“In difficult times I believe that art is even more necessary, essential,” the Cuban singer-songwriter says in an interview with EFE. Silvio Rodriguezwho next Friday releases his new work, the twenty second of his career, I wanted to know.

This icon of the new trova and one of its few active members, responds in writing that this new album is a mix of themes, moments and genres, defends “nuances” and tolerance, and appeals to hope in times of crisis like the current ones on the island.

The album, the first in three years, is a collection of eleven songs composed between 2015 and 2019 where intimate and social lyrics are combined, richly instrumented songs and others reduced to their minimal essence, all with the unmistakable stamp of Silvio’s voice and poetics.

“I wanted to know the continuity that I have; the songs that I preferred to put together on this occasion,” summarizes this 78-year-old singer-songwriter.

stands out among them For not throwing away the sofaa song with the subtitle of “editorial song”, published in text in 2016 and subsequently performed live, and which has now been collected in a studio work.

Draws attention for denouncing the migration “en masse”, “the bonfires of the homophobia”, the “vices and dogmas” and the censorship of media and artists, all “at the birth of an era that was lengthening.”

“I am referring to things that hinder us, that hinder us, that instead of freeing us, they bind us, they complicate us. Some were inherited cultures, such as machismo and homophobia. Others have been absurd sacralizations of a system of thought that a German began whose motto, according to himself, was to doubt everything,” he explains.

Rodríguez closes this topic, like the one titled The feewith a pinch of hope and optimism, advocating “counting on the other” and growing in the face of challenges: “The bar, increasingly higher, invites us to fly and continue.”

However, the author of hymns like Hopefully He prefers not to define himself as an optimist (or as anything permanently), since perspectives change over time.

“One day we understand one thing, we see and feel in a way and we express it that way. The next day nuances appear, if not contradictions. That’s why one day one can write Fool and a few days before (or after) In search of a dream either kingdom of still“, he indicates.

Silvio Rodríguez, with the musicians who accompany him in ‘I wanted to know’.

Nuances and opinions

He considers that “sometimes it is difficult to clarify”, but advocates trying, “because it is fair.” “I try to do it all the time. I can’t stand schematic and there’s a lot of that going in all directions,” she says.

Faced with those who speak “of a dreamed reality as if it were real”, as he sings in The thing is comingRodríguez maintains that he sees Cuba “as it has been and as it is”, an “advantage that the years give,” says the one who has been on stage for 56 years.

“I am capable of living within a very open spectrum of opinions, as long as mine is also considered, of course. I only hope that our future, the future of José Martí’s Cuba, does not remain in the pocket of the North American Government,” it states.

As a preview, two singles were released in the previous two weeks, I wanted to know and America, an ode to intellectual restlessness and a song of unrequited youthful love, respectively.

About the present of the island, mired in a serious crisis with no way out in sight and in the midst of an unprecedented migratory wave, his lyrics say little. “I ruminate a lot about what I write,” she says, although she suggests that in the future she could address these topics.

He does talk about the tour of the neighborhoods (“of the most beautiful things that have happened to me”) and how he used the “break” of the pandemic “to discover many things that I had been putting off.” Also from Pablo Milanésanother icon of the new trova who died in 2022.

“The absence of Pablo, who had an exceptional musicality, an incomparable talent, is irreplaceable,” says Rodríguez, aware of the time: of the new trova, he says, “almost everyone has already left, there are only a few of us left.”

Source: Eitb

Bruce

Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.