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Puerto Rican artists voice their support for Juanes' concert, to pay homage to Cuba
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A group of Puerto Rican artists led by tropical music singer Andy Montañez will hold a concert on Sep. 20 in solidarity with the peace-themed show that Juanes and other international entertainers are slated to give the same day at the José Martí Plaza de la Revolución in Cuba.
The organizers said the event, dubbed “Abrazo Musical de Puerto Rico pa' Cuba,” aims to bring a message of peace and optimism not only to Cuba but also to the Colombian rocker, who has been under fire from a group of Miami-based Cuban exiles who argue that the event is nothing but a move in support of Cuba's communist government.
“I believe that all this fuss about Juanes' concert is completely unjustified because music
has no borders,” said Montañez, who's popularly known as “El Niño de Trastalleres.”
“We perform in Japan and in the United States, everywhere around the globe . . .and we don't stir such a controversy over a concert . . . it is truly unjustified,” he added.
For Montañez, a former El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico frontman, the controversy over foreign, socially active artists performing in Cuba seems to be always tied to music, and not to other artistic expressions as it might be expected.
“These groups [Miami-based Cuban exiles] always complain when a musical act is involved, but actors and filmmakers go to work in Cuba frequently and they don't get blasted for it,” opined Montañez.
“Even the pope [the late Pope John Paul II] went to Cuba and people haven't stopped praying,” he added.
The late Pope john Paul II held his historic mass in Cuba in 1998. Montañez stressed that music and politics shouldn't be viewed as one, adding that just because an artist performs in a foreign country it doesn't necessarily mean that he or she backs that particular nation's government. As an example, he cited famed Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés, who'll perform in Puerto Rico on Oct.18 at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in Hato Rey.
“I think that people in Cuba are not causing a stir because Pablo Milanés is coming to perform on the island and viceversa,” he contended.
“Abrazo Musical de Puerto Rico pa' Cuba,” to be held at the newly inaugurated performing arts center in Juana Díaz, will be hosted by professor Elmer González and the renowned Cuban actress Daisy Granados.
The show will begin at 4 p.m. and pay homage to Jorge González Riera.
Aside from Montañez, the list of performers includes Miguel Zenón, Roy Brown, Tito Auger, Wilkins, Mapeyé, Atabal, Edwin Colón Zayas, Plenibom, José Antonio López and Así Somos
For Granados, the fact that Juanes will perform in Cuba is laudable.
“I think it's extraordinary that Juanes sings in Cuba. . . like Andy said, music knows no borders,” she pointed out.
“I don't see any reason why Juanes, Olga Tañón, Andy or any other artist for that matter if they wish to sing in Cuba could not do it . . . we have to see life today in a different way, and I think there are many people who wish to see all Cubans unite,” she added.
To date, the Puerto Ricans Olga Tañón and Danny Rivera will perform in the concert organized by Juanes in Cuba, as well as Silvio Rodríguez, the Spanish singer Miguel Bosé and the Cuban salsa band Los Van Van, among others.
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