Musical quintet Puente Celeste can truly make some heavenly sounds. For the group’s show at Café Vinilo in Palermo, the award-winning musicians brought a unique sound and absolute plethora of instruments including a birdcage, wooden box and large, dried plant to the small stage to promote their latest album ‘Canciones’.

Haiti was recently hit by an earthquake measuring 7.3 and killing an estimated 200,000 people. But as Rachel Hall discovers, the island testifies to a chequered past, advanced by triumphs and obstructed by tribulations. Haiti was the first independent nation in Latin America, the first post-colonial black-led nation in the world and the only country to lead a successful slave rebellion. Yet in its corruption-riddled 200 years of existence Haiti has also suffered 32 coups. This is the beleaguered history to which the Caribbean island testifies, in which the path to progress has been consistently blocked by instability of both government and society.

In the cosy, conspiratorial atmosphere of Café Vínilo, the curl-crowned figure of Alvy Singer mounts a stage bedecked with fairy lights. He is followed by a quirky troupe of instrumentalists, dressed as though they have just raided an eccentric great aunt’s wardrobe. The 1940s outfits and candlelit tables grant the evening a speakeasy feel, and as the band launches into an unusual juxtaposition of brassy big band pomp and heartfelt acoustic ballads, the modern world really does feel 70 years away.

As the coach carrying the latest group of tourists traverses the Itaipú dam, people stand up excitedly to take in the staggering proportions of the 135,000-hectare reservoir to their left. They hurry to the other side of the vehicle to marvel at the spillway: a feat of human construction.