VARIOUS: Death threats, protests and CD smashing follow announcement by Colombian singing sensation Juanes that he will perform major concert in Cuba
Record ID:
479045
VARIOUS: Death threats, protests and CD smashing follow announcement by Colombian singing sensation Juanes that he will perform major concert in Cuba
- Title: VARIOUS: Death threats, protests and CD smashing follow announcement by Colombian singing sensation Juanes that he will perform major concert in Cuba
- Date: 27th August 2009
- Summary: COVER OF AGUILA'S BAND CD "PORNO PARA RICARDO"
- Embargoed: 11th September 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations,Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA2LJWNBS8D6QNT839DVJA11B9Z
- Story Text: When Colombian singing star Juanes announced plans for a huge peace concert in Havana on September 20, the news was greeted with fury and disgust among many in the Cuban-American community in Miami.
Reports of death threats against the five-time Latin Grammy winner followed, along with protests and smashing of Juanes CDs - sparking a debate between critics of Cuba's communist government and those defending freedom of the arts.
Critics and dissidents say the inclusion of artists like Silvio Rodriguez and Amaury Perez, seen as flag-waving supporters of the communist cause, means the concert will become a paean to the Castro government.
Defenders of Juanes say that music should be above politics.
At a small music club in Miami, the debate over the concert rages on.
Cuban-born musician Amaury Gutierrez said the concert was an insult to the tens of thousands of Cubans living in exile overseas.
"Here, the question is that all the world can go to sing in Cuba and the Cubans who live outside of Cuba can't go there to sing if they want to. They can't visit their country without getting a visa. It's an outrage. I can't go to visit my family. I don't know if I can get a visa to enter my country, the place where I was born."
Gutierrez dismissed claims by Juanes supporters that the concert could become a spark for change on the island.
"For this reason they think it is good that Juanes - or whatever other influential artist like Juanes - goes to sing in Cuba. Because the people are going to have three hours of music and this is lovely. I think that this means nothing and after the three hours of the concert, the next day, the people are going to have to continue fighting for food. Because Cuba is a place where you have to survive - a country of survival."
The merits of the concert have dominated the Miami airwaves in recent days with the battle lines being drawn by the city's radio show hosts.
Radio and television host Ninoska Perez Castellon is firmly opposed to the concert.
"Juanes has the right to sing where he wants to, but he cannot say that this is an apolitical concert, a "white" concert as he calls it. Cuba is a country where there is no freedom. He is going to sing with official figures of a dictatorship," she said.
Another radio host, Humberto Rodriguez, said his listeners were keeping a more open mind about the concert.
"People are very divided over the issue, but our audience largely supports his going, but not to challenge anyone in Cuban exile, but simply because he is an artist of a nationality that is not Cuban and that he has all the freedom to go wherever he wants. And that he has the freedom to bring his music - and that the people in Cuba can receive his affection and the music that Juanes wants to bring to them."
The Cuban Music Institute said the show is to be held on September 20 in Havana's Revolutionary Plaza.
Gorki Aguila, a Cuban punk rocker whose songs are strongly critical of the Cuban government and who was fined last year for public disorder in Cuba, said the concert could not avoid political overtones.
"It would have been preferable if he would have said, "Well I want to play in Cuba" and well, to play in Cuba means to play in a place of the state because the totalitarian states control everything and therefore it is impossible for such a celebrated artist like him to have a concert in Cuba without having contact with the state," said Aguila who is currently in Mexico City.
Some reports say that Aguila has been invited by Juanes to perform in the show, but Aguila says he has received no such invitation - and would be prevented from performing anyway.
Gorki's fellow band-member said that Juanes should be allowed to do his show - all in the interests of love, peace and rock n'roll.
"Since Porno para Ricardo began to play, the number of concerts that have been suspended here is greater than the number that haven't been suspended. Therefore, I will not be the person that pushes for a concert to be suspended because they always ask me, "Well do you believe that it is good or bad for Juanes to play in Cuba?" No, no - people have the right to do what they want," said Siro Javier Diaz Paredo, of "Porno para Ricardo".
Juanes' management said that the singer has met with U.S. government officials and leaders in the Cuban community in Miami to analyze the possibility of taking U.S. performers to Cuba for the concert.
Despite the furore, Juanes' manager said last week the show would go on. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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