Anacaona

All-female Cuban dance band. The original orchestra was founded in 1930s Havana by Cuchito Castro and her sisters. Eventually, all 11 sisters joined the band.

The band was formed during the Machado era when the political situation led to university closings, forcing Cuchito Castro to abandon her studies and her plan to start a dental practice. Instead, in 1932, she chose a different career by proposing a female septet to challenge the male-dominated son music. At the time, it was believed women were not capable of playing son. Cuchito's friends and sisters came together as a group, naming it after the Indian queen Anacaona. Performing on the radio and also nightly in the aires libres, the open-air cafes, they soon found an enthusiastic audience. The members of the original 1932 septet were Isabel Alvarez, Berta Cabrera, Elia O'Reilly, and four Castro sisters - Ada, Bola, Cuchito and Ondina. With concerts in 1938 in New York and Paris and films in Mexico, Anacaona rose to international fame, but they faded to obscurity after the Cuban Revolution.

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