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Lack of freedom and censorship, the longest-lived virus he has struggled with: Orishas

Ruso, Yotuel and Roldn, members of the Cuban group, on May 30 of last year during a presentation in Mexico City.

Ana Mnica Rodrguez

La Jornada newspaperTuesday May 26, 2020, p. 6

More than 20 years ago, Orishas burst irreverently with lyrics of social content in his very Cuban mix of hip-hop, son, rumba and guaguanc.

With different sound and rhythm, the band was gaining spaces on stages around the world while raising a song of freedom and defense of the Cuban people. She became an ambassador for the problems that exist in Cuba, but we do not give a wrong vision to the world or exaggerate or remove, she once told this newspaper.

Now, despite the global crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the gang is convinced that there is a longer-lived virus that has been battled in all times and places: the lack of freedom and censorship for giving opinions, speaking or express yourself. This is indeed the serious problem of humanity.

Yotuel Romero, member and founder of the Cuban group, explained to La Jornada: it is true that everything has been complicated by the pandemic, but censorship is tougher; It is sad when your country tries to silence you because you are on the side of the people, of feeling, showing solidarity with those who suffer.

In the case of the Covid-19, it is something that has touched us all; a vaccine is expected. In reality, it is not known why it happened and this situation must be addressed, but the virus against freedom is the one that worries not only Cuba, but the entire world, because it is against human rights.

The above is a reflection of Romero regarding the single they have just released, titled Love me as I am, in collaboration with singer-songwriter Beatriz Luengo, Pablo Milans and violinist Ara Malikian.

The musician explained: It is an autobiographical song that emerged after the censorship and the media attack by the Cuban government caused by the previous issue, I hope it happens, which became a hymn for the people due to the veracity with which, once again, a chronicle about the island was rapped. So much was its impact, that they wanted to silence it, managing to download it from all digital platforms .

Response to persecution

Love me as I am, he continued, it is a cry to freedom, to love us as we are, to be loved and not try to change us.

After the media lynching that the government did with Orishas, we feel obliged to reinvict our right, as citizens, to criticize, speak when there are injustices and denounce when something is wrong or we are concerned. This single reflects our feelings, with the idea that you have to respect to be respected. It is a forceful response to persecution, censorship and defamation, as well as the need for us to love each other despite our differences of thought.

The Orishas story began in France in 1999, with their debut album A lo Cubano, a benchmark that was later inspired by other groups in the world, which catapulted them onto the scene. In albums such as Emigrante, El kilo and Cosita buena made it clear that the group stoked a fire with social content lyrics that the years have not been able to extinguish.

Romero argued: one of our missions is to put people to reflect with our songs, to be nourished by a reality that is not published in tourism magazines, which is only known when you go to underground Cuba, where many people do not arrive; It even happens in Mexico, because tourists then just stay in the taco al pastor and on the beaches of Cancun.

Orishas has won two Grammys, in addition to a Latin Grammy for the song Pal Norte in collaboration with Calle 13. He continues to make good music, which is his passion and goal.

Some time ago they commented: we have too much love for music. We dont like the business the popular one has become. We are old-fashioned: we love to sing on stage and make our audience fall in love, conquer it.

Even, Yotuel said, the taste generated among the public has been attributed to the name of the band. We thought that by using orishas (the Afro-Cuban gods) we were going to desecrate, that believers were going to be upset, but the opposite happened, because Orishas is what young Cubans wanted to listen to for a long time.

If this name had been used to make junk music, it doesnt work; but if it is something that responds to youth, that sings to the orishas, it is to push it to the maximum, it is my religion.

The band is on that path of making songs that reach people, that engage you and make you feel something that feeds your heart; That is the direction that Orishas currently leads, said Yotuel Romero.

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Lack of freedom and censorship, the longest-lived virus he has struggled with: Orishas - Explica