual center of Los Angeles’ Cuban community, many said, because it is there that beloved Cuban hero Jose Marti is honored with a bust and a plaza in his name.

Marti, who fought for Cuban independence from Spain, also is revered as a talented author who led the Modernist movement.

“For Cubans, he was George Washington,” de la Vega said. “And he was not only a warrior, but a great writer.”

Three years ago, the first Cuban cultural festival was held in honor of Marti, and last year the City Council agreed to name the Echo Park plaza in his honor.

On Sunday, festival organizers announced plans to expand the plaza into a full-fledged monument to the poet and patriot. A contest for the monument’s design will be held in the next few months.

Many said the festival celebrated Marti as a link between the Cuba of past and present; a symbol people can cling to despite the political turmoil in their homeland.

“Cuban people never lose that love for their country,” Nodal said. “No matter what side of the aisle they’re on, they’re really fixated on it.”