We went to see Juan De Marcos and The Afro-Cuban All-Stars on Sunday night.

And can I just say .... wow. How great was that?

16 pieces. A 5 piece horn section. 3 percussionists. 2 totally smoking younger singers and a guy who ROCKED at 82.

I love Cuban music. The blend of musical cultures is so cool. You can totally hear how African music collided with Latin music and European classical music, and later, 30's and 40's jazz. They all fused together to make this music that sounds like nothing else. In it, you also hear the pre-cursers of what later, in North America, became R & B and Funk.

It reminded me so strongly of our trip to Havana, almost 2 years ago, and fueled my desire to go back again.

I closed my eyes and saw the crumbing colonial architecture. I saw the malecon, with the ocean pounding up against it, sometimes spilling over it and across the street. I saw the taxi stands, jammed with 1950's chevies and fords and plymouths. I saw the show at the Tropicana, with the palm trees and the lights and the band and the singers, and the girls wearing flesh-coloured body stockings and chandeliers on their heads. I tasted the rum and smelled the cigars.

Most of all, I remembered the music. It was everywhere in Havana. Every restaurant, every bar, every hotel lobby and every street corner. And it was all so good. Even the weakest musicians we heard were pretty fine. You see, in Cuba, education (as far as you want to go) is free. It's as easy to live as a student as it is to live as a worker. The pay is about the same. So all these musicians have degrees in music, some all the way to PhDs. They've spent an enormous part of their adult lives studying their instrument. When you get out of school (or even while you're still in it), you can apply to this musician�s guild thing and if you pass the test, you get licensed as a professional musician and the government will pay you a salary for life to be a musician. Bars and Restaurants and the like don�t have to pay for their entertainment, just book it. Consequently, good live music every where you go.

With the exception of the fact that the food sucked (I lost 5 pounds in one week), Havana was an excellent experience and one I�d love to do again. It makes me sad that so many Americans will never get the pleasure. Could the American policy on Cuba be any stupider? Just because they wanted to run their country a different way. And there are some really cool things about the way they�ve chosen to run it. Like free education for everyone. And free healthcare for everyone. And a guarantee that everyone will have a place to live and basic food requirements (flour, sugar, milk, coffee, etc), no matter what.

Of course there are downsides too. Like the fact that you have to get the government�s permission to travel anywhere. And even if you get permission, it�s unlikely that you�d be able to afford to go anywhere. Our friend Miguel, who lives in Havana, makes $17 US a month. He can live okay on that in Cuba (not high on the hog or anything, but okay) but you wouldn�t get very far anywhere else in the world on that. Well, maybe a few places, but they aren�t likely to be places you�d want to go on vacation. And a lot of places have pretty poor customer service. When you work as a waiter, for example, you�re guaranteed to keep that job, and any tips go into a communal fund, to be divided by the whole staff of that restaurant, so there isn�t much incentive, other than personal pride, to do a very good job.

I loved getting to see and experience Havana. I�d love to go back again. Just not during hurricane season.