Cuba’s Abdala Recording Studios to be Run by Ministry of Culture

Cuba's Abdala Recording Studios to be Run by Ministry of Culture
October 10, 2014
By Café Fuerte

HAVANA TIMES — Following a heated dispute between singer-songwriter
Silvio Rodriguez and Cuban State authorities, the musician's Abdala
recording studio has finally come under the administration of the
Ministry of Culture (MINCULT).

"The fact is that, in the afternoon of October 6, 2014, Abdala were
finally placed in the hands of the Ministry of Culture," Rodriguez wrote
in his blog, Segunda Cita ("Second Date"). "I thank those who sincerely
love culture. Now, it's time to get down to work."

The case appears to have been closed now, after the series of complaints
Rodriguez began to voice on August 22, when he revealed that Abdala had
been awaiting a change of management for eight months and leveled harsh
criticisms at the Ministry of Culture bureaucrats.

To make matters worse, power at the studio was shut down because of
MINCULT's failure to pay the electrical bill.

Rodriguez attacked the indifference of government officials and
complained that the management of Abdala had phoned two vice-ministers
of culture and tried to contact the pertinent official at the Office of
the Historian, to no avail.

In the midst of this process, Rodriguez cancelled a concert for the
first time since he began his neighborhood tours around Cuba, owing to
disagreements with government authorities in the province of Artemisa,
making the artist's relations with Cuba's cultural institutions even tenser.

Silvio: Sustainable Socialism

The note recently published by Rodriguez, however, as a conciliatory
tone, as though the storm had finally passed.

"I believed and still believe in the sustainable form of socialism we
must build. Culture and its means must be considered spiritual
resources, which doesn't mean I think they should be granted a blank
check," the artist, who will celebrate his 68th birthday on November 29,
explained.

He wrote that, according to the original plan, Abdala's earnings would
be destined to education.

"I've also always been aware that public health, the care of the elderly
and food are more important than a recording studio. But I am also
convinced that once you've created anything of excellence, you should
preserve it, at least with a view to its reestablishment in the future.
In the case of a recording studio like Abdala, we are responsible for
preserving it as a pillar of a potential music industry," Rodriguez
stated in his blog.

Founded in 1998 with the decisive support of Fidel Castro, Abdala was an
initiative of Silvio Rodriguez' and operated as a Cuban company attached
to CIMEX, offering recording, mixing and mastering services for musical
productions and serving as a record label.

Source: Cuba's Abdala Recording Studios to be Run by Ministry of Culture
- Havana Times.org - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=106657