Word: musicalization
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...Mickeys may be a minority, but more and more clubs are turning to house or techno instead of live music. And radio and TV stations--all government-run--are playing less timba, the Cuban version of salsa. These are the multiple threats: rock, electronica and, the biggest danger of them all, reggaeton--the Latinized hip-hop that has infiltrated from Puerto Rico, New York City and the Dominican Republic...
...have nothing against reggaeton," one of my friends told me in a typical refrain. "It's just not Cuban. And it's not music." Those are strong words, and Cuban hip-hop artists would argue that their music is edgier and more political. But for indigenous, righteous, complex and complete music, there is nothing like Cuba's timba. It has been a vital outlet for taking on taboos, like Los Van Van's early critique of rampant prostitution in a 1996 song about papayas: go ahead, they sang, touch it; it's a national product. During the economic crisis following...
Damaris was one of the dancers who used to perform with our band--more than 40 years after the Mafia quit Havana, some Cubans still like their music accompanied by girls in slinky sequined outfits with tail feathers. Damaris and the drummer, Piri, wound up having a daughter together but eventually divorced. He moved to Mexico, found a new wife and had another child. So Damaris is raising their child alone in a small apartment in the shadow of the capitol...
...loyalty to the group brought him back home. But as soon as they got back, the band absconded to Mexico. Some say Hanry started drinking after that; he says he was just disgusted with the betrayals. Whatever the backstory, Hanry, a powerful and precise player in his prime, left music altogether for a few years...
...particularly sweet chorus at the end of the song: "Oh Habana, oh Habana." Zenia started singing along, in the same pure voice her father has. Let the adults sweat their fevers; for her, this was a simple love letter to her city. She doesn't need a music video; her Havana already has a sound track...