Making Music Through Cuba's Historic National Blackout

By Rena Kraut: Sometimes you’re the last one to know you’re in an emergency. But that is where we found ourselves last week - 14 students, teachers and parents, preparing for the final concert in a week-long musical and cultural exchange in Havana organized by CAYO (Cuban American Youth Orchestra). The group was in Havana as part of the CAYO Student Ambassador Program, featuring Chicago violinist and Northwestern University professor Desirée Ruhstrat, who joined the teaching artist roster in 2023, and Dr. Melissa Kraut (cello) of the Cleveland Institute of Music, in Cuba for her third time with CAYO. Traveling with Desirée was one of her high school violin students, Hanna a Marszalek from the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative. Other students included a high school-aged violinist from Minnesota and cellist from D.C., college-aged cellists from Cleveland and Vermont, and a cellist who recently graduated with her master’s from Juilliard and is living in NYC (social media cellist @lydia_cello). The group also included four of the students’ parents and one lucky aunt. During a typical Student Ambassador Program, U.S. and Cuba-based students enjoy getting to know each other through school visits, rehearsals, small group classes and social time; they also prepare a final collaboration. CAYO works with Artistic Director Daiana García and other Cuban partners to select and prepare the musicians who represent Cuba for each collaboration. This week’s program included traditional and Cuban classical music: Elgar's Serenade in E minor, Alejandro Falcón's "Cha Cha Chá de Cámara," and Coqui Calzadilla's "Pequeño Danzon." Desirée had reached out to Chicago-based Cuban composer Jorge Amado, now a master’s student at DePaul University, prior to the trip and he arranged his 2018 "Danzón Carmen” for CAYO with Desirée as soloist. Our final concert was to be hosted by a partner organization in their art gallery on the top floor of a high rise - but that wasn't to be. At first, the blackout felt no different than the daily reality for Cubans; the group had already been in several planned outages earlier in the week. When the power went out mid-afternoon Thursday, my sister and I walked to our dinner restaurant to check if they were still functioning. Navigating the water-filled potholes and crumbling sidewalks in the fading light of day took all our attention, and I got turned around. "I know it's on one of these blocks," I told her, but nothing looked familiar. It had rained on and off, sometimes torrentially, since the night before; looking north we could see the waves crashing high above the Malecón, Havana’s iconic seawall, which was closed to cars due to flooding. Stopping briefly in the lobby of the fully-lit Hotel Presidente, I checked my Google map before finally finding the restaurant a block south. We peered into the dark doorway and walked through the arched entryway. "I think they’re closed," my sister said with some irony. "Hola? Buenas tardes?" It felt more deserted than empty, the chrome of a decorative motorcycle reflecting the light of our phones in the darkness. We walked back hurriedly with a rising wind whipping at our skirts and the wind pushing at our legs. Stray dogs glanced at us sideways and skittered away. The streets felt strange and unsettled. That night we turned off our battery-powered lights and fell asleep to the sounds of another hard rain. The power was back in the morning, and we collected the last of our donations to bring to our partner schools. The first stop was to Elementario Manuel Saumell, where we were to drop off a set of cello strings for a talented student who had played for one of our teachers the day before. The gate was locked. The security guard came to the fence to say there was no school, which we assumed was due to the rain. Much of Havana shuts down during rainstorms, as transportation is next to impossible even in the best weather. I passed the box of strings through the iron bars, and we drove to our next partner school, which was unlocked but eerily silent. We went to the director’s office to drop off three suitcases filled with musical and school supplies, medications and other necessities. She explained that she was working because she lived nearby, but that the government had canceled school that day. Around midday on Friday, October 18, worried messages from friends and family started dropping into my WhatsApp. Cuba had suffered an unprecedented but long-expected failure of its electrical grid, and the entire country slipped into a near-total blackout. We learned that the Cuban prime minister had appeared on TV the night before to order the closure of all non-essential businesses throughout the country, and to recommend the people charge their phones and turn off their circuit breakers. They had seen the kilowatts sinking at the country’s largest power plant, and knew the failure was imminent. That evening was to be the culmination of our Student Ambassador Program, but knowing that this apagón was a true crisis, we quickly shifted plans. With the venue, reception and jazz trio canceled, our group began setting up stands and chairs on the rooftop of our rental casa. The owners set up their generator, a luxury in Havana, to power enough lights to see the music. An audience of neighbors, parents and friends trickled in, and by 7 p.m. there was a full house seated in plastic deck chairs under the string lights. From my seat I could see the lights of the Gran Aston hotel to our north; to our west and south, an impassive darkness loomed. Twenty Cuban and American students played danzón and cha-cha-cha accompanied by the thrum of the generator, as the show went on. BELOW: our performance on Oct. 18, 2024 - a collaboration of U.S. and Cuban student musicians on rooftop during historic blackout in Cuba. Violinist Desirée Ruhstrat performas "Danzón Carmen" by Jorge Amado, with Daiana García conducting. Our friends and colleagues in Cuba ensured that our group was safe and comfortable until we departed the next day, and our resilient students and their flexible, supportive parents are reflecting on the power of making art in historic times. We returned energized to continue living by our motto: The world is a better place when you know your neighbors.

Violin students at Escuela Nacional de Arte with Desirée Ruhstrat.

* * * CAYO is a Minneapolis-based non-profit organization dedicated to building US-Cuba diplomacy through music education, cultural exchange and youth development. CAYO was founded by Dr. Rena Kraut in 2016 after her experience as an extra musician on the 2015 Minnesota Orchestra tour to Havana. The Student Ambassador Program takes U.S.-based students ages 13+ to Cuba three to four times a year along with their parents, teaching artists, and patrons and is committed to helping young people find the “why” behind their music-making. CAYO also provides performances, outreach and educational activities in the U.S., including one at Mundelein High School earlier this month. Learn how you can travel to Cuba with CAYO at cayomusic.org.You might also like:

• Interview with Joshua Bell: Brahms, Cuba and Music Education
• Dispatch from Havana: The Havana Lyceum Orchestra
• Dispatch from Havana: Brindis de Salas, and Master Class on the Ysaÿe Ballade

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