Reggaeton Banned in Cuba as Castro Cracks Down on Music

[naaman fletcher]

Cuba’s government is banning reggaeton music from radio and T.V. as Raul Castro’s administration cracks down on “vulgar” songs in the island nation, government newspaper Granma reported on its website,

The Cultural Ministry’s music institute will levy severe sanctions or ban musicians including reggaeton artists whose lyrics are deemed sexually explicit or demeaning to women, Granma said, citing the institute’s president, Orlando Vistel Columbie.

“Neither vulgarity nor mediocrity will be able to tarnish the richness of Cuban music,” Vistel said in an interview posted online today by the Communist Party paper. “Obviously, people can listen to what they want privately. But, that freedom doesn’t include the right to reproduce and disseminate that music.”

A blend of styles including Jamaican dance-hall, hip hop and electronic music, reggaeton has been mainstream for almost a decade and is popular in dance clubs from Chile to New York. Cuban authorities last year denounced as obscene the reggaeton song El Chupi Chupi by local artist Osmani Garcia.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-04/reggaeton-banned-in-cuba-as-castro-cracks-down-on-music.html

[Mika]

1. What a ridiculous and deceitful headline.

In TOTAL, the Cuban Institute of Music will no longer promote said music.
There is no ban.
Castro is not "cracking down".
The gov't institute of music will no longer spend any Cuban money promoting it. Period.
Ridiculous BS from Bloomberg.

It's quite clearly laid out here ...

http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2012/11/30/cultura/artic02.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. Have heard about rastafarians and reggae in Cuba for so long. Jesus on a pogo stick.

We see all the right-wing propaganda crappola pass before us almost daily, don't we?
What a weary job that must be, posting right-wing drool on a progressive website. Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick.

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[naaman fletcher]

3. Reggaeton and Reggae are not the same thing. nt.

[joshcryer]

7. Wow, your ignorance shows. Cubaton (Cuba Reggaeton) is not rastafarian.

Look at these rastafarians in Cuba!

Gente de Zona:



Eddy K:



Osmani García:




Note the high style Cubans who embrace American consumer hip hop culture.

[naaman fletcher]

8. On the plus side

The government's position will probably cause it to just grow even more.

[joshcryer]

10. Unquestionably.

Hip hop culture was a follow on to the civil rights movement. Its culture, while not perfect, is rooted in anti-authoritarianism, as a sort of rebellion to the status quo.

[Bacchus4.0]

18. yep, for whatever reason they call it reggaeton, its not reggae

Spanish hip hop is a better description. i can't tell from the article whether they are just going to ban some of it from airways they deem offensive, or as an entire genre

[naaman fletcher]

12. right wing drool?

What a weary job that must be, posting right-wing drool on a progressive website

One side is on the side of repressing the youth culture and music. The other side is on broad freedom of culture and music.

Which one are you calling right wing?

[bitchkitty]

21. I believe she's talking about the person who posted this bullshit topic. n/t

[naaman fletcher]

22. What's bullshit about it?

nt

[Bacchus4.0]

23. Take a listen, I'm sure you'll love it n/t

s

[naaman fletcher]

4. So..

My Spanish is not very good, but doing my best, from your link, it looks like that while they ARE purging Reggaeton from the airwaves, is that correct?

[joshcryer]

5. Bloomberg links your article, and Bloomberg accurately describes the situation.

It will be sanctioned in public spaces.

"Será de gran ayuda la instrumentación de una norma jurídica, en la que ya estamos trabajando, que deberá regir los usos públicos de la música, en un espectro que cubra los medios de difusión, las programaciones recreativas, las fiestas populares, y la ambientación sonora de lugares públicos. Obviamente, cada quien es libre de escuchar en su privacidad la música que desee, pero esa libertad no incluye el derecho de reproducirla y difundirla en restoranes y cafeterías estatales o particulares, ómnibus para el transporte de pasajeros y espacios públicos en general."

"de una norma jurídica"

Even if we believe that this weasel language (which Granma is notorious for), there are no private airwaves in Cuba (run by Cubans; not talking about Miami's airwaves). And "Cubatón" has only been allowed on a "low" level on Cuban radio.

It's clear to me that this crackdown is because Cubatón (Cuban Reggaeton) is gaining popularity with Cuban youth, it is a rebellious type of music, and it is unacceptable. Some of Osmani García's music has been banned for quite some time on Cuban state controlled radio.

[naaman fletcher]

6. Wait a second

Mika says that all it means is that the Cuban Music Institute won't promote it any more.

Are you say that he just pops in every few months and makes stuff up and then flees when called on it?

[joshcryer]

9. It's weasel language. It's absolutely true they won't "promote it."

They have control over the airwaves!

But it seems that this is goes much deeper as they appear to be wanting to ban it in all public spaces, not just over the radio.

This will have little effect on cubatón culture because they will simply just throw double entendre into their lyrics. The young artists in Cuba always figure out ways to get around the restrictions.

[Daniel537]

14. Not rebellious at all actually.

Its just your basic sexually-themed party music. Truth be told its been going down in quality for the last few years, but anyhow, since the Cuban govt. never really supported it anyway i don't expect this to make much of a difference. It'll be banned on the few radio stations that played it but people will keep playing it at home as usual.

[joshcryer]

20. In a conservative society it is against the status quo.

It sounds like with the new restaurants popping up (paladars) they want to keep paladar owners from playing Cubaton as a "draw."

[naaman fletcher]

11. Here's another article, are you sure your interpretation is right?

This one says that they are banning it from being played in restaurants as well. Sounds a bit more than "In TOTAL, the Cuban Institute of Music will no longer promote said music"



http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/06/cuba-crackdown-vulgar-reggaeton-music
...
"Measures that have been adopted range from professional disqualification of those who violate ethics in their work to the levying of severe sanctions against those who from official institutions encourage or permit these practices," said Vistel. "We are in the process of purging music catalogues with the aim of eradicating practises that, in their content, stray from the legitimacy of Cuban popular culture."
...
"Obviously everybody is free to listen to the music they want in private, but that freedom does not include a right to broadcast it in state or private restaurants and cafes, in buses or in public spaces," Vistel said. "We are talking about pseudo‑artistic work that has nothing to do with our cultural policies or the ethics of our society."

[joshcryer]

13. Man, I would love to know the details of this.

We know that the privatization efforts have opened up a lot of restaurants around the country and I wonder who pissed who off by making a Cubaton-centered restaurant. Hopefully the Cuban bloggers will help clear this one up. Cubaton was already restricted on the airwaves (linked elsewhere in this thread), this seems like a response to some new behavior that isn't acceptable.

[ocpagu]

15. Much of reggaeton music is in fact explicit sonorous pornography.

Just like the "Brazilian funk" - which is also banned from TV and radio in Brazil, as well as songs which makes apology of criminal organizations.

I don't see anything wrong with establishing limits for playing this kind of music in public. I wouldn't like my young daughter seeing porn movies on TV. Why would I like her to listen to porn music on the radio?

[naaman fletcher]

16. I'm curious

In the US there is (or was) the original gangsta rap. You know, 2 live crew and such. That was really, really vile stuff. It led to 2 live crew being arrested for playing in Florida and other things. The lawyer pressing for that was right-wing loon Jack Thompson.

I'm curious, would you be fine if in the US a ban was placed on gangsta rap? Would you be on Jack Thompsons' side?

[ocpagu]

17. I wouldn't support artists being arrested for performing.

But I would support limiting execution of certain types of music in public places, radio and TV.

I'm not in favor of banning pornographic music. I'm in favor of treating it like we treat porn movies, porn magazines - porn in general. You can listen or watch it as much as you want, as long as you are and adult and you're watching or listening to it in a private manner or in specific shows for adults. Not in an unrestricted manner, on the radio or TV. Porn can be aggressive and shocking to some people, specially kids, that should be respected.

[joshcryer]

19. So censor the most explicit words like everyone else does.

If the song is made up of too many missing parts (such as Eminem's music was), then the public won't even want to hear it. I recall people calling in requests on one radio station and they played everything requested, even the most explicit stuff. Some songs I heard for the first time were filled with dead space in huge chunks as the singer went on a tirade. Hearing the actual songs was a surprise.

I think their problem is that the meaning is pornographic, but the language is innocuous. Osmani García's Chupi-Chupi, for instance, is not explicit. There are few words that you could censor, it's all innuendo.