Despite being worlds apart, Brisbane and Cuba share a vibrant connection anchored by acclaimed Cuban jazz pianist Marialy Pacheco, who lived in the city for several years and even composed a musical tribute to Queensland titled “Sunshine State.”
Beyond the jazz scene, this bond is sustained by a close-knit Cuban-Australian community in Brisbane’s south-west, cultural exchanges driven by the local Australia-Cuba Friendship Society, and recent academic partnerships between Griffith University and the University of Havana.
The Jazz Room: Journey to the Heart of Cuba in Brisbane
14 November 2026 18:30 + more dates
Grand on Ann
11 December 2026 18:30 + more dates
Grand on Ann
30 January 2027 18:30 + more dates
Grand on Ann
13 February 2027 18:30 + more dates
Grand on Ann
The Jazz Room: Journey to the Heart of Cuba is built on songs Cuba gave the world, played live by a band that likes to stretch them. Over about an hour you’ll go from slow boleros to son and salsa—and with saxophones, trumpets and vocals on stage, a solo can take a song somewhere new.
The classics are all there: “Chan Chan”, linked to Buena Vista Social Club, “Cómo Fue”, associated with Benny Moré, Trío Matamoros’ “Son de la Loma”, Celia Cruz’s “La Vida es un Carnaval” and “Guantanamera” in Compay Segundo’s version. Consider it a holiday playlist, minus the long-haul flight.
Grand on Ann: a 1930 Masonic temple in the CBD
Grand on Ann is the Grand Hall of the Masonic Memorial Centre at 311 Ann Street in the CBD. Its foundation stone was laid on Anzac Day, 25 April 1928, and the temple—designed by architect Lange Leopold Powell as a memorial to Freemasons who died, mainly in the First World War—opened on 10 December 1930. Inside, a vaulted, coffered ceiling in blue and gold leaf sits above a pipe organ by B.B. Whitehouse & Co, while six fluted Corinthian columns front the building on Ann Street. It’s been on the Queensland Heritage Register since 1992 and is a few minutes’ walk from Central Station.
