Carlos Tamayo in Defense of the Real Cuban Music
February 18, 2012, 5:50 pm  

By Sheyla Arteaga and Zoila Perez
sheyla.arteaga@reduc.edu.cu
zoila.perez@reduc.edu.cu
Translation by Ernesto Gutierrez Pino

Las Tunas.- Tiempo21 is witness and propitiates debates about the spread of Cuban music, especially rejects the bad lyrics in genres such as reggaeton, for many "the worst thing that has happened in the music of this country."

So it is defined by Carlos Tamayo, president of the Association of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) in Las Tunas eastern province, who has boosted a crusade against vulgar lyrics.

"Music is one of my passions, especially Cuban music, but I am worried about the process of deterioration of our popular song and lyrics," he asserts.

The writer has also used his talent to defend his views about that phenomenon, as in the headlines Otra vez sobre la muerte del danzon (Again on the Death of Danzon Music, published in a journal of UNEAC and Esto es una masacre musical (This is a Musical Sslaughter) and Casi gastamo una caja de condone (We Almost Used a Package of Condoms), which can be read in Spanish in this website and where he attacks this problem.

His main concern is related to hip-hop, rap and reggaeton, foreign musical genres that "are being Cubanized" but they were not born here and far from enriching the national culture they damage this Caribbean Island. "The cell of the Cuban rhythm is very strong and in music fusion, the mixture of two rhythms leads to a new musical product which, if it is well done, it can be recognized as Cuban."

In recreational areas and media, there are moments for transmission of Cuban musical genres, but they are not always used profitably. "It is said that a program plays Cuban music because the artists are Cubans, but cha cha, mambo and danzon are rarely played in those spaces."

The intellectual also points out that the programs dedicated to promote the real national music are usually late at night and early in morning. Beyond musical tastes, Tamayo encourages program managers to defend the good music and this goes beyond personal preference.

"Against reggaeton and its allies, their detractors always say that those lyrics are empty and fall into vulgarity and are many times offensive, while the dance sometimes shows obscenity in the movements. Moreover, they assert that to sing reggaeton it not necessary to be a great singer," the researcher also asserts.

However, it is still advocated by some. "Some people defend the rude words, but far beyond film and literature it is important to think that music is one of the fine arts, and we are fighting for increasing our cultural level more and more."

"Those dirty words have never been recorded here. The artists never fell into that for a matter of ethics. We all must unite our criteria, study the texts for more people to join this crusade and stop vulgarity, which does not offer anything to the richness of our culture."

"This devaluation of culture is no accident, has a legal base in the Torricelli Act, which aims to achieve the gradual acculturation of our people. I am not opposed to the true American culture, but we are reproducing their marginality. We have bunkhouses and some genders, such as rumba, guaguanco and Columbia emerged from there."

To analyze the matter, Carlos Tamayo will meet in a few days with managers and specialists of culture in the province. "I also want you understand that the rhythm is far from what it says and even far from the melody, it is rather a trick of the author, in which we need to hear several times to understand it."

Towards a critical viewer, of a demanding consumer, many Cuban intellectuals are against these customs, greatly harmful to the Cuban society. The most important thing is to keep alive our national identity, without allowing this scourge continues damaging the history of the Cuban music with its string of obscenities, which destroy the wealth of our traditions.