Artists cancel their participation in the San Remo Music Awards
HAVANA, Feb. 5th More and more international artists are announcing that they will not attend the San Remo Music Festival, to be held in Cuba in April, supported by the regime’s leadership to attract tourism and figures to the island at a time when the world’s media reflect repression and trials of peaceful demonstrators.
The Basque singer-songwriter Alex Ubago, the Cadiz flamenco pop duo Andy & Lucas and the Mexican Kalimba used “ethical” reasons for cancelling their presence at the San Remo Music Awards Fest, demonstrating their rejection of “military dictatorships” and their support for freedom, in the videos, they posted on their social networks.
For some, singing in Cuba was a long-cherished dream, for others, it was a lifelong desire to bring their art to the land of their parents. All, after lining up in favour of freedom, dedicated words of affection for their followers on the island.
“Andy & Lucas does not support any regime, nor people who put children in prison, nor a people that go hungry,” said Lucas González in a video on the social networks of the duo, also made up of Andrés Morales.
The interpreters of I loved her so much They stated that they thought they had been invited to the island by a promoter and not by the regime and that their refusal to attend the event was not due to “media pressure.”
“We are not in favour of any dictatorship or any military regime,” said González, who, along with his lifelong friend from the La Laguna neighbourhood in Cádiz, Andy, will perform in Miami on February 13 at the La Laguna club. Scala, as part of his tour Eternal love.
While the wife of the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel, Lis Cuesta, organizes the festival, from April 5 to 10 in a club in El Vedado, in Havana, in Cuba there are more than 600 political prisoners, among them a dozen minors. old, some with disabilities, and several imprisoned artists.
In a desperate situation are the plastic artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, on a hunger strike in the Guanajay prison, and the rapper Maykel Osorbo, one of the interpreters of Homeland and LifeGrammy winner and inspirer of the July 11 protests, who has a condition that causes inflammation in his body.
“It will be very good for tourism, for friends, for solidarity,” said Cuesta.
Alex Ubago is not going to Cuba for an ‘ethical’ issue
With accurate words of solidarity for the moment that Cubans live, the 41-year-old Basque singer-songwriter said that he has always dreamed of singing in Cuba, but that this is not the moment or the way it should be done.
“I want to make it very clear, although the people who know me know it, that I will never, ever support a dictatorship and I will always be in favour of freedom,” said Ubago, indicating that his decision has nothing to do with the controversy in the media but with purely “ethical” issues.
Recognized for his romantic ballads that have many followers in Cuba, Ubago sent his love to the people who listen to his music on the island.
“I was very excited to play there for the first time,” he acknowledged, hoping that it can be done very soon.
“Long live music and long live freedom,” he concluded.
For his part, Kalimba also gave up singing in the land of his parents and this is the fourth time he has fallen asleep, he acknowledged in a post on Instagram.
“With my heart in my hand, I get off the San Remo Festival. My dream of singing in my father’s land is no bigger than my desire to see my Cuban brothers live with their own rights,” said Kalimba, born in Mexico City to Cuban parents.
Artists Waldo Mendoza, Alain Pérez, David Blanco, Buena Fe, Ernesto Blanco, Jorgito Karamba, Adrián Berazaín, Raúl Paz, Telmary will participate on the Cuban side, as announced by Granma.
Many of these artists perform regularly in Miami, such as Alain Pérez, who was on stage at the Fillmore in Miami Beach accompanying maestro Paco de Lucía, and was also invited to the Global Cuba Fest, organized by FUNDarte and Miami Light Projects.
Rapper Telmary Díaz and Raúl Paz, who now live in Cuba, have previously resided outside the island. The rapper, who was from Interactivo and has a career with her group Habana Sana, lived in Canada in the mid-2000s, and Raúl Paz settled in France in the mid-1990s, from where he launched a musical career for which he also recorded in Miami.
Paz had a presentation on February 11 at the Real Café in Miami, which was cancelled as announced by the nightclub on its social networks.
the same post indicated that Paz said that he was not aware of his participation in the San Remo Music Awards Fest, a situation that also happened to Telmary.
The rapper said in a video on Instagram that she has representatives and that her concerts are coordinated through them, and that no one had informed her of her participation in the festival.
“I have not confirmed my participation, I do not know why an official body is promoting me as part of the festival,” he said. “I have a representative, telephone, mail. I could find out if someone wants my participation in a festival, and this is not the case”.
As the day of Thursday, February 3 progressed, more artists were added who cancelled their presentation at the Festival.
“I will not participate in the first edition in Cuba of the San Remo festival. Success to all contestants. Thank you,” said Cuban singer Arlenys Rodríguez Laz.
Spanish singer-songwriter Carlos Torres, who had sung before in Cuba, also said he will not go this time.
“When you have the information of who organizes this festival. I don’t like going to Cuba like that, I don’t like singing like that. I am very sorry that I will not attend this festival. I will not go to Cuba in the month of April. There will be another time when things are calmer and we all enjoy and do things well, “he said.
After the repression of peaceful protesters last year, a wave of solidarity with the Cuban people and condemnation of the regime was awakened by artists from inside and outside the island.
René Pérez “Residente”, Ricky Martin and Alejandro Sanz were very clear about where their thoughts are right now.
The Spanish duo Andy & Lucas said they do not support any dictatorial regime that imprisons children.
