Cuba Can’t Stop the Music
Cuban musicians are hitting the wrong notes with those in power. Music’s political power has a lot to do with why it is targeted by the state.
HAVANA TIMES – PATRIA Y VIDA (Homeland and Life), the battle cry of the July 2021 mass protests in Cuba and the winner of two Latin Grammys, brought international attention to the political power of Cuban music.
A collaborative production by six Black Cuban musicians – Yotuel, Descemer Bueno, Alejandro Delgado and Randy Malcom of Gente de Zona in Miami, and El Funky and Maykel Osorbo in Havana – the song galvanized thousands of their compatriots to take to the streets in defiance of the government to demand freedom.
The song’s success led to the imprisonment of Maykel Osorbo, and El Funky fleeing to the USA.
The July 2021 protests also resulted in the arrest of hundreds of Cubans, many of whom have received draconian sentences on trumped-up charges of sedition, sabotage and theft.
Maykel Osorbo is serving a nine-year sentence for allegedly resisting arrest, public disorder, violence against authorities and defamation of institutions, heroes and martyrs.
More than 1,000 Cuban political prisoners remain in prison. Of those, 10 are rappers and reggaetoneros -musicians involved in reggaeton, a style of music which blends dancehall, hip hop and Latin American music.
Maykel Osorbo, Dayan Gustavo Flores Brito, Ibrahim Dominguez Aguilar, Randy Arteaga Rivera, Wilmer Moreno Suarez, Juan Enrique Perez Sanchez, Marcos Antonio Pintueles Marrero, Rolando Sardinas and Yasmany Gonzalez Valdes have all been behind bars since 2021. Marlon Hitachi Paz Bravo is detained but yet to be sentenced.
Dozens of musicians have left the country as repressive measures against cultural producers continue to escalate. In the last year, the government has revised its penal code to criminalise the use of social media to criticise the government and has also forbidden independent concert venues and music studios from registering as a MIPYME, the Cuban term for independently-run small businesses.
Rappers Silvito el Libre (son of “revolutionary” troubadour Silvio Rodriguez), Los Aldeanos and Escuadron Patriota are among those who started their careers in Cuba but were compelled to relocate to the USA to avoid censorship. Musicians David D Omni and Kamankola are among the latest arrivals in Miami.
On 25 October, David Omni and Kamankola, together with El Funky and Doble 9, released a song entitled Libertad together with a music video by Luis Eligio D Omni, that lambasts the Cuban government for its repression of the arts.
Dozens of musicians have left the country
The song focuses on the situation of Cuban artists who have been censored, imprisoned and forced into exile since the November 2020 protest by Cuban artists at the Ministry of Culture.
They began protesting following an assault on the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement, an activist initiative spearheaded by currently imprisoned artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, whose members include Maykel Osorbo, El Funky and formerly jailed rapper Denis Solis Gonzalez.
Repression of the arts has only grown since the later protests of July 2021.
The authors of Libertad underscore what they see as a contradiction between the oppressive conditions that Cuban artists face and the rosy image of Cuban culture presented by government-sponsored events such as the Havana Biennial, which takes place in Cuba every two years.
They seek to raise awareness of the island’s political, economic and humanitarian crisis and continue to call for the liberation of Cuba’s 1,063 political prisoners.
Attempts by the government to suppress rap and reggaeton are nothing new. Since the 1990s, these musical forms have evolved outside state channels and have long been vehicles for the expression of popular discontent.
Cuban rap music has been particularly attuned to the oppression of Black Cubans, whose standard of living has declined over the past three decades and who are far less likely to receive financial aid from family members abroad than others.
It should not be forgotten, however, that moves by the government to control the power, content and style of Cuban music extend back to the early days of the revolution.
In the early 1960s, musicians who refused to co-operate with the regime were forced into exile and their music was banned on the island – among them Celia Cruz, Olga Guillot, Meme Solis and Machito. La Lupe was also deemed unacceptable by revolutionary standards because of her wild vocal improvisations, so she relocated to New York in 1961.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, the government sought to wipe out “Yanqui (Yankee) Imperialist” influence by demonizing rock music and classifying youths who listened to it as deviant. Magazines directed at young audiences featured cartoons that caricatured rock musicians and their fans.
In the 1980s, the rise of Miami-based Cuban-American musicians Gloria Estefan and Willy Chirino, both of whom have been openly critical of the Cuban government, led to their music being censored. Jazz saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera defected in 1980, and trumpeter Arturo Sandoval did the same in 1990 as both felt excessively constrained by regulations.
Nueva Trova musician Pedro Luis Ferrer and the timba band La Charanga Habanera were censored in the 1990s due to their supposedly “counterrevolutionary” lyrics.
More recently, Gorki Aguila – leader of the punk rock band Porno Para Ricardo and author of several satirical songs that rail against Fidel Castro and Cuba’s security apparatus – has served prison time as part of a sustained effort to silence the group. He went into exile in Mexico earlier this year.
Repression of the arts has only grown since the protests of July 2021
Island-based musicians have been disproportionately affected by state repression for a number of reasons, while the income generated by state-sanctioned Cuban musicians’ recordings and concerts abroad represents a significant benefit to a regime that is desperate for hard currency.
Music’s political power has a lot to do with why it is targeted by the state. It is the artistic field that has the largest popular following, both in Cuba and abroad. Its potential impact as a vehicle for political messages is perceived by authorities as a threat to state control of public discourse and, ultimately, to government stability. Indeed, the success of Patria y Vida and its widespread appearance as graffiti throughout Cuba, its invocation by protesters and its frequent use by disgruntled citizens as a retort to police are clear indications of the capacity of music to mobilise anti-government sentiment.
It also signals a major shift with regard to the perception and reception of Cuban music globally. For decades it has been the leftist lyrics of Nueva Trova singers such as Silvio Rodriguez that inspired progressive youths throughout the Spanish-speaking world and helped to create an image of Cuba as a tropical socialist paradise.
But after 60 years of championing the Cuban revolution, he now laments that “the current situation undermines any ideal convictions”.
Even Silvio Rodriguez has changed his tune.
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*Coco Fusco is an artist and writer based in New York. She is the author of Dangerous Moves: Performance and Politics in Cuba
“This article was first published by Index on Censorship on 19 December 2024. It appeared in Volume 53, Issue 4 of Index on Censorship’s print magazine, titled: Unsung Heroes: How musicians are raising their voices against oppression. Read more about the issue here.”