In XXI century’s Havana there is a great longing for the music of the sixties. A bronze John Lennon remains perpetually sitting in a park in Vedado neighborhood, while a cluster of bands make a living playing some of his hits.
The rock and roll of the era of Led Zeppelin and The Doors is as lucrative as traditional Cuban music with many tourists listening to it in the streets of Old Havana . Nightclubs like the Yellow Submarine have hosted bands that can play a precise execution of Hard Day ‘s Night or the heavy metal version of Eleanor Rigby .
Taking advantage of the custom of this booming Cuban mini – industry of Beatlemania, the Lucas Project organized a tribute to the Beatles in the Karl Marx Theater in Havana, Saturday, November 16, 2013. This, then, is the most recent example of Cuban veneration for The Beatles.
A dozen musicians and bands took turns through space that one or two songs last, playing the songs of the Beatles in their style, as Ernesto Blanco did with a version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds between pop and rock, lacking a little the relaxed and psychedelic atmosphere of the original
The opening was by Adrian Berazaín accompanied by his guitar, with Love Me Do. Then Tésis de Menta came with an impressive “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, sung in two voices. Osamu and his band added a metal touch to “Come Together.” One of the details is that musicians are not enslaved to the original arrangements and everyone was happy changing the pace or introducing something new.
Perhaps the most impressive moment came thanks to the vocalist Beatrix Lopez of Tesis de Menta, who sang an unpredictable “Yesterday”, conveying the feeling of devastating nostalgia that generates that song and being the best female voice of the night.
Elain Morales sang “Help” without many changes and comedian Rigoberto Ferrera (Rigo) gave a touch of showmanship to Hannah (Go With Him).
The concert, entitled “Four Gods with a Stone” was held as part of a series of presentations organized from a year by the Lucas Project that invites Cuban bands and musicians to play songs by British bands like Deep Purple, Queen, and now the Beatles.
It was an extraordinary night, because not every Saturday you can hear live a batch of Beatles songs in the biggest theater in Havana.
The four musicians from Liverpool never played in Cuba and nothing indicates that Paul McCartney has Havana in its concert schedule (not even Santiago de Cuba, where he made a surprise visit in January 2000).
To listen to live music from the British band, Cuban without a visa or passport has an extensive catalog of copycat bands, although the Beatles experience in the Karl Marx was somewhat above normal, as everything that happens once in life.
Author
Javier Ortiz
