What impact did the Cuban Revolution have on Cuban musicians and Latin music in the US?
In the early days of the Revolution in the early ’60s there was an apathy in the United States about things to do with Cuba. Son montuno turned into boogaloo. It was all a mocking. It was all insignificant. What was really Cuban lost its sheen. Maybe politics had a lot to do with it. We, here in the United States, I believe we suffered the consequences of the Cuban/ American relationship being on the rocks. That actually caused my dad and me to have to get a day job. We were not helped. We were not received here. Castro doing all the things he was doing in Cuba, like bringing the Russians over and singing anti-American chants, and stuff like that. This was all detrimental. This was all bad for us Cuban-Americans. We paid for it, and we paid dearly for the things he was doing there. What prompted your move to the West Coast? At that time there were a lot of New York musicians moving to LA, like Rolando Lozano, Nicolas MartÃnez “Cuco” (the timbal player with Mongo SantamarÃa, who was als
