****An interesting point is that while it may be called communism, in truth, it's nothing but a dictatorship****
Interesting indeed; a very important distinction and absolutely correct. The term "Communism" sometimes conjures up, in the minds of those without first hand experience or deep knowledge of it, very romanticized notions of what it is really like. The injustice and brutality of it hides behind the theoretical idea of what it can be or is supposed to be; something that it never turns out to be, if history is any indication.
How both ironic and fitting, in the context of this thread, to be discussing Cuban music and politics when jazz was (and is still to a degree) outlawed in Cuba. One of the greatest Cuban bands in recent times, "Iraquere", came to be as a facade supported by the Cuban government to show the world that it did not, in fact, suppress artistic expression. The government "allowed" jazz to be played; but, only a little. Some of its members (Paquito D'Rivera, Chucho Valdez, Arturo Sandoval) left the group or defected to the US because they wanted to play more jazz, but were not allowed. Here are a young Paquito, Arturo and Chucho while still in the band:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X1TvtB0GoQ0
