Silvio Rodriguez To The Rescue of Robertico Carcasses

Silvio Rodriguez To The Rescue of Robertico Carcasses / Luis Cino Alvarez
Posted on September 30, 2013

LA HAVANA, Cuba, September, www.cubanet.org – I must confess that after
the episode of the North Korean freighter, Gan Chong Chon, it is
increasingly difficult for me to imagine what might be behind each of
the surprising happenings of the Raul regime. And if, in fact, Silvio
Rodríguez is involved, everything becomes more convoluted.

The troubadour-in-chief, has just announced on his blog Segunda Cita,
that he has invited Robertico Carcassés and the Interactive group to be
his opening act at the concert that will take place on September 20 in
Santiago de Las Vegas.

The invitation comes at a time when the hype over Robertico Carcassés'
slip is not yet over: at the Protestdrome concert on September 12th, in
which "as a result of an alcoholic outburst" or otherwise, he could not
contain himself, in his tongue-twisting improvisation he demanded,
"Freedom for all Cubans." Boy, was Robertico out of line!

Did Robertico really think that Cuba would change with the Raul regime?
That cracklings are pork meat and that mothers-in-law are really family?
Was the outburst that big? Or did he just do it with an eye to his
upcoming little jaunt to Miami?

Indeed I must confess that with so much yellow ribbon to demand the
release of the four*, and so much drunkenness with the pachanga timbera
and reggaeton, we didn't know what was being celebrated: whether it was
the dismantling of the Red Wasp Network*, the Day of Oshun, the
terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the coup that defeated
Allende, or the bombing of Syria.

Rodriguez, who claims to have an appointment with the angels — flying
angels and fallen angels — after the little-yellow-ribbon revelry went
off-script, should know what he is weaving when he steps up to rescue
Robertico Carcassés, just as we got a whiff of the smell of Bobby's son
burning.

And several questions occur to me:

Is Silvio's intention for us to forget his ridiculous performance with
the graying Amaury Perez and a musical accompaniment that could have
been first class but was incoherent due to the haste of the recording by
Abdala studios, of the little ditty about the yellow ribbons and the old
oak tree?

Does the author of The Blue Unicorn want to put a patch on the burst
seam Robertico provoked at the concert of "Cubans of all stripes"
demanding the return of the four*?

Recently, Silvio invited Isaac Delgado to sing at his concert in Santos
Suarez: Is Silvio now into indulging musicians who are in trouble with
the regime? Could we expect him to invite Willy Chirino and join him in
singing "Our Day is Coming"? Is he planning to record a CD with the
Interactive group, a rather odd CD, opportunistic, to please generación
asere** and indulge the dissidence?

It occurs to me to ask Silvio whether, with this lifeline to Robertico
Carcassés — taking into account his tour of the prisons, and the water
tank that he resolved for the residents of the Lugardita neighborhood —
he's not aspiring to run for president, without having started the
campaign for direct elections that Robertico asked for in his
improvisations.

With Silvio everything is possible, especially in these times of
miracles and reshufflings. Didn't he engage in an epistolary controversy
with Carlos Alberto Montaner at the risk of losing his mind? Or did they
already forget how he got involved in the mess with Obama, Elton John,
Pied Piper of Hamelin and The Little Green Men?***

Ultimately, Silvio's turnaround has been so wide, he's even talking
about taking the R out of the word Revolution***, for those "dead of his
happiness," the dead provided by all of us under circumstances just as
bad or worse.

When I watch the father of "Nueva Trova" in his attempt to be on good
terms with the angels and the demons of change, I feel sorry for him.

I cannot help but admire his songs, but in all honesty, not as much as I
did then, say 30 years ago. I have convinced myself that even if I'm
condemned to listen to the music of the '60s with nostalgia, I would
never be a good dancer at his party.

I can not longer stand him and his songs, they lack freshness, clear
accounts: How can I figure out what Silvio is up to now?

Translator's notes:
*"The four" refers to the Cuban spies of the Red Wasp Network serving
sentences in the United States; originally known is "The Cuban Five" and
"The Five Heroes" in Cuba, one of the original five has been paroled and
allowed to return to Cuba.
** "Generación asere" is a cultural reference to those — generally of
the younger generation — who like the kind of music the regime calls
vulgar, thuggish, cheesy and overly-sexed. "Asere" is a casual form of
address that means roughly "bro."
***In a response to Carlos Alberto Montaner, Silvio Rodriguez asked a
number of rhetorical questions relating to the pied piper leaving with
all of Cuba's children, Elton John saying that Christ was gay, people of
all colors including green, and so on. And in a new song, Silvio
suggests "transcending" the "R" in "Revolution" in favor of "Evolution."

By Luis Cino

From Cubanet

Translated by LYD

17 September 2013

Source: "Silvio Rodriguez To The Rescue of Robertico Carcasses / Luis
Cino Alvarez | Translating Cuba" -
http://translatingcuba.com/silvio-rodriguez-to-the-rescue-of-robertico-carcasses-luis-cino-alvarez/