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Edited on Tue Apr-14-09 11:52 AM by Judi Lynn
We could use some education on the subject, no doubt. By the way, didn't you know the Herald totally caters to the most strident, extremist element in the Cuban community there? It's been that way since the head of the CANF, Jorge Mas Canosa went after the publisher of the Herald, David Lawrence: TRYING TO SET
THE AGENDA IN MIAMI
Bashing the Herald is only part of Jose Mas Canosa's strategy
by Anne-Marie O'Connor
O'Connor, who is based in Miami, is Latin America and Caribbean correspondent for Cox Newspapers.
The Miami Herald usually takes and assumes the same positions as the Cuban government. But we must confess that they were once more discreet about it. Lately the distance between The Miami Herald and Fidel Castro has narrowed considerably. . . . Why must we consent to The Miami Herald and ElNuevo Herald continuing a destructive campaign full of hatred for the Cuban xile, when ultimately they live and eat, economically speaking, on our support?
Jorge Mas Canosa, chairman of the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation, in a local radio broadcast, aired on January 21 and printed in full in El Diario las Americas.
The revelation that The Miami Herald and its Spanish-language counterpart, El Nuevo Herald, were in bed with Cuban leader Fidel Castro must have confounded the editors of the Cuban Communist party organ, Granma, since the Havana daily has repeatedly portrayed them as right-wing tools of the eternal CIA campaign against the thirty-three-year-old revolution.
Anywhere else, Mas Canosa's remarks might have been ignored. In the darker recesses of Miami's exile community, however, his words were clearly a call to arms. Within days Herald publisher David Lawrence, Jr., and two top editors received death threats. Anonymous callers phoned in bomb threats and Herald vending machines were jammed with gum and smeared with feces. Mas Canosa's Cuban American National Foundation quickly denied responsibility and condemned the hijinks, but Mas's words were highly inflammatory in a city where public red-baiting has served as a prelude to bombings and, in past years, murder.
That was in January, but editors at the Herald still feel besieged. Foundations ads saying "I don't believe The Herald" in Spanish are appearing on Dade County buses. Lawrence has heard that foundation people are sounding out advertisers over whether they would support a boycott -- a troubling prospect in a recession.
Coverage of the foundation and Cuba is now carefully scrutinized, Herald reports say. "There has been a watershed in how we operate with Cuban questions," says one staffer, who requested anonymity. "Before the campaign, Cuba issues were dealt with in a routine way." More: http://backissues.cjrarchives.org/year/92/3/miami.asp It would be interesting learning about Cuban youth who have been thrown in the slammer for listening to rap. Presumably it wouldn't be any of these guys' fans: Mala Bizta Sochal Klu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cytjjbi9b-cOGGUERE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-FNepYAgnoOPB (Ollantay Perez Betancourt) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J6f5qL2ZMUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KskQQzfEX9sCuba's youngest rapper, a kid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjvYXkrLk6MPiñar del Río http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWPRsB8S0fwETC. (I only grabbed the first few I saw, didn't really listen to them.) Wikipedia on Cuban rappers: Cuban hip hop
Hip hop music arrived in Cuba via radio and TV broadcasts from Miami. During the 1980s hip hop culture in Cuba was mainly centred around breakdancing. But by the 1990s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the onset of the Special Period, young "raperos" were seeking ways to express their frustrations.
Early days: Importation
Initially hip hop was viewed with suspicion, not just by the government, but by many in the community as well. With raperos emulating US rappers' aggressive posturing and lyrical content, hip hop was seen as just another cultural invasion from the US, bringing with it the violence and problems of the ghettos.
The importation and the birth of Cuban rap could be debatable, but many argue that the importation of U.S rap and its influence was brought from Miami. Rap hit Cuba approximately quarter century ago but it was not imported to Cuba until 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union.<1> However it existed among young moneros, who had a tremendous oral ability and linguistic creativity. At the beginning of establishing Rap in Cuba rap like rock was perceived as a foreign import and while it was never forbidden, neither was it promoted or encouraged” <2> The Cuban government changed its perceptions about hip-hop during 1999 when it declared it as an authentic expression of Cuban Culture.<3> In addition the government formed the Agencia Cubana de Rap (The Cuban Rap Agency) that provides state-run record label and hip-hop magazine, and began supporting the annual Cuban Hip Hop festival. Cuban rappers injected a renovating energy into Cuban music that was taken from hip hop culture. <4> Rap in Cuba began to emerge precisely during the gangsta rap period in the United States which included artists like 2Pac, Notorious B.I.G, Ice-T, Snoop Dogg and many more influential gangster rappers.<2>
Gradually this began to change as raperos began to express their own reality and make use of traditional Cuban culture. One sentiment expressed involved how Cuban politics were not keeping pace with social reality. All Cubans are discouraged from visiting government-designated 'tourist zones,' such as the fancy restaurants and night clubs in Old Havana, and police will ask most who show up there for ID. But statistics show that the police arrest Afrocubans all over the island more often than Whites. Many Afrocubans say the government assumes Blacks are more likely to be involved in criminal activity. <5> <6> This exclusion from night life led to the importance of house parties where raperos were able to establish their own "underground" hip hop scene. The financial constraints of tourist geared night clubs that only accept dollars or venues that cost up to the equivalent of a standard monthly Cuban salary for entry also aided in the significance of house parties in the Cuban hip hop scene. <6>
The small, underground gatherings or house parties were referred to as bonches. The bonches were for the true hip-hop fans who were into the less accessible rap in Cuba. "These bonches can be considered the seeds of today's Cuban rap community." As bonches gained popularity, they became too large for private homes, so aspiring DJ Adalberto Jimenez found a public space in Havana, which he called La Mona. The venue did charge a small fee, but it stayed more of a social than commercial club, remaining loyal to the underground scene. Many moneros were interested in creating their own rap, but lack of equipment prevented the formation of professional Cuban hip hop groups until the establishment of the Havana Hip Hop Festival.<7> <8>
In 1995, a group of rappers organized a Hip-hop festival. The annual Hip Hop festival consisted of 50 Cuban and 12 foreign groups: Mos Def and The Roots have supported the event as well as many others. As Hip-hop became more popular, it reached the youth of Cuba and many other countries. As a result, several thousand people globally have attended the festival in previous years.<9> <7>
~snip~
Birth of a Cuban scene
The change in both attitude towards hip hop and the move towards home grown expression was in part facilitated by the involvement of Nehanda Abiodun, a U.S. Black Liberation Army activist in political exile in Cuba. The U.S. is the birth place of hip-hop, so of course played a major role in the birth of hip-hip in Cuba. U.S. hip-hop artists continue to be hip-hop's most important innovators and are very influential to Cuban rappers. Cuban rappers admire the success of U.S. rappers and desire to achieve the same amount of success, so they begin to model themselves after them.<11>
Hip hop's transfer to Alamar (the birthplace of rap cubano), a suburb east of Havana (with the best radio reception to Miami radio stations 99 JAMS and HOT 105), was so successful that in 1995 Rodolfo Renzoli, a rapper from Alamar's original hip hop collective, Grupo Uno, organized Cuba's first hip hop festival with the aid of the Asociación de Hermanos Sais(AHS). Despite poor promotion and the remote location, the first festival, organized as a friendly competition among the growing group of rap artists in and around Havana, became a huge success with moneros' and 'raperos'. 'Rap cubano emerged as a distinct genre when Amenaza (now known internationally as the Orishas - France, EMI) incorporated Afro-Cuban bata percussion into their performance at the 1996 festival, winning them first place in the competition. The same year, Cuba's first all-female rap group, Instinto, secured second place for their energetically-charged rap flow and performance. By 1999, through the aid of the Hip Hop Manifesto (written by DJ Ariel Fernandez), rap cubano and rock music (another marginalized musical genre in Cuba) was declared "an authentic expression of Cuban culture" by Abel Prieto, Cuba's Minister of Culture. Fidel Castro deemed hip hop music to be at the "vanguard of the Revolution" because of its revolutionary message.<12> This resulted in the formation of the Agencia Cubana de Rap (The Cuban Rap Agency). The Agencia Cubana de Rap is the state's organization that runs a record label and hip hop magazine, Movimiento.<13>
Upset with what she saw as blind imitation of commercial US rap culture with its depiction of thug life, violence, and misogyny, Abiodun began working with the Malcom X Grassroots Movement in the US to bring progressive US hip hop artists to Cuba. This led to the Black August benefit concerts held in New York and Havana.
The project has featured progressive artists such as Erykah Badu, David Banner, Common, dead prez, Fat Joe, the Roots, Jean Grae, Les Nubians, Chuck D, Gil Scott-Heron, Dave Chapelle, Tony Touch, Black Thought, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, La Bruha, Imani Uzuri, Jeru and the Coup. <8>
The Black August Collective that was formed, and the concerts these progressive US artists gave in Cuba, played a key role in expanding and raising the profile of conscious, politicized rap within Cuba. Many Cuban rappers felt an affinity to the revolutionary aspects of the work these artists created. The Black August Hip Hop Collective Statement of Purpose offers that "Our goal is to bring culture and politics together and allow them to naturally evolve into a unique hip hop consciousness that informs our collective struggle for a more just, equitable and human world". <14>. Despite the movement's association with an identity other than Cuban, the government supported The Black August Collective and allowed the rappers to perform as they were supportive of the revolution. The youth of Cuba were fascinated not only by this style of music, but also by the Black Pride of the performers. <15>This consciousness of struggle and achieving the goals of revolution are a key characteristic of a majority of Cuban hip hop today. <16> In the USA, early hip hop was a DJ-based music: it was the creative transformation of the turntable from a mere playback device to a full-fledged percussion instrument that established "break beat" music as a new cultural form. Cuba however,, had neither turntables nor black vinyl, making it impossible for these exotic new sounds to be duplicate within Cuba. Due to a lack of sophisticated equipment in Cuba, the Hip Hop that has emerged features simple beats<17> which naturally leads to an emphasis on the lyrical content. Just like earlier American Hip Hop, Cuban Hip Hop has developed as an outlet to convey politically charged and socially conscious messages. These messages, over a simple beat, create a raw "old school" sound which draws the underground and alternative Hip Hop crowd such as the artists mentioned above for some authentic inspiration. Some say that Havana, host of the Hip Hop Festival, is the new home of old school<12>.
~snip~
Hip hop and rap clubs, while scarce today in Cuba, have emerged as an open and affordable gathering space for lower and middle-class Cubans who are increasingly excluded from other forms of Havana nightlife due to rising prices, dolarization of popular clubs and increasing segregation on behalf of tourists and the wealthy Cuban elite. Under these divisive socio-economic conditions, hip hop and rap concerts have now come to represent a space of open debate and social and political discussion for many young Cubans. Topics such as racism, tourism and police harassment are often addressed openly in these spaces through music and performance as well as through participatory discussion.<23>
~snip~
Women’s role in hip-hop and regeton in Cuba is constantly growing. However, women in hip-hop in Cuba face a difficult dichotomoy of both acting as the powerful female or as the sexy perreo dancer. For example, Las Kudras who describe themselves as feminists and do not participate in the Nationalized Cuban Hip-Hop scene are comfortable questioning “hegemonic notions of femininity and Black female sexuality” <54>. Yet, female rap groups such as Animo Consejo who have an interest in broader, national appeal have a more difficult time managing between their role as a sexy performer who will be judged by their onstage look and as rappers who are interested in changing the racialized role of women in Cuba <5>. Magia serves as one of the most popular female Cuban rappers who has been able to mediate this dichotomy into some success in the country. More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_hip_hophttp://www.carnavaldelpueblo.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/cuba.jpg http://userserve-ak.last.fm.nyud.net:8090/serve/252/196861.jpg
http://imgs.sfgate.com.nyud.net:8090/c/pictures/2002/05/13/mn_cuba2.jpg Cuban Rappers Krudas Cubensi Bring Their Feminist Agenda to Santa Ana's SolArt Gallery Café By GABRIEL SAN ROMAN Published on March 12, 2008 at 11:02am Left On! Cuban rappers Krudas Cubensi bring their feminist agenda to America Acclaimed as one of the most talented groups to emerge from Cuba's underground hip-hop movement, Krudas Cubensi (the Crude Ones) ain't your average flow. The trio—Olivia Prendes (Pelusa MC) and sisters Odalys (Wanda) and Odaymara (Pasa) Cuesta—are a sociological mouthful: an all-women, multiracial, fiercely feminist, vegan, pro-black and out-lesbian hip-hop group. Founded in 1999, Krudas Cubensi made their reps in Cuba with their searing rhymes celebrating the beauty of being gordas while tirelessly battling patriarchy. Despite facing discrimination at multiple levels, as well as a Cuban revolution that has sought to unify society along class and anti-imperialist lines—at times at the expense of race and gender—Krudas Cubensi earned respect anyway. After Pasa and Pelusa decided to rejoin Wanda in relocating to the United States, the group continued their struggle, with the added burden of being immigrants. Wasting no time, the women have toured from New York to San Francisco, performing at rallies, film festivals and community spaces. Krudas' accentuated, rapid-fire flows transform into harmoniously sung choruses layered over heavy Afro-Caribbean percussion that make for powerfully compelling social critiques. According to Pasa, the African roots of the group's sound are "an inheritance from my ancestors." Now in a nation where bling and lyrically misogynistic hip-hop limit many women to their sporting of "apple-bottom jeans"—as well as fur boots—Krudas Cubensi stand poised to make a difference. The three rapping activists did not leave the island to shop their demos to the likes of Cuban-American music mogul Emilio Estefan in search of fortune and fame. "Being here in this country at this moment is a part of our mission, which consists of transmitting our life experiences, sensibilities and thoughts to a wider audience," Wanda remarks. "We aspire to see a change in the communities that are the most fucked-over and needy." Staying true to their principles, Krudas Cubensi have quickly inserted themselves in joining fair food campaigns while continuing their feminist agitation in the U.S. "Feminism for me, not just in hip-hop, is the search for equilibrium in sexist societies," Pelusa says. "Our mission was not selected by us alone. Universal forces have placed us on this path. We raise our voices in an attempt to uplift the rights of women and all people who are suffering injustice. We are against war and all types of violence. According to our understanding, these conditions have always been closely linked to systems of patriarchy. We have much in common with Cuban, Latino and global hip-hop, but our focus is on women." More: http://www.ocweekly.com/2008-03-13/music/left-on/ETC. |
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