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Jesus Diaz pats a callused palm on the smooth, stretched head of a drum. The sound of it, a single beat, reverberates across the mostly-empty La Peña rehearsal space. It is answered, almost immediately, with booming percussion from the flock of accompanying drummers. 

“You can’t play music by yourself,” Diaz says with a broad smile. “Well you can,” he quickly adds. But when you’re playing in a group “for every action there is a reaction.” He taps again, and his fellow Cuban drummers answer with an infectious, multi-rhythmic beat. It makes even a reporter want to drop the pen and notepad and get up and shake something. Newton’s law proven once more, Diaz concludes with the whole purpose of the exercise. “And that’s what makes it interesting.” 

“Interesting” is probably an understatement for what these drummers will be showcasing this coming weekend at La Peña Cultural Center on south Shattuck Avenue. Co-presented by Diaz and La Peña “De Aquí P’Allá Con Clave” will feature several musicians from the growing Cuban population that is quickly making the Bay Area one of the hearts of the United States’ Cuban music scene.  

For Diaz, a Cuban-born Bay-Area percussionist and singer/songwriter, music is an expression of his surroundings, part of vibrant music tradition that he learned growing up in Cuba. Diaz, who has lived in the US since 1980, and for several other Bay Area Cuban musicians, have carried Cuba with them, creating a closely-knit music community that continues to inspire and create a culturally rich music that blends the cultures of both nations. 

For more than 20 years, La Peña has been promoting shows by local Cuban artists but not until now have they been able to create a show as large and broad as “De Aquí P’Allá Con Clave,” which translates into “from here to there” and refers to the continuity of Cuban music from the Bay Area to Cuba and vice-versa.  

“In Cuba they are so isolated that the culture has been really preserved,” said Sylvia Sherman, the development director for La Peña. “Here in the Bay Area they want to create an environment that will also preserve that tradition.” 

Brought together by Diaz, the show will feature a variety of Cuban artists that represent the various music genres played in Cuba, all of which are based on the traditional Afro-Cuban folklore music that is infused with both African and Spanish influences. 

“The show is about building community, it doesn’t help for everyone to be so spread out,” said Diaz, whose band QBA plays Cuban timba, a music based on the traditional Cuban folklore music and influenced by jazz, funk and hip-hop. 

“It’s almost like going to visit your grandmother,” said Diaz about the ability of the show to help strengthen the Bay Area’s Cuban community. 

Many or all of the musicians in the show came to United States as economic refugees who were struggling under the United States’ embargo against Cuba. The musicians say the embargo has helped them create a culturally rich music, but has also limited their scope, and the move to the United States, they say, was necessary as a way to re-energize the music. 

The musicians however, never forgot their island roots, and the show at La Peña is meant to showcase both sides of the 90-mile gulf between the two countries. Sandy Perez, for example, who is only 33 years old and dresses in baggy jeans and a baseball cap, is well-known as one of the most talented Cuban folklore musicians from Matanzas. That is one of several provinces which have helped preserve the Afro-Cuban roots of the folklore music. 

Diaz is also grounded in a folklore tradition, taking cues from both the “street” music he saw everyday and the religious and classical music both his parents played. 

“If you live in Cuba and you like music you can’t get away from it,” he said.  

Isolation also works in reverse, said Diaz, forcing Cuban musicians to constantly recreate their sounds to stay original. 

“Here they drill the same type of song over and over again on the radio,” he said. “Cuban music is a lot different, it’s mandatory for you to create your own voice, we [QBA] do not sound like anyone else.”  

Los Angeles musicians Gustavo Ramirez, who plays piano, and Jorge “El Sagua” Perez, who plays bass, say that back in Cuba it was a constant struggle to even find instruments to practice on, much less find new music from outside Cuba to listen to. Both say they respect the Cuban roots and both are well-grounded in traditional folklore music. But because they have struggled to branch out, they’ve also become some of the leading innovators in the newly resurfacing Cuban jazz scene. 

“We’re here to represent the roots of Cuban music, ‘el movimiento de la musica Cubana,’” said Ramirez.  

According to Diaz, Cuban music is very participatory “The number one goal,” he said, “is to engage the audience.” The upcoming shows, he adds, will be no exception, when La Peña opens up the dance floor for several of the performances. Feet tapping, this reporter agrees. 

Performances will take place this coming Friday and Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the La Peña Cultural Center located at 3105 Shattuck Ave. On Saturday night there will also be a discussion with the musicians. Tickets are $16 in advance and $20 at the door. For advanced tickets or for more information, contact the La Peña box office at 849-2568, ext. 20, or at www.lapena.org.  

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