Steve Schlackman's latest photographs depict Havana’s cityscapes in 2011, the very year when Castro retired from political life. They crown a long-term video project, started in 2004 and focused on “La Clave” – the rhythmic pattern that underlines different genres of popular Cuban music, ranging from rumba and mambo to salsa and Latin jazz. This music is also internal to Santería and to different Lucumi religious rituals. The black and white photographs capture the high contrast between the poor neighborhoods of the Cuban capital, as a result of political dictatorship, on the one hand, and the rich afro-Cuban cultural heritage of their inhabitants, whose wealth is represented by their music and feelings, on the other hand. The picturesque images thus convey the message of the eternal joy of living despite socio-political hardship.