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Founded in 1969 by bassist and composer Juan Formell, Los Van Van is perhaps one of the most recognizable music groups formed after the revolution. The group regularly tours all over the world and has even won a Grammy Award for “Best Salsa Performance” for its 2003 album Llego… Van Van.
But Miami has been the one city where the group has never been able to perform without eliciting controversy. As New Times‘ editorial archive amply attests, the large and politically powerful el exilio population in the area sees the group as a representation and extension of the Castro regime and often pressures venues and concert promoters to cancel any and all performances by Los Van Van, whose name translates from the Spanish as, essentially, the Go-Gos.
Would 2023 be any different?
Nah.
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Los Van Van were scheduled to perform tonight, May 19, at the Miami Beach Bandshell. But Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez, who is Cuban-American, crowed this morning on social media that the concert was off after a conversation with the principals of the Rhythm Foundation, the group that operates the popular outdoor venue.
“For decades ‘Los Van Van,’ have used their musical talent to promote the Cuban tyranny and its violation of basic human rights. Sadly their ticket sales would redirect dollars out of our economy to help sustain the violation of human rights and individual liberties inside of Cuba. On behalf of the many victims of the repressive Cuban regime, I am grateful to the @Rhythm_Foundatn for taking my call, listening with empathy, and canceling this offensive concert from occurring at the Miami Beach Bandshell,” Fernandez tweeted.
For decades “Los Van Van,” have used their musical talent to promote the Cuban tyranny and its violation of basic human rights
— Commissioner Alex Fernandez (@alexjfernandez) May 19, 2023
Sadly their ticket sales would redirect dollars out of our economy to help sustain the violation of human rights and individual liberties inside of… pic.twitter.com/DBHtwnwINn
Reached for comment, Rhythm Foundation program director Laura Quinlan, differed with Fernandez’s version of events.
“The show was not produced by the Rhythm Foundation,” Quinlan clarified. “We just manage the venue. We do not have anything to say.”
New Times followed up, asking Quinlan why Fernandez attributed the cancellation to her organization requesting the name of the promoter behind the event. Quinlan did not respond.
Adding to the confusion, Los Van Van released a statement on Instagram claiming the show was canceled because of travel logistics, asking would-be concertgoers to seek refunds through the venue.
The Rhythm Foundation would have been a logical backer, given its mission of using music to bridge cultural divides. “We create shared cultural experiences that build and strengthen the diverse communities of South Florida through the presentation of live music. We believe: International cultural exchange injects empathy and positivity into the global conversation,” the group’s mission statement reads in part.
Fernandez’s success in 86ing tonight’s bandshell show harks back to 1999, when Los Van Van performed its first-ever local show, at the Miami Arena, 30 years after the band’s founding by bassist and arranger Juan Formell, who died in 2014.
Protesters harassed and threw objects at attendees as they entered the venue. Instead of protecting concertgoers, Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas asked the U.S. State Department to revoke the band members’ visas and force the cancellation of a return engagement, blaming the band for the “disturbances.”
A few weeks years prior, then-New Times staff writer Judy Cantor waded into the brouhaha that led up to the arena show in “Hurricane Van Van,” a longform feature that began thus:
“Miami Mayor Joe Carollo needs to brush up on basic civics, not to mention civility. Appearing recently as a guest on Radio Mambí’s (WAQI-AM 710) weeknight call-in show, Mesa Redonda, Carollo egged on host Armando Perez-Roura and callers as they hurled insults at the Cuban dance band Los Van Van. ‘Dogs,’ ‘bastards,’ ‘garbage,’ ‘murderers,’ and ‘torturers’ were all terms used to describe the well-known group.”
[Editor’s note: Yes, that Joe Carollo.]
In an opinion column published in that same September 23, 1999, issue, arts editor Brett Sokol chimed in:
“If you relied on the Herald‘s whitewashed coverage of this affair, you only got half the story. That paper’s dry accounts bent over backward to portray aggrieved exile leaders as rational, and understandably upset by the arrival of one of Cuba’s most popular bands, an event that was somehow ‘culturally inappropriate’ to their delicate sensibilities.”
Following the show, New Times readers were treated to a recap of the show that ultimately went on:
The scene outside the Miami Arena looked at first like some sick Cuban Miami awards ceremony. As attendees approached, protected by police escorts, the crowd behind barricades called out insults instead of adoration. Newspaper reporters and evening-news crews mutated into one paparazzi horde, rushing ticket holders, demanding to know why they had come to see Los Van Van. Most gave a simple answer: Because they wanted to.
You can see for yourself in the clip below.
Two years earlier, Cantor had introduced non-Cuban Miamians to the band in the presciently titled “Maybe Next Time in Miami.” Wrote Cantor of Van Van’s U.S. sojourn that year – which, not surprisingly, skipped Miami:
“Like visits by other Cuban artists – who, over the past few years, have increasingly bypassed Miami – Los Van Van’s trip was a cultural exchange; owing to the U.S. trade embargo they are not permitted to profit from their tour. Band manager Americo Miranda Ortiz says the profits from the concerts covered expenses plus a $50 per diem for each band member, and the rest of the proceeds went to music-school scholarship funds and other causes. In addition to performances, the tour included workshops at cultural centers and colleges.”
More than a decade passed between Los Van Van’s first and second Miami appearances. New Times freelance contributor Christopher Lopez previewed that show:
“[A]nyone who has witnessed Los Van Van’s dominance of the stage – be it on video or in person – can attest to its raw energy and talent. Fans of the group, and of Cuban music in general, will have a chance to witness the spectacle this Sunday. Let’s hope they can attend without having to dodge rocks and trash.”
And Erik Maza, the paper’s editorial fellow at the time, followed up with a dispatch written aboard a busful of Cuban-Americans who protested the performance:
“Los Van Van landed in Miami like a lit match on an ancient anthill.
“On Sunday, hundreds of grizzled Cubans came out of the woodwork – Westchester, Little Havana, Hialeah – to protest the popular band’s concert at the James L. Knight Center.
“They came bearing all the ardor of Tea Party organizers and stayed well into the night, despite a persistent drizzle. A City of Miami cop estimated there were nearly 400 of them.
“The protests began three hours earlier in front of Versailles restaurant on Calle Ocho. I had read that organizers would bus old-timers and blue-haired ladies from there to downtown.”
Los Van Van did manage to perform in South Florida last year, taking the stage at the Charles F. Dodge City Center in Pembroke Pines. That concert was met with protests from some Cuban-Americans who stood outside the venue during the show. The band also performed a sold-out show at Studio 60 in Miami in 2019.
Additional reporting by Tom Finkel.
