HAVANA (AP) — A whole lot of individuals on Tuesday attended a Mass in Havana to have fun the a hundredth anniversary of Celia Cruz’s beginning simply days after Cuban authorities canceled a theater efficiency in honor of the revered singer with out clarification, drawing criticism over what some say was an act of censorship.
Actions to recollect the illustrious Cuban artist — one of many island’s most outstanding voices internationally — had been organized world wide besides in Cuba, the place she by no means returned after going into exile in the USA in 1960 and brazenly defining herself as a radical anti-Castro activist.
“She was an ambassador of Cuban music, of Cuban rhythms in the world… of our flavor, of our dances, of our joy, of ‘that’ contagious thing,” mentioned Father Ariel Suárez throughout his homily.
He even recalled the favored cry that recognized the singer’s performances: “Azúcar!”
“I thank God because she brought joy to many people, because she made Cuba a presence in the world,” the priest instructed these gathered on the Basilica of La Caridad within the populous neighborhood of Centro Habana.
An unforgiving authorities
The priest mentioned the Mass was commissioned by a gaggle of artists who admire Cruz.
Amongst these current had been famend artists together with singer Haila María Mompié and musician Alaín Pérez, in addition to the USA Chargé d’Affaires, Mike Hammer.
“Her songs give hope and joy, but she also wanted freedom for all the Cuban people, which is something we all desire, so for me it is a great honor to be here today, to remember her life,” Hammer instructed reporters after the Mass, which was not attended by any authorities official or Ministry of Tradition consultant.
Born in Havana on Oct. 21, 1925, Celia Cruz, nicknamed the “Guarachera of Cuba” and the “Queen of Salsa,” constructed a strong profession as a vocalist on the island earlier than going into exile in 1960 and settling in the USA, the place she additionally turned an icon for a extremely politicized neighborhood against the Cuban revolution led by the late chief, Fidel Castro.
The artist died in 2003 with out returning to her homeland, though in 1990 she carried out on the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo, a territory beneath U.S. management that Havana traditionally has unsuccessfully claimed.
Throughout her profession, Cruz acquired little protection in radio, tv or print in Cuba, the place authorities by no means forgave her for her laborious alignment with the exile neighborhood and the USA.
An empty chair beneath spotlights
In anticipation of her centennial, the theater group El Público had introduced a tribute efficiency on the prestigious Cuban Artwork Manufacturing facility on Sunday. However a couple of hours earlier than the efficiency, the state-run Nationwide Heart for Well-liked Music introduced briefly on social media that it could not happen. It didn’t present an evidence.
There was no quick response from the Cuban Artwork Manufacturing facility. However on Monday, the group posted a photograph on its Fb account that confirmed an empty chair on stage illuminated by overhead spotlights, a scene that remained in place at some point of the canceled efficiency.
“A work of art that never was, a chair, silence, and the art of resistance,” learn the submit. “Celia Lives.”
Artists and musicologists protested on social media what they thought of an arbitrary act of censorship by authorities.
A number of weeks earlier, the Failde Orchestra had devoted a section of a live performance to Celia Cruz’s centennial.
For musicologist Rosa Marquetti, the prohibition of the tribute is a “chapter” of “censorship and the application of political curatorial methods within Cuban culture,” she wrote on Fb.
“They have spent 60 years trying — without success — to tarnish one of the most extraordinary trajectories of life in the cultural sphere in defense of an identity, with an unflinching sense of belonging.”
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Comply with AP’s Latin America protection at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
