CUBAN TRANSITIONS

As we considered Hip Hop in Cuba in class, I fell in love with the band Orishas.  Their rhythms were contagious, and soon I was creating entire playlists of their enchanting songs.  The music is distinctly Cuban, as the band members self describe themselves as a mix of traditional Cuban rhythms and hip hop.  The name of the band, Orishas, refers to deities in the African-based religions in the Americas, such as Santeria in Cuba.  However, though the songs often reflect Cuban life and Cuban themes, the band did not become successful until outside the island’s borders, and produced by a European label in 1999.

In “537 Cuba,” the group reminisces about Cuba, experiencing Cubanismo.

“I come from a place where there is a river
Tobacco and sugar-cane plantation
Where the sweat of the peasant
Makes the land dream.”

Though the band does not take an explicit political stance, their nostalgia and love of their country is present in every album.  The language of “dream” and “peasant” suggest an almost Marxian ideology, however Orishas relates to the population of Cuba more than the government.  Rapped over traditional son or rumba beats, thoughts about the agricultural sugar-cane and the tobacco landscape bring the audience back to Cuba, where the journey of the band began.

When Orishas left Cuba, at the time under the title “Amenaza,” or threat, a previous rap group, rap and hip-hop were not acceptable in Cuba.  After the success of Orishas, the Ministry of Culture built a studio where rappers could establish hip-hop within the country’s borders—hugely influenced by the band.

“If I live from my mothertongue
And calming my faithful sadness
How do you want me to stop
The blood of my love and my country
That runs through my veins
Old and new generations
Of heart, blood and lung.”

Orishas’ defiant connection to Cuba is more than Spanish lyrics and scenic imagery, the band members feel biologically connected to the spirit and soul of the people.  With such a politically complicated country, and a history of marked extremism, I am surprised that Cuba’s most successful music group simply reminisces about Cuba and the Cuban way of life.  That sense of pride comes through in their choices of music and lyrics, which seem to promote the Cuban culture more than anything else.

Still, I find it fascinating, that the band most associated with modern Cuban music is based in Paris.  This fact demonstrates the constraints of hip-hop within the country, and the difficulties in producing successful music.  With the help of outside European music producers, Orishas is extremely popular throughout Europe but especially in Cuba, even with the extreme distance between the group and their homeland.  How authentic can Cuban music be, if it is recorded and produced in Paris?

When the revolution began, Fidel Castro nationalized all the American companies and Che Guevara criticized American ownership in Latin America.  The dream was to return to Cuban culture and authenticity.  Now, because of Cuba’s failure to provide a production for this music outlet, Orishas has sought outside help to produce the voice of Cuba.  The intersections have become convoluted and complicated, but how authentic is Orishas’ hip-hop?  How can they be such pioneers from afar?  Is outside help needed in order to create change within Cuba?  Or is that in contradiction with the original sentiments of the revolution?

“El Kilo”

Sources:

http://www.orishasthebest.com/biografia.html

http://cubanamericanpundits.blogspot.com/2006/04/another-look-at-orishas.html