Cuban troubadour Silvio Rodríguez, icon of the revolution, dwells on island's troubles in new album
He was the poetic voice of the Cuban Revolution, an inspiration for millions of Latin Americans living under dictatorships throughout the 1960s and 1970s who dreamt of the ideal Cuba that he — and his guitar — helped evoke
HAVANA (AP) — He was the poetic voice of the Cuban Revolution, an inspiration for millions of Latin Americans living under dictatorships throughout the 1960s and 1970s who dreamt of the ideal Cuba that he — and his guitar — helped to evoke.
Cuban troubadour Silvio Rodríguez, 77, one of Latin America's most famous musicians, has released a new album, his first in three years. But life on the island, which is undergoing its worst economic crisis in decades, has changed much since the time he wrote “Vivo en un país libre cual solamente puede ser libre” (I live in a free country, which can only be free).
“I feel uncomfortable singing that song now,” said Rodríguez during a rare interview with The Associated Press in his recording studio in Havana.
The Cuban revolutionary project to which Rodríguez devoted most of his music and lyrics since his debut 56 years ago, is going through a dire economic crisis that has brought inflation, hunger, unproductive lands — and pushed hundreds of thousands of Cubans to leave the island.
