Cold War and Cultural Diplomacy: Musical Dialogues between Cuba and West Africa (1960s-1970s)

Abstract

Based on ethnographic fieldwork and archives research, the paper will analyse the political and musical issues revealed by the crisscrossing and the transnational journeys of Malian and Cuban musicians in the light of the new cultural exchanges initiated between Cuba and newly independent socialist African countries within the Cold War. In this particular political context, the role of music as a key component of cultural diplomacy and policies will be explored, particularly through the cultural conventions signed between Cuba and several African countries in the 1960s. In this frame, I will mainly address the creation of the band Las Maravillas de Mali by young Malian sent to Cuba to get train in music in the 1960s. In parallel, the tours made in Africa from the 1970s by famous Cuban orchestra Orquesta Aragón will complement the analysis grid of these transatlantic political exchanges