The duo from Buena Fe shared the experience of their latest tour in Spain with artists and writers from Uneac, an organization of which they are members. Author: Lister Amador
The Villena Hall of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba was packed at 17 and H in El Vedado. At three o’clock in the afternoon the audience applauded for a long time when the duet from Buena Fe came out, but Yoel Martinez and Israel Rojas did not come to offer us their music. We used this time to share experiences from our last tour of Spain, where hatred tried to drown out their voice and solidarity and anti-fascist sanity multiplied their song.
Between his colleagues, writers and artists of different generations, the dialogue proceeded in the afternoon of mutual gratitude. They are grateful to Uneac for hosting them in their home, for the many tokens of support they received from Cuba, and for our kindness to tell us and reflect on how national culture is becoming a priority target for far-right extremists and hostile Cubans. with their compatriots.
On the other hand, love, passion for art, patriotic feeling prevails. Cubans who do not renounce their country and friends are encouraged by love, decency and justice. Before the canceled concerts, there was no shortage of new proposals for presentations. But for good faith, as the song says bravededicated to the feat of our scientists, there was no heroism:
“The truth is, all we did was protect what we do, our music, our culture and Cuba,” Yoel said. Those were busy days. When a Cuban artist leaves here to sing, to show his art, he leaves anyway with the hope of finding an audience ready to have fun, and it is very difficult to face hatred. I think the achievement is to keep you from turning off. We had the opportunity to return to our country, and we said to ourselves: no, we must sing here, even if it is in the living room of some Cuban who wants to listen to us, because defeat will mean returning to Cuba, not singing. If there are people who are interested in what we do, we can sing for one person, for ten, for a hundred …
“We played six shows, and in a week because of this hatred for some, while the shows were put on hold, we promoted ourselves even more.” Because “people understand that gossip, hatred and meanness cannot defeat Cuba. We are very grateful for the support received from here at this time. And at the end we will eat … “.
For Israel Rojas, these hours of reflection among his fellow artists became decisive in explaining the life experience: “We must be clear, this happened to us, but prepare the donkey, this is what is coming. It has happened before and is happening now with greater force.
“We arrived in Spain in a pre-electoral context, in the heat of political passions; in Spain, which, like much of Europe, leans precariously to the right. Unfortunately, they found in the group of Cubans who settled there fertile ground for the promotion of a truly fascist wing. It’s very sad to see a Cuban trying to join the VOX (an ultra-conservative and far right Spanish party) and even people who tried to join the VOX but weren’t wanted. Some musicians, dancers… something didn’t work out for them in art training, in education, because you have to be a very crooked person to have such an attitude to life. Just like we have our great heroes like the scientists who created the COVID-19 vaccines, the doctors who went to save lives in Italy, our great artists who won universal recognition… we should reflect on what we did not do so well . We must reveal all this truth to new generations, because I always say that the truth is revolutionary.
“As far as we discussed with our union of musicians interesting ideological and political issues that are close to the people, because this is very important. Why do they attack music so much today? Why attack poetry? How to model the relationship between art and the market? Should we look for other advertising strategies? The cultural industry is not going to “beat me”, but there are other ways to get to other pockets of the market. What good can we learn from this experience and what can we say to decision makers, artists?
“In less than 15 days,” Rojas said, “there was a solidarity movement of people who may not have even known who we were, but understood that what they were doing to us was barbaric; people on the right who refused to bear this rot in such a complex Spanish reality. It’s illegal there and illegal everywhere. As happened in Geneva with ten Cubans who collected their own and received five very expensive fines and risked deportation; They have no place of residence, no documents, and they live on government assistance. It hurts me that a group of Cubans go there under the guidance of a group of cork oaks sitting at a computer and push them into all this.”
But for the leader of Buena Fe, the worst thing is the “bad image of Cuba”, his homeland. “It was the same thing they did with our combined ball team. Look what they asked for! And when the team appeared, how insulting it was to see the same Cubans in a stadium in Florida, yelling horrors at their own people, spitting at them, throwing things at them, calling them insults.
The line of action of the paid opposition and the ultra-right movements that turned to the fascist game was announced. According to Israel, “They are publicly saying that they are going to do this to athletes, scientists, individuals. The very day we were in Barcelona, suffering from this shit, a commission from the Cuban Chamber of Commerce came to meet with Catalan businessmen. It was public and loud, here and there published in the press, and those people did not reach. Peasants came with guitars and went upstairs. And then I remembered Fidel: “culture must be saved in the first place.” So you understand that for these characters, culture is the first thing to attack. When you poke your finger, you see who is behind the animosity in France with a great poet like Nancy Morejon: the same guy who supported the attack on the Cuban embassy in Paris, the intellectual who agreed to have a Molotov cocktail thrown at him. to the diplomatic headquarters; two days before the madman shot down the Cuban embassy in Washington.
Underworld hostility to the Cuban revolution for Rojas “in this time of post-truth, showmanship of politics is very beneficial” for his puppets. “Create like, views… This is a machine for destroying reputation, for damaging Cuban culture, for creating a state of negative opinion about Cubans, divided, opposed…”. This is a way of branding the repeated lies that they are trying to turn into the truth: “You are a repressor, an accomplice of the dictatorship and all those cheap and stupid arguments with which, unfortunately, these gentlemen and these media are trying to influence the Cuban community living abroad, and and then among our audience here.”
I prefer to think deeply,” Rojas admitted, “after I get out of the monster and its insides. I’ve spent several days thinking about how we can take action to stand up to these people and stand up to them for the good of all, because it’s not just about Good Faith and Nancy Morejon. This is reported to Wang Wang, Omar Portuondo…
It is a way of provocation to achieve a response that allows them to initiate lawsuits in which they confuse the victims of their persecution. Faced with such sly attitudes, Israel Rojas speaks of the need to “prepare ourselves as a society to act legally against those unreasonable aggressors who do not respect the arts or the laws of countries where they sometimes act with impunity.” .”
The opposite of such meanness, according to Israel, is the structuring of “mechanisms of solidarity and exploring those ways to offer our art that the big companies won’t let go.” It is clear that “the cultural industry is not going to completely surrender to our interests.” On the other hand, they also have to face “the trouble they get when working with Cubans, even paying them for their work, because the blockade and the listing of Cuba as a terrorist country prevents this.”
The story of the blows that the Cuban from Pinar del Río bravely endured in defense of them; the mind and strength shown by the many friends of solidarity who day after day think about Cuba and how to help us; return fire, which meant finding many other places to interpret their songs; The belief that there are many compatriots in Spain who are able to support their compatriots who are faced with the rudeness and humiliation of haters is a balm for good faith. And also to know that they arrived home, to their abode with “the light and foundation of the most holy”, with “a confidence that represents nobility in the face of evil idiocy.”
Source: Juventud Rebelde