ES / EN
- June 1, 2023 -
No Result
View All Result
OnCubaNews
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
OnCubaNews
ES / EN
Home Magazine

August-September

by Tahimi Arboleya, tahimi-arboleya
October 2, 2018
in Magazine
0

Cubans and their Music

It was September 20, 2009, it was Havana, it was Revolution Square, it was 2:00 pm…. We had gotten dressed in a white T-shirt, just like other thousands of persons, and we had been waiting for hours for the concert to start, in that Square that I had never seen so full before.

All ages, colors, lineages, languages and origins were there, and when the music started my daughters moved to the same rhythm as that grey-haired man who only a few minutes ago looked like he was going to faint, exhausted by the heat, sitting by the sidewalk; and I moved and sang the same song as the lady who before looked so circumspect, so whitely dressed, trying to not stain her wardrobe, all the time watching out for that, until the strains of that music were heard. What a strange thing! I thought, for a few minutes we had something in common.

After two hours, Juanes, Olga Tañón, Los Orishas, Silvio Rodríguez, Luis Eduardo Aute, Miguel Bosé, Síntesis…and others had passed by there. Two hours from the concert, with the September heat among that indescribable multitude, no one was wearing anything that was completely white, and the feet didn’t resist. There was a deathly silence, and my daughters begged that we already leave, their nine and 10 years couldn’t withstand more. We advanced a few steps, a voice was heard and afterwards an unmistakable “tumbao”. The two of them stopped dead and turned around, I thought they had recognized the band and asked them: what does it sound like? “It sounds like Cuba, that sounds like Cuba,” they told me in the midst of the euphoria of thousands who turned around and jumped like us when Los Van Van started playing “Dale con el corazón, muévete, muévete.”

We didn’t stop dancing until all those musicians (from here and there) finished singing Compay Segundo’s “Chan Chan” and José Martí’s Simple Verses in the style of Los Van Van, together with thousands of others. Some didn’t have the slightest idea what they were dancing and they hummed along, but continued dancing nonstop.

“For a single Cuban family”! was the last thing I was able to hear.

*The “Paz sin fronteras” (Peace Without Borders) concert, organized by Juanes in Havana on September 20, 2009, brought together 1.15 million persons, half of Havana’s population at the time. It is considered the third biggest concert in history, after the two held in Rio de Janeiro, the first by the Rolling Stones and the second by Rod Stuart.

Authors

Tahimi Arboleya, tahimi-arboleya
Tags: cubaCuban Joycuban musiccuban peopleLos Van Van
Previous Post

Billboard: Rock with BandEra

Next Post

Billboard: Contemporary Dance of Cuba with another skin

Tahimi Arboleya

Licenciada en Microbiología, Universidad de La Habana. Master en Comunicación. Directora Editorial de OnCuba.

tahimi-arboleya

Next Post

Billboard: Contemporary Dance of Cuba with another skin

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS. Leonel López-Nussa: Innately Indispensable

Cuba’s Flavors

Most Read

  • Traveling, importing and sending packages to Cuba: What should you know?

    22 shares
    Share 9 Tweet 6
  • Parliament approves first Law on Social Communication in Cuba

    9 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 2
  • Looking at Cuba: thirty years later

    6 shares
    Share 2 Tweet 2
  • More than 380,000 requests for parole for Cubans pending review

    6 shares
    Share 2 Tweet 2
  • MSMEs exceed 166 million dollars in imports in first four months of year

    5 shares
    Share 2 Tweet 1

Most Commented

  • Cuba in new cold war: three scenarios

    27 shares
    Share 11 Tweet 7
  • Coronavirus: with no deaths on the day, Cuba surpassed 80,000 infections this Sunday

    7 shares
    Share 3 Tweet 2
  • Challenging the new federal parole program: Judge Drew Tipton (II)

    20 shares
    Share 8 Tweet 5
  • More than 700 same-sex marriages celebrated in Cuba

    20 shares
    Share 8 Tweet 5
  • Cuban entrepreneurs address Biden: “We ask again that you listen to us”

    19 shares
    Share 8 Tweet 5
  • About us
  • Work with OnCuba
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Moderation policy for comments
  • Contact us
  • Advertisement offers

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Exit mobile version