Chacal and Yakarta ‘Doing Wrong’

Warhol P.

HAVANA TIMES — A few days ago, a friend brought over a DVD with videos of Cuban music, though when I took a look at it I felt uncomfortable when I saw the live performance of the reggaeton duo Chacal and Yakarta.

I should point out that I have nothing against reggaeton or any other of today’s musical trends, much less ones that appeal to eroticism – provided it’s done on the basis of art.

Unfortunately, the country’s cultural institutions have lately been allowing concerts of this nature with hundreds of young people who attend not so much to see a good show but to witness situations with nothing worthy of repeating.

It needs to be made clear that the character of this type of music today greatly influences the way our youth behave.

This video, while not presented on television, is being shared in the street as people pass it from flash drive to flash drive, and is seen by thousands of people who consume this music.

In this performance, Chacal and Yakarta urge a teenaged girl who’s disabled to come onto the stage. Several young men lift up her, in her wheelchair, up onto the stand.

Once there, Yakarta asks the girl to give him a kiss on the lips, but she says that her boyfriend is in the audience. Still, Yakarta — obviously drunk — insists and asks permission from the boyfriend. With music in the background he gives her a kiss several times on the lips.

Then the Chacal and Yakarta began to argue over this, with Chacal maintaining that he can’t be left missing out and therefore he also wants a kiss. But the young woman declines, thinking that perhaps that’s too much for one night.

Chacal directs himself to the audience and says that he likes “original” things (though I don’t think he knows what is to be original), then turns to the girl and asks if he can dance with her.

She tells him yes, he comes over and starts shaking his butt over her in the wheelchair. He then turns and asks the girl to grab his butt (apparently this is very original to him), which she does while looking at the audience, smiling.

For a few moments Yakarta looks disoriented, amid the cheers of fans he yells to the audience that they share everything (I wonder what’s “everything” to Yakarta?). He jumps around and goes and sits down beside the girl trying to tell her something.

Suddenly the camera pans to a close-up of his face. Without expecting this, Yakarta’s mind goes blank – he doesn’t know what to say. Several seconds elapsed as the crowd laughs wildly at him, but immediately Chacal intervenes trying to save his partner from making a fool out of himself.

This gives time for Yakarta to get up, grab a plastic cup on stage, take a drink and continue jumping around euphoniously.

The two singers say and do things that are not appropriate for respected professional musicians.

Chacal’s song ends with the phrase, “You know we’re crazy, you know we go around doing wrong” – which was the most sincere thing I heard him sing.

Sure they go around doing wrong, but not only them. Others also help promote such displays of bad taste.

Recently, these singers appeared on the television show “Vivir del Cuento,” which is broadcast on Monday nights after the news.

Chacal made his appearance wearing no less than a shirt with the Playboy logo.

I’m not sure if that had something to do with his video “Hot,” which is now circulating in the streets – photographs included (ones which incidentally are not at all artistic).

All this makes me think that these guys — without realizing it — are throwing away their professional careers.