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Van Van’s return to Miami could mean a cultural shift

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When famed Cuban dance band Los Van Van performed in Miami on Oct. 9, 1999, thousands of rock- and bottle-throwing demonstrators outside the now-demolished Miami Arena outnumbered the concertgoers inside.

The incident capped months of controversy over the band's appearance and reverberated in the national media, branding Miami -- almost as deeply as would the Elián González incident -- as a place where exile passions could turn violent.

What a difference a decade makes. Now a billboard advertising Los Van Van's Jan. 31 concert at the James L. Knight Center looms over the Palmetto Expressway.

Ticket sales are going well at the Knight Center, where Van Van was slated to play in 1999 until the group was ousted by Miami politicians, including then-Mayor Joe Carollo.

Today Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado who, as a city commissioner in 1999, was an outspoken leader of the opposition to Van Van, is mostly concerned with keeping traffic moving.

``My focus'' Regalado says, ``is to protect the people who wish to go, protect the people who wish to protest and protect the people who wish to use I-395 and I-95 and Brickell.''

Regalado says that two exile groups have pulled permits to protest the Van Van concert. (The musicians will also perform in Key West on Thursday.) But he believes opposition is less intense than in the past. ``So many groups have come and gone,'' he says. ``I still think that Van Van would create more controversy than any other group here. But we are a big city, and we will survive the Van Vans, and we'll move on.''

Members of Los Van Van did not comment for this story.

September's Concert for Peace in Havana led by Colombian rock star Juanes engendered a more open attitude toward musical exchange with Cuba.

Now, as the Obama administration has eased its predecessor's blackout on visas for Cuban artists, renewed Miami visits by musicians from the island have been marked mostly by a lack of controversy.

There were no protests when folkloric group Septeto Nacional, the first Cuban act to perform in Miami in years, played the Little Havana club Hoy Como Ayer on Nov. 21.

Famed Cuban bolero singer Omara Portuondo is slated to perform at the Fillmore Miami Beach on March 2. In December and January the Cuban dance group Charanga Habanera played seven shows in Miami,

including three sold-out nights at the South Beach club Dolce (capacity 1,400) and an overflowing concert for 3,000 at Hialeah's outdoor venue Rancho Gaspar -- with only a few small protests.

The band, along with Buena Fe, another popular Cuban group, also appeared in interviews and ads on local Spanish-language TV and radio.

Certainly, many in the community still oppose visits by Cuban groups. Callers to hardline exile radio talk shows have complained about Van Van billboards and ads.

MUSIC REQUESTS

But Al Fuentes, program director for music station El Zol 95 (WXDJ 95.7FM), part of the Cuban-American-owned, Miami-based SBS radio chain, says the calls he's been getting about the Van Van songs he's played for several months only ask for more.

``People who have come in the last 15, 20 years tell me there's this group Los Van Van, and they're great,'' Fuentes says.  

``Great music is great music.''

Why is it, he asks, ``that we can have the Olympics in China, and we can't have a great Cuban band come here?''

Music promoter and entrepreneur Hugo Cancio, who presented Charanga and Buena Fe, says he couldn't even buy TV and radio spots when he pioneered shows with Cuban acts in Miami in the 1990s.

IF YOU GO

What: Los Van Van in concert

When: 7 p.m. Thursday in Key West; 7 p.m. Jan. 31 in Miami

Where: Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, 100 Southard St., Key West; James L. Knight Center, 400 SE Second Ave., Miami

Cost: $30 in advance, $40 at the door in Key West; $62-$112, Miami

Info: keystix.com; ticketmaster.com; 800-345-3000

Source: www.miamiherald.com/

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