People from the Zone answer if they would sing again in Cuba 1:29
(CNN Spanish) -
"Let's no longer shout 'Homeland or death', but rather 'Homeland and life", is the proposal of Yotuel Romero, Gente de Zona, Descemer Bueno, Maykel Osorbo and El Funky in their most recent collaboration, "Patria y Life ”, a theme that leaves no one indifferent.
The song, which speaks in favor of the Cuban people, was born at the beginning of February, inspired by the work of the San Isidro Movement (also known as the 27N), a group of artists who last year went on a hunger strike in Cuba due to the arrest of one of its members, the musician Denis Solís and has denounced the censorship.
«They broke our door, they violated our temple / And the world is aware that the San Isidro movement continues, put».
"The 27N marked great steps in the civic rights of Cuban artists, Yotuel Romero told CNN from Madrid.
“For me it was like a light in the midst of everything that Cuban artists have gone through, especially those who are in Cuba, to ask for civic rights.
It was the right moment to contribute our musical grain of sand and send with "Homeland and Life" a message of light and hope, that you can have both: homeland and life ".
The song has become so relevant that the video on YouTube, released on February 16, has exceeded 2.1 million views.
"No more lies, my people ask for freedom, no more doctrines / Let us no longer shout Homeland and Death but Homeland and Life," says the song that proposes a change in the motto of "Homeland or death" attributed to Fidel Castro, a slogan of the Cuban Revolution.
The echo of those refrains have echoed in Havana and internationally.
Miguel Díaz-Canel, the president of Cuba, tweeted last weekend part of the song "Little diurnal serenade" by Silvio Rodríguez: "This is how the Homeland is sung / I live in a free country."
#Country or Death!
we shouted thousands last night, with the applause of 9 o'clock and the hymn of Perucho Figueredo.
They wanted to delete our slogan and #Cuba made it viral on the networks.
#CubaViva #SomosCuba #SomosContinuidad, said Díaz-Canel in another tweet.
"The connection that the song has had not only in Cuba but in the whole world, is the cry that we have to seek, that Cuba by and for all, alive," Yotuel responds.
First protest song
“The theme Patria y Vida by a group of Cuban artists is the first protest song against the island's government, because two of its interpreters Maykel Osorbo, and Eliécer Márquez,“ el Funky, ”continue to reside in Cuba, and because their The protest is clearly anti-government, "says Jorge Dávila Miguel, political analyst and columnist at CNN en Español.
“He bluntly criticizes the government, the double standards and above all calls into question the ideological pillar of the last 62 years in Cuba, the famous cry of Homeland or Death, created and popularized by Fidel Castro.
The interpreters instead propose Homeland and Life.
Because they question the concept of the communist homeland, whose only official option is inevitably death.
Patria y Vida, from art and freedom of expression, confronts the Numantine ideal of the Cuban government. "
Yotuel, however, does not consider it to be a protest song but rather a song for the people.
“This song is neither against the government nor against Castroism.
It is (a song) in favor of the people.
Yes, there are many songs that have been made in favor of the people before, other artists who have joined their voices to send a message of change, a critical message ”, explains Yotuel.
«Art has that language of non-violence.
That language of love.
That language of hope, of search.
As Bob Marley said, music has no enemies, music is music, art is art and art has to be free.
Art cannot position itself in any party, it has to be free to be able, through music, to denounce, claim, demand »
“The Cuban government has responded in a very strange and unusual way to the 'Homeland and Life' issue,” says Dávila Miguel.
“As well as the demonstrations in front of the Cuban Ministry of Culture in search of dialogue with the authorities;
as well as the raid on the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement at the end of 2020. The government has given wide coverage to the issue in the official Cuban press, by refuting and denouncing said anti-government protest demonstrations.
When Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel tweets 3 times on the subject, when Cuban state television calls for the singing of the national anthem in opposition to Patria y Vida and when the official media dedicate entire pages of criticism to him, it means, in the eyes of This surprised spectator, that the social impact of the anti-communist letter of Patria y Vida really worries the Cuban authorities. "
"Patria y Vida" unleashed a series of attacks against the singers.
This led to Yotuel receiving an invitation from the European Parliament to discuss the rights of Cuban artists.
“It was 'Patria y Vida' that unleashed all that wave of welcome by Parliament and then with all the media attack that there has been, for all those insults, all those slander, they made Parliament (wonder) why try well to artists?
Why treat a song like that, that does not have hatred, that is not aggressive, that does not defame, that what counts is real? "
Gente de Zona, the cubatón and cultural change
If we could speak of a new Cuban “trova”, it would be necessary to mention the Cubatón: an artistic movement that transcends music and that tries to carry a cultural message that transcends borders.
Through the Cubatón, artists of the stature of Yotuel, Jacob Forever, El Micha and of course Gente de Zona have not only achieved great recognition, but have also brought a message of change and hope to new young audiences inside and outside the region. Island.
Gente de Zona, a duo of international fame for their collaborations with artists such as Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias and Becky G, told Efe at the Premio Lo Nuestro delivery in Miami on February 19 that they fear for their families in Cuba after the launch of the theme.
"It's time to have my opinion, take a step forward, take the risk and determine guilty - if something happens to my family - the government of Cuba," said Alexander Delgado, one of the members.
"Afraid?
Fear of not being able to give music to those people that need it again, "said his partner Randy Malcom.
On Instagram, where they have 1.9 million followers, they have shared stories of fans celebrating the song's lyrics.
"That the blood does not continue to flow, for wanting to think differently / Who told you that Cuba belongs to you if my Cuba belongs to all my people", says part of the song highlighted by several users.
Yotuel also referred to the fears of some retaliation by Patria y Vida: “There is always fear that they could hit you, hit you, scare you.
But as Maykel Osorbo told me: 'brother, they have taken so much from me that they have taken even my fear,' "he told CNN.
"Sixty years locked dominoes / Bombo y satillo at five hundred in Havana / While at home in the pots they no longer have jama" says another stanza of Patria y Vida, a rejection of food shortages and the situation of many Cubans in amid the celebrations for the fifth centenary of the capital since 2019, something that continues in the midst of the covid-19 emergency and the recent reports of rescues and disappearances of rafters who continue to try to reach the United States.
"The Cubans are realizing that they are trying to manipulate them at their convenience," Yotuel said.
“And it is time to claim something more beautiful than death: life.
Now is the time to say… 'Why not add both?
It is the desire that any citizen has to have a homeland where everyone fits and lives to enjoy it ”.
“In Patria y Vida there is no disappointment.
There is no you or I, but we are all and together we make a great country, with our differences ”.
People of the Zone
