Cuban Artists Win Latin Grammy Best Song for “Patria y Vida”

The Cuban government considers the triumph part of an imperialist regime change plot.

The protest song that has become a hymn of those demanding change after 62 years of the same government also won Best Urban Song in the 2021 Latin Grammys.

HAVANA TIMES – The idea that a group of popular black musicians could represent their art and country at the Latin Grammys and win with a protest song against the supposedly “peoples’ government” in Cuba was not received well at the Plaza of the Revolution in Havana.

Dressed all in white and surrounded by candles, Yotuel, Descemer Bueno, El Funky, and Gente de Zona delivered a powerful performance of their song “Patria Y Vida” (Homeland & Life with subtitles in English) at the Latin Grammys. The collaboration became a rallying cry during the July 11th protests in Cuba. It also features Maykel Osorbo, a hip-hop artist who has been jailed by the Cuban government for months, reported the Rolling Stone.

“The performers were introduced by Gloria Estefan, who was born in Havana. In the song, each artist fires off lyrics that are intense with pain, passion, anger, and hopefulness. Some people in the audience held Cuban flags as a sign of support,” noted the popular music publication.

“Patria Y Vida was one of the big stories from the Latin Grammys this year: It won Best Urban Song and Song of the Year. It’s the first award for El Funky and Maykel Osorbo. In 2016, Gente de Zona won a Latin Grammy for Best Tropical Fusion Album for Visualizate. In 2003, Yotuel won a Latin Grammy for Best Rap/Hip-Hop Album for Emigrante. Last summer, he also released the song “Juntos somos más” alongside Lara Alvarez and Beatriz Luengo,” added the Rolling Stone.

Pedro de la Hoz, a cultural commentator of the Castro-Diaz Canel government, expressed the Communist Party’s chagrin about the song. He wrote in the official Granma newspaper that Patria y Vida is part of a “soft coup” orchestrated by the Trump and Biden administrations of the United States against the Cuban revolution and its leaders.

Read more from Cuba here on Havana Times.