Madrid Night with Cuba’s Marta Campos

Luisa Cuevas Raposo

HAVANA TIMES, Feb. 21 – It was a magical night here in Madrid last Thursday in the company of Cuban singer/songwriter Marta Campos.

We met Marta back in 1992 when our Cuba solidarity group requested of ICAP (the Cuban Friendship Institute) that some person or group go on tour in Spain.  Marta went as the other half of a duo with Jose Antonio Quesada.

After that tour she went on many other tours as a soloist.  She has also performed in Honduras, Venezuela, etc. for those peoples and for the Cuban internationalists who were serving in fields of education and healthcare wherever and for whomever was in need of these.

Marta performed in Madrid’s Yemaya Hall for whomever wanted to see and hear her, but especially for a teeming group of solidarity-with-Cuba activists, especially those connected with the Spanish State Coordinator of Solidarity with Cuba / CESC.

Before this devoted audience, versed in old and new trova, she delighted us with some of her most beautiful songs.  She sang of “her” Havana, to “Frida and Diego,” to love, to friendship, to solidarity.

She sang to Pablo de la Torriente Brau, the Cuban internationalist who died near Madrid defending the Republic and the Spanish people – victims of fascism.  She sang of love “20 years back,” to blackouts…while we sang/recited songs like “la negra se alborota.”

Once again she defended her country, her people and her work.  She spoke to us of the Special Period and the crises, affirming “Here we are, and to those who like us or those that will have to put up with us, we’re movin’ on.”  She concluded singing “the faith I have tells me there’s a road, that it’s to be Cuban.”

It was a magical night, one of reunions, kisses and hugs, of choruses and palms, of laughter and nostalgia, of love and internationalism.  It’s always a pleasure to hear Marta, the pleasant person, the good singer, the better guitarist, a sensitive composer, a friend of her friends (and of their friends) and supportive wherever people are.

In Havana or in Madrid, we will continue walking with Marta for a more just world, and especially for a more enjoyable one.