San Francisco is getting set to sizzle with concerts starting in May by some of the legends in Cuban popular music.

Latino Entertainment Partners, led by San Francisco immigration attorney and community activist William Martinez, is organizing shows featuring such artists as Chucho Valdes and Issac Delgado as well as the groups Cubanismo, Bamboleo, Orchesta Aragon, NG La Banda and Mezcla. Los Van Van, whose historic January performance is still the talk of the San Francisco salsa scene, will also be returning to the Bay Area in June for a show being put together by Bill Graham Presents.

The ambitious musical line-up is impressive enough but when you consider the barriers that Martinez and the volunteers working with him are having to mount against visa restrictions, the effort is positively monumental.

Martinez, whose legal work was instrumental in getting the U.S. visas for Cuba's Los Van Van, says the supergroup had been denied permission to enter the country 30 times. Although the enduring musicians had toured Europe many times, the January visit marked their first time on a U.S. concert stage and as anyone who was there at the Maritime Hall knows, the reception was overwhelming.

For years the State Department routinely denied visas for Cuban musicians. Even though the United States has a longstanding trade embargo with the island nation there is a provision to allow for cultural exchanges. In practice, U.S. officials insisted on taking a hard line and usually offered no good reason for turning the applications down, says Martinez, who has been fighting the visa restrictions for years.

Lately, however, things have started to ease up. Whether it's because of a shift in the Clinton administraton policy or the result of pressure from U.S. groups, visas for Cuban musicians are finally being granted.

The San Francisco music community has a long history of trying to break down the barriers. In 1993 Accion Latino, the San Francisco community group that sponsors the Encuentro del Canto Popular concert series every fall, tried to bring the Cuban group Mezcla but the visa applications were denied. Martinez, who also works with Accion Latino, sued in federal court but after a series of legal setbacks that made the case all-but impossible to successfully try, the suit was dismissed.

After the Mezcla case promotors who wanted to bring in Cuban musical artists had to fight State Department Officials on a case-by-case basis. Over the last couple of years there have been some victories with groups like Irakere and Los Munequitos de Matanzas, a renowned folkloric group, obtaining permission to tour the U.S.

And now that the door to Cuban musicians seems to be opening a little wider Martinez and Latin Entertainment Parters are trying to seize this opportunity and bring in as many groups as possible. "I felt we ought to be able to bring some of these people in," he says. "They deserve to come here and who knows how long the doors will be open."

The Clinton administration may well be thinking that allowing Cuban musicians a chance to experience life in the U.S. could foster anti-Castro sentiment, but Martinez says he isn't too concerned. The musicians have their own agenda and it has nothing to do with politics. "We accept the fact that we could be used in sort of a diplomatic game," Martinez says. There is too much to be gained musically and culturally by a free-exchange between the two countries to fret about what the U.S. government's motivations are.

Yet even with the new, accommodating attitude at the State Department there are still a lot of bureaucratic hurdles to get over. A snafu nearly scuttled the April 19 "Thunder Drums "concert in San Francisco featuring percussion masters Changuito, Tata Guines and Giovanni Hidalgo. Days before they were scheduled to appear in Chicago, promotors discovered that the visa applications for Cubans Guines and Changuito were left sitting on someone's desk at the State Department. Officials there mistakenly thought the concert was later in April. Martinez relied on the personal relationships he's built up over the years to make a quick call to the State Department and got the applications approved.

"The telling thing here is that the State Department made it a top priority to make this happen," Martinez says. "Had it not been for them putting everything aside this show would not have happened. It speaks to the new sense of hope we have for doing this on a regular basis so we want to strike while the iron is hot."

Here then the tentative San Francisco line-up:

May 10 -- Cubanismo. Great American Music Hall

June 14 -- Chucho Valdes with members of his new Latin Jazz ensemble Crisol featuring Changuito, Anga Diaz, Julio Barretto, Gonzalo Rubalcada, Giovanni Hidalgo, Roy Hargrove and David Sanchez. Great American Music Hall.

June 19 Issac Delgado and his 24-piece ensemble. Location TBS.

In July also look for Bamboleo and in August Orchesta Aragon and NG La Banda.



Ingrid Becker is an East Bay Freelance writer.

San Francisco is getting set to sizzle with concerts starting in May by some of the legends in Cuban popular music.

Latino Entertainment Partners, led by San Francisco immigration attorney and community activist William Martinez, is organizing shows featuring such artists as Chucho Valdes and Issac Delgado as well as the groups Cubanismo, Bamboleo, Orchesta Aragon, NG La Banda and Mezcla. Los Van Van, whose historic January performance is still the talk of the San Francisco salsa scene, will also be returning to the Bay Area in June for a show being put together by Bill Graham Presents.

The ambitious musical line-up is impressive enough but when you consider the barriers that Martinez and the volunteers working with him are having to mount against visa restrictions, the effort is positively monumental.

Martinez, whose legal work was instrumental in getting the U.S. visas for Cuba's Los Van Van, says the supergroup had been denied permission to enter the country 30 times. Although the enduring musicians had toured Europe many times, the January visit marked their first time on a U.S. concert stage and as anyone who was there at the Maritime Hall knows, the reception was overwhelming.

For years the State Department routinely denied visas for Cuban musicians. Even though the United States has a longstanding trade embargo with the island nation there is a provision to allow for cultural exchanges. In practice, U.S. officials insisted on taking a hard line and usually offered no good reason for turning the applications down, says Martinez, who has been fighting the visa restrictions for years.

Lately, however, things have started to ease up. Whether it's because of a shift in the Clinton administraton policy or the result of pressure from U.S. groups, visas for Cuban musicians are finally being granted.

The San Francisco music community has a long history of trying to break down the barriers. In 1993 Accion Latino, the San Francisco community group that sponsors the Encuentro del Canto Popular concert series every fall, tried to bring the Cuban group Mezcla but the visa applications were denied. Martinez, who also works with Accion Latino, sued in federal court but after a series of legal setbacks that made the case all-but impossible to successfully try, the suit was dismissed.

After the Mezcla case promotors who wanted to bring in Cuban musical artists had to fight State Department Officials on a case-by-case basis. Over the last couple of years there have been some victories with groups like Irakere and Los Munequitos de Matanzas, a renowned folkloric group, obtaining permission to tour the U.S.

And now that the door to Cuban musicians seems to be opening a little wider Martinez and Latin Entertainment Parters are trying to seize this opportunity and bring in as many groups as possible. "I felt we ought to be able to bring some of these people in," he says. "They deserve to come here and who knows how long the doors will be open."

The Clinton administration may well be thinking that allowing Cuban musicians a chance to experience life in the U.S. could foster anti-Castro sentiment, but Martinez says he isn't too concerned. The musicians have their own agenda and it has nothing to do with politics. "We accept the fact that we could be used in sort of a diplomatic game," Martinez says. There is too much to be gained musically and culturally by a free-exchange between the two countries to fret about what the U.S. government's motivations are.

Yet even with the new, accommodating attitude at the State Department there are still a lot of bureaucratic hurdles to get over. A snafu nearly scuttled the April 19 "Thunder Drums "concert in San Francisco featuring percussion masters Changuito, Tata Guines and Giovanni Hidalgo. Days before they were scheduled to appear in Chicago, promotors discovered that the visa applications for Cubans Guines and Changuito were left sitting on someone's desk at the State Department. Officials there mistakenly thought the concert was later in April. Martinez relied on the personal relationships he's built up over the years to make a quick call to the State Department and got the applications approved.

"The telling thing here is that the State Department made it a top priority to make this happen," Martinez says. "Had it not been for them putting everything aside this show would not have happened. It speaks to the new sense of hope we have for doing this on a regular basis so we want to strike while the iron is hot."

Here then the tentative San Francisco line-up:

May 10 -- Cubanismo. Great American Music Hall

June 14 -- Chucho Valdes with members of his new Latin Jazz ensemble Crisol featuring Changuito, Anga Diaz, Julio Barretto, Gonzalo Rubalcada, Giovanni Hidalgo, Roy Hargrove and David Sanchez. Great American Music Hall.

June 19 Issac Delgado and his 24-piece ensemble. Location TBS.

In July also look for Bamboleo and in August Orchesta Aragon and NG La Banda.



Ingrid Becker is an East Bay Freelance writer.