CUBAN MUSIC AND THE LATIN GRAMMY

Germán Piniella  | Radio Progreso Alternativa

"Miami is the capital of Latin music. "Miami is the capital of tolerance, of democracy, of the right to dissent, of freedom of expression, of respect for the opinions of others."

At least those are the mantras recited by those who celebrate the fact that the Latin Grammies will be awarded in Miami. The same characters that with their intolerant attitude provoked the substitution of Florida by California.

Last year the decision on the part of the city and county authorities, as well as by individuals linked to organizations such as the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF), that Cuban artists nominated to the Latin Grammy would not be allowed to perform in Miami caused that the awarding ceremony, the first exclusively dedicated to Latin music, be moved to Los Angeles.

But Miami has denied Cuban music not only the presence of its artists in the Grammy. When MIDEM, the biggest event in the world dedicated to the recording industry and held annually in Cannes, France, decided to organize a Latin music MIDEM, they picked Miami as its seat. The same intolerant attitude blocked the Cuban presence two consecutive years. Finally the French organizers decided that an event of the kind had no sense without Cuban music, a source of inspiration for many Caribbean and Latin American musicians, and even from the United States.

Aside from MIDEM and the Latin Grammy, Miami has waged other battles against Cuban artists, some of which have finished in sad victories and others in resounding defeats.

Rosita Fornés, for many years a key figure in the world of entertainment, whether in Cuba as well as in other Latin American countries, had to cancel her performance in town due to protesting by anti-Castro groups who consider her a representative of Communism, in spite of her international pop music repertoire and her feathered and sequined costumes, alien to the alleged austerity of Socialism. The fact that some Cubans well to the left consider that Ms Fornés is more a representation of the banality of Capitalist consumerism than of revolutionary art is of no concern to these zealots. She lives in Cuba, where she returns every time she travels abroad, and therefore is a symbol of Castro-Communism for the militant exiles.

Another example was the intent to boycott the performance of the mythical Los Van Van salsa orchestra, the flagship of Cuban dance music, who was threatened with a bombing if they dared to play. The threats had no effect and bandleader Juan Formell and his boys rocked the public with their music. The only explosions were those by the dancing audience when they felt Van Van’s unequalled rhythm.

But the barriers against artists who reside in Cuba have not been only for performing in Miami.

Journalist Celeste Fraser Delgado, in a piece about music in Cuba published in The Miami News Times on July 2000 wrote that "Spanish radio in the United States is still under the main control of Cuban exiles, headed by Raul Alarcon, chief of Spanish Broadcasting System headquartered in Miami, which has stations in eight of the ten main Latin markets in this country. Radio broadcast makes or breaks a star, a fact that impedes the main recording labels to promote artists who live in Cuba, out of fear of provoking the silent treatment for the rest of their artists."

It would seem that Cuban music is contaminated of Communism. Some even believe that as well as Red Riding Hood or Stendhal’s Red and Black, salsa, son, guaracha, bolero, any musical genre that comes from Havana may carry a subliminal message from Castro’s G-2 to confuse, penetrate and destroy Miami’s tolerant and peaceful democracy.

But now all that has changed. Miami has learned the lessons from MIDEM and Los Angeles and has seen the light. City Mayor Joe Carollo and Miami-Dade’s Alex Penelas, as well as CANF Chairman Jorge Mas Santos and recording producer Emilio Estefan, who until very recently were harsh critics of Cuban presence, are now fierce advocates of their participation. "Miami is the capital of tolerance, of democracy, etc…."

¿How is it that the music of the island, forever contaminated of Communism, is now acceptable to the Miami extreme right?

For some observers the reasons are political. The case of the child Elian Gonzalez, who was taken illegally from Cuba to the US and detained in Miami against the will of his father, a Cuban resident, and to whom he eventually returned, showed an intolerant and fanatical Miami that denied in practice the same family values that it proclaimed, and who even displayed anti-US attitudes due to the federal decision of returning the child to his father. Many Americans watched in horror as TV news showed Miami Cubans desecrating the flag of the country that had welcomed them, as well as how they assaulted the press that they considered had backed the return of the child to his country.

Francisco Aruca, President of Radio Progreso Alternativa and host of "Ayer en Miami" and "Babel’s Guide" programs, who is a long standing critic of Miami’s extreme right, said to The Washington Post that "(the Foundation needs) a face-lift. And it speaks of the cost of the Elian case. The (coming) of the Grammy to Miami is a step in the direction of trying to change their image."

Some think that the about face is not only a matter of public relations to cleanse the image of an intolerant exile, or even if there is that intention there also other purposes.

According to El Nuevo Herald, Mayor Penelas said (that) "the celebration of the Grammy will bring prestige and economic benefit of our community." This means about $40 million for South Florida, including Ft. Lauderdale, where the nominees will also perform.

Add to this that CBS will broadcast the awarding ceremony to 700 millions spectators in 100 countries, and that the event can attract a large number of tourists from other states as well as from Latin countries that as Mexico have a large presence among nominated artists. The dollar figure can grow significantly.

Whether for political reasons or for economic benefits, Miami decision makers are willing to adopt a different stance regarding Cuban artists. After all, what harm can a couple of bands do?

But although last year there were only two Cuban artists nominated, Buena Vista Social Club’s Ibrahim Ferrer and Pablo Milanés (both sponsored by non Cuban labels, Ferrer by World Circuit and Milanés by Universal), this year there will be about 180 Cuban candidates to the nominations. Cuban recording labels have not been permitted to sponsor their artists, in the same manner that they were blocked from attending the Latin MIDEM; but now resident artists in the island that are signed by Cuban labels –such as Unicornio, Bis Music, EGREM and RTV- will be sponsored in the Latin Grammy by Spain’s Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE).

SGAE, a publishing rights collecting society (similar to BMI or ASCAP in the US, SACEM in France and GEMA in Germany) has among its associates many Cuban composers, including the most successful, and one of its obligations is to promote their works. A form of promotion is participation in the Latin Grammy. A Grammy award may mean greater sales, even though the recordings are not distributed in the United States, which will amount to benefits for both SGAE and its associates.

This does not mean that they all will be present. Independently of the crooked road that Cuban artists must travel before they get an entrance visa to the US, the road to the nomination is long and hard, and even more to the award, but undoubtedly the number of nominees will be more than two. Finally Miami will be able to witness what it sometimes has listened almost clandestinely through Cuban radio stations that can be tuned in Miami, or through CDs that someone has brought back after a family visit to the island and that friends and relatives eagerly burn.

For a naïve observer it would seem that the most intolerant Cuban exiles have decided to change their attitude regarding what comes from Cuba and have given the first step towards the acceptance of dialogue and tolerance. But hardly a week after the announcement of Miami as the seat of the Latin Grammy the organizers of a soccer tournament were forced to call off the celebration of the final stage at the Orange Bowl, a property of the City of Miami. The Caribbean Cup, whose finals should have been played with the participation of the Cuban national team on May 25 and 27, had to be transferred to Trinidad and Tobago.

"We have told the sponsors that the matter of bringing the Cuban national team to the Orange Bowl could be highly contentious for the community," said to El Nuevo Herald Carlos Gimenez, Manager of the City of Miami.

If someone could think that Mr Gimenez position differs from that of the rest of the officials who have accepted the presence of Cuban artists, Mayor Joe Carollo’s statement also to El Nuevo Herald deny the fact: "I can’t visualize a Cuban team playing at the Orange Bowl until there is democracy in Cuba". Mayor Carollo had previously written a letter of support to the celebration of the Grammy in Miami.

¿Salsa Sí, Soccer No? Well, Miami may be "the capital of tolerance, of democracy, of the right to dissent, of freedom of expression, of respect for the opinions of others," but Cuban soccer is contaminated of Communism. Some even believe that as well as Red Riding Hood or Stendhal’s Red and Black, goals, penalty kicks, head shots, any play by a team that comes from Havana may carry a subliminal message from Castro’s G-2 to confuse, penetrate and destroy Miami’s tolerant and peaceful democracy.

After all, this not a sport that attracts the attention of Cubans from both sides of the Florida Straits, fanatical lovers of baseball, and it would leave little money to the city. Surely CBS will not broadcast it.

If to obtain the Grammy awards for Miami we have to let the Cubans come, so be it. We know the benefits to reap and what it means to our image. But soccer too? Where will all this take us?

The Caribbean Cup can go to Trinidad and Tobago and we won’t lose any sleep over it. Caribbean residents in Miami may feel frustrated, since they are soccer fans and their national teams would be in the finals, but they are not influential from the social and economic point of view.

September will come and go and with it the Latin Grammy. It remains to be seen if Cuban artists will still be welcome in Miami once the event is history. Meanwhile, in spite of everything the music of the island will keep on flourishing, clinging to the roots from which it was born, admired by musicians and audiences, successful in other countries.

And if Miami won’t allow it, it will be Miami’s loss.