Making sense of punk in Cuba/making sense of Cuba through punk

Abstract Rock music in its broadest definition, though still potentially problematic, has grown exponentially in contemporary Cuba, particularly since the economic and social crises of the 1990s. However, the subgenre distinctions that make sense of rock music in an Anglo-American context are not quite so apposite in defining a rock culture in Cuba that is happy to meld subgenres together with elements of Cuban traditional music, in a continuation of the process of ‘transculturaltion’, which many interpret as a founding element of Cuban cultural identity. This article, then, begins with a comment on the ways in which Cuba has made sense of a culturally loaded term such as punk. For the small but significant punk population on the island, many of the aesthetic elements of punk they utilize may serve to ostracize them from both the state and other subcultural groups. However, because of this process of ‘transculturation’, many of these punk traits are used to reflect a sense of contemporary Cuban cultural identity. This article examines the use of ‘classical’ punk cultural motifs of appropriation of cultural symbols, DIY aesthetic, destruction and bricolage in the work of Cuban punk band Porno Para Ricardo, to address the ways in which punk might be used to make sense of Cuba.