One of the great things about the Cuba we saw was the consistently good live  music played in the bars and restaurants. Even Nick Gold and Ry Cooder’s 1997 8m+ selling Buena Vista Social Club hadn’t prepared us for the delights.

As luck would have it we got tickets for the Grupo Compay Segundo playing at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba and were able to sit close to the stage and appreciate the wonderful playing and singing that you only get a hint of  in some of the larger concert venus – thoroughly recommended if you can get there.

We also picked up a couple of CD’s – one by “Soneros de Cuba” who we saw a couple of times and really liked, and hence the CD (alas it is not as good a seeing them live) .

And one called “Rumba Con Salsa” – which, if they are all like ours, is best to avoid as our CD was blank – we bought it Havana in a sort or artists self help street – apparently the proceeds were to help repair a damaged school roof – if true the money could be well spent.