CUBA: Carlos Varela, known as the 'Cuban Bob Dylan', says musicians can improve relations with Washington

Record ID: 369279

  • Title: CUBA: Carlos Varela, known as the 'Cuban Bob Dylan', says musicians can improve relations with Washington
  • Date: 23rd April 2010
  • Summary: MUSICIAN PLAYING PIANO BAND PLAYING BASS PLAYER PLAYING
  • Embargoed: 8th May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: International Relations,Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA9X9KZYX1PATHKGI4S4RP4WAVY
  • Story Text: Cuban singer songwriter Carlos Varela said Monday (April 19) artists can 'open doors' in relations with Washington as he prepares for a U.S. tour.
    Varela, who has been called the 'Cuban Bob Dylan', was in Havana practicing for an eight-city tour starting in May that will take him across the United States from Los Angeles to Chicago to Miami.
    With his trademark beard and hat, Varela spoke to Reuters from the Karl Marx theater in Havana.
    He said musicians can reach people in a way politicians cannot, making them ambassadors in the ideological battle that has left Cuba and the U.S. estranged since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.
    "As musicians on stage we can approach the sensitive issues on both shores and fight for a possible reconciliation. Really, with hundreds of musicians living for years off the island, they have the right to return whenever they want. I think music can help with these things. Musicians are often closer to the people than the politicians are," Varela said.
    Hopes for warmer relations were high after U.S. President Barack Obama took over last year. But Cubans were disappointed that Obama did nothing to overturn the trade embargo, a measure leveled by Washington in 1962 that has contributed to poverty on the communist nation.
    "I think art in general can contribute a lot with our relationship as neighbors - which is what we are, right? I've always said and continue maintaining that we can't spend so many years so far apart and so close at the same time. The politicians must come to an agreement, but artists can put in their two cents," he said.
    While Obama's measures on opening borders have done little to improve relations, Varela said a massive concert organized by Colombian musician Juanes has helped bring bands like the U.S.'s Kool & The Gang and Puerto Rico's Calle 13.
    "Since September 30, a ton of musicians from North America, Puerto Rico have visited. People have a necessity, a hunger to play in Cuba. I think that's going to open doors that will be difficult to close. It would be absurd to close them. I hope that the contradictions that exist between the politicians don't affect the road we are paving as artists," Varela said.
    The Cuban will play May 15 at Cuba's Gusman Center in Miami, where his sold-out show in 2004 was canceled by restrictions handed down from former President George W. Bush.
    According to Varela, several U.S. groups have been given permission to travel to Cuba to play before the end of the year, but he wouldn't give names.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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